Geri Silverstone

Chief Executive, Silverstone Communications

Speaking on the recent clean energy report from Curia, Sprint facilitator Geri Silverstone says the South East does not lack ambition or opportunity – it lacks the coordinated infrastructure and leadership needed to deliver them. (Image: The Clean Energy Sprint at the Get Britain Growing: South East conference. Photo: Silverstone Communications)

Energy sits at the heart of almost every challenge and opportunity facing the South East. From economic growth and regeneration to public health, housing delivery, industrial competitiveness, and climate responsibility, our ability to generate, move and use clean, affordable power will shape the future of our region for decades to come.

The South East is home to critically important national infrastructure – ports, transport corridors, coastal communities, and energy assets – but it is also on the frontline of many of the pressures discussed during this Sprint. Air quality along major freight routes, constrained grid capacity, rising electricity costs, and planning systems that struggle to balance local consent with national need are not abstract policy debates. They are lived experiences for residents, businesses, and councils across Sussex and the wider South East.

This Sprint on Energy and Economic Growth brought together an unusually broad and valuable mix of voices: local government leaders, industry operators, port authorities, energy suppliers, academics, infrastructure specialists, and community representatives. What emerged was not a single silver bullet, but a clear and consistent diagnosis of the problem we face – and a set of practical, grounded ideas for how we begin to address it.

The starting point for the discussion was an implicit but important assumption: the South East must be able to generate more of its own power, closer to where it is used. Long grid connection times, rising transmission costs, and national infrastructure bottlenecks mean that waiting for distant solutions will leave our region exposed. If we want resilient growth, cleaner air, and lower energy bills, local and regional solutions must form a far greater part of the mix.

From Grid Constraints to Local Energy Generation

Participants I met at the Sprint and conference were frank about the scale of the challenge. Ports that could act as hubs for clean energy are constrained by grid access and electricity prices that make electrification commercially unattractive. Airports face ambitious targets for sustainable aviation fuel without a credible supply roadmap. Heavy goods vehicles continue to dominate freight movement in a region with limited rail alternatives, yet the infrastructure for large-scale electrification does not exist. Meanwhile, communities are being asked to absorb the visual and environmental impact of new energy infrastructure without always seeing clear local benefits.

What struck me most was the degree of consensus around the systemic nature of these issues. Again and again, contributors returned to the same themes: fragmented decision-making, siloed expertise, misaligned incentives, and an adversarial planning system that rewards objection rather than collaboration. The South East does not lack knowledge or ambition – it lacks coherence.

Breaking the Planning and Infrastructure Bottleneck

At the same time, this was a positive conversation. The Sprint surfaced a wealth of opportunity – local renewable generation, microgrids, community energy schemes, green roofs, tidal projects, port-based electrification, and innovative regulatory mechanisms all offer tangible ways forward. Crucially, many of these solutions are smaller, more agile, and more reversible than the large-scale infrastructure projects that often dominate national debate.

There was also strong recognition that evidence and trust matter. Whether discussing solar farms, onshore wind, or biodiversity impacts, participants highlighted the need for better shared data and more transparent modelling. The proposal to develop a digital twin of the South East – capable of testing scenarios, trade-offs, and cumulative impacts – is emblematic of the more mature, evidence-led approach that is now required.

This Sprint reinforced my view that delivering the energy transition is not just about technology or targets. It is about leadership. Local political leadership that is prepared to make the case for infrastructure, to engage communities honestly and to articulate the benefits as well as the costs. National leadership that enables regions to act, rather than tying them up in delay and uncertainty.

A Place-Based Strategy for Energy and Growth

The South East has enormous assets: ports, universities, skilled workforces, innovative companies, and engaged communities. Harnessing those assets requires us to move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions and towards a genuinely place-based energy strategy. This report captures the substance of that conversation and sets out a credible path from discussion to delivery.

The challenge now is not understanding what needs to be done. It is having the confidence and co-ordination to do it.

Get Involved

Building on the momentum of this Sprint, in 2026 Curia is now taking forward a programme of work focused on translating these energy insights into practical delivery – including their wider work on new towns and place-based development.

