Research must be part of the mix if NISTA and the 10-year infrastructure strategy are to be successful
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves affirmed in Labour’s 2024 budget commitments to producing a 10-year Infrastructure Strategy and to the formation of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA). The Infrastructure Strategy is cross-government and aligns with spending cycles. NISTA combines the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) and the Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) to “fix the foundations of our infrastructure system by bringing infrastructure strategy and delivery together addressing the systemic delivery challenges that have stunted growth for decades”1.
These announcements follow hot on the heels of the Chancellor shelving a number of major infrastructure projects due to lack of funds.
New infrastructure is widely acknowledged as fundamental to economic growth, meeting the nation’s increasing demands for energy, water, digital connectivity, transport and housing. The problem with the current delivery of new infrastructure is that substantial delays are par for the course and have been undermining private investment for decades.
The causes of these delays are multiple and include increasing hazards due to climate change and urbanization, and the challenges of getting highly complex and specialised projects through the UK’s overstretched planning system – this is despite a recent overhaul to the planning requirements for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs).
The projects themselves are not without fault. Civil engineering is a simultaneously innovative and conventional sector. The infrastructure projects it designs and builds are increasingly ambitious – think, for example, of Crossrail – but the tools and techniques it uses for delivery have not substantially changed in decades.
The research that supports new tools and techniques relies heavily upon numerical modelling as experimental engineering is expensive, and yet large-scale, realistic experimental engineering is fundamental to derisking innovation.
In July 2024 the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities (UKCRIC) convened civil engineers, regulators and academics to debate the challenges associated with delivering smart and resilient national infrastructure2. Here is what they said.
1. Decarbonising construction is a top priority.
The UK must adopt a net zero mindset: a) leadership on all levels, b) carbon literacy, knowledge and know-how, and c) collaboration over competition.
Replacing diesel fuel for vehicles, plant, generators and other machinery is a big win. Battery and hydrogen power are the current front-runners, but more needs to be understood about how these can be incorporated into construction. The use of batteries, for example, brings challenges such as increased weight and battery fire risk. Supply chain impacts also need to be considered. Using batteries puts pressure on the battery supply chain, which relies upon materials that are found in limited quantities and in limited geographical locations, some of which are politically sensitive.
Decarbonising and dewatering concrete is another big win. This includes low-carbon concrete (whose performance over time needs to be more fully understood); reducing the amount of water required to make concrete; developing low-carbon, environmentally sustainable aggregates (and other materials); and using local materials to reduce transportation.
More needs to be done to enable the decarbonisation of supply chains. Large infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and regional infrastructure systems such as water rely upon their supply chains to decarbonise. The incentives for organisations within the supply chain to decarbonise and their ability to do so are, however, highly variable.
2. Speed up the validation of new materials.
Civil engineering and construction are highly regulated and risk averse. Rigorous testing of new materials is needed to increase confidence and this can only be done in laboratory settings (such as UKCRIC’s labs). It can take a long time for new (nano- and meta-) materials to be incorporated into standards and regulations, opening the door to their general use. Researchers, standards boards and regulators must work together to accelerate the process.
3. Use artificial intelligence and machine learning to sweat existing infrastructure assets.
Moving from capital construction to capital investment requires us to get more out of our existing infrastructure assets. This means keeping assets running beyond their design lives (maintenance) and using assets for purposes outside of their original design briefs (repurposing). Determining the condition and suitability of assets is a crucial first step and Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) have the potential to contribute in ways previously not possible. For example, they can bring together data from multiple large data sources such as satellites and sensors and they can identify complex, hidden patterns within datasets. AI/ML can help make the case for funding infrastructure maintenance, something the UK is not currently particularly good at doing.
4. Derisk the use of Artificial Intelligence.
AI and other new technologies have the potential to transform how national infrastructure is designed, built and operated. Research can provide the intelligence needed to support industry, regulators and government in effectively implementing new technologies.
5. Increase the affordability of owning and operating infrastructure.
The creation of resilient national infrastructure (that can recover stronger after major disruption) must consider the affordability of the solutions proposed. Asset owners and operators often do not have sufficient budget to invest in expensive solutions. For example, the total fund for maintaining highway bridges in one (unnamed) English county is a mere £50,000 per year.
6. Develop a better understanding of causality.
There needs to be continuous improvement of understanding causality to ensure engineering models, decision-making and AI are efficient, effective, flexible and responsive to new knowledge. Some engineering models, tools and standards are built on decades-old information that reinforce conventional approaches and hobble the sector’s ability to embrace innovation.
7. Develop the skills base.
Universities are central to filling the skills and employment gap in nationally important infrastructure projects (NSIPs) and civil engineering more generally. Industry is looking for graduates who are curious – asking why things are the way they are and challenging how they can be changed for the better – and who are systems thinkers – understanding how their work contributes to the wider system and system of systems. National programmes are needed to increase the number of students who take industrial placements and secondments and to efficiently match graduates with jobs in industry.
8. Make the case for research investors.
There is a case to be made for widening the base of research investors. Contracts that award work on a time and cost basis penalise investment in research and increase the sector’s reliance on known solutions. In other sectors, innovation is funded directly by manufacturers (and thus their customers) but this customer-led approach is rarely a requirement in engineering contracts. In parallel, existing research investors and funding bodies such as UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) need to better understand how research can support innovation and derisk infrastructure design and delivery.
National infrastructure is a system of systems and as such requires clarity of purpose and alignment of stakeholder interests to be successful. It is the duty of policymakers to understand society’s needs and to involve local and national communities in the planning and designing of national infrastructure; it is the duty of education to develop innovation-first mindsets and the skills to deliver truly sustainable and resilient national infrastructure; it is the duty of standardisation bodies to ensure knowledge is encoded in rules of practice; and it is the duty of research to push the boundaries of what we thought was possible. In the end, however, only by collaborating will they be able to deliver the national infrastructure system the UK needs.
Dr Joanne Leach is Executive Manager for the UK Collaboratorium for Research on Infrastructure and Cities.
References
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-body-to-get-a-grip-on-infrastructure-delays
2. The event was hosted at the University of Bristol’s National Facility for Soil-Foundation-Structure Interaction (SoFSI). We are grateful to the delegates for generously sharing their insights and expertise.
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