{"id":725695,"date":"2026-01-28T05:25:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725695\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T05:25:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T05:25:35","slug":"skanska-uk-president-and-ceo-on-bringing-certainty-to-public-sector-infrastructure-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/725695\/","title":{"rendered":"Skanska UK president and CEO on bringing certainty to public sector infrastructure delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"

“This government has been bold. I\u2019d give it 10 out of 10 for everything it has said and everything it\u2019s trying to do, but the proof is in the pudding,\u201d says Skanska UK CEO Katy Dowding.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Katy Dowding is president and CEO, Skanska UK<\/p>\n

Having taken up her current role in\u202fApril 2023 following a 22-year history with Skanska across various leadership positions, Dowding has had a ringside view of major UK schemes including HS2 under\u202fthe Skanska Costain Strabag (SCS) joint venture \u2013 and Lower Thames Crossing as a key delivery partner.<\/p>\n

She indicates that her experience across these key projects, alongside a host of other critical schemes, has demonstrated that the \u201cproof in the pudding\u201d \u2013 in other words delivery success or otherwise \u2013 is a question of clarity, communication and continuity.<\/p>\n

And she believes the government\u2019s 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy, launched in mid-2025, \u201cis a good piece of work\u201d that will help here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt starts from a mindset that you can\u2019t think of infrastructure in four-or-five-year political cycles; four or five years isn\u2019t enough to achieve anything,\u201d she says. That\u2019s why the formation of Nista [the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority] is critical.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also welcome is extra investment in planning encapsulated in The Planning and Infrastructure Bill, \u201cbut it\u2019s going to take a while and it just needs to keep the momentum,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople need to be able to hold their nerve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holding their nerve requires bringing certainty to an uncertain world in which fluctuating costs and geopolitical factors loom increasingly large, by getting clear on objectives.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, what we\u2019ve seen is government trying to please too many audiences, because large scale strategic infrastructure is expensive and you have to make decisions to turn some things off if you\u2019re going to proceed with others. Plans can get derailed if we get into another set of elections and they\u2019re trying to keep so many different factions happy that they end up pleasing nobody.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The current state of the water sector does beg the question as to whether the whole sector needs a bit of an overhaul. This will probably be the last AMP under the current guise, so it feels ripe for a fresh look<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Construction productivity<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a member of the Construction Productivity Taskforce, Dowding is keen to get clarity on the issues at the heart of the construction sector\u2019s productivity woes.<\/p>\n

\u201cProductivity problems don\u2019t tend to be when somebody\u2019s laying a brick or putting a bit of tarmac down. The real productivity problem we have is around what blocks us from doing construction and what we can do in terms of getting it underway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Planning is one example of those blockers, she says, citing what she sees as the positive work government is currently doing around limiting the number of the objections to projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a democracy, people should absolutely be able to say if they\u2019re not happy, but it needs to be proportionate.\u201d The \u00a3100M\u202fSheephouse Wood Bat Protection Structure or \u201cbat tunnel\u201d\u202fto safeguard rare bats from the HS2 rail line, was a case in point. \u201cNobody\u2019s saying we shouldn\u2019t be looking after bats, but the response needs to be proportionate.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, Dowding stresses that planning and dealing with objections are only part of the picture. \u201cThe work we\u2019ve been doing on the Productivity Taskforce includes looking at the pipeline from policy to delivery, because it\u2019s no one thing that stifles productivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

