ICE finds £8bn hole

News

A report by the Institution of Civil Engineers claims the UK lost £1.8bn in 2007 due to a stop/start approach to planning essential infrastructure projects, and could be losing £8bn by 2015

A report by the

(ICE) claims the

lost £1.8bn in 2007 due to a stop/start approach to planning essential infrastructure projects, and could be losing £8bn by 2015.

The ICE’s State of the Nation Report on Capacity and Skills, said that uncoordinated planning is discouraging industry investment. A failure to take into account rising construction inflation, as demand for construction increases ahead of capacity, could also leave a £8bn ‘hole’ in investment for infrastructure.

According to the report construction inflation has been running at a rate well above the consumer price index, the measure used by the government to calculate overall inflation and to determine future spending plans. If left unchecked ICE believe this gap will continue to grow and leave many vital projects at risk.

‘The UK civil engineering industry is facing a capacity and skills crisis due to a boom in infrastructure investment,’ said Keith Miller, from ICE. ‘If the costs of delivering vital water, energy, waste and transport infrastructure rise, essential projects could be scrapped leaving the public at a loss.’

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