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Type
Lecture

ICE Summer Prestige Debate 2025

Event organised by ICE

Date
24 June 2025
Time

This event has now ended

Overview

We’ve seen several high-impact transport infrastructure failures in recent years, from embankment landslips to bridge collapses. So that it can better manage its assets, ensure their resilience and prevent further serious incidents, the sector needs well-targeted investment, especially in advanced digital tools.

The industry must also better understand the risks to its infrastructure and communicate these effectively with policy-makers. This will require frank conversations about the state of our various networks, the maintenance priorities and their cost implications.

The ICE’s latest annual State of the Nation report, published in January, explored the transport sector’s safety risk management challenges, drawing lessons from notable infrastructure failures and discussing how to improve practices throughout the supply chain.

Expanding on the report’s points, the institution’s Summer Prestige Debate 2025 will consider how engineers in the sector can explain critical infrastructure needs more effectively – and what a better asset management regime might look like.

The debate will also explore some of the technical solutions being used to build resilience and ensure that our transport networks remain fit for purpose.

This will be the second session of three in the ICE’s 2025 Prestige Debate series. It’s a hybrid event with limited space for in-person attendees.

You can watch a recording of the spring session, which took place on 1 April, on demand. The autumn session is scheduled for 1 October.

Programme

18.00 - 18.30

Registration and refreshments

In-person attendees can start registering from 18.00 (online participants are advised to log into the platform at 18.15 to test their connections)

18.30 - 18.35

Welcome from the chair

David Porter, ICE Senior Vice President and director of engineering at Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure

18.35 - 19.25

Debate: what can engineers and the wider industry do to transform approaches to transport asset management and build resilience?

Dr Janvi Shah, head of highways asset management (UK) at Arcadis

Lila Tachtsi, director of engineering and asset management, eastern region, at Network Rail

Helen Rowe, structures and tunnels asset management at Kent County Council

Feras Alshaker, director, planning and performance at ORR

19.25 - 19.40

Empty chair session: two volunteers from the audience will be invited to come on stage to share their thoughts on the debate and explore wider themes and lessons for the audience

19.40 - 19.55

Feedback and final thoughts – Dr Janvi Shah; Lila Tachtsi; Helen Rowe; and Feras Alshaker.

19:55 - 20:00

Closing remarks from the chair

20:00 - 21.00

Event closes for online participants and networking starts for those attending in person

Speakers

David Porter

David Porter

Institution of Civil Engineers

senior vice president

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David Porter

David Porter is the director of engineering at the Department for Infrastructure (DfI), which makes him the chief highways engineer for Northern Ireland.

He is also the head of the civil engineering profession within the Northern Ireland civil service. He’s responsible for the development of the department’s professional and technical staff, engineering policies and standards, and health and safety.

Previously, David was the chief executive of the Rivers Agency, the flood defence and drainage authority for Northern Ireland.

David is a past chair of the Northern Ireland region of the ICE. He’s been on the ICE Council three times: two terms as the Northern Ireland representative, and one as a general member.

Dr Janvi Shah

Dr Janvi Shah

Arcadis

head of highways asset management (UK)

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Dr Janvi Shah

A Chartered Engineer of more than 15 years’ standing, Dr Janvi Shah has been head of highways asset management for Arcadis in the UK since May 2024. 

When she was head of asset management strategy at National Highways in 2021-23, she led a cross-directorate transformation programme that improved the company’s asset management capability. This enabled it to achieve ISO 55000 certification. 
 
More recently, Shah served as assistant director of place, strategy and performance at Birmingham City Council. There, she developed its place-making directorate’s approach to governance and performance management, establishing an efficiency programme. 
 
A visiting lecturer at both University College London and the University of Birmingham, she has presented at many conferences and won several awards for her work. 

Shah, who contributed to the ICE’s 2025 annual State of Nation report, sits on the women’s network committee at the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation.

Helen Rowe

Helen Rowe

Kent County Council

structures and tunnels asset manager

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Helen Rowe

In her role at Kent County Council’s highways and transportation directorate, Helen Rowe leads several engineering teams working across the county’s 2,100-plus highway structures – an asset portfolio with a replacement value estimated at £1.3bn. 

Both a Chartered Engineer and a chartered construction manager, Rowe chairs the national bridges group for the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport. 

Rowe’s interests include nurturing the next generation of engineers. She does this through her work as an ICE mentor and as a STEM ambassador on a student outreach programme funded by UK Research and Innovation. 

In 2024 she won two industry accolades: a Top 50 Women in Engineering Award from the Women’s Engineering Society and the Motivational Leader of the Year Award from the Chartered Institute of Building.