『Built to Change the World』のカバーアート

Built to Change the World

Built to Change the World

著者： Michael Fisher
無料で聴く

A 12 part podcast series that explores the world of British Civil Engineers that built the past and what today's Engineers, Construction Leaders, and students can learn from them, and the world we need to build next.2026 科学
エピソード
  • B2CW Trailer

    B2CW Trailer
    2026/07/12
    What if the future of construction depends on us rediscovering the ambition, courage and responsibility of the engineers who came before us? Built to Change the World exists because I believe civil engineering and construction need to reconnect with something bigger than delivery, process and programme. This podcast is about legacy. It is about the engineers, projects and decisions that helped shape modern Britain. It is about lighthouses, canals, railways, sewers, bridges, tunnels, docks and infrastructure systems that changed how people lived, worked, travelled and survived. But this is not history for the sake of history. It is a challenge to the modern construction industry. After nearly 20 years working in construction and civil engineering, I keep coming back to one question: are we still building things that future generations will thank us for? The engineers of the Industrial Revolution did not have the tools we have today. They did not have digital models, instant communication, modern standards or endless data. But many of them had conviction. They looked at the problems in front of them and created systems, structures and ideas that changed the country. This 12-part series explores those stories and asks what they can teach us now about judgement, risk, leadership, public trust, failure, innovation and the responsibility that comes with building things people depend on. What to expect from the series Episode 1: Why Built to Change the World? The series begins with a question about legacy. Why does civil engineering matter, and why do so many people outside the industry fail to see the impact it has on everyday life? This opening episode sets out the mission of the series and asks whether modern construction has become too focused on process and not focused enough on purpose. Episode 2: The Great Stink and the Systems Beneath Our Feet In this episode, we step into mid-19th century London and the public health crisis that forced a city to confront the reality of its own infrastructure failure. The story of the Great Stink and London's sewer system is not only about sanitation. It is about leadership, political pressure, public health and the courage to solve a problem at city scale. Episode 3: Smeaton, Eddystone and the Birth of Civil Engineering This episode goes back to the Eddystone Lighthouse and the work of John Smeaton. It explores what engineering looked like before modern codes, standards and design software, and asks what we can learn from an era where judgement, observation and deep technical understanding were everything. Episode 4: The Canal Kings The canal age changed how Britain moved goods, materials and ambition. This episode looks at the Bridgewater Canal, James Brindley and the systems thinking behind early canal engineering. It is a story about logistics, sequencing, commercial pressure and the creation of infrastructure that unlocked national change. Episode 5: Stephenson, Rocket and the Railway Moment The Rainhill Trials were more than a competition. They were a turning point. This episode explores George Stephenson, the Rocket and the moment railways began to change the scale and speed of Britain. It asks what happens when engineering proves a new future is possible. Episode 6: The Railway Nation Once the railway idea worked, Britain changed rapidly. This episode looks at railway expansion, national connection and the consequences of building infrastructure at speed. It explores ambition, standardisation, disruption and the challenge of turning innovation into a working national system. Episode 7: Brunel, Risk and the Price of Ambition Brunel is often remembered as a genius, but his story is also full of risk, failure, pressure and recovery. This episode looks beyond the legend and asks whether the modern industry gives people enough space to learn from failure, or whether we have created a culture that rewards caution over progress. Episode 8: Bridges, Disaster and Public Trust The Tay Bridge disaster shook public confidence in engineering. The Forth Bridge helped rebuild it. This episode explores what happens when infrastructure fails, why public trust is so hard to earn and so easy to lose, and why safety, accountability and technical integrity must sit at the heart of our profession. Episode 9: Tunnels, Cities and the Hidden Infrastructure of Progress Some of the most important infrastructure is the infrastructure people rarely see. This episode looks at tunnels, underground systems and the engineering that allowed growing cities to function. It explores the hidden work that keeps society moving and asks whether we value invisible infrastructure enough today. Episode 10: Docks, Ports and the Engineering of Trade Britain's industrial growth depended on movement: goods, ships, materials, labour and money. This episode looks at docks and ports as engines of economic change. It explores how infrastructure connects local engineering decisions to national prosperity and ...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    7 分
  • The Future is Something we Build

    The Future is Something we Build
    2026/08/03

    What will the engineers of the future think about what our generation chose to build, repair or leave behind?

    Welcome to Built to Change the World, a 12-part podcast series exploring the engineers, infrastructure and decisions that helped shape modern Britain.

    Across this series, we will travel back to the early Industrial Revolution and the emergence of civil engineering as a profession. We will explore the roads, canals, railways, bridges, lighthouses, sewers and hidden systems that transformed how people lived, worked, travelled and traded.

    However, this is not a series built around nostalgia or the belief that the past was better. It is about understanding how engineers worked through uncertainty, danger, financial pressure and limited technology to create infrastructure that changed society. It is also about recognising the human cost of that progress and the responsibility that has always accompanied engineering.

    In this opening episode, I explain why I created Built to Change the World and introduce the central question behind the series: why does building often feel so difficult today when we have more technology, information and technical capability than any previous generation?

    After almost 20 years working in and around civil engineering and construction, I have seen extraordinary advances in digital modelling, BIM, artificial intelligence, data, communication, modern plant, safety systems and technical standards. We can calculate faster, identify clashes before construction and share information almost instantly.

    Yet projects still become trapped in slow decisions, fragmented responsibility, commercial tension and layers of process. We have more information, but that does not automatically give us better judgement. We have more systems, but those systems do not always create progress.

    Throughout this episode, I reflect on whether the industry has lost some of its engineering courage. Have we allowed process, procurement and risk management to constrain ambition? Have we confused compliance with judgement and activity with progress?

