Engineers have raised concerns about the impact of business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg’s plans to switch to imperial measurements for buying goods. The proposals have survived from the early Brexit days and would see all products purchased within the UK measured using the imperial system of pints, pounds and miles. However engineers are concerned about the potential implications of the plans. Arup director of infrastructure design Tim Chapman said that the metric system is more efficient for the complex systems civil engineers use. Chapman also emphasized that the industry currently relies on a large number of complex digital systems to operate at the current capacity. National Highways has confirmed that if imperial measurements do become UK standard, a number of its systems will have to be altered.
| Signal | Change | 10y horizon | Driving force |
|---|---|---|---|
| Concerns over switch to imperial measurements | Change from metric to imperial measurements | Potential errors, delays, and higher costs in engineering projects | Political doctrine and lack of understanding |
| Impact on complex digital systems | Need to rewrite complex digital systems | Large-scale system rewrite, time and cost implications | Reliance on globalized software |
| National Highways systems would need alteration | Alteration of systems currently using metric units | Changes to Design Manual for Roads and Bridges and Manual of Contract Documents for Highways Works | Legislative changes |
| Concerns about reintegrating systems and causing errors | Risks of errors and mistakes in engineering projects | Loss of intuition and increased project costs | Inconsistency and unfamiliarity with imperial units |
| Potential damage to UK’s trade with the rest of the world | Negative impact on trade and imports/exports | Negative effect on trade and international relationships | Use of metric units in global trading |
| Opposition to the proposal from professionals | Strong opposition to the change | Need to make the government aware of the complications and lunacy | Rationality and modernity |
| Mixed reactions and opinions on the proposal | Varied opinions on the change | Some support, some opposition | Political divisions and ideological beliefs |
| Echoes of imperial measurements in current practices | Some remnants of imperial measurements in construction details | Continued use of metric equivalents in certain aspects | Historical practices and convenience |
| Inconsistency and lack of true metric measurements in certain products | Nominal metric dimensions that are actually imperial | Challenges in fitting into metric spaces, lack of true metric standardization | Historical practices and convenience |
| Unit agnostic nature of analysis systems | User responsibility for consistent units | Importance of maintaining consistent unit sets | User discretion and awareness |