6. What are the drivers of rising costs in major infrastructure projects (including delays and deferrals), and how can we improve cost control and delivery?
Background
DfT’s ARI identifies 40 broad research questions that reflect areas of strategic importance to the department, where further insight and collaboration could enhance our evidence base, challenge assumptions and strengthen future decision-making. The ARI is organised around four complementary themes, and this question sits within the Enhancing Growth and Place theme.
Transport is a critical enabler of economic growth. By connecting people, businesses and markets, it supports jobs, facilitates trade and investment, and shapes overall economic performance. Improved connectivity ensures people can access employment, education and public services, and that businesses can reach their customers and supply chains. This enables greater economic activity, supporting higher productivity and living standards over time.
Supporting economic growth, measured in terms of GDP, is a core priority for the Department and the wider Government. Transport plays a central role by influencing access to jobs, supply chain efficiency, and the ability of firms to grow and compete.
DfT’s ambition is to enhance growth by maintaining, renewing and strategically developing transport networks in ways that reflect the distinct needs, opportunities and constraints of different places. Place reflects the economic and spatial contexts in which transport operates, recognising that impacts and priorities vary across different parts of the country.
This theme recognises that economic performance, including GDP per person, varies across the UK, and that transport investment can play a significant role in supporting regeneration, reducing spatial inequalities and unlocking development. It places emphasis on the performance and resilience of existing networks, alongside targeted investment in new infrastructure, to improve connectivity and accessibility for passengers and freight.
Partnerships are central to this approach. Local authorities, mayors, devolved administrations, industry and communities all shape how transport supports local outcomes. The ARI therefore seeks research that strengthens understanding of the relationship between transport, growth and place, including what works where and why, and how wider system interactions shape outcomes.
Next steps
If you have research relevant to this topic, are planning work in this area, or would like to discuss potential collaboration, please get in touch. For our monitoring and evaluation purposes, we are also keen to hear if the ARI has informed or influenced your research.
To get in touch and report the use, please fill in the form https://submit.forms.service.gov.uk/form/264718/dft-areas-of-research-interest-ari/
Link to DfT ARI: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dft-areas-of-research-interest/areas-of-research-interest-2026
Topics
Research fields
Related UKRI funded projects
-
Transport Infrastructure Efficiency Strategy Living labs
Over the next few years, the construction sector will witness a wave of infrastructure projects (£60 billion of spend each year over the next decade) and ground work will be undertaken to set future financial settl...
Funded by: ISCF
Lead research organisation: NSAR LIMITED
Why might this be relevant?
The project specifically addresses the drivers of rising costs in major infrastructure projects and proposes strategies for cost control and delivery.
-
Transport investments and spatial economic performance
The research is seeking to understand the implications of transport investments for the spatial economy by identifying effects on workers and firms (e.g. productivity, employment, wages). The research will provide the fi...
Funded by: ESRC
Lead research organisation: London School of Economics and Political Science
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on understanding the implications of transport investments on spatial economic performance, which is related to the question but does not directly address cost control and delivery.
-
UKCRIC National Linear Infrastructure Laboratory - University of Southampton
There is an urgent need, and a transformative opportunity, to develop and exploit major advances in scientific understanding (including in the social and environmental sciences), multidisciplinary systems thinking, techn...
Funded by: EPSRC
Lead research organisation: University of Southampton
Why might this be relevant?
The project addresses the need for major advances in infrastructure to enhance economic growth and resilience, but does not directly focus on cost control and delivery of major infrastructure projects.