Submitted by Samantha Archetti on Fri, 16/01/2015 - 11:32
CSIC’s Cam Middleton appeared on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire’s Sue Dougan show to discuss how CSIC technologies are helping to safeguard the future of the Scotland’s Forth Road Bridge along with various other key strategic structures.
Professor Middleton explained the range of sensing technologies CSIC is developing to help monitor and maintain buildings and infrastructure throughout the UK, including Crossrail.
Conversation covered infrastructure being at the top of the political agenda nationally and internationally and how embedding CSIC technologies in buildings and infrastructure could create a ‘nervous system’ to enable structures to ‘talk’ to engineers and contractors.
“In every aspect of our life, underpinning it, is our infrastructure,” said Professor Middleton.
“All the political parties realise how economic wellbeing is dependant on well - performing modern infrastructure to provide the transport, energy, water and waste – all the key parts of our life that tend to be forgotten until something goes wrong.
“CSIC really is at the leading edge worldwide with a whole range of innovative technologies which, for the first time, are providing that capability to really understand how structures perform. At CSIC we not only develop the new technologies but work with our industry partners to actually apply them on site.”
To hear the interview in full listen to 15/01/2015, Sue Dougan in the Afternoon - BBC Radio Cambridgeshire bbc.co.uk (start iPlayer at 22:11)
Cam Middleton is Laing O’Rourke Professor of Construction Engineering and a Co-Investigator at the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction at the University of Cambridge (CSIC).