This next phase will bring together policymakers, developers, infrastructure providers, and innovators to explore how clean power can be embedded from the outset in new communities, rather than retrofitted into constrained systems. Those interested can get involved through Curia’s Clean Energy and Environment Research Group, upcoming roundtables, and targeted working sessions, with Mayors and local government leaders from across the UK.

These sessions will shape policy recommendations, pilot projects, and future reports. By participating, stakeholders have the opportunity to directly inform how regional energy systems and new settlements are designed, ensuring that growth is both sustainable and deliverable in practice.

To find out more about this programme, contact Partnerships Director, Ben McDermott at ben.mcdermott@chamberuk.com.

Save the Date:

The Get Britain Growing: South East conference returns to Brighton in 2026. To find out more about the sessions and get more involved, please contact Partnerships Director, Ben McDermott at ben.mcdermott@chamberuk.com.

Save the date 6^th November 2026.

In policy terms, this is a not a new diagnosis. What distinguishes this report from the multitude of others is the consistency of evidence from across sectors – ports, local authorities, energy providers, and infrastructure specialists – all pointing to the same systemic constraints. The central problem is not a lack of ambition or innovation, but a system that struggles to translate either into delivery.

Grid connection delays of up to a decade, connection costs reaching £1 million per project, and electricity prices that undermine electrification all combine to stall otherwise viable schemes. The result is a region caught in a paradox: high demand for clean energy alongside structural barriers that make supply difficult to deliver.

The limits of national infrastructure thinking

One of the report’s most significant contributions is its challenge to the prevailing model of energy system development. Rather than relying primarily on large-scale national infrastructure, the Sprint participants argue for a shift towards more localised, decentralised generation.

This reflects a growing recognition in policy circles that centralised systems alone cannot meet the pace or scale of demand, particularly in regions like the South East where constraints are acute. The report makes the case that generating power closer to where it is used can reduce transmission costs, improve resilience, and deliver visible local benefits.

However, while the argument is persuasive, the report stops short of fully addressing the trade-offs. Local generation can improve flexibility and community buy-in, but it also raises questions about system integration, market design, and equity across regions.

Without clearer articulation of how decentralised systems interact with national infrastructure, there is a risk that “local solutions” become a policy aspiration rather than a scalable model.

Fragmentation as the central policy failure

For those living and working in the South East the conclusion of system fragmentation will not be a surprise. The report returns to the consistent theme articulated at Get Britain Growing conferences across the UK. There is an evident lack of a coherent, shared energy strategy across the South East, despite the presence of substantial expertise and capacity.

Decision-making is described as siloed across institutions and geographies, with no mechanism to align priorities or share evidence effectively. This results in duplicated effort, stalled projects, and missed opportunities – a familiar critique across UK infrastructure policy.

What is notable here is the emphasis on governance rather than funding as the primary constraint. The report suggests that many projects fail not because of insufficient capital, but because of unclear ownership and weak co-ordination. This aligns with broader debates around “system leadership” in UK regional policy, where institutional design – rather than resource scarcity – is increasingly seen as the limiting factor.

The proposed solution, a South East Energy Co-ordination Forum, is pragmatic but raises questions about delivery. The UK has a long history of creating new co-ordination bodies without resolving underlying accountability issues. The effectiveness of such a forum would depend heavily on its authority, resourcing, and integration with national decision-making structures.

Sector-specific pressures highlight system gaps

The report is particularly strong in illustrating how systemic issues manifest in specific sectors.

Ports, for example, are positioned as both an opportunity for a growth and a constraint on infrastructure. They could serve as hubs for renewable energy and electrification yet face grid limitations and electricity pricing that undermine investment. A case study at Shoreham Port demonstrates how even successful infrastructure deployment can fail to achieve uptake when operating costs remain uncompetitive with fossil fuels.

