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A renewable future for Britain is about more than meeting net zero
Just a decade ago, the jury was out on renewables. We questioned whether wind and solar would ever be affordable and resilient enough for us to rely on them. But today, it’s a different story. This year has seen a promising milestone in Britain’s transition towards a greener economy. In September, the government awarded Contracts...
Public transport choices and the future of mobility
Much is uncertain about the opportunities and challenges that will be presented by mobility in the future – but the choices that are made by politicians now on how to support effective public transport are sure to be critical, no matter what is ahead. Technological change can come much faster or much slower than expected,...
Dealing with disruption: a YPP perspective on resilience
From safe water from our taps, to how we heat and light our homes, to the transport we use to get to work, our infrastructure provides the backbone of modern UK society. For many of us, this is something we take for granted but every so often the system is stressed or disrupted. What is...
A generational perspective on infrastructure
Millennials spend all their money on Netflix, Ubers and takeaway coffees. We’re card-carrying members of the snowflake generation. We stay living with our parents for longer, join the workforce later and languish in seemingly eternal adolescence. We’re glued to our phones – more concerned with our curated and self-indulgent online worlds than the reality of...
How do we make better decisions on future infrastructure delivery?
The National Infrastructure Assessment – the UK’s first – set out a clear long-term plan for the UK’s economic infrastructure needs up to 2050. All of its recommendations are affordable within a ceiling of public investment in infrastructure of 1.2% of GDP a year, with a similar amount funded by consumers and bill payers. It...
Ensuring resilience in a highly renewable energy mix
Back in July last year we launched the National Infrastructure Assessment, the first of its kind in this country and of its scope anywhere in the world. It identifies clear priorities for the UK’s economic infrastructure over the coming years and decades, based on a thirty-year forward look at the changing shape of our economy...
Britain can become an electric vehicle country by 2030
After 100 years of incremental change, we are on the cusp of a revolution on our roads. The age of the internal combustion engine is being consigned to history, but all too slowly. Today vehicles contribute to 80 per cent of air pollution breaches in the UK. The Times’ Clean Air For All campaign is...
Freight: a Young Professionals Panel perspective
Young people benefit from the UK’s freight industry – but they are also concerned about its impact. So, the Young Professionals Panel welcomes the Commission’s freight study Better Delivery: the challenge for freight and its recommendations to address this. A wide range of factors drive freight movements in the UK, including moving items we all...
UK’s freight is fast & efficient but it needs our help to deliver cleanly
Every day, all of us rely on the efficiency of our freight industry to deliver goods to our homes and businesses: the manufacturer dependent on just-in-time delivery of crucial parts; the family that avoids the weekly trip to the supermarket in favour of getting their groceries dropped off at their doorstep; or the shopper looking...
Infrastructure and inclusivity
As part of its commitment to support wider discussion of diversity and inclusion issues in infrastructure, the Commission is pleased to host this post from Helen Wollaston of the WISE Campaign. Car seatbelts. Mobile phones. Supermarket shelves. These are just a few examples of products which we all use, but which are, as Caroline Criado-Perez...
Valuing urban infrastructure
In 2016, the National Infrastructure Commission set researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) two difficult questions: what do people and businesses value when they purchase properties, and how does improving transport infrastructure affect property prices? The answers to these questions are nuanced and vary across the country. Through analysing a large dataset (residential...
Learning lessons from the first National Infrastructure Assessment
Publishing the first National Infrastructure Assessment was a major milestone for the National Infrastructure Commission. It was significant for us as the first of the assessments that we are required to publish every five years reviewing long term infrastructure needs. It was also the first assessment of its kind in the UK. This lack of precedent...
Infrastructure fit for now and the future
Infrastructure is integral to daily life. Whether it’s the superfast mobile data services keeping people and firms connected, the trains and roads transferring commuters to work every day, or the energy networks that keep us warm and well-lit, we all expect infrastructure to be there for us, 24 hours a day, seven days a week....
How well connected are our cities?
Discussion about transport investment often focuses on spending over a handful of years, whether that be on a specific scheme or within a certain area. To some extent, these short-term comparisons are probably unavoidable. But it’s a poor way of assessing the overall state of transport when the networks on which people rely have been...
Setting the right conditions for innovation
Whether it’s making the first cup of tea of the day, phoning friends and colleagues, watching our favourite TV programmes or brushing our teeth, the way we live our day-to-day lives depends heavily on our energy, telecoms and water industries. The regulation of these essential services is therefore vital to ensuring that we get a...