Member Spotlight
Prof. Anusha Shah, Senior Director, Resilient Cities and UK Climate Adaptation Lead – Arcadis, President – Institution of Civil Engineers
Arcadis is the world’s leading company delivering sustainable design, engineering, and consultancy solutions for natural and built assets. We are more than 36,000 people, in over 70 countries, dedicated to improving quality of life. At Arcadis, our purpose is improving quality of life. We do this by creating livable places where people and communities can thrive. We enhance mobility, so that we can sustainably move in and between our cities. And we work to protect the environment and natural resources for future generations. We focus on finding innovative and lasting solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.
The water industry faces numerous challenges in terms of sustainability and resilience. How do you see the integration of AI and other advanced technologies playing a role in addressing these challenges and driving positive change in the sector? Are there any notable projects or initiatives you have been involved in that demonstrate this potential?
There has been a mounting pressure on the water sector to deliver equitable and resilient services to its customers in light of changing climate risks and socio-economic settings. The use of AI and advanced technologies could be transformational for the water industry, as well as significantly contributing to solutions around climate crisis. Among utilities, there is increased interest in the application of a new generation of technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT), Earth Observations, Digital Twins, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data and Machine Learning (ML) to gain multi-pronged benefits including better asset operations and maintenance, financial investment planning and optimisation, water sourcing, resource optimisation and customer experience. AI/ML helps with better decision making and can thereby help with meeting long-term goals related to sustainability and decarbonisation.
For example, Arcadis has leveraged the power of technology to improve the sustainability and affordability of network operations by autonomously identifying water losses. Our tool, Water Finder, is a digital solution that helps water utilities detect leaks in their water distribution network to reduce non-revenue water (NRW) real losses. It’s a flexible solution which can give timely alerts and notifications of high priority leaks. In another pioneering development, we partnered with Cobalt Water Global in the application of advance data engineering such as AI to reduce harmful nitrous oxide (N2O) output in the wastewater sector by at least 70%. In our partnership with 50 Liters Home Coalition, we are currently working on technology innovation at the water-energy-carbon efficiency nexus.
Circular and nature-based infrastructure are gaining traction as key approaches to sustainability. How does Arcadis highlight and integrate circularity and nature-based solutions in its projects? How can digital solutions and strong partnerships further advance this work in creating resilient and sustainable cities?
We explore how we can collectively ‘invest in our planet’ by delivering nature-based solutions for people and the environment. Crucially, at Arcadis, our nature-based solutions deliver multiple environmental and human benefits that will help us reduce society’s impact and protect our planet for the future. This ranges from enabling and encouraging carbon reduction, to increasing biodiversity net gain, and generating greater wellbeing. Ultimately, all of our nature-based solutions share the same goal – to improve quality of life for the people and communities where we exist. Take our work in Germany’s Bavarian wetland region of Donaumoos, which offers a great example of habitat restoration in action, while creating value for stakeholders. All around the world, our work on projects like these maximise habitat creation and other environmental co-benefits such as flood resilience, erosion resistance and carbon sequestration. This often involves an all-encompassing approach, from the design and planning of nature-based solutions to providing a business case for delivery for projects globally.
Recently, climate change has been exacerbating the effects of nutrient enrichment, which reduces diversity. So, we are also working with local planning authorities and home builders to calculate nutrient loads and develop nature-based solutions to prevent nitrates and phosphates from entering watercourses. These solutions bring additional benefits such as wider biodiversity and carbon reduction, meaning the impact is wide-ranging. Our cost benefit analysis has shown that investing in nature-based solutions can provide a return on investment of 10 times the investment amount. This proves that bringing nature-based solutions in throughout the project lifecycle does pay off.
Arcadis recently collaborated with Yorkshire Water to explore the safe deployment of full-fibre broadband through drinking water pipes, presenting an innovative solution to enhance connectivity. Considering the potential impact on both the utility and telecommunications sectors, how do you foresee this integration of infrastructure systems shaping the future of smart cities, and what are the key challenges and opportunities that arise from such cross-sector collaborations?