“The South East does not lack knowledge or ambition – it lacks coherence.” Tom Rutland MP, Member of Parliament for East Worthing and Shoreham

Similarly, the electrification of heavy goods vehicles is identified as a looming challenge, with the South East excluded from key infrastructure planning despite its reliance on road freight. Airports face policy commitments on sustainable aviation fuel without a credible supply chain roadmap.

These examples reinforce a broader point: policy ambition is running ahead of delivery frameworks. Targets exist, but the enabling conditions – infrastructure, pricing, and regulatory clarity – are not yet aligned.

Planning reform: necessary but insufficient

The report’s critique of the planning system is unsurprising but well-evidenced. Participants describe a system that is slow, adversarial, and risk-averse, with high upfront costs and long timelines for projects such as onshore wind.

There was an urgent call for reform that shifts planning from a model of objection to one of co-design and collaboration. This reflects wider government rhetoric, but the report implicitly acknowledges that reform alone will not be enough.

Planning barriers are only one part of a wider system failure. Even where consent is achieved, projects may still be unviable due to grid constraints or electricity pricing. The risk is that planning reform becomes a focal point for policy action while deeper structural issues remain unresolved.

The case for a more evidence-led system

One of the more innovative proposals is the development of a “digital twin” of the South East – a shared modelling platform to test energy scenarios, trade-offs, and cumulative impacts.

This reflects a broader shift towards data-driven policymaking and could help address some of the trust and transparency issues identified in the report. By providing a shared evidence base, such a tool could support more informed decision-making and reduce conflict in planning processes.

However, the success of this approach will depend on governance as much as technology. Data alone does not resolve political disagreement; it must be embedded within decision-making frameworks that can act on the insights generated.

From insight to delivery

The report concludes with a practical implementation plan for local and regional government built around four pillars: regional energy mapping, local pilot projects, strategic co-ordination, and planning and skills reform.

Taken together, these proposals form a credible roadmap. As is traditional with Curia reports, they are grounded in actionable insights and reflect a realistic understanding of the system’s constraints.

“The challenge now is not understanding what needs to be done. It is having the confidence and co-ordination to do it.” Geri Silverstone, Chief Executive, Silverstone Communications

Yet the central challenge remains unchanged. As the report itself acknowledges, the issue is no longer understanding what needs to be done but having the co-ordination and leadership to do it.

For policymakers, the lessons are that the South East does not lack ideas or investment potential. It lacks a system capable of aligning them at pace and scale. Until that changes, clean power will remain an opportunity – rather than an anchor – for regional growth.

Get Involved

Building on the momentum of this Sprint, in 2026 Curia is now taking forward a programme of work focused on translating these energy insights into practical delivery – including their wider work on new towns and place-based development.

This next phase will bring together policymakers, developers, infrastructure providers, and innovators to explore how clean power can be embedded from the outset in new communities, rather than retrofitted into constrained systems. Those interested can get involved through Curia’s Clean Energy and Environment Research Group, upcoming roundtables, and targeted working sessions, with Mayors and local government leaders from across the UK.

These sessions will shape policy recommendations, pilot projects, and future reports. By participating, stakeholders have the opportunity to directly inform how regional energy systems and new settlements are designed, ensuring that growth is both sustainable and deliverable in practice.

To find out more about this programme, contact Partnerships Director, Ben McDermott at ben.mcdermott@chamberuk.com.

Save the Date:

The Get Britain Growing: South East conference returns to Brighton in 2026. To find out more about the sessions and get more involved, please contact Partnerships Director, Ben McDermott at ben.mcdermott@chamberuk.com.

Save the date 6^th November 2026.

Photo: CEO, Silverstone Communications, Geri Silverstone, Member of Parliament for Bracknell, Peter Swallow MP. (Silverstone Communications)

In conversation with advanced compute specialist at HP, James Quigley, at the recent Get Britain Growing South East conference, Member of Parliament for Bracknell and Education Select Committee member, Peter Swallow MP, set out a vision for a broad, human-centred education system that balances AI and STEM capability with communication, empathy, and adaptability, arguing that the real opportunity lies not in fearing AI but in equipping people to use it well.

