The Department for International Trade will join with 17 of the UK’s leading firms from the infrastructure industry, including Lagan Construction Group, in a new partnership to help UK companies secure major international contracts.
Infrastructure Exports: UK (IE:UK) will bring together companies of all sizes to bid for global infrastructure contracts as a single ‘Team UK’ consortia, to deliver complex projects by combining their expertise.
The new body will be co-chaired by International Trade Minister, Greg Hands, and James Wates CBE, Chairman of the Wates Group Limited.
Meeting three times a year, as a business they will choose which projects to pursue, with government support as it aims to make the UK more competitive on the global stage and bring smaller companies into the infrastructure export supply chain.
“Global infrastructure investment is set to increase rapidly in the coming years and we must make sure UK firms are in prime position to take advantage of it. Our ‘Team UK’ approach will bring together leading UK infrastructure companies to showcase their expertise on a global scale and work together to successfully bid for the biggest contracts.”Greg Hands, International Trade Minister
“Global infrastructure investment is set to increase rapidly in the coming years and we must make sure UK firms are in prime position to take advantage of it. Our ‘Team UK’ approach will bring together leading UK infrastructure companies to showcase their expertise on a global scale and work together to successfully bid for the biggest contracts.”Freddie Patterson, Business Development Director at Lagan Construction Group, who has joined the IE:UK board
Companies from across the UK will represent around 200,000 employee. Members have experience of working on large scale projects such as Crossrail, the Dubai World Expo 2020 and ITER Fusion Reactor in France.
By 2030, global annual construction investment is expected to grow by 85 percent to $15.5 trillion, almost the size of the US economy, and with research showing that large infrastructure projects award bigger contracts to consortia, this will increase the competitiveness and income of UK companies.
IE:UK will also build on the Department for International Trade’s existing work to boost UK infrastructure exports. In March, Greg Hands led a delegation of 15 UK firms to Argentina and Brazil where $12 billion is being invested in infrastructure projects in the region, projects that the IE:UK will look to target.
The UK’s export credit agency, UKEF, has also provided financing enabling UK firms to secure major contracts worth hundreds of millions, such as Carillion’s £490 million contract to deliver key parts of the Expo 2020 Dubai Park. UKEF has also brokered recent infrastructure deals in Africa as the UK takes advantage of the opportunities in new and developing markets.