As the Government has promised a boost to public infrastructure, Craig Elder and Paul Hill of Browne Jacobson discuss the changes needed to make this promise a reality

“National renewal” is a popular strapline in Westminster as the government bids to upgrade key public infrastructure during what it hopes will be a decade in power.

Yet if it’s serious about upgrading the UK’s tired stock of schools, hospitals, prisons, leisure centres, roads and railways, it will most likely have to rekindle a somewhat less popular policy.

This is because failure to replace the private finance initiative (PFI), a form of public-private partnership (PPP) that helped to fund hundreds of projects across more than two decades until its abolition six years ago, has left Britain way behind the international pack when it comes to infrastructure investment and delivery.

Value for money must be maximised

Change is afoot, with Labour pledging to ‘get Britain building again’ to drive economic growth. Its proposed planning reforms aim to boost housebuilding and one of the headlines from the Autumn Budget featured changes to how debt is assessed, now taking into account the value of investments that will grow the economy.

Releasing the valve on self-imposed restrictions on borrowing is expected to unlock £50bn for annual infrastructure spending – but to make this go further and faster, it must also leverage private sector investment.

Apparent acknowledgement of this from the Chancellor comes in the Budget red book’s small print, which refers to mobilising private investment by “developing a social impact investment vehicle”.

Further details, following consultation with industry, are expected in phase two of the government’s spending review this spring.

Barriers and enablers to private investment were discussed during a recent roundtable hosted by Browne Jacobson in partnership with the CBI, chaired by the business lobby group’s CEO Rain Newton-Smith, providing two clear takeaways for policymakers.

Firstly, if businesses are to invest, they require a stable economic environment that prioritises long-term policy certainty, positive messaging and a dedicated skills strategy that will enable things to get built.

Secondly, we must learn from PFI’s mistakes to ensure the public purse receives better value and control while remaining attractive to the private sector. Alternative private finance models are emerging, offering potential to move forward and develop benefits for both the taxpayer and investor.

For the private sector, the potential opportunity is significant. Infrastructure projects not only represent a substantial pipeline of work, but also have the ability to catalyse wider commercial and residential development.

By aligning with the government’s social impact agenda, developers can position themselves at the forefront of the next generation of PPPs.

Learning lessons from the PFI experience

PFI was used to sign off more than 700 construction contracts between its introduction by Norman Lamont in 1992 and abolition by Philip Hammond in 2018.

This represented the largest sustained period of public sector infrastructure investment in recent decades, spanning transport, education, health, leisure, prisons, street lighting and environmental management.

Under PFI, a private partner would fund upfront costs and recoup this capital, plus ongoing finance and operational expenses, through long-term ‘unitary charge’ repayments from the procuring authority – typically an NHS trust, local authority or government department.

While this allowed the state to avoid the initial tab, it became liable for payments over several decades, with contracts usually running for at least 25 years.

A 2021 Public Accounts Committee report estimated the total ‘PFI bill’ to be £170bn against assets delivered with a value closer to £60bn.

This fuelled perceptions of poor value for taxpayers, while there were cases of windfalls for investors that refinanced debt at lower rates following the riskier construction phase.

Its tarnished reputation meant PFI was used sparingly following the 2010 general election and was finally ended completely following the collapse of Carillion, the UK’s second-largest construction and facilities management company with 43,000 employees, in 2018. Given much of the firm’s project pipeline was linked to PFI contracts, there was widespread criticism of the initiative’s financial sustainability for both public and private sector partners.

The coalition government’s “PF2” substitution was short-lived and no replacement model was developed at a UK-wide level.

However, many projects completed during its lifetime delivered excellent infrastructure and associated services, suggesting the model’s flaws were more about implementation than the underlying concept.

PFI had its issues, but it also demonstrated the vital role the private sector can play in delivering public assets. The challenge now is to build on PFI’s successes while addressing its shortcomings.

The need for a new approach in public-private partnerships

Alongside planning red tape, failure to replace PFI has been a key reason for why Britain has fallen behind other major economies in delivering infrastructure.

UK overall investment averaged just 19% of GDP in the 40 years to 2019, the lowest in the G7. The National Infrastructure Commission estimates both public and private sector infrastructure investment must increase by 30% to 50% over the next decade to respond to climate change and to bolster growth.

The assets we do build, meanwhile, are often more expensive and delayed than those of our major international competitors. Data from Britain Remade, for example, found the average cost-per-mile of the 10 most expensive rail projects was £397m in the UK, compared with £306m for Italy and £221m for France.

Partially as a result, our prisons are overcrowded, school and hospital estates are ageing, and rail networks at capacity. Addressing these shortfalls will be crucial, not just for public services, but also for supporting the country’s economic growth and levelling up agenda.

The government appears to recognise the vital role the private sector can play in solving issues within public services.

Health secretary Wes Streeting has invited independent healthcare providers to help cut NHS waiting lists and reports suggest the government may ask investors to bankroll the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing project, although a decision on its future has been delayed until May 2025.

Rather than a piecemeal approach to attracting private backers, however, the government should prioritise how it can create the broader conditions that make its public assets an attractive proposition for investment.

To achieve this, it needs a PPP model that is financially viable, socially responsible, and provides clear pathways to commercial opportunities.

Emerging models for public-private collaboration in infrastructure investment

While the revival of a PFI-like arrangement may be politically toxic, alternative PPP models are emerging that could provide a blueprint. Since the late 2000s, public authorities in Scotland have deployed the non-profit distributing model, which focuses on enhanced stakeholder involvement, no equity dividends and capped private sector returns.

The Welsh government, meanwhile, uses a mutual investment model that works very similar to PFI but with the public sector as a shareholder, giving greater input into contract terms and a share of any profits.

More recently, the Future Governance Forum (FGF) has proposed the infrastructure investment partnership (IIP) model in a report published in September. The IIP is billed as a new approach to PPPs, placing greater emphasis on community benefits, cultivating long-term collaboration and giving local areas more control over their infrastructure.

Crucially, the IIP model also explores how private developers can access unused land around core infrastructure projects to unlock additional commercial potential – a feature likely to appeal to the private sector.

Inevitably, this and any other forthcoming PPP models will require greater scrutiny. But the government must adopt a pragmatic approach if it’s serious about ‘getting Britain building again’ – and demonstrate it recognises that the private sector has a crucial role to play.

For the construction industry, it will be critical to engage with any government consultation on its ‘social impact investment vehicle’ as part of the spending review.

By demonstrating how businesses can align their commercial interests with the government’s social impact agenda, they may be able to secure privileged access to the pipeline of upcoming infrastructure projects.

The social impact investment vehicle represents a chance for developers to position themselves as strategic partners in delivering the country’s most pressing public infrastructure needs. But it will require a proactive, collaborative approach – one that goes beyond traditional contractor-client relationships.

Savvy developers will be closely monitoring these policy developments, engaging with industry bodies and local authorities to shape the model in a way that unlocks commercial potential.

Those that can successfully navigate this new landscape stand to benefit from a steady flow of high-profile, socially-conscious projects for years to come.