UK Government announces its new 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy – good news for the industry?
July 2025The UK Government has now published its 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy designed to provide long-term stability and drive economic growth. Covering everything from nuclear fusion to digital connectivity, transport, construction, social housing, schools and jobs it is an ambitious long-term programme backed by at least £725 billion of government funding over the next decade. It is comprehensive too – covering both economic and social infrastructure for the first time and is designed to learn the lessons of previous infrastructure initiatives.
The ambition is to take a more collaborative approach in construction contracts looking at introducing developed principles of open book pricing, fixed overheads and profit linked to continuous improvement targets, underpinned with accountability and consistent data.
It also represents significant joined up thinking by the government particularly for the construction sector with the establishment of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA). NISTA has been set up to oversee the Strategy and the delivery of major projects in infrastructure in line with best practice, the Construction Playbook and the Gold Standard for major projects frameworks. This is to ensure a more consistent approach in procurement and delivery with the intention of avoiding some of the more catastrophic cost overruns of recent years as well as poor maintenance including fire safety.
NISTA is also a member of the Construction Zero programme and will continue to focus on how public sector procurement can best support the shift to sustainable and innovative industrialised construction techniques. The Strategy also plans to deliver net zero targets.
The government is also keen to take a more strategic approach to asset management to improve estate resilience and maintenance through strategic planning based on rigorous asset and operational performance data as part of the implementation of the social infrastructure roadmap.
There are over 90 references to housing in the Strategy document. Housing is accepted by government as being integral to the success of any major infrastructure project. It states that it is providing £500m over three years to deliver an environmental planning reform package to speed up infrastructure and housing development. This is coupled with the announcement of £16bn of new public investment to
The Strategy also re-emphasised the Government’s aims to unlock private finance in order to limit the impact of infrastructure funding on government books. The intention is to attract pension funds and other investors through creating appealing and sustainable investment opportunities[1]. In the Strategy, the Government expressed its target of evolving the nation’s infrastructure finance models, exploring public private partnerships (PPPs) and alternative private funding models. The Lower Thames Crossing (LTC) demonstrates the Government’s long-term hopes for private funding, with the Treasury repeating the plan to bring private finance to deliver the project[2]. Which form of funding model will be used is yet to be seen, however the contractual structure will be more complex than traditional construction projects.
This could be good news for the construction industry after some uncertainty in relation to the government’s approach to construction and infrastructure projects. The emphasis on digital, transport, nuclear and collaborative contracts are all areas we have seen a real growth in recently. If all goes well, we should see fairer, more robust procurement and delivery of major infrastructure projects from a government that is willing to invest more effectively in the construction sector.
However, the significant disruption and delay being experienced in the HRB Gateway processes has created doubts about how achievable the housing targets in particular are, with the risk that the announcement of the retirement of the head of the Building Safety Regulator may lead to further disruption and delay. Nevertheless, it is clear these issues have been acknowledged and steps are being taken to seek to address them. Firstly, last month an inquiry into the Building Safety Regulator by The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee was launched. More recently, a new package of reforms was announced by the government yesterday to unblock the delays. These include a new Fast Track Process for new build application reviews; an increase in staff numbers; and the Building Safety Regulator being transferred from the HSE to a new Executive Agency of the MHCLG in the Autumn as an initial step towards creating a single construction regulator.
We’ll have to see how these long overdue reforms impact the Gateway 2 approval process in practice. It is still essential that the BSR’s requirements are clearly stated so that the submissions themselves can meet those requirements and that those working on HRB projects understand and seek to mitigate the risks of the Gateway process.
We advise major contractors and consultants on all aspects of construction and infrastructure projects (including many of the areas which are the focus of the Strategy – digital, transport, nuclear and collaborative contracts) and contracting with the public and private sectors. We have also significant experience of advising on the BSA and the Gateway processes.
For more information on any of the issues covered in this article or to discuss how we might be able to help you, please do not hesitate to contact the authors or your usual Beale & Co contact.
[1] Rachel Reeves to set out 10-year UK infrastructure plan
[2] UK government launches new wave of private financing for public services
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-infrastructure-a-10-year-strategy
https://www.procurementhub.co.uk/mpf2/
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