Setting the scene

A message

from our CEO

Stuart Togwell

_{Chief Executive}
_{Kier Group}

UKREiiF continues to grow in both scale and significance.

Now in its fourth year, the conference’s growth rightly reflects the increased understanding that infrastructure is central to the UK’s future: helping drive economic growth, strengthen public services and secure long-term national resilience.

As a leading UK infrastructure services, construction and property group, Kier sees the impact our work has every day. Across economic and social infrastructure, including transport, water and environmental and energy resilience as well as defence, education, healthcare, and much more, our 10,000 colleagues and nationwide supply chain work with our customers to deliver industry-leading projects that enhance places, services and communities across the country.

UKREiiF, once again demonstrated that the infrastructure industry has a unique opportunity to demonstrate its true value. The UK Government’s Infrastructure Strategy, and the transparency afforded by the new NISTA Infrastructure Pipeline, has given the sector much-needed clarity and stability.

Now is the moment to seize on this potential, deliver better outcomes and leave a lasting impact.

That sense of shared opportunity was reflected throughout the panel sessions we hosted at UKREiiF. Focusing on the issues that matter most to our customers and the communities they serve: how to translate long-term infrastructure ambitions into action, why social value must be embedded from the outset and the importance of supporting the next generation of industry talent.

Across the sessions, there was a strong sense of the realities of delivery and how early engagement, clearer pipelines and more collaborative commissioning make a measurable difference. Our speakers also highlighted the significant potential of platform-led design, digital tools and wider innovation to further improve productivity and reduce risk.

There is no doubt that challenges remain. There was a broad agreement that attracting, developing and retaining talent is an urgent priority, and that this requires closer collaboration between industry, education, the public sector and Government. Creating clear pathways into the industry, and supporting progression once people are in it, remains critical to meeting future demand.

_{^{Panel: The UK Government's Infrastructure strategy}}_{^{Realising the potential of their 10 year plan}}

There was also widespread agreement on the importance of long-term planning and the need for enduring visibility of infrastructure programmes to enable future success.

However, by the end of the three-day event, there was a clear sense of optimism.

The challenges facing our sector are well understood, but so too are the steps needed to address them. UKREiiF once again demonstrated the value of bringing industry-leading voices together to discuss what successful delivery requires: trust, partnership and a shared commitment to long-term outcomes. These principles are central to Kier’s approach and to our own 360 whole-lifecycle model.

We look forward to building on these conversations and continuing to work with our customers and partners to shape a more sustainable, inclusive and resilient built environment across the UK.

Stuart

_{^{Discover Our 360 Approach}}

_{^{Day one illustration (click to enlarge)}}

_{^{Day two illustration (click to enlarge)}}