Engineering Matters

In this episode, we tell the story of MERMAID from the Wildlife Conservation Society, this year’s Engineering Matters Awards Environment Gold Champion. Emily Darling, director for coral reef conservation at WCS, describes why scientists need better ways of sharing coral data, and how MERMAID helps them do so.

Rita Bento, a researcher at NYU Abu Dhabi joins the episode, in an interview recorded in January 2026, to describe the work the university has been doing with regional partners to map coral reefs in the Persian-Arabian Gulf. And Angie Braithwaite, co-founder of Blue Alliance, describes how the nonprofit organization is using Mermaid to understand the effectiveness of marine protected areas.

MERMAID allows the scientists to more easily map and understand the world’s coral reefs, helping identify those that are more resilient to climate change. Its latest update adds more, using AI to speed up the slow work of identifying species in reefs.

Guests

Emily Darling, director for coral reef conservation, WCS

Rita Bento, researcher, NYU Abu Dhabi

Angie Braithwaite, co-founder, Blue Alliance

Category sponsor
Support for this episode and the Environment Champion Category comes from FuturePlus. FuturePlus helps businesses measure, manage and improve their environmental and social impact – with a live ESG platform and a named expert to guide you through it. Three hundred businesses are already Impact Certified, from hospitality to engineering. Find out more at future-plus.co.uk
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Around the world, engineers are working to protect the environment. In this episode, we introduce eight companies who are taking steps to safeguard the natural world. All have been shortlisted for the Engineering Matters Awards.

The first three shortlisted entries look at ways of understanding the natural world. Petra Ringeltaube explains how RWE’s SeaMi is taking a less invasive, ecosystems-based approach to monitoring biodiversity on wind farms. Emily Darling of the Wildlife Conservation Society explains how its tool MERMAID is allowing coral scientists to share data, and now, with new AI tools, identify species on reefs. Next, Peter Salome explains a new tool from Fugro that will speed the delivery of vital new subsea powerlines.

We then look at the challenges of building new homes and the infrastructure needed to support them, while limiting harmful environmental impacts. Edward Selvey, a senior ecologist with Avove describes how the company helped mitigate the biodiversity impact of a new water pipeline. Helen Gibbon, a director at Renaissance, explains how the engineers implemented sustainable drainage for a new estate in Salford. And Siobhan Warfield-Beattie talks us through how Ayesa helped lower the carbon impact of a wastewater treatment plant in Arklow. At Derne Reach, in Yorkshire, Olivia Rowe tells us, Mott MacDonald Bentley has taken a different approach to wastewater, helping build an integrated constructed wetland.

Finally, we learn about two projects seeking to restore nature. Matthew Hay of Nattergal describes the company’s work at High Fen Wildland, where it is helping re-wet peatlands, in a way that shows how boosting nature can be a commercially viable investment. And Nick Cooper of Haskoning describes how the company has helped remove colliery waste from a Northumberland coastline.

Stay tuned to the end of the episode to learn which entries won a position in this year’s awards.

Guests

Petra Ringeltaube, environmental manager, RWE

Emily Darling, director, coral reef conservation, WCS

Peter Salome, innovation manager, Fugro

Edward Selvey, senior ecologist, Avove

Helen Gribbon, director, Renaissance

Siobhan Warfield-Beattie, marketing director, Ayesa

Olivia Rowe, project leader, Mott MacDonald Bentley

Matthew Hay, natural capital manager, Nattergal

Nick Cooper, technical director, Haskoning

Category sponsor

Support for this episode and the Environment Champion Category comes from FuturePlus. FuturePlus helps businesses measure, manage and improve their environmental and social impact – with a live ESG platform and a named expert to guide you through it. Three hundred businesses are already Impact Certified, from hospitality to engineering. Find out more at future-plus.co.uk
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In its seventh Allocation Round the UK executed the largest offshore wind auction in European history, putting pen to paper on 8.4GW of new capacity, enough to power 10 million homes. Allocation Round 8 is expected to be even more ambitious, as the UK looks to upgrade its radar systems to enable a 10GW installation, according to Windtech International.

Offshore wind projects require complete understanding of conditions on, and below, the seabed. As projects proliferate and demand for surveys and more accurate data becomes truly vast, the deployment of cutting edge technology becomes essential.

Uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) patrolling the surface and remotely operated vehicles diving beneath the waves have been key to sustainable offshore operations. Not just in environmental terms and added human safety, but to achieve reasonable operational costs in increasingly asset-rich coastal seas.

From the early, smaller vessels designed for a specific purpose, designers and builders have increased size and diversified the capabilities of individual platforms. Today, Fugro’s Blue Prism®, it’s first fully dedicated site screening geophysics USV – can do much more. In this episode, we look at these state-of-the-art vessels, the challenges of multi-sensor data collection and how they can help meet the unprecedented demand for timely surveys.

Guests

Roger Birchall, Technical Authority – Geophysics, SSE Renewables

Marco Gilissen, Global Director – Marine Geophysics, Fugro

Simon McIlroy, Survey Systems Architect, Fugro

Resources

To learn more about the Geo Risk Management Framework mentioned in the episode, listen to the first part of a three part episode we released last year: click here

Partner

Fugro is the world’s leading Geo-data specialist, collecting and analysing comprehensive information about the Earth and the structures built upon it. Through integrated data acquisition, analysis and advice, Fugro unlocks insights from geo-data to help clients design, build and operate their assets in a safe, sustainable and efficient manner.
The post #363 Uncrewed Vessels and Unprecedented Data first appeared on Engineering Matters.

The London skyline is undergoing perhaps its most significant transformation in decades as a new ‘vertical renaissance’ is sending tremors of excitement from Guildhall to Mansion House. The City of London Corporation says that over half a million square metres of office space was granted planning permission in the City in 2025, equivalent to more than ten ‘Gherkins’ with around half of this amount already under construction. 

This includes the leviathan 309.6m ‘1 Undershaft’ which will be as tall as the Shard when completed.

But it is not all about the capacity, unlike the Financial Fortresses of the 20th century, as the earlier skyscrapers in the City were sometimes called, the new structures will be more open to the street, with pedestrian access, parks and commercial arcades, to make the city feel more vibrant and less sterile, than it has to previous generations.

The City’s largest office building, 22 Bishopsgate has led the way in a period of challenging economic headwinds, fully occupied and seeing record high rents, it is perhaps the first of these post-financial crash, vertical villages in the Square Mile that can be considered part of this renaissance.

Guests

Paul Hargreaves, Construction Director, Lipton Rogers

David Healy, Mechanical and Electrical Lead, WSP in the UK

Amy Holtz, Director – Head of Sustainability, PLP Architecture

Diego Padilla-Philips, Technical Director, WSP in the UK

Partner

As one of the world’s leading engineering professional services consultancies, WSP brings clarity and vision to complex challenges. Their team of technical specialists and strategic advisers across the UK is part of a talented global family of expertise. Together, they ensure innovative solutions solve complex problems for our clients and the communities we serve, meeting both the needs of today and addressing the challenges of the future.
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Humanity’s furthest ever journey into space has been delayed. Again. An interruption to the flow of helium forced NASA to scrap the revised 6 March launch date of the Artemis II mission, and begin the slow process to roll the increasingly unfortunate rocket back to the vehicle assembly bay.

While the delays are frustrating for the engineers involved, and space enthusiasts alike, every precaution has to be taken when a human crew is involved.

While we wait for this historic mission, we thought we would revisit an episode where we examined progress in robotic systems in space. The deployment of which removes the risk to human life and will be a critical part of the future of space operations. A future that Artemis 2 crew will spearhead.

Space offers certain conditions that make it more favourable to manufacturing than Earth. Near zero gravity, extreme cold temperatures and a complete vacuum means certain industries such as quantum computing, semiconductors and human organ growth have already demonstrated the benefits of being manufactured in space. We explore how close we are to seeing manufacturing industries existing in space and what barriers there currently are. 

In this episode, two experts from the Satellite Applications Catapult explain how they are working with a variety of companies in the in-orbit service and manufacturing sector to try and make the UK a world leader in this new frontier of space.

Guests

Mike Curtis-Rouse, Head of Access to Space, Satellite Applications Catapult

Jeremy Haddall, Robotics Development Lead, Satellite Applications Catapult

Partner

The Satellite Applications Catapult is one of nine Catapults, uniquely established to transform the UK’s capability for innovation in specific areas and to help drive future economic growth. They work with companies of all sizes in the UK space sector to help with their business, access to infrastructure for testing and bringing their product to market.
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