Preparing People, Not Just Systems, for an AI Future

James Quigley
Perhaps we can start by grounding this in something tangible. There’s a lot of excitement, and a fair amount of anxiety, about what artificial intelligence (AI) means for education and skills. From your perspective, how should we be thinking about preparing people for a future shaped by AI?

Peter Swallow MP
I think we all know that in a future that will be dominated by AI, the skills to function in the future workforce – and, of course, a lot of that is skills needed to work with AI – are essential. That feels uncontroversial. But I also think it’s really important, actually, that when AI is going to be taking a lot of the weight in lots of roles, we don’t lose sight of the human-centred skills.

AI is never going to be able to replicate the ability to have a conversation, or the ability to have empathy with another person. If anything, I think those things are going to be more important than ever. So, when we’re thinking about the skills we need in an AI future, yes, technology- and science-centred skills absolutely matter, but so too do communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills – the things that a narrow curriculum can sometimes sideline.

Education as Adaptability, Not Memorisation

James Quigley
That balance between technical capability and human skills feels critical. Does AI pose a threat to more traditional forms of education? Is that something you wanted to pick up here? Do you think the advent of AI is concerning for those more historic forms of education?

Peter Swallow MP
Not really, no – or at least not in the way people sometimes frame it. There’s so much history out there that you can learn now. It’s even easier than just going to Wikipedia and googling it. You can have a whole conversation about something, in much more depth, than was ever possible before.

But that actually reinforces my point. The purpose of education has never been – and should never have been – about teaching people facts alone. It’s not about how much you can tell me about the Battle of 1066 or Thermopylae. The point of education, broadly defined, has always been to give people the skills they need to take on the next problem, apply those skills and solve it.

A Broader Curriculum for an AI Age

James Quigley
So do you see opportunity there, rather than something to be fearful of?

Peter Swallow MP
Very much so. That purpose of education is more important in the age of AI, not less important. I fundamentally believe that government, through the curriculum and assessment review, is looking at a wider curriculum – one that puts more arts and humanities front and centre, alongside much more emphasis on AI and STEM subjects.

People sometimes argue that those things are at odds with each other, but I fundamentally think that’s wrong. The way we make sure we are ready for the next stage is by having that broad curriculum, which allows us to develop the broad set of skills that will be needed in tomorrow’s world.

Adapting Fastest, Not Inventing First

James Quigley
That’s helpful, particularly in the context of what we’ve been hearing today [at the Get Britain Growing South East Conference] about skills pipelines and workforce readiness. From an industry point of view, one concern is whether education systems can adapt quickly enough. How optimistic are you that policy can keep pace?

Peter Swallow MP
I think it has to. If we accept that AI will be embedded across the economy – and I don’t think there’s any serious argument that it won’t be – then the question isn’t whether education changes, but how well and how quickly it does so.

What gives me some optimism is that there is now a much broader recognition that education can’t just be about memorisation or narrow specialism. It has to be about adaptability. And AI, if used properly, can support that rather than undermine it.

Used well, it allows people to explore subjects in more depth, ask better questions and make connections across disciplines. That’s true in schools, universities, and workplaces. The risk isn’t AI itself; the risk is using it badly or not equipping people to use it thoughtfully.

James Quigley
If you connect that back to the wider economic picture, what does this mean for how regions like the South East position themselves?

Peter Swallow MP
On AI, it’s not necessarily the country that invents the technology that wins. It’s the country – or the region – that adapts its economy best to use it. Through skills, training, and employer adoption, the UK is well placed to seize that opportunity.

But that does require leadership. It requires policymakers, employers, and educators to be aligned, and it requires us to think about infrastructure, skills, and community building together, rather than in silos.

James Quigley
That’s a strong note to end on. Thank you.

Final Thought

What emerges most clearly from this conversation is a shared rejection of the idea that AI diminishes the purpose of education. Instead, it sharpens it. Peter Swallow framed AI not as a substitute for human capability, but as a force that makes human judgment, communication, and adaptability more valuable. The discussion moves beyond familiar binaries – technical versus creative, STEM versus humanities – and lands on a more pragmatic viewpoint: the systems and regions that succeed will be those that combine technological fluency with broad, transferable skills.

