Attendees at the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT) Annual Conference 2018 next week will hear from a range of high profile speakers how the future highways sector will develop in the face of funding shortfalls and new technology.
The event ‘Highways: Change, Innovation and the Future’ is being held on Thursday 8 March at the Park Plaza Victoria, London SW1V 1EQ. It is designed around shared insights from industry leading speakers from across the private and public sectors, knowledge sharing interactive sessions and networking.
Andrew Hugill (pictured, right), the CIHT’s director of policy and technical affairs, said: ‘Over the last few years there has been a welcome change in how the highway network’s importance has been recognised by government with new structures for delivery and changes to funding for strategic roads put in place.
‘At the conference we want to build on the positive view of highway infrastructure and understand from a range of high quality speakers and exhibitors how the highways sector is changing, how innovation is changing the sector and how the future highways sector will develop.’
The breakfast briefing will see Elliot Shaw, executive director of strategy and planning at Highways England, focus on ‘The Road to Growth’ – the first strategic economic growth plan for the government-owned company, which draws upon extensive research, consumer and stakeholder feedback.
RAC Foundation director Steve Gooding will facilitate a morning panel session in which senior leaders such as Dave Wright of Kier Highways and Dana Skelley of Skanska Civil Engineering will share a platform to discuss lessons learned in their own careers.
Matthew Lugg OBE, director of public services at WSP, will also take part in the session and will chair the break out session, ‘Changes to our Networks’, which will hear from Peter Molyneux, major roads director at Transport for the North.
In his presentation, Mr Wright will warn that there has never been such a shortfall in revenue funding as great as it is today while at the same time technology is playing a more significant role in delivering much needed capacity.
On the subject of future challenges, CIHT chief executive Sue Percy (pictured above) will interview Jeff Paniati, executive director and CEO of the Institute of Transport Engineers.
Skills, talent and the achievements of women
Managing industry issues arising in the near future is the theme of the afternoon plenary panel session, facilitated by Dr Sue Sharland (pictured, right) , Past President CIHT 2015 – 2016.
The conference falls on International Women’s Day 2018, a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. Looking to develop the talent and skills to match future requirements, Ms Percy will encourage conference participants to engage with the CIHT Diversity & Inclusion Charter.
She said: ‘As an organisation we strive to encourage best practice in recruitment, retention and career progression practices across our sector. At CIHT we support the development of good diversity and inclusion policy by collecting and sharing examples of practical activities that contribute to progress with CIHT and other signatories.
‘We work together to develop and adopt future protocols and practice that support the implementation of the aims of this Charter. We recognise, respect, capitalise and celebrate contributions from different people to strengthen team performance.’
For further details and to book please go to www.ciht.org.uk/annualconf.
