SGN chief: Energy sector should learn lessons from Crossrail

Energy networks undertaking major infrastructure works as part of the net zero transition should learn lessons from mistakes made during the construction of the Crossrail project, an industry boss has said.

SGN chief executive Mark Wild, who previously oversaw the construction of the multi-billion pound rail project, was speaking at Utility Week Forum where he drew parallels between Crossrail and delivering major infrastructure as part of the energy transition.

He said a major issue with the rail project was a “lack of curiosity” about why things were not right.

“A mindset evolved that Crossrail was too big to fail,” he said, urging project managers in the energy sector to be transparent when something was not going to plan. He likened that attitude to the revelations about coverups in the Post Office scandal when “management teams start to lose reality and not tell the truth”.

“Transparency is all. Particularly in a world where you’ve got three transmission companies and six distribution companies, as well as gas companies. It’s easy to become opaque but transparency is all,” he said.

Wild explained that the need for transparency when something did not go to plan was essential to maintain relationships with politicians and decision-makers during Crossrail’s construction. The scheme, he said, enjoyed bi-partisan support throughout but that fell away to more frosty relations by the project’s completion.

“As leaders in energy, we need to strive to get politicians of all hues to back us. Otherwise things simply won’t get built. Bipartisan support existed since 1949, and it still took 70 years. It will take the same spirit and effort as we get into the world of major programmes.”

Wild further highlighted how delays to Crossrail occurred despite tunnel boring and civil engineering parts going to schedule.

“Crossrail thought they were building a civil engineering project – they weren’t; they were building an IT project. It’s the most complex railway in the world. The civil engineering went well, but the digitisation overwhelmed the workforce,” he said.

This will be as true for the energy transition, Wild added. “It will be as much about IT and digital assets as it will about the engineering of civils and mechanical. Provided you can get enough people that will be straightforward. The real issue will be digitisation.”