Professor Austin Smyth is a Transport Professional with diverse experience and skills gained through academic, consultancy and strategic management roles with a track record of formulating, advising and contributing to the delivery, impact and implementation of effective strategic transport plans both at National/Regional Government, and Corporate level. Brings a history of senior operational leadership and Board level experience. He has more than twenty five years experience in research and consultancy worldwide. He has experience of working for a variety of public and private sector clients in various EU States, Russia and Eastern Europe as well as North America, the Middle East and Thailand. He has advised Governments, Devolved Administrations and Local Authorities as well as public transport operators on urban rail systems and intercity rail systems in the UK, USA, The Middle East, Russia and Ireland. Austin has undertaken commissions from The European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)/European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT), the Office of Deputy Prime Minister Department for Transport, the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Office, Department for Regional Development (NI), Department of Education (NI), the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council, the Scottish and Northern Ireland Forum on Environmental Research (SNIFFER), InterTrade Ireland as well as a variety of local government and private sector transport operators in rail, air and bus sectors, including London Underground Limited, the Tyne and Wear PTE and Translink.


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Ros Wall is a senior policy advisor for Infrastructure UK, the unit within HM Treasury set up in December 2009 to provide stronger focus on the UK's long-term infrastructure priorities and meet the challenge of facilitating significant private sector investment over the longer term. Ros led on the development of the National Infrastructure Plan, launched by the Prime Minister last October, and is now focused on the next iteration of the plan to be published later this year. Ros joined the Treasury from the Department of Transport where she was a policy advisor on a number of areas including local and regional transport funding and sustainable travel as well as private secretary to the Rail Minister.

Presentation: How Can Infrastructure Best Meet the Needs of the Economy?

Better infrastructure drives competitiveness and supports economic growth by reducing business cost and increasing productivity. The UK must ensure that its infrastructure meets the needs of business. How can Government best support the planning, investment and delivery of our economic infrastructure - the networks in energy, transport, digital communication, flood protection, water and waste management - on which business and individuals depend?

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Edward Lord became chairman of the 4ps board in September 2005, on the nomination of the Local Government Association (LGA) having served as Deputy Chairman of the LGA's Improvement Board during 2004-2005. He remains as Chairman following the creation of the Local Partnerships joint venture in August 2009. He is a member of the LGA Improvement Board as well as the LGA's Executive Board. He is a graduate of the leadership academy of the Improvement & Development Agency for Local Government.

An elected member of the City of London Corporation since February 2001, Edward serves on the Policy & Resources, Finance and Establishment Committees and is deputy chairman the Licensing Committee. He has previously been a member of the City of London Police Authority, London Port Health Authority and Planning & Transportation Committee.

He is a Justice of the Peace sitting at the City of London Magistrates' Courts and, hearing appeals, at the Old Bailey and Southwark Crown Court.

Presentation: Enabling Infrastructure Development

Discussing how the infrastructure investment plans will allow the economy to flourish. The UK is one of the most expensive countries in which to build infrastructure. The government aims to improve the UK planning system to encourage new sources of private capital, address regulatory failures, bring down the costs of construction and enable innovative local solutions.

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Tracey Stone has worked at Autodesk since 2006. Before that she spent ten years at MapInfo (now Pitney Bowes MapInfo) so had a long tenure in the GIS field and now, through her work at Autodesk, is 100% focused on the Infrastructure market, with a specific drive on how GIS and CAD disciplines can come together to improve workflows and offer top range solutions into this field. Tracey lives in the village of Hurst in Berkshire with her partner and three children.

Presentation: Building Information Modelling – It's NOT Just for Buildings

Covering the use of BIM in infrastructure projects and how by adopting BIM practices, sharing information, sharing data and utilising an integrated model for your build that everyone works with, can greatly improve the speed, accuracy and costs of projects.

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Ruari Maybank is the Project Sponsor for utilities at the Olympic Delivery Authority. He is responsible for all utilities infrastructure on the Olympic Park, including construction of a sustainable power station, district heating and cooling system, waste water treatment plant and new networks for electricity, gas, water and telecommunications. Prior to joining the ODA, he spent 10 years providing project and programme management to private finance projects such as Colchester Garrison PFI and Royal School of Military Engineering PPP. His experience also includes programme management of the design and construction of the Millennium Dome and a number of military aircraft projects with BAe Systems.

Presentation: Delivering World Class Infrastructure and Securing Investment

The Olympic Delivery Authority have been responsible for developing a world class infrastructure programme that addressed challenging targets for budget, sustainability and accessibility. Using the London 2012 games as a case study we will explore the combined public and private investment in over £300M of utilities assets and the degree to which they have contributed towards ODA's targets for sustainable infrastructure. The project meets not just the needs of the Games, but also the long term development of East London.

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MBA BSc CEng FICE FIMechE FIET FAPM MInstRE

Prof Tom Foulkes has enjoyed a broad and varied career in the management and delivery of civil, military and mechanical engineering projects. He held senior MoD appointments in weapons development, equipment support, project management and construction before joining the ICE as Director General in 2002, where he leads a vibrant, global £30m/yr organisation focused on people: ICE members, staff and the worldwide society that ICE serves. In this role, his energies are concentrated on helping shape tomorrow's civil engineering profession, creating strategic opportunities for the ICE, increasing its influence in public affairs and revitalising its operations around the world. Engaging with employers across the global industry, stimulating the response to climate change, advocating sustainable infrastructure development and increasing the value of ICE membership are all key activities in his programme. Enhancing operational efficiency, digital/on-line capability and more effective outputs are also high priorities.

Non-executive appointments include Deputy Chairman of TTL (the commercial arm of the ICE), Board Director of Engineering-UK (promoting the engineering profession) and Chairman of Cyntra (a publicly-owned company offering NEC3-based construction services to the social housing sector).

Presentation: Making Projects Happen

Discussing how the infrastructure investment plan might work in practice. What barriers need to be removed in the development process and what are the benefits sustainable investment will bring to the UK economy and local communities?

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David Rooke is the Environment Agency's Acting Director of Flood & Coastal Risk Management. He has over thirty years experience in flood risk and environmental management.

David is a great supporter of professional institutions and is a past President of CIWEM (Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management). David has a degree in civil engineering from the University of Nottingham and is a chartered engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and Fellow of CIWEM.



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Peter Cosmetatos is Director of Policy (Finance) at the British Property Federation where he is responsible for formulating and articulating industry views on a broad range of finance, tax and regulatory matters. He was a member of the Core Group convened by officials at Communities and Local Government and the Treasury after Budget 2009 to explore the options for UK Tax Increment Finance. He continues to work with Government officials, BPF members and other stakeholders to promote the development of a sound TIF structure in the UK in the localism context. Before joining the BPF in 2008, he worked as a tax lawyer focusing particularly on property finance.


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Neil has been involved in public sector policy and delivery for over 20 years. Prior to becoming Chief Executive of CLES in 2003, Neil was an academic geographer in Glasgow, London and Oxford. He is an Honorary Senior Fellow at the Centre for Urban Policy Studies in the School of Environment and Development at the University of Manchester. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts.

In his time at CLES, Neil has been involved in a range of economic development research activity and place making across the UK and Ireland, Europe and beyond. He developed a Future City Game with the British Council, was awarded a Global Fellowship offered by the Norfolk Charitable Trust and is currently involved in a range of research projects and activities across the UK, including work on procurement, new local economic strategies and making local economies strong and resilient to adverse change. Neil is regularly asked to speak and lecture within the UK and internationally. He has recently spoken in Latvia and Denmark.


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