In the latest instalment of Insider’s Q&A series on the Northern Powerhouse, Leah Stuart, a director at Civic Engineers, a civil engineering practice based in Leeds and Manchester as well as Glasgow and London, discusses what the initiative means to her, the importance of an efficient, functioning transport system, and the need to collaborate to bring forward high-quality, low-carbon development.

Names: Leah Stuart
Position: Director
Company: Civic Engineers

What does the Northern Powerhouse mean to you?
It’s a strong concept offering a single coordinated identity to allow Northern cities to collaborate and advocate for powers and funding from central government. Something that is vital to improve the competitiveness of the UK on the international stage.

Eight years have passed since the phrase ‘Northern Powerhouse’ was first coined. Has enough happened since then?
No, the concept and arguments have cut through some treasury and Whitehall wrangling; however a combination of austerity, Brexit, the pandemic and the war on the Ukraine has robbed the initiative of resources and political, lobbying bandwidth.

How is the appointment of metro mayors starting to help the initiative?
The metro mayors being fully supportive of safe and equitable movement around towns and cities is a really positive step.

What is the single main issue you would like to see dominate the Northern Powerhouse agenda? 
An efficient, functioning transport system, comprising not only of fast, frequent, reliable and affordable public transport, but also safe and direct walking and cycling routes. Getting the Transpennine service back on track would be a great start.

Is there enough collaboration between towns and cities across the North?
There needs to be significant collaboration to push for high quality, low carbon development with authorities across the North working together to share best practice and engage with investors and developers so that all areas benefit.

For example, introducing nature-based drainage solutions can bring benefits across multiple agendas: water quality; flooding; biodiversity; economic and social. An equity of standards across authorities would force a change and alleviate fears that high quality development is unviable causing investors to go elsewhere.

How would the success of the Northern Powerhouse agenda benefit your business?
More local spending and autonomy in the north, bringing investment in buildings and public spaces, is a great opportunity for us to deliver projects which improve health and wellbeing to the people of the North. We want to attract and retain employees in the north so we want it to be a great place to live.