With more than a quarter of its projects disappearing since December 2014, more needs to be done to improve the consistency and accuracy of the UK Government construction pipeline, according to analysis published by KPMG.
The report, UK Government Construction Pipeline - KPMG Analysis, indicates that there has been a total decrease of 886 (28%) construction and infrastructure projects since the previous pipeline analysis in December 2014 (from 3,148 to 2,262 in August 2015), relating mainly to the Defence, Justice and Police sectors (860 projects alone relate to these sectors).
KPMG understands that the remarkable decrease in the number of projects is largely due to potential projects being removed from the pipeline to avoid pre-empting decisions in the forthcoming Spending Review. There are also a number of projects that have been completed since the December 2014 iteration.
KPMG says that most of the decrease in value can be attributed to projects completing mainly in two sectors with a £6.7 billion decrease in Transport projects and a £2.8 billion decrease in Housing and Regeneration project.
However, the analysis also shows that 1,784 projects did not specify a construction start date, further raising questions about the completeness of the data.
The report also found that transport and energy projects continue to dominate the pipeline, mirroring the National Infrastructure Pipeline, with nearly 70% of the pipeline (£82.1 billion) designated to these two sectors alone, despite only contributing 9% of the entire pipeline of projects by volume.
Richard Threlfall, KPMG’s UK Head of Infrastructure, Building and Construction said:
“It is clear that more needs to be done to improve the consistency and accuracy of the Government’s construction pipeline. A stable pipeline would give the construction industry good visibility of future demand and the ability to plan and invest for that demand. It would lead to efficiencies for the Government and hence for the taxpayer. Instead we have a pipeline whose data is so incomplete, and which fluctuates so wildly and erratically that the industry can place no detailed reliance on it.”
“I hope that we will get a clearer picture in November when the Spending Review is published. But in the meantime the huge 28% drop in the number of projects included suggests some Government departments are putting projects on hold in the expectation that they get culled. I don’t expect we will see anything like the scale of cutback in capital programmes that the industry experienced in 2010, after the last election, but there is clearly cause for nervousness about the potential squeeze in spending.”
Click here to download UK Government Construction Pipeline - KPMG Analysis
Barhale has completed work on two separate Rapid Action Taskforce Spills projects it is carrying out for Severn Trent.
Börger UK, which has firmly established itself as a leading pump brand since it was set up in Staffordshire in 2004, has moved into bigger, brand-new premises in Shrewsbury.
HUBER Technology UK & Ireland are inviting people to register for their March webinar where they will be providing information about HUBER water intake screens for municipal and industrial applications.
Sulzer has launched a new global Center of Excellence (CoE) for Water Treatment Solutions - the CoE consolidates Sulzer’s wastewater treatment expertise in a unified and global manner.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.