Infrastructure Projects Authority 10 Year Plan

A three-point plan to improve UK infrastructure delivery can help save £15 billion a year, the government has claimed.

22:55 20 December 2017

Three areas for improvement identified are smart construction, more and better use of digital technology, and better sharing of innovation and best practice.  

 

The plans, which will be implemented over the next 10 years, highlight areas that the UK’s Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) will focus on over the next two years. These include innovation to improve the delivery of infrastructure projects, more use of digital technology, better cross-sector integration and define cost and performance benchmarks.

 

Treasury secretary Andrew Jones said: "We are backing Britain with a record amount of infrastructure investment as we build an economy fit for the future. That's why we're working with the industry to skill up and scale up for the challenges ahead."

 

"Investment in infrastructure boosts productivity for the economy as a whole. The scale of the investment we are talking about here will deliver a step change for our country," he said.

Simon Colvin, a technology contracts specialist at Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, welcomed the plans. He said: "From a technology perspective, it is positive to see this recognition that digitalisation is a positive disruptor for the future build, operation and use of infrastructure assets,"

 

"However, there is still education to be done for infrastructure businesses seeking to understand the benefits and risks of digitalisation. Our infratech research identified agreeing data requirements and data management standards as the second biggest challenge for projects where technology and infrastructure are integrated. There is an opportunity here for the government to take the lead on developing the required data standards," he said.