The first edition of Infrastructure Intelligence of 2022 highlights the key issues of social value, climate change, sustainable transport and the challenge to retain and grow talent and digital transformation, says Andy Walker in his latest editor's comment.

Welcome to the first Infrastructure Intelligence magazine of 2022. Like last year, Covid continues to cast a shadow over all aspects of our lives and the Omicron variant of the virus has created more challenges for businesses, with many countries reintroducing lockdowns and restrictions in an attempt to reduce the spread of the virus.

The enduring effects of the pandemic will continue to be felt over the coming months, but we have to hope that the effectiveness of the vaccine roll-out programme will continue to reduce the severity of the pandemic and that slowly but surely our industry will adapt to the new ways of working that we have all had to get used to over the past two years.

It is clearer than ever before that the construction and infrastructure sector is crucial to the UK’s economic recovery from Covid. In 2022 we need to see not just shovels in the ground but real and impactful projects taking shape up and down the country that make a positive difference to people’s lives. 

The value that our sector delivers to society will be centre stage over the coming 12 months and Infrastructure Intelligence will be looking to promote this at every opportunity. Social value will be a key theme for the industry in 2022 along with the enduring and vital issues of climate change, sustainable transport, the challenge to retain and grow talent and digital transformation. 

As ever, Infrastructure Intelligence will continue to provide a voice for construction and infrastructure on all these issues and more over the coming year.   

Andy Walker is the editor of Infrastructure Intelligence.

Click here to download the January/February 2022 edition of Infrastructure Intelligence.