Infrastructure

The UK's water sector is not just evolving; it is undergoing a monumental transformation, presenting infrastructure investors with an extraordinary chance to participate in building a more resilient and sustainable future while securing robust financial returns. The combined forces of population growth, the escalating climate crisis, and the urgent need to upgrade aging infrastructure are driving an unprecedented wave of investment in critical water projects. This is not simply about pipes and reservoirs; it is about shaping the future of a vital resource, and the “RAPID: Building a resilient future – a Major Projects guide for investors" published in 2025, is your essential roadmap to this dynamic and expanding market.

Government is consulting on material updates to National Policy Statements EN-1 (overarching energy), EN-3 (renewable energy infrastructure) and EN-5 (electricity networks). National Policy Statements are at the heart of the fast-track bespoke planning regime for nationally significant infrastructure projects under the Planning Act 2008.  The changes reflect Government’s current energy priorities set out in the Clean Power Mission and cover: Low carbon infrastructure, now linked to the Government’s Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, is deemed a Critical National Priority (CNP) and thus benefits from a presumption in favour of consent.  Energy from waste projects no longer benefit from this policy. Centralised Strategic Network Plans are to set out a coordinated and long-term approach for planning transmission infrastructure, and their future conclusions are endorsed in the National Policy Statements. Electricity Transmission Design Principles are to provide greater clarity on the type of transmission assets to be used in different environments and appropriate mitigation. Guidance is provided for onshore wind, now that it is to be brought back into the DCO regime. Inter-array wake effects are to be assessed for offshore wind. In this Insight we explore how these changes might accelerate infrastructure consenting.

Adjudication has become a key tool in the construction industry, helping employers and contractors resolve disputes quickly and keep cash flowing on projects. But when insolvency enters the picture, things can get tricky — especially when it comes to enforcing adjudication decisions or allowing insolvent parties to take part in the process. In this insight, we take a closer look at the legal approach to the interaction between adjudication and insolvency in England & Wales and Singapore, and what to look forward to in Hong Kong SAR as the Construction Industry Security of Payment Ordinance was gazetted on 27 December 2024 and will come to effect fully on 28 August 2025.

The scaling up of low carbon hydrogen technologies will be crucial for achieving the UK’s Net Zero target by 2050 and a sustainable energy future. Historically, hydrogen has been produced from fossil fuels and utilised across heavy industry processes (whether as feedstock in fertiliser production, steel manufacturing or petrochemicals). Low carbon hydrogen, produced with significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions, can facilitate the decarbonisation of hard to abate industrial sectors.  However, it is not without its challenges. Production costs currently exceed certain national Net Zero targets more than two-fold (e.g. in Australia the target green hydrogen production cost is US$2/kg but the actual cost is US$9/kg and similarly in Canada the figures are just under US$3/kg (target) but US$8/kg (actual)) with more than half the production cost attributable to the cost of the power required for electrolysis.

Following compliance with the parliamentary requirements, the National Policy Statement (NPS) for water resource infrastructure was finally designated by the Environment Secretary on 18 September 2023, bringing it immediately into force. This designation follows publication of the final draft in April 2023 and is almost five years since the initial consultation which commenced in late 2018, which we commented on in this BCLP Insight: The New Water NPS:  a milestone for water resources infrastructure.