There is also a notable emphasis on pace and alignment. The question is not whether education and skills systems will change, but whether they can do so quickly and coherently enough to match how AI is embedding itself across the economy. The conversation points to adaptability as the organising principle for the next phase of education and workforce development, with AI acting as an enabler rather than a threat. Taken together, the exchange offers a grounded, policy-relevant case for why skills, leadership, and regional co-ordination – rather than technological novelty alone – will determine who benefits most from the AI.

This conference was sponsored by HP.

Not as a social add-on. Not as a discrete planning challenge. But as core national infrastructure in the same way we treat energy, transport, or water.

The Spring was chaired by Crawley MP, Officer of the All Party Parliament Group (APPG) for the Southeast and Gatwick Diamond Growth Gateway, and Chair of the APPG for Wellbeing Economics, Peter Lamb. The South East sprint brought together local authorities, infrastructure providers, health leaders, and industry to co-produce solutions to overcome the combined reality that the pressures facing the NHS, adult social care and local government budgets are inseparable from the conditions people live in.

Cold homes, overcrowding, displacement across borough boundaries, digital exclusion – these are not background issues. They are upstream drivers of demand.

The core recommendation from the report is that treating housing, health, and digital infrastructure as separate policy silos has produced fragmented delivery and rising cost. The consequence is a system permanently reacting to crisis rather than preventing it.

Digital Poverty Is a Structural Failure, not a Lifestyle Choice

Perhaps the most striking finding is the scale of digital exclusion within social housing.

Despite £20 billion of investment in full-fibre infrastructure over the past decade, many social homes – especially in the South East – remain unconnected. Residents frequently rely on pay-as-you-go mobile data, shared devices, and insecure connections.

This is not just an inconvenience. Participants heard that it locks people out of:

• GP appointments and virtual wards
• Education and employment platforms
• Welfare systems and financial management
• Remote monitoring and preventive care

The sprint characterises this explicitly as a market failure. Social tariffs exist but are complex to access and poorly designed for the households who need them most. In effect, the people who would benefit most from connectivity are least able to secure it.

That mismatch has consequences. Without connectivity, councils cannot manage housing stock proactively. Damp and mould are detected late. Vulnerabilities go unseen. Health systems default to more labour-intensive, reactive models of care.

The question the report forces policymakers – in the South East and nationally – to confront is blunt: if we would not accept a home without electricity, why do we accept one without broadband?

The Connected Homes Proposition

Rather than produce another abstract call for reform, the sprint set out a practical Connected Homes model.

At its core, this means:

1. Universal, reliable broadband as standard in social housing
2. Simplified and automatic access to affordable tariffs
3. Integration with housing management, health, and care systems
4. Local digital skills and device support
5. Clear governance and accountability for data and outcomes

This is not technology for its own sake. It is about creating the conditions for prevention.

A connected home enables predictive maintenance rather than emergency repair. It supports adult social care to blend virtual and in-person support. It reduces unnecessary travel and helps residents access work and training. It underpins Net Zero ambitions through smarter energy use.

Critically, the business case is credible. Evidence cited during the sprint suggests that place-based connectivity pilots can become self-funding over time through service savings and improved asset management. Even a single household moving into sustained work delivers fiscal savings of £25,000–£30,000 per year.

In growth terms, that is not marginal.

The South East Pressure Cooker

The South East context makes the case even sharper.

Population growth, displacement from London, temporary accommodation and constrained land supply are creating structural strain across Kent, Surrey, Sussex, and surrounding areas. Families are moved miles from schools, GPs, and employment. Children lose continuity of care. Adults struggle to maintain work.

Planning debates still focus overwhelmingly on housing numbers. Far less attention is paid to whether those homes are connected, integrated, and capable of supporting long-term wellbeing.

The sprint’s diagnosis is uncomfortable for policy makers – we have embedded exclusion into new developments by failing to treat digital infrastructure as a prerequisite for healthy communities.

