I recently compiled a feature on infrastructure resilience for Building. Resilience is a fascinating, if rather scary aspect of the industry affecting investment, planning and operation. I had not fully appreciated how complex the world of resilience has become – and how unpredictable a cascade of events could be once a risk event has occurred. 

As part of my research, I looked at the North Hyde substation fire. This is the trigger event that resulted in the closure of Heathrow airport earlier this year. One of the more surprising findings of the inquiry into the fire was not so much that a power supply failure could trigger a shutdown of the airport, but that neither of the key parties – National Grid and Heathrow – had discussed and built mitigation actions into their operations. 

They had a blind spot and judged that the risk was remote. Neither party had considered the potential for a chain reaction.