The government’s National Infrastructure Delivery Plan combined with the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline brings together national, cross sector information on infrastructure and includes both public and private investment. Privately funded schemes such as energy, ports and waste will be guided by the market.
Since 2010, a total of 4,500 infrastructure projects and 158 high priority projects have been successfully completed.
The latest publication of the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline, released 6 December 2017, sees plans that could save the sector £15 billion each year.
The £597 billion pipeline can be simply broken down as follows (but is worth examining further).
Economic infrastructure: £215 billion
Private infrastructure: £161 billion
Social infrastructure: £117 billion
Utilities: £104 billion
The bulk of the investment sits in the energy, transport and utilities sectors, with the highest value projects being in electricity generation, high-speed rail and electricity transmission respectively.
The government believes the pipeline will drive innovation in the construction sector, specifically boosting efficiency and productivity in transportation, which brings us to the associated policy paper known as Transforming Infrastructure Performance. Fundamentally put, this is a long-term change programme, building on best practice and looking to increasing the use of modern techniques such as off-site manufacturing and construction.
Could the UK be looking at an Infrastructure Revolution?
Productivity, quality of life and the ability to face future challenges depends on the right high-performing infrastructure assets being managed in a coordinated way. Through the Transforming Infrastructure Performance (TIP) programme, Department for Transport’s Infrastructure Efficiency Strategy and the commitment to £600 billion investment over the next ten years, government has made a long term, strategic commitment to an infrastructure system for a modern economy.
