From blue skies to blueprints – innovation in the built environment
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If there’s one thing our industry is good at, it’s waiting until something goes wrong before we do anything differently.
As engineers, we’re natural problem solvers and often change the way we think to overcome challenges. But if you ask an engineer whether they’d call themselves an ‘innovator’, they’d probably shrug their shoulders in response.
The truth is: innovation has always been a core part of who we are.
Long before digital twins, climate dashboards or artificial intelligence, engineers relied on raw ingenuity, technical skill and gut feeling. Those moments of being forced to think on our feet drove innovation long before we ever gave it a name.
Nowadays I imagine some still think of “innovation” as a meaningless buzzword that, when spoken aloud, makes you want to break the fourth wall - as if you were in an episode of The Office.
And while it is invisible, it’s that can’t‑quite‑put‑your‑finger‑on‑it, propelling force that, when done well, quietly nudges us toward more thoughtful, well considered solutions.
Innovation has emerged from need, not desire
Throughout history, innovation has often emerged from need rather than desire.
It’s normally in the bleakest of moments, on cold, wet sites where something didn’t align, connect or perform the way it was meant to, that we engineered our way around the problem.
Take the Royal Albert Dock as an example. Now a major tourist attraction, the backdrop to decades of school holidays (mine included) and cultural landmark – with or without the scrapped UNESCO badge (we don’t talk about UNESCO, no, no, no).
But before its revival, it was near‑derelict, widely written off and edging towards demolition. What changed its course wasn’t a grand regeneration plan, but a practical response to uncertainty.
Faced with a structure that hand calculations – the trusted method at the time – could not justify alone, our founder Bill Curtin chose to load‑test it, verifying structural behaviour that theory could not confidently explain.
That decision rippled outward: supported university‑led research, informed industry guidance on the structural use of brick diaphragm walls still used today and crucially, helped save the Albert Dock.
In moments like this, time is not made for innovation – the situation demands it. This work wasn’t driven by ambition or status, but by necessity – quiet, remarkable and only fully recognised in hindsight.
Bill’s work exemplified the tenacity that remains one of the greatest strengths of engineers. But the pace and complexity of today’s challenges demand more - they’re too interconnected, too systemic and too unpredictable.
The challenges don’t respect silos, so our thinking can’t either. In a sector as inherently risky and uncertain as the built environment, challenges aren’t an ‘if’ – they’re a ‘when’. And when things do go wrong, there’s often a bit of a scramble to point fingers – a cultural hangover that can slow progress. Anticipation should be our default mood.
Arriving at Innovation Through the Unexpected
Innovation is no longer solely driven by in‑the‑moment brilliance or lone‑wolf heroics.
It thrives in the messy collision of disciplines and lives in the chorus of diverse perspectives that previously had never been mixed.
And it’s in the most unlikely places, unconventional partnerships and unexpected ideas that we find the greatest solutions.
What we can learn from Indiana Jones
An anecdote shared by Innovate UK Business Connect exemplifies this kind of cross‑sector knowledge pull.
Muon tomography (the process of effectively seeing through ground without digging) is a method long used in particle physics, volcanology and archaeology, but has recently found success in the built environment as a non‑invasive way to identify and inspect ageing underground infrastructure for ongoing asset management (Smith, 2020).
While this may be old news for some, it’s brilliant for us - not only highlighting the wealth of exchangeable knowledge sitting in distant sectors but also suggesting that maybe there’s still more to learn from Indiana Jones after all.
Embracing innovation in the modern age
Innovation is just as unruly as the problems we’re trying to fix.
It’s chaotic, occasionally inconvenient and rarely complies with Gantt charts or workflows. And that’s precisely why we need it. The more uncertainty the world throws at us, the more agility becomes resilience.
We’ve seen what happens when innovation is left to marinate across the industry - the ‘revolutions’ between hand drawings, to CAD, to the BIM age took so long to fully embed that the next technological wave is already looming before we’ve finished adjusting to, and accepting, the last one.
Accelerating to the Information Era
If the industry had its own Eras Tour, the latest would be the Information Era – where data-led decisions supported by digital transformation are the direction of travel.
This era will push the industry to innovate faster than ever, as progress is accelerating at a pace we can’t control – and for a sector that has historically lagged behind and often arrives late to the party, that’s a daunting prospect.
The national RAAC crisis is a clear example of this. Issues can simmer quietly in the background for decades and then erupt into action overnight. When that happens, agility matters.
And yes, reactive innovation is necessary, but it begs a simple question: if we can innovate with that level of urgency because of a crisis, what might we achieve if we channel the same energy before we’re backed into a corner trying to resolve one?
R&D’s Role
That’s where research and development adds real-time value.
Done properly, R&D gives businesses a safe space to explore ideas, navigate uncertainty, test options and, crucially, fail.
It prompts earlier questioning instead of last-minute firefighting and builds an environment where curiosity isn’t tolerated but expected.
Innovation isn’t a silver bullet – it’s a lens that enables us to look inward at the work already being done and find better, more considered ways of delivering it.
Don’t save innovation for when you have time
Innovation also needs the things we’re bad at prioritising: time and trust.
Not “if the meeting finishes early” time. Not “when the project settles down” time.
Actual, deliberate, ring-fenced space to encourage thinking, exploring, sketching, testing, challenging and imagining.
Embracing Generational Insight
Admittedly, no single approach fits every context. A harmony of generational insight is required.
Where emerging professionals typically bring energy, digital confidence and a willingness to question convention, experienced colleagues provide direction shaped by judgement, context and lessons learned.
Innovation rarely comes from a single clever individual, but from the space between many. We must nurture a culture that is defined not by what we safeguard, but by our willingness to evolve.
Shifting Behaviours
All of this points to an industry slowly (emphasis on slowly) but surely shifting behaviours. Innovation is not a buzzword and won’t be defined by a single breakthrough, method or technology. It’s the mindset that shapes how we approach every part of our work.
Where creative thinking is part of delivery and cross‑disciplinary collaboration is the norm.
Where to next?
If the past taught us determination and resourcefulness, and the present teaches us collaboration and curiosity, then the future will ask something even greater of us: bravery.
The bravery to think laterally, work with unfamiliar disciplines, challenge long-standing assumptions and embrace solutions not yet imagined.
Much of this work happens quietly, often unseen, yet its influence is unmistakable.
It guides the decisions we make, the risks we prepare for and the legacy we leave behind.
And when we choose to move from reaction to intention, we won’t merely adapt to the world as it is – we will help shape the next one.
