KPMG highlights big transport spend plans, but flags pipe dream risk

The analysis finds a huge dominance of road and rail schemes in construction plans for the next decade

The analysis finds a huge dominance of road and rail schemes in construction plans for the next decade

An analysis of the UK Government's construction pipeline has highlighted that transport projects dominate the planned construction spend at a total of £66bn, accounting for over half of the pipeline value.

KPMG looked at the £116bn forecast spend by central and local government in the pipeline, covering three spend periods, 2014-16, 2016-2020, and 2020 and beyond. They found that only seven per cent of all the projects are due to complete before 2016, and a third of projects currently have no specified completion date.

Their analysis, detailed in a full report available here, also uncovered that by value one-third of the projects are in southern England.

Richard Threlfall, KPMG's UK head of infrastructure, building and construction, said: "Our analysis shows the huge dominance of rail and road schemes. But it is concerning that a third of the total projects currently have no specified completion date, as industry confidence in the pipeline would be improved if there was certainty around timescales to get schemes delivered."