Bridges 2026: A call for bold and innovative ideas

12 March 2026

Our Director Andrew Hodgkinson took part in a panel discussion at Bridges Conference 2026 around the topic of “Introducing Change”, and called for engineers to challenge the status quo and use their influence to create environments and influence procurement routes that support bold and innovative ideas.

Citing the example of our refurbishment project for the A13 River Lea Crossing, which was originally scheduled for replacement, Andrew highlighted the benefits of challenging the bridge replacement brief – a 50% reduction in embodied carbon, a reduction in traffic disruption, as well as significant cost savings.  The key, he said, was proposing the new approach early, and being willing to challenge the brief.