One area ripe for reassessment is project selection. Hasty selection of infrastructure projects forces decisions before sufficient detail is known, potentially leading to cost overruns, delays, mission creep and lack of alignment with needs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it\u2019s about connecting the pipeline to outcomes. If the government decides \u2018we\u2019re going to build this road or that railway\u2019, the pipeline can almost become a wish list, and of course, a wish list is always going to be unaffordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we need to start with the government\u2019s missions or stated strategic objectives and then look at how do they flow through into what\u2019s in the pipeline? If there are jobs on the pipeline that are just a wish list, which aren\u2019t connected through to the mission, they should be deselected.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is also pushing for earlier engagement and collaboration, while noting that approaches like Project 13 remain relatively limited in uptake. \u201cProject 13 is great, but it\u2019s not happening everywhere. There\u2019s still a lot of traditional procurement being done by the public sector. I don\u2019t think it specifically needs to be Project 13, but we need more of a culture of collaborative contracting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at the private sector, we pretty much wholesale \u2013 with very few exceptions \u2013 use collaborative procurement models. Now, there\u2019s no way the private sector would be doing that if it didn\u2019t give them value for money, if it wasn\u2019t efficient, if there wasn\u2019t the value to be derived from that. And in that scenario, what you normally get is deselection at a much earlier stage, so you don\u2019t run in competition with each other.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, on a private sector job, there might be anything between four and six of us tendering, but you just do a first stage tender where you work on programme capability, markup and those kinds of things. Then you might spend a year working together, working up the design together to make sure you\u2019ve got buildability, making value engineering choices. You might add something in because you can make the case that the value it brings is greater than the cost. On the other hand, you might say \u2013 we don\u2019t need these other elements at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy contrast, if you\u2019re in a competitive model for a long time, it\u2019s very hard to look at different options. Instead, you say, this is the design and you\u2019ve all got to price the design like that \u2013 so you end up with unrealistic pricing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

TBM Sushila removed after completing an 8km journey to construct HS2\u2019s Northolt Tunnel under the capital<\/p>\n

Grasping value <\/strong><\/p>\n

The perception of unrealistic pricing has arguably been a defining factor in HS2\u2019s controversies. When former prime minister Rishi Sunak announced the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2 in October 2023, Dowding quips, \u201cI\u2019ll probably have better days at the office, but the big challenge with that is \u2013 and we\u2019re partly to blame for this \u2013 we don\u2019t talk enough about the value projects deliver or why we\u2019re doing a project, because we seem to get obsessed with cost.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly cost is important and nobody wants to throw money out the window, but it\u2019s communicating the real value of a project \u2013 based on a clear understanding of its objectives \u2013 that\u2019s critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe example I always use is The Olympics. Of course we talked about the cost of the Olympics, but everybody got why we were doing it. Everybody got why we had to get it finished in time for summer 2012. There was a hard stop there. The public got it. The trades on site got it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of HS2, she acknowledges: \u201cThere was definitely a lot more work to be done upfront before we started on site\u201d and she adds that this extends to questioning whether speed should have been the scheme\u2019s main driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was capacity-building, and that\u2019s about understanding, okay, why is it important? Well, capacity-building means passenger trains will be able to travel faster. Freight will be able to get around the country better. All of that got lost within the narrative that came through about it being seven minutes quicker to get to Birmingham.\u201d<\/p>\n

She sees Lower Thames Crossing \u2013 which secured final government funding late last year \u2013 as an opportunity to do things differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith LTC, we\u2019ve been working with the customer for a lot longer and more closely, so there\u2019s been some good collaboration there, and National Highways is committed to doing the right thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cLTC is particularly about carbon as a pathfinder project, and everybody knew that at the outset. [LTC executive director] Matt Palmer stood up and said, this is going to be the greenest road in the UK. So that takes us back to that point about the Olympics; everyone knows we\u2019re going to have the best games in 2012. Everyone knows we\u2019re going to have the greenest road. We know where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following COP30 in late 2025, where it was made clear that climate change mitigation is under threat, Dowding also sees LTC as one pathway in returning carbon reduction to centre stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like there\u2019s been a de-emphasis from the government. So for us, it\u2019s important to get clear on where that\u2019s going because we are very driven by being able to reduce carbon to provide greener solutions. It\u2019s been motivating for Skanska and I see it as a differentiator for us, so if that\u2019s being valued less by clients, that\u2019s a shame.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skanska deployed the world\u2019s first hydrogen-fuelled excavator on site for LTC ground investigation surveys, aligned with the project\u2019s aims to eliminate diesel from worksites entirely by 2027. It is also focusing on the use of low carbon concrete and steel, as well as trialling innovative materials such as calcined London clay as a cement replacement, and recycled steel fibres.<\/p>\n

