At this year’s Offsite Expo, Calum Barrett, Head of the Construction Engineering Team at Transport for London (TfL) and Director at the Temporary Works Forum, joined a panel discussion on retrofit and innovation across large client organisations.
Speaking with the Industrialised Construction Journal, he reflects on TfL’s unique position as both a major public client and a vast asset owner, and how the organisation is working to bring greater collaboration and innovation into its projects.
“Big client organisations are absolutely open to supplier innovation and contractor innovation to bring through value in our projects,” he explains. “We do it already in pockets, and I think we’d like to see much more of it, much more engagement from the supply chain to say: how can we unlock value over the whole lifetime of the asset?”
TfL’s asset base, Calum notes, is extraordinarily diverse. From roads and railways to homes, river services and even cable cars, the variety of infrastructure presents both opportunities and challenges for standardisation.
“No two projects are always going to be the same,” he says. “So trying to create a standardised way of working with the supply chain is definitely the way to go.”
To achieve this, TfL is prioritising early contractor engagement, bringing suppliers into project discussions from the outset to ensure design and delivery decisions align with long-term operational and maintenance goals.
“We look to engage with our maintenance colleagues and the asset strategy team and find out what the common pitfalls are, what’s costing money over the lifetime of the asset,” he explains. “Through design and quality delivery, we can make sure those instances are reduced and that we ultimately deliver a better outcome for TfL’s customers.”
This long-term view reflects TfL’s broader ambition to ensure public investment delivers maximum value. “If we can save money throughout the life cycle of the asset,” Calum adds, “that’s more money invested into the infrastructure – better trains, better air conditioning, better ridership and a better customer experience.”
Beyond core transport infrastructure, TfL’s estate strategy is evolving rapidly through Places for London – a wholly owned subsidiary tasked with unlocking the potential of land surrounding the network.
“Places for London have taken over a lot of the land that sits outside the operational transport infrastructure,” he explains. “They’re now looking to develop this land to create amazing places for the people of London.
“That might mean delivering some of the Mayor’s homes targets, creating new business opportunities, or opening up land previously thought too difficult to develop.”
This strategy has already led to major mixed-use over-station developments such as Southwark OSD, which combine transport upgrades with new homes, retail and public spaces. “It just goes to show the diversity of our asset base,” says Calum. “From railways to real estate, the scope of what we do is far broader than most people realise.”
Calum believes this model – leveraging underused land and integrating it with operational transport – reflects a wider shift among major infrastructure owners.
“It’s not just TfL,” he says. “Network Rail did it with their Arches portfolio. A lot of landowners across the UK are realising they’ve got this diverse asset base, and they’re seeing the benefit of utilising it in a more efficient way.
“It provides a new revenue stream, improves usability, and ultimately delivers better value for the public.”
As London continues to grow and space becomes ever more constrained, TfL’s approach demonstrates how public bodies can lead the way in maximising the value of existing assets, through innovation, partnership and smarter use of the built environment.