    We also look forward to 2056. Somewhere today, a future engineer is being born. By then, they may be designing, managing and maintaining the infrastructure that will carry Britain through the second half of the century.

    What will that engineer inherit from us?

    Will they inherit ageing systems, delayed investment and infrastructure shaped by short-term thinking? Or will they inherit evidence that our generation understood the responsibility placed upon it and acted with ambition?

    The engineers of the past built structures and systems that we still discuss centuries later. The challenge for us is to decide whether future generations will be able to say the same.

    Because the future is not something we wait for.

    The future is something we build.

    Key takeaways:

    Technology can support engineering, but it cannot replace courage, responsibility, judgement or a deep understanding of the problem.

    The engineers who helped shape the modern world rarely had perfect information or perfect conditions. They moved forward by observing carefully, accepting responsibility and developing solutions to problems society could no longer ignore.

    Our tools may have changed, but our obligation remains the same: to build infrastructure that enables future generations to live, move, work and thrive.

    Coming next:

    In Episode 2, "Britain Before the Builders", we travel back to a country full of resources and ambition but constrained by mud, distance, weight and unreliable transport.

    Before Britain could change the world, it first had to learn how to carry it.

    Listen and follow:

    Listen to Built to Change the World wherever you get your podcasts:

    https://podfollow.com/6790092627

    Discover more from the podcast host:

    https://linktr.ee/michaelfisher88

    Historical accuracy Disclaimer:

    Built to Change the World is based on historical research and is created with the intention of presenting events, people and engineering achievements as accurately and fairly as possible. Historical sources can differ, and some details may be simplified or interpreted to support the storytelling format.

    Any inaccuracies or omissions are unintentional and are not intended to mislead. Corrections, additional context and constructive feedback are warmly welcomed at leadershipinconstruction@gmail.com

    続きを読む 一部表示
    15 分
  • Britain Before the Builders

    Britain Before the Builders
    2026/08/03
    What happens when a country has the resources, ambition and people to grow, but lacks the infrastructure to connect them? Welcome to Episode 2 of Built to Change the World, a 12-part podcast series exploring the engineers, infrastructure and decisions that helped shape modern Britain. Before the canals, railways, iron bridges, great docks, tunnels and viaducts, Britain was a country full of potential but constrained by movement. In the early 1700s, many roads were little more than tracks cut into the landscape by hooves, wooden wheels, weather and repeated use. Rain could turn them into mud. Heavy carts struggled to move. Packhorses could sometimes travel where wheeled vehicles could not, but their capacity was limited. Some goods could be transported along rivers or around the coast, but these routes depended on geography, ports, tides, weather and safe navigation. Turnpike roads were beginning to improve some journeys, although development remained uneven. Britain was not yet connected by a reliable national transport system. It was a patchwork of tracks, river crossings, markets, toll roads, coastal routes and difficult journeys. This episode explores why those limitations mattered and why civil engineering had to emerge in the first place. Britain had coal, stone, timber, ports, towns, craftspeople, merchants, landowners, miners, shipbuilders and growing commercial ambition. What it lacked was the infrastructure needed to connect those resources and people together. A bad road was not merely an inconvenience. It limited how far goods could travel, increased costs, restricted trade and determined what could be built or sold. A valuable resource could remain trapped by geography if there was no practical way to move it. Coal provides one of the clearest examples. Coal was heavy, bulky and becoming increasingly important for heating, industry and, later, steam power. However, coal beneath the ground had limited value unless it could reach the towns, workshops and people that needed it. Growing places such as Manchester required reliable supplies of fuel and materials. Early industry could no longer depend on occasional or unpredictable movement. It needed regularity, capacity and scale. This pressure would eventually lead to the canals and railways that transformed Britain. Those systems were not built because canals were attractive or steam engines were impressive. They were built because the old methods of moving weight had reached their limits. Resources need infrastructure before they can become value. Ambition needs movement before it can become reality. Alongside these physical and commercial pressures, a wider intellectual change was taking place. Science, mathematics, astronomy, measurement, instruments and experimentation were becoming increasingly important. The natural world was no longer something people could only endure. It was something they could observe, measure, test and, where possible, direct. This shift was fundamental to the emergence of civil engineering. Civil engineering is not simply construction. It is the application of knowledge to the physical world. It asks how water moves, how stone carries load, how timber behaves, how roads drain, how rivers flood and how structures resist force. Organisations such as the Royal Society helped establish a culture in which practical problems could be approached through scientific thought and experimentation. The engineer began to emerge at the point where theory met public need. Britain's development also depended heavily on the sea. Trade, naval strength and national power required more than ships and sailors. They required ports, harbours, dockyards, dry docks, timber yards, ropewalks, charts, lighthouses, repair facilities and reliable supply chains. Infrastructure became one of the foundations of Britain's growing economic, naval and political power. However, this history cannot be presented as a simple story of progress. Engineering supported trade, connection and prosperity, but infrastructure also served systems of exploitation, extraction and imperial control. Ports and ships carried goods and people within systems that were not always fair or humane. We can admire the skill, courage and ambition of past engineers without pretending that every purpose or consequence was good. Engineering is never neutral in its impact. What we build affects land, labour, communities, power and future generations. By the middle of the 18th century, Britain had builders, surveyors, millwrights, military engineers and skilled craftspeople who understood individual parts of the challenge. What the country increasingly needed were people who could connect those parts together. People who could look at a coalfield and see a transport network. Look at a river and see a navigation route. Look at a dangerous reef and see a lighthouse. Look at a growing town and see roads, bridges, drainage, water and public health. Civil engineers did not appear because ...
    続きを読む 一部表示
    14 分
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
まだレビューはありません