The report, Rebuilding Britain: Unlocking Growth from the UK’s Infrastructure Strategy, details a roadmap tailored to achieving the government’s roadmap
AECOM have highlighted ten points to boost UK infrastructure delivery, intended to work in tandem with and enhance the 10-year infrastructure strategy.
The recommendations range from technological to economic.
The 10 recommendations would boost infrastructure
The recommendations are split into several categories, and are split into other points. Some of the recommendations include:
1. Accelerating project delivery
The government should:
- Appoint a minister with dedicated oversight of infrastructure policy who is responsible for driving strategic decision-making across all government departments
and ensure that the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) is properly resourced and empowered to make clear, strategic decisions to turn strategy into delivery. - Pilot simplified consenting and planning regimes through exemplar projects to prove the concept of a faster approvals process.
- Create a ‘national-to-regional planning framework’ that clusters infrastructure types, encourages co-location and facilitates cross-sector integration.
- Incentivise early-stage investment in high-quality, multidisciplinary design within infrastructure projects to ensure that projects are well planned and well executed.
2. Embracing AI-first infrastructure delivery
The government should:
- Embrace the immediate and growing advances in AI to create more certainty on costs, timelines and quality in all aspects of project design and delivery.
- Integrate AI capabilities into programme development to streamline approvals, simulate outcomes and optimise delivery timelines, quality and value for money.
- Encourage the use of AI-driven project engineering and design, along with digital twins, to materially reduce the time required to deliver assets and the quantity of building materials used and promote real-time asset management to improve maintenance and enhance overall asset financial performance.
- Empower NISTA to collect and manage national infrastructure datasets and strengthen open data policies to drive collaboration.
3. Unlocking private investment to enable smarter delivery
The government should:
- Reimagine public-private partnerships to balance risk and reward, protecting public value while attracting high-quality private-sector partners.
- Build capacity across and within government departments to strengthen their role as ‘intelligent clients’, supported by advisory frameworks that provide technical assurance and expertise, and use AI-driven tools to reduce the time required to obtain regulatory approval to proceed to construction.
- Enhance the National Infrastructure Pipeline by providing detailed project information to allow investors to assess project readiness and financial opportunities.
The 10-year infrastructure strategy is a step in the right direction
Writing for PBC Today in September, Sam Gould, director of policy and external affairs at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), examined the government’s 10-year infrastructure strategy.
He wrote that, although the strategy is commendable, it will require support in order to achieve what it sets out to do.
Sam writes: “Public support is crucial in helping politicians commit over the long term to deliver the infrastructure the country needs. Consequently, NISTA’s role must include work to raise the profile of infrastructure with the public to gain their support and trust.
“NISTA has a leadership role to play but better project delivery will need to be supported by improved commercial expertise across central and local government. The increasing use of digital systems and technologies will also require new skills.
“The 10YIS is an important step forward in meeting the UK’s infrastructure ambitions.
“But it will require cross-government support, a well resourced NISTA and a public that is engaged and supportive of the UK’s wider infrastructure ambitions.
“After all, this isn’t about the assets. It’s about people, the planet and the UK’s ability to deliver for future generations.”
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