A coalition of UK environmental professionals is calling for natural capital – including rivers, wetlands, soils and urban green space – to be formally designated as critical national infrastructure (CNI). The group argues that assets providing flood attenuation, coastal protection and urban cooling deliver system-level resilience comparable to power, water and transport networks, and should therefore receive similar statutory protection and long-term funding. For civil and geotechnical engineers, this would push nature-based solutions such as floodplains, saltmarsh and sustainable drainage systems further into core infrastructure planning and asset management.

MPs have sharply criticised Thames Water’s performance in a Commons debate, with one MP saying she “wouldn’t trust Thames Water to run a bath” as they examined the company’s financial stability and pollution record across London and the Thames Valley. The session scrutinised the utility’s remediation plans for sewage discharges into the River Thames and its ability to fund long-term upgrades to ageing sewers and treatment works under its current debt-laden structure. For civil and water engineers, the outcome could reshape investment timing, regulatory requirements and delivery models for major network rehabilitation schemes.

UK ministers have pushed back the Development Consent Order decision for the two 1.5GW Dogger Bank South offshore wind farms, extending the statutory deadline from 10 January 2026 to 30 April 2026. The schemes, totalling 3GW in the North Sea, would require extensive offshore foundations, subsea cabling and grid connection works comparable in scale to the existing Dogger Bank A, B and C projects. The four‑month delay prolongs design and procurement uncertainty for marine geotechnical campaigns, fabrication yards and onshore grid reinforcement planning.