The UK government’s Single Construction Regulator Prospectus, released just before Christmas, proposes consolidating fragmented oversight of building control and professional regulation, raising questions over how competence, registration and enforcement will be structured across contractors, consultants and inspectors. In parallel, the Competition & Markets Authority’s interim civil engineering market study report examines procurement practices, framework agreements and potential barriers to entry in major infrastructure work. Bishop & Taylor also use Kier’s recent appointment of a chief of staff to explore how centralised coordination roles might influence project governance and decision-making.

The Department for Transport has released a national climate adaptation strategy for Britain’s transport system, setting out how rail, road, ports and aviation infrastructure should cope with more frequent flooding, heatwaves and coastal erosion. Measures include requiring asset owners to embed climate risk into design standards and renewals, prioritising resilience upgrades on critical corridors and interchanges, and improving data on weather-related failures. For geotechnical and civil engineers, this signals tighter expectations on drainage capacity, slope stability, track and pavement performance under extreme temperatures, and long-term asset monitoring.

Western Australia has opened a new funding round under its Clean Energy Future Fund (CEFF), making $9 million available for clean energy projects that cut emissions or reduce energy costs. Mining, minerals processing and remote industrial operations are eligible, with typical projects including on-site solar and battery storage, high‑efficiency electrification of diesel loads, and demand‑side management technologies. The scheme targets projects that can be replicated across WA’s grid‑connected and off‑grid sites, signalling scope for miners to de‑risk low‑emission power trials at existing operations.