From Pilot to Policy Delivery

The report proposes a place-based pilot – connecting a defined number of social homes within a single authority area – with clear metrics on service demand, housing condition, resident wellbeing, and economic participation.

The wider ambition is national alignment. Housing, health, digital and local government departments must stop operating in parallel and start sharing ownership of outcomes.

This is where the report becomes politically interesting. It does not argue for endless new funding streams. It argues for alignment, sequencing, and leadership.

If government is serious about shifting from hospital to community, from analogue to digital, and from sickness to prevention, the home is the obvious place to start.

Where Things Go Next

The challenge now is intent.

The technology exists and the infrastructure investment has already been made. Local authorities are willing to pilot. Industry has indicated it can shoulder significant upfront cost where demand is coordinated.

What has been missing is the political confidence to declare broadband a core housing standard and to align planning, social tariff reform, and health strategy accordingly.

The opportunity is significant, with healthier residents, reduced pressure on acute services, stronger local labour markets, and more resilient communities. In growth terms, connected homes are not a side project – they are foundational.

As the Get Britain Growing agenda gathers pace, this report provides a tangible example of what system reform looks like in practice – a scalable intervention rooted in the places people live.

The real test will not be whether we agree with the analysis. It will be whether national and local leaders are prepared to act on it.

Join the Discussion: Get Britain Growing 2026

To find out more information about the 2026 programme of Get Britain Growing, register to receive more information at www.chamberuk.com/newsletter.

(Photo: Silverstone Communications)

Discussions centred around how the South East can remain globally competitive while addressing local challenges, such as infrastructure pressures, water resilience, and housing and skills shortages, and attracting sustainable investment. 

Interactive sprint workshops later in the day invited delegates to co-design solutions around three themes: healthy homes and communities, clean energy and regional regeneration, and AI for growth.

AI at “Front and Centre” of Growth

As Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Kyle delivered a wide-ranging address with Tim Flagg, CEO of UKAI, for the conference ‘fireside chat’. In it, he highlighted the Government’s commitment to innovation as the key to overcoming the UK’s “growth emergency”. He insisted that the Government, along with investors and businesses, need a greater “sense of urgency, boldness, and creativity” in the wake of such “incredibly rapid” development in certain areas, such as artificial intelligence (AI).

Kyle outlined plans to connect investment in AI, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing with stronger regional ecosystems, noting that innovation and scale-up support must operate as a single, joined-up system.

He emphasised that the UK cannot avoid the global wave of AI-driven change – and indeed, he celebrated it – but must use the agency of government to shape how it unfolds. 

Technology can be a transformative tool for workforce skills, Kyle insisted. He emphasised AI’s transformative potential to democratise learning and close generational divides in digital capability, “If people aged 35 are using AI twice as much as those aged 55, the time it takes to close that gap is a two-hour training session.”

AI, he added, is a “foundational language” and is becoming a “learning tool and teacher” – a democratising agent, and a leveller for those previously held back by traditional education models.

He also announced £233 million in deregulation measures to ease the reporting burden on small businesses, saving firms up to 200 hours per year, with further reforms to follow.

Kyle emphasised that these measures will have a tangible impact on the UK’s most dynamic business communities. “That is 200 hours of work for every business”, he said – time he expects to be reinvested in “building teams, shaping culture, and strengthening customer relationships”. Funding, he claimed, is being redirected towards high-growth sectors, with AI “front and centre” of the strategy.

Investment in Innovation

Alongside deregulation, Kyle explained how the Government is increasing research and development (R&D) investment by 11 per cent, bringing the total commitment over the current Spending Review period to £86 billion. This 11 per cent increase in R&D spending will go hand in hand with new coordination between the Department for Business and Trade and Skills England, and a renewed focus on supporting high-growth sectors such as artificial intelligence.

A Joined-up Innovation Ecosystem

Kyle stressed the need for greater coherence across government, linking innovation policy directly with business scale-up support, “You can’t have a disjoint between where innovation is created and where it scales up. It needs to be much more fluid.”

