Water resources and flooding are among a number of key issues highlighted in the National Needs Assessment (NNA) of UK infrastructure which is being launched today at the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).

The assessment has taken place over the last 15 months engaging with a wide range of parties including industry, investors, environmental, legal and professional bodies, and politicians and opinion formers.

The report, the first of its kind, outlines the changing demands on infrastructure services, which says that population growth will continue to put pressure on services, particularly in areas already under stress, such as the South East.

From the research  and analysis in the report the NNA executive committee has composed  recommendations that are intended to guide the National Infrastructure Commission and the Government in planning for energy, housing, transport, digital communications, water, flood management and solid waste.

UK infrastructure: “unfortunately delivery has fallen short of strategic ambition”

Commenting on the National Infrastructure Commission’s strategic remit to recommend the long term direction for infrastructure and the Government’s development of an industrial strategy with infrastructure as its central pillar, the report says “unfortunately delivery has fallen short of strategic ambition.”

 “Tough decisions have not been made. Incoherent energy policy has deterred large and small investors who would have been willing to back technologies from carbon capture and storage to photovoltaic panels. Households are paying more for energy and water than they need to because the right policies have not been enacted to promote efficiency and help reduce demand.”

The report also points out that disruption from flooding is costing the UK economy £1 billion per year, with 2.44 million properties at risk of flooding from rivers and the sea, 3 million from surface water flooding and 244,000 are at high risk of flooding. These numbers are set to increase in future due to population growth and climate change, even if investment in flood defences was to increase, according to the NNA.

On water resources, the report says management of the risks of serious shortages in the future should begin with more vigorous action to manage demand and continued work to reduce leakage.

“Where this supply is insufficient to keep up with the population pressure on demand and the impacts of climate change on water availability, timely steps should be taken to provide new supplies, while safeguarding and restoring water for the environment.”

“Further investments will be required to renew wastewater assets to deal with an increasing population and meet improving standards of wastewater discharges.”

Government should consider establishing minimum standards of resilience for water supplies

The report is calling for:

• Government or NIC should review the need for changes in policies relating to the extension of metering, smart metering, new tariff structures and requirements for water efficiency and innovative technologies (e.g. rainwater and greywater recycling) in new building and refurbishment.
• Given the national impacts of a severe drought, the Government should review the case for establishing minimum standards of resilience for water supplies.
• The NIC should work with the water sector to reduce the risks associated with the planning and promotion of new strategic water infrastructure schemes including water transfers and new storage.

Flooding - resources should be allocated to minimise economic risk

Commenting on flooding, the NNA says recent floods have illustrated the vulnerability of UK infrastructure to flooding and that climate change threatens to increase this risk in the future.

Key recommendations include:

• The Government should continue to analyse flood risk at the scale of catchments and coastal cells.
• Resources should be allocated so as to minimise the economic risk of flooding.
• Further action should be taken to promote the uptake of property-level protection where community flood defences are not cost-beneficial.
• The Government should establish large scale experiments to quantify the benefits of catchment-based flood management.

UK population set to reach 75 million by 2050

Sir John Armitt, Deputy Chair of the NNA and President of the ICE, commented:

"We project that the UK population is set to reach 75 million by 2050, and with that growth there will be an increasing and changing demand for infrastructure services. Users of infrastructure are increasingly conscious and vocal about the everyday challenges presented by these demands. We must deliver services that enable productivity, health and wellbeing and balanced economic growth.”

"This assessment is not a list of projects and the UK cannot afford to spend its way out of challenges by building more capacity. Technology, supported by the right policies, will enable new and existing infrastructure to be used much more efficiently.

"The county needs a clear strategy, management and establishment of critical standards for our infrastructure to sustain and improve quality of life and business competitiveness in a modern and evolving world. If we don't, we will lose out on many opportunities, particularly in a post Brexit economy."

Infrastructure policies should transcend political cycles across all infrastructure sectors but particularly for energy

Energy, Transport and Digital sectors were shown by the NNA to have the biggest impact on future infrastructure with a number of interdependencies. The NNA believes these three sectors will have the greatest impact on people’s lives in 2050 and says steps need to be taken now to address challenges.

Sir John Armitt continued:

"The scenarios modelled show energy and transport have the largest interdependencies. For example the electrification in transport that is needed to meet decarbonisation targets will have a direct impact on our electricity consumption. In fact, the research shows without management electricity demand could almost double. Government needs to address this with a balanced policy.”

"Infrastructure policies should transcend political cycles across all infrastructure sectors but particularly for energy. We have already seen investors deterred from backing carbon capture and photovoltaic panels due to changing UK policy. Government must address the interdependencies in infrastructure and create policies with a cross-sector approach. "

During the NNA study energy supply was shown to be underpinning the future of all infrastructure development and should be a priority for the Government. The NNA is recommending that the Government commits to a plan for low carbon electricity generation capacity which ensures security of supply through to at least 2035. 

Other key findings from the report include:

• The UK needs a long-term strategic approach to infrastructure provision, which is able to cope with future uncertainties
• Priority is for the Government to outline and commit to stable policies for infrastructure which transcend political cycles, particularly for energy where we have seen investors deterred from backing carbon capture and photovoltaic panels due to changing UK policy
• Britain's future infrastructure needs are intertwined – transport needs energy; Housing needs transport, energy and water; energy needs transport and water; all infrastructure needs digital connectivity, which in turn needs energy.  A piecemeal approach simply won’t work and there has to be an integrated cross-sectoral approach.
• Technological innovation means that people are used to paying for infrastructure services in different ways. We need to evolve infrastructure funding models with this.
• Some of the greatest opportunities for innovation are in people’s homes and workplaces working and socialising with ultra-fast digital connectivity, smarter use of energy and storage, reuse of rainwater and sewage.
• We must reduce the cost of building and operating infrastructure.  Innovation and training will be key

The NNA says the report contains a series of recommendations to develop infrastructure that will position the UK as an innovative global trading nation, describing it as a blueprint for the National Infrastructure Commission’s own National Infrastructure Assessment, due to be published in 2018.