How We Build Britain
A podcast about energy, infrastructure and industry. Exploring why Britain no longer seems to value building, making and engineering things… and what it would take to change that.
How We Build Britain
Latest Episodes
Are we actually bad at buying British?
Britain's public sector spends close to £400 billion a year (with £90bn of government contracts). So are we really failing to buy British?In this episode I look at the evidence, which suggests that the majority of direct public sector pr...
Beer, bread and bombs: why industrial foundations matter
In 2018, Britain started running short of beer.The cause was not breweries, hops or malt. It was carbon dioxide, and one of the reasons for the shortage was that fertiliser plants had stopped making fertiliser.That strange connect...
Industrial intelligence: Why not knowing what Britain makes is holding us back
Britain is talking seriously about reindustrialisation again. But do we know our own industrial capabilities well enough to decide what to retain, what to build and where to invest?In 1940, Britain had to answer a version of that questio...
Reindustrialisation: what Britain in 2026 can learn from 1897
In June 1897, the Royal Navy assembled the greatest fleet in the world at Spithead for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Among the vessels in attendance was a small experimental boat from the Tyne called Turbinia.By the end of the day, s...
Has Brexit damaged British industry?
Has Brexit damaged UK industry?Ten years on from the referendum, the debate is still dominated by politics. But what does the evidence actually show?In this episode, Rob Gilbert examines the Brexit balance sheet for British indust...
