Latest Updates

One year after the establishment of the Engineering Leadership Group (ELG), the new ELG Manifesto has been launched.

The Manifesto advocates for infrastructure that is fit for the future, while outlining actions that can be taken by engineering-inclusive organisations to advance the development of equitable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure. It calls on private sector organisations to work closely with governments towards this goal.

Recently we added two new stars to the team: Shazre Quamber-Hill, Director of Network Strategy and Impact, and George Karagiannis, Engineering Leadership Group Director.
To get to know Shazre and George, we invited them for a Q&A session.

Resilience First is delighted to announce Rick Cudworth as its new Chair.

Rick’s appointment follows the recruitment of Martyn Link as Executive Director who joined Resilience First in September 2022.

Today’s infrastructures were designed 50 or 100 years ago, based on past assumptions. Climate change is already stressing these same systems by exposing them to greater hazard intensities than what they were originally designed for. How does organisational resilience need to adapt for the future?

A new report on steps needed to achieve whole of society resilience has been produced by Resilience First in collaboration with PA Consulting. ‘Whole of society reslience: Steps to success’ report focuses on activity that aligns with the UK Government’s Resilience Framework ambitions, which can be developed and actioned over the coming year.

Supply chains have recently been facing increasing pressure from multiple stressors, including the global Covid-19 pandemic (and Brexit in the UK), and in 2023 these strains do not seem to be slowing down.

In this article, we delve into the top supply chain challenges, and what businesses are doing to address them, remain resilient, and not only survive, but thrive in 2023 and beyond. 

Improving an entire country’s ability to prepare for, respond to and recover from extremely challenging events is a monumental task. What can you do as a business leader to shape a better, more resilient future for all?

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report (2020), more than half the world’s GDP ($44tn) is at risk of disruption due to nature loss. Nature-positive business models on the other hand, have the potential to generate $10 trillion in annual business opportunities and create 395 million jobs by 2030.

Resilience First responded to the Race to resilience Campaign on the significance of COP15 and the role that the UNFCC High Level Climate Champions can play in putting a spotlight on the biodiversity conservation agenda.

Personal Resilience is a Mind Set. Most of our formal education and training systems don’t produce this quality as a learning outcome in their graduands. If we are to achieve a whole of society approach to national resilience, then we also have to have a ‘whole of the person’ approach to education, training and learning.

What should leaders do to create a thriving workplace that people will not only want to join and stick around in, but that will inspire creativity, innovation and high performance?

July 2022 was the month that Boris Johnson resigned, and the launch of PAS 808. One gained more press attention than the other. However, whilst Boris is consigned to the backbenches, purpose is gathering momentum. As businesses face an increasingly uncertain 2023, the words of The Purpose Upgrade resonate. “Change your business to save the world. Change the world to save your business”.

The tragedy that occurred in June 2017 was completely avoidable. 5 years on, there are still important lessons to learn.

Resilience First, in partnership with the Fire Protection Association, brought together a panel of industry experts over a live session discussing the outcomes of Phase 2 of the inquiry, the revised regulatory landscape and the implications for businesses. What does the Grenfell Tower Inquiry mean for business from a regulatory and advisory standpoint?

An industrial fire, or indeed any major incident will significantly disrupt a business. How well prepared and resilient that business is, will be critical in determining the scale of the impact. In this article, we will look at the effects of industrial fire and what businesses can do to improve their resilience. But first, what do we mean by resilience?

Decarbonising the world is the defining resilience challenge of the early 21st century. The UK is the fastest decarbonising of the G7 countries with 50% of electricity in the UK last year generated by low carbon sources.

70% of carbon emissions come from urban populations. How will the UK achieve this decarbonisation and how do you make already green city regions like Greater Manchester even greener?

The priorities of the rotating Presidency of the United Nations Framework Conference for Climate Change (UNFCCC), this year held by Egypt, included the reduction of emissions, scaling-up of adaptation efforts, enhanced financing and just transition. Resilience First, together with the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure and the Resilience Rising consortium, has proudly supported the Conference with a series of fringe events and the launch of two flagship reports.  

Today at COP27, partners leading the Summary for Urban Policymakers (SUP) released a stand-alone solutions-driven follow-on to its three-volume summary series to inform the design and scale of science-based urban climate solutions.

Today at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, the Summary for Urban Policymakers (SUP) launched a three-volume series of scientific reports to distill the most relevant climate science for urban actors from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Reports (AR6). As a result of a year-long process of co-creation, the SUP reports capture the latest climate science as targeted and accessible messages. It demonstrates how local governments and business leaders can meaningfully accelerate and deepen climate action across the world.

As the world moves on from the pandemic, you would hope that life would become easier. Along with worries about energy supply and inflation brought about by the conflict in Ukraine, the pandemic has thrown up real issues around future supply of materials that we’re all going to need in the fight against climate change, and real concerns around what it may mean if demand cannot be met.

As increasing numbers of businesses become aware of climate change and what it takes for them to limit its effects on the world around us, sustainability is becoming more of a focus. Transport in particular, is something concerning both individuals and companies – in 2019, this sector was responsible for 27% of the UK’s total emissions. 

While consumers are more widely embracing the electric vehicle, it also makes sense for businesses too. In this article, we’re going to focus on the ways in which companies can utilise EVs as part of their overall sustainability strategy, while helping employees and customers alike understand how electric cars are good for the environment.

Significant rises in fuel and food bills across the board in the UK will increasingly bite over the coming year and particularly if there were to be a long, harsh winter. The important question that arises from the cost-of-living crisis is whether pressures could see current industrial unrest over pay escalate into wider social disobedience and even civil disorder. The momentum of campaigns like ‘Don’t Pay UK’ and ‘Enough is Enough’ in one indicator. If a large swathe of the population cannot afford to heat its homes or to feed itself, or both, then wider civil unrest may not be far around the corner.

The UK government is seeking to review its approach to climate change adaptation and is currently consulting with stakeholders on this.

The National Adaptation Programme is the Government’s strategy to address the main risks and opportunities identified for England and is reviewed every five years. DEFRA is now in the process of gathering evidence for the next review to be released in June 2023.

COVID has taught us that we should always be prepared for an unexpected external shock that will disrupt our normal business operations.

Resilience First has been working with our members, CIS Security, on our Operational Resilience guide, focusing on Preparation. The full report is now available but let’s look at some of the key messages that we can learn from their experience of the pandemic and what preparation meant to them.