Fifteen case studies launching on 18 November will provide new evidence for how systems thinking can improve infrastructure investment decisions and deliver better outcomes. They form the evidence base for an important Treasury paper, the Infrastructure Systems Review, a major study examining how a more joined-up approach to infrastructure can improve decision-making across the built environment. Ahead of the review's publication in February 2027, ACE policy director Marie-Claude Hemming explores why understanding infrastructure as a system, rather than a collection of individual projects, is key to delivering better outcomes.

The UK needs to get more from its infrastructure investment. That means not only improving delivery against time and budget, but ensuring infrastructure creates lasting benefits for the economy, communities and the environment.

Too often, infrastructure is planned in organisational and sectoral silos. Yet transport, housing, energy, water and nature are closely connected. Feedback loops and unmapped cause-effect relationships often mean that decisions in one area impact another – often negatively. However, when the connections are addressed, beneficial opportunities can be created.

A systems approach helps bring these connections into view. It can identify problems earlier, improve the use of existing assets, manage risks across organisational boundaries and reveal where coordinated investment can deliver multiple benefits.

Looking at the bigger picture

ACE has consistently championed a more joined up approach to infrastructure, making the case for earlier consideration of outcomes, stronger collaboration and decisions that account for the wider value of investment. The Infrastructure Systems Review is an opportunity to turn that thinking into practical changes in policy and delivery.

Jointly sponsored by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), the Infrastructure Client Group and the Green Construction Board, and delivered by the Built Environment Connective, the review examines how a systems approach can improve decision making across the built environment.

The benefits are tangible: better coordination, fewer unintended consequences and a clearer understanding of whole life costs, risks and value. But achieving them requires government, clients, consultants, contractors and operators to work across traditional boundaries, with the right expertise involved early enough to shape decisions.

Lessons from real projects

The 15 case studies launching on 18 November cover transport, water, flood resilience, energy, nature. geotechnics and regional development.

One example is Cross Keys Bridge on the Lincolnshire-Norfolk border which illustrates why looking beyond an individual asset matters. The bridge supports a wider transport network serving agriculture, trade and tourism. Understanding the consequences of disruption means considering the businesses and communities that depend on it, not just the condition of the structure.

The Transpennine Route Upgrade offers another perspective. This £11bn programme between Manchester, Leeds and York aims to improve rail capacity and connectivity. The project team is steering towards project success by focusing on outcomes for passengers, freight customers the regional economy rather than ‘inputs’. It has created an ‘enterprise’ involving those responsible for building, operating and maintaining the railway to align decisions across the programme.

Other case studies examine digital tools for resilience planning, catchment-based water resource and flood risk management, and collective strategies for landslip stabilisation.

Together, they show that systems approaches enable stronger business cases for investment, efficient targeting of scarce resources, better risk management, improved resilience and more certain delivery. They inform better decisions, more effective interventions and more positive outcomes.

From evidence to action

The case studies are the evidence base for the final paper, which is currently being reviewed by government departments, regulators, strategic authorities, investors and insurers to test its findings and build support for practical recommendations.

The Infrastructure Systems Review is scheduled for publication on 11 February 2027. It will set out 10 transferable insights and seven practical actions to help embed systems thinking in policy, investment and delivery.

The priority is to ensure it leads to changes in practice. As Jason Tucker, chair of the Infrastructure Client Group has noted, conventional thinking, behaviours and strategies are inadequate to solve the range of challenges and pressures the infrastructure industry faces. New approaches are required.

Consultants and engineers have an important role in making this happen. They can help clients map and understand the systems they directly own and manage, and those outside their control but that influence their outcomes. They can compare options, understand trade-offs and assess whole life value. To do so effectively, they need early involvement, clear objectives and procurement approaches that reward outcomes, not just the lowest initial price.

ACE is a part of the Built Environment Connective and has been contributing to development of the Infrastructure Systems Review. We will continue to support this important piece of work by advancing systems approaches within industry discussions and connecting the findings with those who can act on them.

The measure of success will be simple: better coordinated investment, risks identified earlier and infrastructure that delivers greater value for the people and places it serves.

The evidence base for system change will be launched on Wednesday 18 November 2026, from 3.15pm to 6pm at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology in London. Click here for event details and registration.

If you would like to find out more, please email mhemming@acenet.co.uk