Out of sight, out of mind

Proof, if ever it was needed, that people prefer a ‘fit and forget’ approach to the world around them has been shown by the general reaction to bridge collapses in Genoa and, earlier in the year, Miami – how could this happen? Lack of interest and understanding of how the world works is often partly to blame.

This is an age when nearly everything is handed to us ‘on a plate’. Connectivity, communication and access to the entire wealth of human knowledge are readily available by the smartphone in the pocket. How that information gets there or how the phone communicates and connects with the world is of no consequence, bar the odd grumble about loss of signal or lack of Wi-Fi.

As it is with everyday objects, so the same applies to our infrastructure. “It’s there and it works” is the extent of interest. Unless tragedy strikes of course: Grenfell, Miami, Genoa – the list will keep growing if awareness and consideration of the engineering that underpins the working world is not raised.

Happily, there are standout efforts to educate while entertaining. The BBC produced a wonderful documentary over the summer, The Five Billion Pound Super Sewer, looking at the construction of the Thames Tideway project. Pipes, tunnels, cofferdams, sewerage systems and lots of concrete – all showcased through great feats of engineering.

Concrete Society members would have recognised the preliminary part of the project, the Lee Tunnel, which was the Overall Winner at The Society Awards two years ago.

Mixed reviews

Perhaps predictably, the national media response to the programme was mixed and in some cases downright snooty. “Too much grey concrete, too many shots of the sludgy brown Thames. Too much excrement, not enough excellence,” was the Telegraph’s pithy review. “The first episode was a rather constipated hour,” sniffed The Times, while the Express dismissed the programme outright, “I struggled to understand who could want to see a sewer being built in so much detail.”

Yet these media outlets are the same ones that desperately seek soundbite quotes from the engineering establishment over why the bridges at Miami and Genoa collapsed. And also the same media that ignored an important story from Highways England, a few days after the incident in Italy, which sought to provide reassurance over the safety and checking procedures for road infrastructure in England, and learn any lessons from Genoa once the Italian investigations are complete.

The most positive review for the programme, and the ethos behind it, neatly surmises the need for changing attitudes, “We are for the most part happy for the whole enterprise to go on out of sight and out of mind. Perhaps this, and programmes like it, are properly raising the noble and essential profession of engineer back into the public awareness, encouraging us to honour the work of those without whom our daily lives would very quickly become unendurable.”

The source? Would you believe, The Church Times.

Taken from Concrete September 2018. Visit: www.concrete.org.uk / www.concrete-magazine.com