In The Pipeline - Oct 2019

IT GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE to welcome you to this latest issue of In The Pipeline. We live in times of significant change, and looking through this latest issue I'm reminded that change can be a wholly positive quality. In business terms, it can in fact be synonymous with growth and opportunity. In our news section, you'll find pioneering approaches to protecting our environment and ensuring equality in the workplace. You'll also learn about some innovative new practices when it comes to delaying coastal erosion and a promising new way of recycling plastic - both firsts of their kind in the United Kingdom. Pipe technology always marches on to meet the needs of society and - as you'll discover in a must-read piece from Scottish chair Phil Clisham - new standards are now being drawn up to help us all understand current best practice for buried pipes. The word "entrepreneur" is associated with thinking and doing things in new and different ways, and in this issue we hear from two successful individuals doing just that. In our Q&A, Fabio Orlandi of PIPA Ltd reveals how some proverbial "outside the box" thinking saw him find and develop a new business opportunity. An in this year's Prestige Lecture, interim COO of Cadent Howard Forster urged us all to become "The Entrepreneurial Engineer" by embracing improvement. Finally, I'd like to echo a few words from a speaker at the Midland Branch Dinner. We could all perhaps make a few changes and improvements in our lifestyles to cut out stress and stay healthy at work. Easier said than done, perhaps, but a goal worth aiming for! Enjoy the issue.