As the dust settles on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’ latest budget statement in March, many were perhaps slightly disappointed that it didn’t make more reference to - or provide more direct support for - investment in UK infrastructure 

Not least after his announcement of a raft of delays to the investment plans for a number for key projects including HS2 and the Lower Thames Crossing.

OK there was commitment to new nuclear and to investment in a new era of carbon capture and storage. But fundamentally, questions have been raised over just how committed the current government is to delivering the current £600bn pipeline.  

Regardless of government’s repeated reassurance that investment delays are simply technical measures required to balance ethe books, is the infrastructure sector guilty of failing to reinforce the absolute priority of maintaining investment momentum and highlighting the simple truth that the longer projects take the more they ultimately cost?

In short, in this political climate, does the infrastructure sector have to step up a gear.

To answer this question and discuss how we can continue to keep infrastructure at the heart of UK economic recovery it is my pleasure to welcome Marie Claude Hemming, Director of Operations at the Civil Engineering Contractors Association to the Infrastructure Podcast as someone who has spent decades making the case for investment.

Resources
CECA website
CECA Sector groups
Infrastructure Future Group
NIC Infrastructure Progress Review 2023
HM Government Spring Budget 2023
IPA Transforming Infrastructure Performance – Roadmap to 2030