The integration of infrastructure systems is a crucial aspect of shaping the future of smart cities, and it brings both significant opportunities and challenges. Opportunities may include efficiency and optimisation of data from utilities, controlling and monitoring consumption would allow for more sustainable practices and improved environmental footprint. The improved data availability would allow fostering of innovation from start-ups and technology companies, driving economic growth and the creation of jobs. All the opportunities would arise from the ability to work together and share data. Can you imagine an effective coordination response to natural disaster for example?
Some of the questions that were brought up in the Fibre in Water project would still offer challenges for smart cities. Regulatory and legal frameworks would need to evolve to accommodate cross-sector collaboration as well as drinking water and telecom regulations, data sharing, and intellectual property issues would need to be addressed. This dovetails nicely into data privacy from sharing information across sectors. The financial investment needed to upgrade the technologies and infrastructure would be a serious undertaking and this without consideration towards whether a smart city has the skilled personnel to handle the data and monitor and maintain the Infrastructure.
Creating a marketplace to broker solutions in sustainability and resilience can help drive progress. How can we establish such a marketplace that facilitates the exchange of innovative ideas and solutions? Additionally, how can digital platforms be utilised to support and enhance this marketplace, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among different stakeholders?
Digital transformation is a top priority for Arcadis. Every day we are using cutting-edge digital solutions that deliver real value to our clients. We also believe in the power of collaboration to unleash innovation for sustainability and resilience. Arcadis has grown its digital and data expertise through acquisition of the software and analytics firms, that aim to improve infrastructure performance and resilience. Broadly speaking, we have adopted a multiple pronged approach to facilitate flow of innovative ideas and solutions. Arcadis Gen is wholly dedicated to providing digital technologies to organisations that manage infrastructure and physical assets – enabling the best intervention and investment decisions possible.
Another key initiative is Expedition DNA that teaches Arcadians to adopt an innovative mindset and build skills to remain competitive in the global market for digital jobs. In Expedition DNA, our people learn to understand the nature of this new competitive digital environment, while developing our digital capabilities at your own pace. Secondly, the recently opened Arcadis Innovation Hub in Amsterdam is being used to develop innovative solutions in a start-up environment and is also home to the Arcadis City of 2030 Accelerator program that we delivered through a partnership with TechStars. We selected ten companies pioneering technologies that will revolutionise how we live, work and travel in cities now and in the decades to come. Innovative solutions that will transform the natural and built environment and improve the quality of life.
Your achievements as the youngest and first female chair of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) London Board and your subsequent appointment as the incoming President are remarkable. What advice would you give to aspiring young professionals seeking to make a similar impact in the field of civil engineering and the smart water sector?
I would advise the younger members to give 150% to their job in hand and also look up and beyond, connect with people from outside their subject area, department and organisation. This helps broaden perspectives and one learns to think in terms of systems early on in one’s career. Understanding those interlinkages and interdependencies between systems and elements of climate, nature, people and economy during our everyday work and projects has now become an imperative for each and everyone.
Secondly, have faith in yourself. Whilst a healthy competition is good, always remember that you are unique. Value yourself and your part in building a safe, green and inclusive society. As infrastructure professionals, we all have a role to play in leveraging the huge opportunity to use the climate crisis to promote the use of nature-based solutions, create more green spaces which provide multiple functions of climate mitigation, adaptation, biodiversity net gain, jobs, economic growth and above all improve health and wellbeing. As young engineers, we have to be fearless while experimenting and amalgamating infrastructure with nature.
Last but not the least, be driven by the right intentions for people and nature. The world needs people who respect people from all backgrounds and abilities and other species we share the planet with. Prioritising diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) when creating and implementing projects and policies are a must. Being inclusive has helped us hatch unconventional cross-sectoral collaborations we would have never imagined. For example, one such partnership that we are part of is 50 Liters Home Coalition. It’s one of its kind partnership between cities, water companies, washing machine manufacturers, consumer goods manufacturers, civil society groups, and more which impacts the usage of water and energy.
