Annex B: Note of roundtable hosted jointly by the National Infrastructure Commission and Boston Consulting Group on cost effective delivery of UK infrastructure

Joint BCG NIC note.docx Annex B: Note of roundtable hosted jointly by the National Infrastructure Commission and Boston Consulting Group on cost effective delivery of UK infrastructure The National Infrastructure Commission and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) undertook a joint session with senior leaders from the infrastructure sector on 13 March 2024, with the objective of investigating ways in whi. [...] This joint session was set up as part of that engagement, with the objective of defining the extent of the problem, themes which may be exacerbating this problem in the UK context and potential solutions which could be leveraged by government to try and improve the speed and cost effectiveness of UK infrastructure delivery. [...] Part 1: Defining the problem The first part of the session involved a definition of the problem, to understand what factor(s) are driving anomalies in UK infrastructure delivery, and at what scale. [...] Finally, having a clear national strategy was discussed as a pre requisite for improving public engagement on infrastructure – clarifying the benefits of projects to the public is vital, as it is the public who ultimately pays for the bulk of economic infrastructure. [...] In the nuclear sector, the culture of ‘continuous improvement’ was regarded as an impediment to controlling costs on major projects; however, close cooperation between clients and regulators – which has occurred recently in the nuclear sector – was seen as a possible solution to the impact on costs not being considered in the evolution of regulatory frameworks.