National Infrastructure Commission

Our Director of Policy Margaret Read is one of the guests on this new podcast covering all aspects of the UK #water sector. She discusses with host Natasha Wiseman some of the challenges it faces, including how the proposed £96bn investment under the asset management plan for 2025-30 can support efforts to narrow the gap between water supply demand (including building new #watertransfers and #reservoirs), resolve issues with pollution and maintain existing assets to ensure they're #resilient for the future climate, and the importance to successful delivery of collaboration between every organisation involved. You can listen to her episode via the post below: https://lnkd.in/e6JxR_Z4

Our Deputy Chair Julia Prescot CBE shares some observations on the UK's #offshorewind market and the wider challenge of securing the investment needed to complete the decarbonising of #electricity generation, ahead of her keynote speech at the UK and European Offshore Wind event in London at the end of the month. https://lnkd.in/eR89AfaD

If you're fascinated by #data on government spending on economic #infrastructure - and who isn't? - you should check out this recently updated page on the data section of our website. Our historic data on historic infrastructure spending now includes a dataset that stretches back twenty years. The page gives you the opportunity to look at things in aggregate or delve deeper into the data, broken down by sector and year. You'll find it here on our website: https://lnkd.in/eJsF89iz

Last week saw the NIC Design Group out in force to support one of the AVA Bridge's demonstration days, the culmination of a collaboration between Hawkins\Brown, Expedition Engineering Ltd, Walker Construction UK Ltd, Network Rail, McNealy Brown Limited, and Kinetic Solutions Group. The aims of this modular stainless steel bridge and lift system include to reduce capital costs, installation time and carbon footprint - while making stations more accessible to all. Our Design Group members Judith Sykes FREng, Clare Donnelly, Anthony Dewar were joined by DG Chair and Commissioner Professor Sadie Morgan OBE who also had the honour of cutting the ribbon! ✂

As the UK economy decarbonises and populations grow, cities and regions face significant challenges in ensuring their #electricity #infrastructure can meet that demand and remain resilient. Cambridge is one city region that's facing that challenge head on, as our Chair Sir John Armitt and Commissioners heard at a roundtable in the university city hosted by Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority Mayor Dr Nik Johnson yesterday (Thurs 1 August). It brought together around the table a broad range of regional and local stakeholders, including Greater Cambridge Partnership, The Crown Estate, England's Economic Heartland, Peterborough City Council, Cambridge Network, Cambridge Ahead and South Cambridgeshire District Council, along with infrastructure suppliers including Anglian Water Services and UK Power Networks. The discussion focused particularly on how the region can boost its electricity distribution #infrastructure, but there was also plenty of discussion on #transport's role in driving regional growth, and the important part deeper #devolution can play in supporting that aim. After the roundtable discussions, the Commission group visited the #Biggleswade Grid substation in neighbouring Bedfordshire being built by UK Power Networks (opening in Dec 2024), which will expand capacity by 80MW and support over 3,000 new homes nearby. The Commission is currently undertaking a study on the capacity of the country's electricity distribution grid to support the country's #netzero energy goals; a final report is due out in early 2025. Read more about the visit on our website: https://lnkd.in/ett3p4Nv

Does the national #planning system help, or hinder, delivery of the new housing and #infrastructure the UK needs? That's the central question our chair Sir John Armitt discusses with presenter David Aaronovitch and guests on the latest edition of BBC Radio 4's The Briefing Room at 4pm today. Listen live on the radio or catch up on #Sounds via the link below. Sir John says an effective planning system is crucial to a key economic imperative facing the country: to deliver the new #energy, #water, #digital, #floodriskmanagement and #transport infrastructure the UK will need for a #lowcarbon, resilient economy over the next 25 years, we have to build an awful lot of new infrastructure. And quickly. But too often, planning can create significant delays. The Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (#NSIPs) regime is designed to help make effective planning decisions for these strategically important projects - but as he tells the panel, at present 60% of major projects now end up facing a judicial review (up from a long term average of just 10 per cent), introducing delays and adding to the costs of projects. Sir John then says that crucial to freeing up the system is regularly updated National Policy Statements covering key infrastructure sectors (as recommended in our second National Infrastructure Assessment #NIA2). These can give planners a clear direction of travel about what needs to be approved and indeed where there's an expectation of approval, subject to a broad set of rules. He also points out that there's a broader need for a proper discussion within the country about the infrastructure we will need, where it will go, and how communities hosting it can be compensated for doing so; plus, a wider debate about recognising what the risks are if we don't get certain infrastructure built in time. https://lnkd.in/emvaAujn

New interview in New Civil Engineer with three members of our Design Group, who talk about how different aspects of the new project-level #designprinciples can help project leaders of any major #infrastructure project to maximise benefits like improved safety and better cost control. You can download a copy of the guidance from the NIC's website at the link below - or drop us an email, as we do still have some hard copies available too. https://lnkd.in/eNDpXFWe

The Commission met in #Leeds today and took the opportunity to hear directly from Tracy Brabin about West Yorkshire Combined Authority's proposals for a new mass transit scheme for the region. #WestYorkshire was one of the priority regions we identified in our 2nd National Infrastructure Assessment for investment to boost connectivity and unlock growth for the coming decades. Our analysis showed that in Leeds alone, around 7,000 extra commuters are likely to want to get into the city centre on working days in 30 years' time - but local residents and businesses rightly expect improvements before then. The current public consultation on the first phases of the mass transit project is a key milestone - as Sir John Armitt said last week "Mayor Brabin and her team deserve credit for progressing plans to this point, where now the public have their chance to shape the future of a scheme that holds so much potential for boosting commuting, trade and leisure links across the region.”

We welcome this morning's publication of a new independent review from the National Engineering Policy Centre of the Royal Academy of Engineering, which says a 'national mission' is needed to deliver the infrastructure and system reforms necessary for Britain's energy generation to be decarbonised by 2030. Clean power by 2030 is a significant challenge, and this work by the academy provides a detailed examination of the steps that will be needed if the country is to achieve a significant ramping up in the deployment of all types of renewable generation, something which the Commission identified as a priority in our second National Infrastructure Assessment last year. The working group's findings also align with our own recommendations about the importance of speeding up the planning process to boost the construction of new generating and transmission infrastructure, and enabling faster connections to the grid. It is particularly welcome to see recognition given in the report given to the role that effective governance can play in securing a successful transition to decarbonised electricity in such a a short space of time Crucially, the working group recognises it is important policymakers retain their focus on the wider 2050 net zero objectives and not just the more immediate target, the better to avoid any delays in selecting the best options after post-2030. You can find the report here: https://lnkd.in/eSiVxujn

Our Commissioner Michele Dix (Dix Michèle) gave the keynote speech opening today's New Civil Engineer #NCERailandTransit conference. She stressed "an integrated strategy for transport ... would be a huge step forward" in tackling the challenges of improving #connecting, #capacity and #reliability across the country's #interurban and #intraurban transport networks. Her speech she addressed multiple themes being reflected throughout the day's agenda, including - the impact that #masstransit systems could make in places like Bristol and West Yorkshire on the public transport #capacitycrunch they face over coming decades as populations increase - investing in the reliability of existing rail #infrastructure, particularly the pinchpoints on the network which cluster in the major cities of the Midlands and the North, and - the importance of national resilience standards for #transport and other sectors, so that operators can better understand the levels of services customers should expect in the face of #extremeweather and other shocks, cost for them and build them into their long term plans. To find out about the Commission's broader thinking on #rail, #urbantransport and #resilience, visit our website and search for our second National Infrastructure Assessment and Infrastructure Progress Review 2024 reports for a more detailed picture.