If the UK is to deliver the infrastructure it needs over the next 10 years, the industry needs to change. David Porter, president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), looks at how asset owners can contribute to this mission
As a country, we face several big challenges. Population growth leading to increased demand for infrastructure, managing ageing assets, climate change and ensuring our infrastructure is resilient, and the need to improve energy and water security are some of the most pressing.
Infrastructure is key to meeting all these challenges. So, it’s no surprise that the UK government’s 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy and the subsequent update to the Infrastructure Pipeline are to be welcomed, but it is also worth recognising the challenges these pose to our industry. Investment worth £725bn, in both economic and social infrastructure, is planned over the next decade. As a consequence, the built environment sector is under significant pressure to deliver major assets, including new reservoirs and nuclear plants, while also increasing the level of maintenance and renewals of our current infrastructure.
The ICE’s recently published 2026 State of the Nation report looked in detail at the industry’s readiness to do so. It argued that achieving the government’s ambitions would require improvements in supply chain capacity, productivity, collaboration and innovation. It also made several recommendations to government about policies that could help support change.
But government can’t be the only driving force. There is also much that infrastructure clients can do to improve efficiency and drive better outcomes in the coming years.
Better procurement
First, better procurement. In the State of the Nation report, we call on public sector asset owners to promote certainty in the supply chain through multi-year framework agreements for suppliers.
We also highlight examples of enterprise working – where asset owners, consultants and contractors, along with the supply chain, form integrated relationships that are focused on shared outcomes – and how this approach can boost productivity, problem solving and add certainty to delivery times.
Procurement should align with the full range of outcomes a project is seeking to deliver, including social and environmental benefits, and the supply chain’s ability to deliver these, rather than prioritise cost alone as this often encourages a race to the bottom. Benefits need to be clear from the outset, as this will increase the chance that the supply chain will be engaged in a way that maximises their contribution throughout the project’s lifecycle.
Innovative investment models
For large infrastructure projects, taking a different approach to access funding could allow work to get going sooner, provide greater certainty and help investors regain confidence in UK infrastructure.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel, the Lower Thames Crossing and Sizewell C are examples of the sort of public-private partnership approach to funding large capital projects that could be adopted more widely.
Each has used a form of the Regulated Asset Base (RAB) model, under which investors start seeing returns as soon as the building phase begins. This mitigates investment risk, meaning that investors provide capital at lower interest rates.
Another alternative form of funding, particularly applicable to transport projects, is Land Value Capture (LVC) in which landowners and developers invest in a project in expectation of the benefits that will accrue in the form of increased land values.
Co-ordination and data sharing
Our report also revealed the need for greater coordination between clients to unlock efficiencies, share data and enable better planning of skills and resources in the supply chain.
Pooling and standardising infrastructure requirements can enable industrialised construction, which offers a broad range of savings over the traditional approach through economies of scale. For example, for social infrastructure such as hospitals and schools, it can offer savings of up to 50% on time, 40% on labour, 30% on materials and 20% on cost.
Greater data sharing in the industry could also improve efficiency and save time. In the report, we highlight the National Underground Asset Register (NUAR), an initiative that has seen local authorities, telecoms and utility companies work together to collate data on underground assets.
The resulting maps of underground assets have made it much simpler to plan street works. Information that used to take six days to obtain is now easily accessible online.
Bringing it all together
The National Infrastructure & Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) will lead the implementation of the 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy, and it recognises that the industry’s fragmentation is hindering productivity. NISTA and the ICE want to see a joined-up, holistic approach to infrastructure development and construction.
The government must lead this change but everybody in the industry – including client organisations, engineers, contractors and suppliers – has a part to play in making it a reality.
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