Meet the Board: Mathew Taylor on Building Better Transport Futures 

With a career spanning more than 30 years in commercial construction management, Mathew Taylor has become a leading figure in the transportation infrastructure space, bringing expertise to light and very light rail over the past two decades.

As founder of CNNCT Ltd, Mathew advises on project delivery, commercial strategy and whole-life cost efficiency, supporting schemes that drive innovation and long-term value. His strategic influence is reinforced through board roles at Precast Advanced Track and Pre Metro Operations, along with previous advisory posts at industry giants such as Mott MacDonald and Atkins.

Known for his ability to connect the dots between cost, carbon and operational performance, Mathew’s insight continues to shape the future of UK transit systems. His industry reach and hands-on project experience make him an asset to UKTram’s mission of advancing light rail nationwide.

We caught up with Mathew to hear more about his focus on light rail as a career and his vision for the sector.

Q: What inspired you to focus your career on light rail and very light rail projects and how do you see the sector evolving over the next decade? 

Mat: My first introduction to Light Rail was working for Mott MacDonald on the Midland Metro projects, specifically the Birmingham City Centre Extension, the precursor to the current expansion projects carried out by the Midland Metro Alliance. My team’s involvement in this project expanded and further opportunities in the sector followed.

This project kicked off my near 20-year experience within the sector. I have been fortunate to work on new systems and extensions that ultimately provide millions of passenger journeys, and this pushes me on to continue to champion light and very light rail projects.

It is important that we, as a sector, continuously improve and I hope that our sector evolves by adopting the many options of vehicles and systems under the umbrella of light rail, ranging from tram train to light rail to very light rail. All of these modes have an important part to play in providing efficient transport systems without breaking the bank.

Q: How does your experience with benchmarking data and whole-life cost analysis influence your approach to project management in the light rail sector? 

Mat: This is a really good question, and, in the UK, we are seeing the results of not paying attention to project costs from a whole life perspective. Inevitably project funding has tended to focus upon initial capital expenditure. 

Little consideration for maintenance and renewals is given to a project during the planning stages – this can be easily categorised as a problem for the future. Stakeholders including funders, operator / maintainers, contractors and designers all have their own objectives and rarely are they considered as inter-connected and co-dependant, so maintenance and renewals planning can fall between the cracks.

These aspects of a project need to be intrinsically and contractually linked, and this is what whole-life cost analysis can help to achieve. By identifying when investment in renewals is expected, budgets and cashflow can be planned and managed to ensure funds are available at the right time. 

Benchmarking is an extremely effective tool used extensively within the UK building sector, so clients know from a very early stage that their project represents value for money - this doesn’t always mean cheap, it means that they are confident of getting what they are paying for, when compared to similar projects elsewhere in the country or abroad. I see benchmarking as an area of our sector that is grossly underused, I would like this to change, we shouldn’t fear accountability with regards to publicly funded projects.

Q: What are some of the most exciting transportation projects you've worked on and what lessons have you brought to UKTram from those experiences? 

Mat: I have been fortunate to work on major projects throughout the world and love the international approach to procurement of transport projects, where the bidders form a team for all aspects of the project. Huge consortia are assembled who then fund, design, construct, operate and maintain transport schemes and this gives everyone a level of certainty that we don’t always see here in the UK.

These international projects really excite me but equally my recent involvement with Network Rail’s Mixed Use Rail team has been extremely encouraging. This collaborative approach in providing hard evidence of how all types of rail-based transport can benefit differing scenarios and settings has been very well received and will make a huge contribution to the transport sector as a whole.

Working with Network Rail on the Mixed-Use Rail initiative has helped me to ensure that problems are looked at from all angles and fully understood before a solution is adopted – in other words, we now have many transport options to solve transport problems, and the answers aren’t always traditional trams.

Q: What are the key challenges you see for the successful delivery of light rail schemes in the UK today? 

Mat: Despite the recent (and very welcomed) announcements of funding for light rail projects, value for money is still going to be a problem in the longer term in my view.  

How the UK designs, procures and manages light rail schemes needs to be reviewed and refreshed to ensure that everyone’s interests are met. By ‘everyone’, I mean the passenger, operator, contractor, funder and taxpayer. This is a big ask, but it is possible and currently being achieved internationally, the UK needs to adopt best practice from around the world and implement it to ensure an integrated network of efficient, affordable and sustainable transport solutions are planned and delivered. If we don’t, any funding will get absorbed by fewer projects and the benefits of a conveyor belt of transport improvements will not be attainable. 

Q: And, just for fun: if you could design a tram stop anywhere in the UK, where would it be and why? 

Mat: My head says that a tram stop at the bottom of my lane would be perfect, a lovely view of Gerrans Bay while I wait for the tram, and having the stop there would mean I don’t have to walk the 2 miles to my nearest bus stop! My heart however, that’s a different story, I would have to say that a tram stop outside my beloved Molineux, in classic Old Gold and Black colours and a big picture of Steve Bull celebrating one of his many goals, would be just about perfect.