February 2011
Halcrow was one of two platinum sponsors of The Ideas Economy: Intelligent Infrastructure conference in New York earlier this month. Hosted by the weekly news and international affairs publication The Economist, the event explored a range of innovative solutions to help meet the challenges posed by the rising global population.
This conference was attended by some of the world’s top influencers, and examined the challenges of energy, architecture, information, transportation, finance, and cities of the future. Participants discussed innovative and thought provoking ways to remove the obstacles standing in the way of economic development and human progress.
Michael Della Rocca, group board director and president of Halcrow’s North American business moderated a session on “Money and the modern planet: what creative financing models can build and sustain the infrastructure of tomorrow?” Panellists included Andrew Price, the company’s chief economist; Marcia Hale, president of Building America’s Future Educational Fund; and George Bilicic, chairman of power, utilities and infrastructure at Lazard.
Halcrow’s short film, “Designing financing models for sustainable infrastructure”, was shown to help set the scene. The film highlights the view that funding global infrastructure has become a daunting task - especially in today’s economic climate.
Commenting on the need for well managed and maintained infrastructure as a prerequisite for global economic stability and growth, Andrew Price said “The investment needed to tackle the challenges posed by urbanisation, population growth and climate change is considerable, running into several trillion dollars over the next 30 years. Globally, we need to make better use of our existing infrastructure, ensuring that it is being used as effectively as possible. In addition, the private sector needs to play a much greater role in funding the increased level of infrastructure spending that is required to help maintain and fuel future economic growth.”
Mark Gabriel, Halcrow’s senior vice president of the company’s power business later spoke on the topic of smart grid technology and how it is set to play a pivotal role in the supply of energy – and as a way of addressing energy independence, global warming and emergency resilience issues..