Past ICE President Peter Hansford has welcomed the progress made during the first year of the Government’s Infrastructure Cost Review – a programme aimed to reduce the cost of delivering infrastructure in the UK by £2 to £3 billion a year by 2015.
ICE has played a central role over the course of this review, working directly with Treasury body Infrastructure UK and also through an Infrastructure Steering Committee, chaired by Peter Hansford, which brings together a series of industry working groups to focus on implementing the principles of the review.
The Review’s first annual report published at the end of April confirmed that the programme is on track, identifying projected savings of up to £1.5 billion through changed behaviours and practice.
Peter Hansford said: “The progress made in year one is encouraging and I have seen close, constructive working between government, clients and industry to achieve the goals. The National Infrastructure Plan and future pipeline of funded infrastructure have improved visibility for industry and provide a platform for change in procurement practice that will help achieve cost savings."
Looking to year two, Peter added that active engagement with the implementation of the cost review across the whole industry would be key to ensuring the principles are put into practice. “In my role as chair of the Infrastructure Steering Committee, I will continue to advocate industry engagement and maintain enthusiasm for this important programme”, he said.
Commercial Secretary to the Treasury, Lord Sassoon said: “It is vitally important that utility bill payers and taxpayers get good value for every pound spent on new infrastructure. Every pound saved through this Cost Review programme is a pound more that can be spent on new infrastructure for the UK.
“This first annual report shows we are on track to deliver the savings we identified last year.
“What is particularly encouraging is that these savings are being delivered through close and fruitful co-operation between the public and private sectors.”
Examples of savings include: a projected 20 per cent saving (over £600 million) on the 20 major projects being delivered through the Highways Agency’s Managed Motorways and Trunk Road Improvement programme, through managing projects more strategically, allowing them to work better with their supply chain and deliver savings. London Underground also expects to deliver over £400 million efficiency savings through more effective project management.
These examples, along with the others detailed in the report, represent evidence of good progress towards the overall objective of £2 to 3 billion savings per annum by 2015. The Government’s focus for the next year of the programme will be to embed the behavioural changes and improved processes required to sustain these savings, with particular focus on the top 40 priority infrastructure projects and programmes identified in the National Infrastructure Plan 2011.
The full report is available to read on the HM Treasury website.