An Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA) review of the construction procurement pipeline reveals that £37bn worth of contracts will come to market before the end of 2021, writes James Ketchell.

The IPA’s latest analysis of the national infrastructure and construction pipeline shows that £37bn worth of contracts will be brought to market before the end of 2021. The pipeline will provide government, local authorities and devolved regions with a clear roadmap, while building certainty for consulting engineering firms and the wider industry.

In all, the pipeline has identified 340 separate procurements across more than 260 projects and programmes to deliver construction, repair and maintenance and consultancy. High-profile projects including HS2’s Curzon Street station in Birmingham, road schemes in the east of England and the refurbishment of the National Portrait Gallery, are all included in the analysis.

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) welcomed the publication of the IPA’s pipeline. Andy Mitchell, co-chair of the CLC, said: “The construction sector is facing an unprecedented challenge as a result of Covid-19. As the largest single client of economic and social infrastructure, a strong and clear pipeline of work from government is vital to generating confidence and certainty. I am therefore delighted that the government has today responded to one of the proposals in the CLC Industry Recovery Plan and look forward to working with government to deliver these projects over the months and years to come”.

Commenting on the IPA’s analysis, Darrell Matthews, director of membership at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering, said: “Our members will be delighted at the additional certainty that this analysis brings - there are plenty of shovel ready projects out there. Let’s get going!”

Economic infrastructure accounts for more than half of the estimated value of planned procurements (worth up-to £22.3bn). The remaining estimated value of planned procurements is split almost equally between social infrastructure (up to £5.3bn), defence (up to £5bn) and regulated utilities (up to £4.7bn).

Construction work – including the building, design and build and civil engineering – makes up over half of the work going out to market in 2020/21. Of the remaining estimated contract value, up to £11.6bn is architectural and engineering services, up to £0.8bn is research and development and consultancy services and up to £5.7bn is for repair and maintenance services.

Click here to download a download a copy of the IPA’s analysis. 

James Ketchell is head of communications at the Association for Consultancy and Engineering.