Consultancy Aecom has published a report setting out 10 practical recommendations it says would accelerate delivery of the UK government’s 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy and help attract private finance.
The paper, Rebuilding Britain: Unlocking growth from the UK’s infrastructure strategy, is framed around an “integrated approach” and stresses stronger central oversight, clearer delivery timetables, greater use of digital tools including artificial intelligence (AI) and reforms to public‑private partnerships.
Aecom argues the government should appoint a minister with dedicated oversight of infrastructure policy to ensure strategic alignment and accountability across departments. The company suggests the post could be filled by an industry expert with knowledge of AI to help bridge government and industry thinking.
The report also calls for strict delivery timetables and clear project roadmaps, streamlined – but still participatory – consultation processes and staged milestones so ministers, officials, contractors and communities can have “confidence that projects are being delivered on time and budget”.
Aecom recommends stronger use of Spatial Development Strategies (SDS) to foster cross‑sector planning and integration and proposes applying the government’s AI Growth Zone model to other infrastructure types to attract investment. It also urges sequencing of Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects to manage workforce and supply chain bottlenecks.
On design, Aecom says public procurement and delivery plans should incentivise early, multidisciplinary design work rather than the historical “functional requirements” minimum. The consultancy highlights deep‑tech AI tools for early‑stage planning as a way to de‑risk schemes, speed decision‑making and deliver longer‑term social, environmental and economic value.
A central strand of the report is a push for “AI first” infrastructure delivery. Aecom recommends integrating industry‑specific AI agents at the earliest programme stages to streamline approvals, reduce delivery risk and improve cost and carbon outcomes. It points to potential savings across project lifecycles from earlier risk identification, better forecasting and resource planning.
The firm also promotes digital twins – digital replicas of physical assets – combined with AI to enable real‑time asset management, predictive maintenance, energy optimisation and lifecycle value creation.
To support data‑driven delivery, Aecom suggests empowering the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (Nista) to curate national infrastructure datasets and adopt stronger open‑data policies. A centralised, secure platform, the report says, would reduce duplication, enable SMEs and researchers to innovate and address the problem of siloed or proprietary datasets.
On funding, Aecom calls for a rethink of public‑private partnership (PPP) models to attract private capital while protecting taxpayer value. The consultancy recommends contract flexibility that can evolve with changing market and asset requirements, and new models that balance risk and reward to give government and investors greater confidence.
The report also stresses building “intelligent client” capability inside Whitehall – greater technical capacity and use of AI tools in departments to speed regulatory approvals and strengthen the government’s negotiating position.
Finally, Aecom says the £725bn National Infrastructure Pipeline needs more granular, transparent information to be attractive to long‑term institutional investors and that government should work with the private sector to package and prioritise projects.
The recommendations come as the government seeks to deliver an ambitious infrastructure programme over the current Parliament. Infrastructure delivery in the UK has faced repeated criticism for cost overruns, delays and fragmentation between departments, and ministers have pledged reforms to planning and procurement in recent years.
Many of Aecom’s proposals mirror wider debates in Whitehall and industry: the need for better strategic oversight, greater use of digital tools and data and clearer project pipelines to unlock private investment. The suggestion to appoint an infrastructure minister with AI expertise touches on a broader push to marry technological capability with policy leadership, but whether ministers will create a new post or reassign responsibilities remains a political question.
You can read the full report here.
Aecom chairman and CEO Troy Rudd said: “Aecom is ready to continue its partnership with the UK Government to help turn the Infrastructure Strategy’s vision into reality. Our global record in delivering some of the most complex and sensitive infrastructure projects equips us with the skills, experience and insight to drive economic growth, enable sustainable energy and strengthen national security.”
Aecom chief executive Europe and India Richard Whitehead said: “The UK government has made commendable progress with its planning reform agenda, which is a vital step towards delivering the infrastructure and homes this country needs. The focus must now shift to ensuring those reforms translate into real-world results. By putting these ideas into action, we believe the government can turbocharge efforts to meet, and exceed, its ambitious infrastructure goals within this parliament and make infrastructure funding go further.”
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