Industry leaders have called on Andy Burnham, widely expected to the UK’s next prime minister, to create a dedicated Department for Infrastructure as one of his first acts in Downing Street.

The Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) has written to the newly appointed MP for Makerfield, arguing that no incoming Prime Minister has ever been better placed to understand why a Department for Infrastructure is needed.

The intervention comes as Westminster turns its attention to the incoming prime minister's priorities, with Burnham the sole declared candidate to succeed Keir Starmer as Labour leader.

ACE, the industry body representing the sector that designs and delivers the country's infrastructure, says responsibility for transport, energy, water, housing and digital is scattered across Whitehall, with competing budgets, priorities and timescales producing stop-start funding, duplicated effort and delayed delivery.

The letter makes the case that Burnham experienced the cost of this fragmentation first-hand during nine years as Mayor of Greater Manchester, navigating multiple departments and funding streams to deliver single integrated public transport programmes like the Bee Network. A Department for Infrastructure would hard-wire his joined-up, place-based approach into central government.

ACE argues a Department for Infrastructure would deliver:

• Streamlined delivery: one accountable home for infrastructure policy, planning and funding, and one ministerial champion for infrastructure; ending the delays and duplication created by fragmented departmental ownership.
• Genuine cross-government coordination: integrated decision-making across transport, energy, water and housing, so interdependent projects are planned together rather than in silos.
• A stronger partner for devolution: a single front door for combined authorities, with the mandate and capability to support mayoral infrastructure pipelines, simplify funding routes, and align national and local priorities.
• Pipeline certainty: long-term visibility that gives industry the confidence to invest in the skills, capacity and innovation needed to deliver.
• Better value for the taxpayer: earlier design input, fewer reworked schemes and a delivery model that learns across sectors rather than reinventing it project by project.

Milda Manomaitytė, chief executive of ACE, said: "No one in Whitehall absolutely owns infrastructure and it shows. Projects stall between departments, funding stops and starts, and projects get scrapped, delayed or blown overbudget. A Department for Infrastructure would help fix that and give industry the certainty to invest, innovate and deliver.

“Andy Burnham spent nine years on the receiving end of Whitehall's fragmentation. With that experience, he arrives in Downing Street the most qualified to end it."

Ben Brittain, director of public affairs at ACE, added: "Mayors and combined authorities shouldn't have to knock on six Whitehall doors to deliver one integrated programme. The incoming Prime Minister built his reputation proving what joined-up delivery looks like in Greater Manchester. A Department for Infrastructure providing one front door, one pipeline, is how he takes that Manchester model from region to nation from day one."

The consultancy and engineering sector employs over 470,000 people across the UK, contributes more than £39bn to the economy and exports over £11bn in expertise globally each year.

The call comes as 28 leading built environment organisations, including Tier 1 contractors and consultants, industry bodies, business groups and professional engineering institutions, have signed a joint open letter calling on the incoming PM to stick with existing infrastructure plans.

The letter was spearheaded by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) and signatories include Milda Manomaitytė, chief executive of ACE, Mark Reynolds, executive chairman Mace and co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council, Rain Newton-Smith, CEO pf the Confederation of British Industry and Suzannah Nichol, chief executive, Build UK.

The letter calls on Keir Starmer's likely replacement to "stay the course" on the UK’s 10-year infrastructure strategy and its accompanying £725bn pipeline of work.

It adds: "We urge the new Prime Minister to re-commit to current infrastructure plans and speed up reforms designed to accelerate project delivery.

"Now is not the time to rip up plans and go back to square one. The sector will support the incoming government, but we need to stay focused on turning strategy into delivery: executing existing plans, building capacity, and fulfilling planned regulatory reforms."

Click here to read ACE's full letter calling for a Department for Infrastructure.

Click here to read the industry's call for infrastructure commitment.