This joined-up thinking is also being applied regionally. He cited new area-based investment powers for mayors, and he urged universities to play a more active role, as key enablers of growth.

As a graduate of the University of Sussex, where the event was held, he argued that “Universities should play a much more forward-facing leadership role”, highlighting their potential to forge public-private partnerships and spin out new commercial innovations.

Towards an Innovation-led Recovery

The emerging strategy signals a high-tempo push to combine legislative efficiency with technological acceleration, designed to re-energise productivity, boost regional competitiveness and secure Britain’s position as a leader in innovation. Kyle intimated this when he celebrated the South East’s local assets, which “see themselves in relation directly to London. They don’t look inwards” – celebrating the South East’s prized connected, integral partnerships: partnerships that withstand the parameters of metropolitan vs non-metropolitan.

The Secretary of State concluded by calling for stronger regional leadership, praising the emergence of new devolved authorities such as the forthcoming Sussex Mayoralty, and urging universities to play a more active role in local economic strategy: “Brighton and Hove is Brighton and Hove because of its universities. They must be at the heart of our regional leadership and growth story.”

The Get Britain Growing South East Conference was sponsored by HP and Southern Water. The conference was organised in partnership with Silverstone Communications.

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Without water, everything stops.” Southern Water Chief Executive, Lawrence Gosden set out his message for the future – urging vital action while expressing confidence that solutions can be found.

Gosden delivered his keynote address at the Get Britain Growing: South East conference – a day dedicated to exploring the region’s path to sustainable economic growth.

Held in partnership with Chamber UK, Curia and UKAI, the event examined how the South East can remain globally competitive while addressing pressing local challenges, including infrastructure demands, water resilience, housing shortages, skills gaps, and the need to attract long-term, sustainable investment.

Southern Water played a central role in discussions on greener growth, sustainability and regional infrastructure, highlighting the vital link between water resilience, economic growth, and community wellbeing. Gosden underscored how investment in modernising the South East’s water systems – from tackling leakage and improving wastewater management to supporting nature-based solutions – is essential for the region’s long-term prosperity.

The urgency of climate change

Gosden emphasised the escalating climate risks to water production and consumption. “If we do not start to change water infrastructure in this part of the country, in ten years’ time, during a drought, we will run out of water. In only ten years’ time – and without water, everything stops,” he said.

He proposed several solutions, citing the South East Strategic Reservoir Option in collaboration with Thames Water and the broader water transfer project to share water supplies between neighbouring water companies and across our own network to areas where it’s needed.

Getting ahead of climate change

Gosden urged the conference to “get ahead of climate change”, highlighting water recycling – a “tried and tested technology” that cleans water so effectively “you have to replace minerals” to make it taste like tap water. Warning that “if we don’t take action, we will start to run dry”, he advocated collaboration between local authorities and customers, and pragmatic infrastructure such as water butts – simple, but effective.

He argued for renewal, not reversal, of existing infrastructure: “Taking surface water out doesn’t mean we have to suddenly replace all of our existing infrastructure.” He explained that many simple structures already exist to keep surface water out of the network and can be optimised with minimal effort – “stopping that surface water coming in, letting it drain naturally into the environment”.

Infrastructure such as “swales on the side of roads, beautiful green ditches”, and “areas around trees where rainwater can naturally go into the ground” epitomises this approach, harnessing existing structures to “support growth”.

“Transformative” but “water-hungry” AI data centres, he argued, are also solvable: “In our sewage treatment works, we have lots of water – perfectly clean water – which we recycle and then throw away into the sea.” Instead, he insisted, that water should be used to cool data centres. AI, he urged, can be “used sustainably”.

A test of pragmatism

Gosden’s arguments were pragmatic and practical. He conceded that, viewed from a distance, these problems can seem unsolvable. When systems are combined – engaging drainage networks, customers, and different public bodies – the search for solutions becomes far more hopeful.

Final thought

Gosden’s contribution emphasised that clean growth cannot be achieved without a secure and sustainable water supply, particularly as the South East faces increasing pressure from climate change, population growth, and housing demand.

