Jason Layfield is executive director – buildings at Ramboll. He talks exclusively to Infrastructure Intelligence about accelerating the speed of development across the buildings and infrastructure sector.

While a swathe of government announcements has given the infrastructure sector much to aim for, the pace of development needs to shift up a gear.

The Industrial Strategy, Infrastructure Pipeline, investment for the energy sector and changes in policy to simplify and speed up delivery are to be welcomed, says Jason Layfield, executive director – buildings at Ramboll. But action on the ground must accelerate to deliver much needed economic growth and bolster investor confidence.

“The Industrial Strategy and Infrastructure Pipeline, the creation of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) and new investment is hugely appreciated by industry and the market,” he said. “But what we are struggling with is the speed of delivery. There are fantastic opportunities, but we need to see action on the ground and money flow into the market to aid that development.”

Layfield has more than 20 years’ experience in the sector, having worked his way up after starting out as an assistant project manager. Ramboll’s buildings business employs more than 4,000 staff globally – with 650 located in the UK. It works in sectors ranging from defence and transport to energy, marine and government projects.

And while industry faces challenges such as high interest rates and cautiousness of investors, Ramboll has grown its buildings business 10% in the past year. With  major investment and growth planned for transport, water, energy  - and more – Layfield says planning is key.

“There is so much work to be done, but it is very slow coming to market. Feast or famine is not a good place to be.”

He says the consultancy sector’s knowledge and experience could help oil the wheels of economic growth.

“If government doesn’t have the right people in place to bring projects forward, could industry be seconded in to help? What are the pinch points and how can industry help bring forward ideas to work on the ground.”

Ramboll is working on a whole range of major buildings projects. It has been appointed to support substantial upgrades at St Pancras International, one of London’s most prominent transport hubs, as part of plans to increase passenger capacity and enhance operations for international rail services. Public sector projects, defence, healthcare and regeneration schemes also form its current workload. Aviation is another important area – with investment in such areas triggering a ripple of further upgrades in transport links and further development.

“While the market is struggling with high inflation and cautiousness from investors, we have continued to grow,” he added. “Winning interesting projects is important for us and our staff – it means we can attract the best staff and keep them with us.”

Layfield says skills and technology, are key issues for industry. “There’s so much to do that there will come a point where we have a serious skills shortage. Cross pollination of skills between the public and private sector is really important. But while it’s important to bring in new talent, it’s also vital we use technology to be more productive and efficient.”

 While 2025 saw construction output across the sector facing decline, Layfield says 2026 already looks more positive.

“I think we’re non the cusp of a very intense period where things are going to come together and the work starts to make progress. We’re already seeing that with projects such as St Pancras. While we’d like other projects to move more quickly, the market is starting to shift.

“We are certainly seeing more partnering in the market. Where you have huge projects, it just makes sense. Major schemes in rail or aviation, for example, can’t be achieved in isolation. For engineers it’s about being technically challenged to deliver these schemes.”

While the UK has yet to see the impact of the ramp up of investment in major infrastructure, it’s clear the opportunities are there.

“In the coming five years we’re going to have large teams working in the infrastructure space like never before,” said Layfield. “There’s so much work in the aviation, rail, data centre and energy space. For example, bringing wind power to shore also means building associated infrastructure such as substations. These are whole industry projects and the sooner we get going the better. “