Wales’ new deputy transport minister has written to Great British Railways Transition Team chair Heidi Alexander calling HS2 a “long-standing symbol of unfair rail funding” because the high-speed scheme is classified as an “England and Wales” project despite no HS2 track being built in Wales. He argues this designation blocks Barnett consequentials that could otherwise support upgrades on core Welsh routes such as the South Wales Main Line and the Valleys network. The row intensifies pressure over how multi‑billion‑pound rail megaprojects are accounted for in UK transport budgets.

Architects Registration Board chair Alan Kershaw has been reappointed by the Privy Council for a further two-year term as the regulator continues a major overhaul of UK architectural practice. Since his initial appointment in 2020, ARB has redesigned initial education and training routes, introduced a mandatory CPD scheme, updated its Code of Conduct and agreed mutual recognition and MoU frameworks with several non-UK jurisdictions. The next phase centres on embedding these regulatory changes while responding to technological shifts and evolving public expectations across the built environment.

SNIPEF, the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers Federation, has elected Dundee-based contractor Steve Craig as its 102nd president for the 2026/27 term, drawing on a career that began with an apprenticeship at Munro Petrosea in 1979 and the co-founding of APS Dundee Ltd in 2012. Craig plans to prioritise apprenticeship reform and funding, particularly for SME plumbing and heating firms that carry most of the recruitment and training burden. He will use SNIPEF’s existing research and ongoing government engagement to push for changes in apprenticeship support, skills and competence frameworks linked to net-zero building services.