ICE Strategy Session – What makes good design?

Overview

“Design is about how something works and how it looks. It matters for infrastructure projects at every scale, whether the infrastructure is visible and used physically by people, or whether it is hidden and used to provide services to people.

“Great infrastructure uses design to solve problems and seeks to maximise the different types of benefits it provides over its whole life. When visible, it should look good too. Projects shape the landscape for decades, even centuries. Generations of people will see them, use them and be affected by them every day”. Introduction to the National Infrastructure Commission’s design principles for national infrastructure.

The National Infrastructure Commission’s (NIC) design group and ICE have formed a partnership to explore how the conscious decisions of civil engineers aligns with the NIC’s design principles, to achieve better outcomes for climate, people, places and value in the planning and delivery of major projects.

In this seminar, members of the NIC design group will discuss:

• The thinking behind the NIC’s design principles – how they can be used; what they are and what they are not. Professor Sadie Morgan OBE
• The drivers and barriers of successful infrastructure planning and delivery. Judith Sykes
• The concept of context. Andrew Grant
• Perspectives on the rail sector. Anthony Dewar
• What is ‘good’ design? Professor Hanif Kara

The discussion will be followed by a 20-minute Q&A session for delegates to quiz speakers on the design principles project and discuss its practical applications.