The UK civil engineering market has the skills, expertise and global standing to deliver outstanding infrastructure. What it lacks are the conditions that allow firms to innovate, grow and invest with confidence. Our response to the recent CMA study is clear: without reform to risk, procurement and pipeline transparency, the sector will continue to underperform against its potential.
Risk is the central problem. Current contracting models too often transfer excessive and unmanageable risk down the supply chain, particularly through mutual liability and disproportionate insurance requirements. This does not protect clients; it suppresses innovation, inflates cost and drives risk-averse behaviour. Risk must be aligned with responsibility. Proportionate liability, clearer allocation of roles and insurance caps linked to client asset responsibilities would create a healthier, more innovative market.
While market entry matters, the greater threat to competition lies in firms’ inability to scale. SMEs can access work, but pipeline uncertainty, short-term funding, complex procurement and heavy administrative burdens prevent growth. Specialist capability is lost as a result. Clear, long-term pipelines are the single most important enabler of investment in skills, innovation and delivery capacity.
Innovation is constrained less by regulation than by procurement culture. Cost-driven tenders, rigid specifications and compressed timescales actively discourage new approaches. Early Supplier Involvement, dual-stage tendering and properly funded pilots are proven tools, but they will only work if the risks of untested solutions are shared. Centrally managed insurance or risk-sharing mechanisms would unlock innovation without compromising safety or value.
Procurement frameworks should drive collaboration and long-term performance, yet too often they do the opposite. Over-complex frameworks, binary outcomes and duplication exclude capable firms and encourage inefficient subcontracting. Simpler, more proportionate approaches would improve competition and delivery. Where appropriate, more integrated contracting models should be supported, with consultants recognised for their critical role at the interface between clients, investors and contractors in getting design right early and reducing the cost of change.
Poor upfront scoping remains a systemic failure. Projects are often approved before design maturity is sufficient to understand cost, risk or deliverability. Early business case stages must be treated as an investment in developing schemes properly, not as a trigger for fixed budgets. Better front-end planning, informed by early engagement, robust surveys and realistic risk assessment, is essential to delivering on time and on budget.
Transparency is equally critical. Firms cannot plan, invest or grow without clear, credible pipeline information. Greater visibility of timelines, budgets, procurement routes and commercial models would transform decision-making across the market, supporting workforce planning, skills development and collaboration.
Regulation should enable competition and innovation, not hinder it. Streamlined approvals and aligned accreditation would reduce unnecessary cost and duplication, particularly for SMEs, while maintaining safety and quality.
Finally, policy must be grounded in evidence, not assumption. A rigorous assessment of Design and Build performance in the UK, compared with alternative contracting models used in Europe and on projects such as Thames Tideway, is long overdue.
Our members stand ready to deliver more. But without reform to risk, procurement and pipeline certainty, the full value of the civil engineering market will remain locked in. ACE looks forward to working government and industry to fix these foundations and create a market that rewards quality, innovation and long-term growth.