His speech – in keeping with other discussions at the conference – reinforced the region’s role as a national driver of clean growth, technological innovation and skills excellence, and its potential to shape the UK’s transition to a more resilient, knowledge-based economy.

www.southernwater.co.uk

Advertorial: This event and writeup was sponsored by HP. Chamber UK retained editorial control of the agenda and outputs from the event.

(Image: Neil Sawyer, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Northern Europe, at HP addresses the Get Britain Growing South East Conference. Photo: Silverstone Communications)

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a tool for “growth, not disruption”, said Neil Sawyer, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Northern Europe, at HP. His keynote speech formed part of the programme for the Get Britain Growing: South East Conference, an event that facilitated discussions on the region’s future economic growth.

Held in collaboration with Chamber UK, Curia and UKAI, the conference focused on how the South East can stay globally competitive while tackling local challenges – from infrastructure pressures and water resilience to housing, skills gaps and attracting sustainable investment.

AI at a “tipping point”

Sawyer addressed one of the main arguments often advanced by AI sceptics – the importance of human interaction – alongside fears about job losses and technology takeovers. He sought to assuage such concerns by encouraging local collaboration and highlighting the value of education and lifelong learning for communities in Sussex and across the South East: “Nothing replaces human interaction; it builds trust, authenticity, and innovation. That’s how we’ll make AI a tool for growth, not disruption.”

He expanded on how AI presents a significant opportunity for education and the future of work, especially for neurodiverse children and those who do not conform to formal learning. The use of agentic aids and teaching assistants, he explained, can enhance students’ education with materials finely “curated to the way in which they learn”.

He added that he “firmly” believes “that the UK is at the tipping point of being able to lead the world in terms of not just the development of AI, but how it’s used in the many different practices, both in local society, but also across enterprise”.

UK leadership in cybersecurity and HP’s investment

He described the Government’s investments in AI infrastructure as “seismic”, highlighting his particular interest in “how energy creation can keep up with the demands that exist with AI”.

The rapid construction and cooling of data centres will require substantial energy and a more robust sustainability framework as the technology continues to develop. Above all, “security” is key, “remaining at the heartbeat of everything that we do”. Sawyer celebrated the UK’s status as “a specialist in global cybersecurity”, arguing that investment in people, science and technology can foster world leadership.

Sawyer said he is “very proud” of HP’s rich technological history and its legacy of research and innovation: “HP was the founder of Silicon Valley in 1939. He described HP as a “community” – and the “longest-standing and oldest technology” community at that.

The South East and HP in partnership

“Why are HP here today in Sussex?” Sawyer asked. Collectively, the region is “a valuable customer” to HP – the company “touches 50 per cent of homes” through technology used every single day.

HP, he emphasised, aims to promote dialogue and “authentic discussion” around skills and training for young people and those in established or mid-careers, helping to “solve and understand employers’ problems”.

HP’s AI strategy: edge computing

Sawyer outlined the shift from search engines to answer engines such as ChatGPT, insisting that “there isn’t enough power in this world to cope with the number of queries and answers people are looking for”.

HP’s strategy, he explained, involves moving AI processing to devices – edge computing – developed with partners including Nvidia, Google, Microsoft, AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm.

This shift will be transformational, he argued: “Much of what is asked in a data centre over the next 12 months and beyond will be answered on these devices.”

Not only will this be “more environmentally efficient”, but it will also increase security and reduce latency. This device-centric approach will benefit education and healthcare, enabling quicker answers to patient questions and disease diagnosis.

Final thought

Sawyer highlighted HP’s ambition to reduce the environmental footprint of data centres while improving access to real-time learning and problem-solving tools across schools, hospitals, and businesses.

As with many discussions at the Get Britain Growing: South East Conference, his speech emphasised how digital infrastructure, cybersecurity and skills development will underpin the UK’s AI future. He stressed that the UK remains a global leader in cybersecurity research and advocated continued investment in people and technology – factors that will be crucial to the country’s success in the era of AI.

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