But overall, a clear vision and embedded efficiencies also have a role to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarbon and cost are often seen as in competition with each other, which they don\u2019t need to be at all,\u201d says Dowding. \u201cIf you can secure site efficiencies, project efficiencies and deliver a project more quickly, you will be delivering it, obviously, with less embodied carbon.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Skanska has been a member in Anglian Water\u2019s @One Alliance since 2005<\/p>\n

2026 and beyond <\/strong><\/p>\n

Infrastructure in the UK is undergoing a seismic shift that will see Skanska UK broadening its portfolio, Dowding says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s some exciting stuff going on in the energy sector in terms of transmission and substations for National Grid\u2019s Great Grid Upgrade,\u201d she says. \u201cThere are a number of National Grid projects in procurement at the moment. We\u2019re looking at certain ones within the National Grid portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in the water sector, Skanska has worked with Anglian Water for about 25 years and became part of @one Alliance in 2005. The organisation keeps a weather eye on opportunities to contribute to the sector, although she notes: \u201cIt\u2019s very disjointed regional procurement for water. Every region\u2019s got a different commercial model. It\u2019s quite tricky to find the ones that work, and they come up with different ways of doing it. So, it\u2019s inconsistent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current state of the water sector does beg the question as to whether the whole sector needs a bit of an overhaul. This will probably be the last AMP under the current guise, so it feels ripe for a fresh look.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continuity factor <\/strong><\/p>\n

More widely, continuing to strengthen relationships and engagement is critical, and industry \u2013 including Tier 1 contractors \u2013 has a role to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where we need to work more closely with government, because central government aren\u2019t construction experts but we\u2019re not expert politicians. We need to bring the two parts together so we can craft that story to make sense of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can get government to continue to engage with industry, we can help them work out priorities, which helps us work out \u2013 working with Nista \u2013 industry\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re also starting to see both the political arm of government and the civil service working more closely with industry. Part of the secret is the civil service, because that provides the continuity factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve now got a government manifesto, which has its missions and strategic objectives, and if you\u2019ve got that connection from manifesto to policy, through to pipeline, through to delivery \u2013 if that thread is there, it should be the catalyst for better inter-departmental collaboration.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond that, if we can get that long-term thinking, my nirvana would be cross-party support for a 10-year plus infrastructure plan. Wouldn\u2019t that be amazing? And then they could agree, \u2018Look, this is going to happen no matter who\u2019s in or who\u2019s out\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like what you’ve read?\u00a0To receive New Civil Engineer’s daily and weekly newsletters click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“This government has been bold. I\u2019d give it 10 out of 10 for everything it has said and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[216120,216119,216121,216122,748,2813,216123,393,4884,216124,29350,216125,216126,462,216127,44838,216128,216129,1144,172440,114054,712,216130,216131,157174,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-725695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-one-alliance","10":"tag-10-year-infrastructure-strategy","11":"tag-anglian-water","12":"tag-anglian-water-one-alliance","13":"tag-britain","14":"tag-carbon","15":"tag-costain","16":"tag-england","17":"tag-great-britain","18":"tag-great-grid-upgrade","19":"tag-hs2","20":"tag-hydrogen-power","21":"tag-infrastructure-delivery","22":"tag-interview","23":"tag-lower-thames-crossing","24":"tag-national-grid","25":"tag-national-infrastructure-and-service-transformation-authorityn-nista","26":"tag-nista","27":"tag-northern-ireland","28":"tag-planning-and-infrastructure-bill","29":"tag-rail-freight","30":"tag-scotland","31":"tag-skanska-costain-strabag-jv","32":"tag-skanska-uk","33":"tag-strabag","34":"tag-uk","35":"tag-united-kingdom","36":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=725695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}