Former Australian prime minister and International Hydropower Association president Malcolm Turnbull is urging the UK Government and Ofgem to create dedicated funding mechanisms to unlock investment in large-scale pumped energy storage schemes. He is targeting long-duration storage projects that can shift surplus offshore wind and solar over multi-hour to multi-day periods, rather than short-duration lithium-ion batteries. For civil and geotechnical teams, this signals potential demand for new high-head reservoirs, underground caverns, pressure tunnels and large-diameter penstocks if bankable revenue models are put in place.

The Construction Plant-hire Association and the Chartered Institute of Building have formed the Construction Growth Coalition with other trade bodies to coordinate a single industry voice to UK government. The coalition is targeting policy influence on infrastructure pipelines, planning and skills, with a particular focus on small and medium-sized contractors and plant-hire firms that dominate the supply chain. For geotechnical and civil contractors, this could affect visibility of future groundworks demand, investment in specialist plant, and workforce training priorities.

Government has launched a six‑month review into why UK rail infrastructure schemes, such as electrification, new stations and major renewals, are significantly more expensive to deliver than comparable projects in Europe. The review will examine cost drivers across design standards, procurement models, possession regimes and risk allocation on projects delivered by Network Rail and Great British Railways Transition Team. Outcomes could influence future business cases, value‑for‑money tests and funding approvals for large schemes including HS2 extensions and Northern Powerhouse Rail.