The Infrastructure Driving UK Cities Forward

From transport systems to digital connectivity, infrastructure is essential for cities to grow and prosper sustainably, providing a crucial framework for the way people live, work and move—and businesses have a vital role to play in infrastructure development.

The UK government has put infrastructure at the heart of its plans to level up the nation, increase opportunity and drive the journey to net zero. The National Infrastructure Strategy outlines the central role that core services and infrastructure will play in supporting economic growth across the country’s cities and regions. Over the next 10 years, infrastructure spending is expected to total £650 billion, of which more than £300 billion will be allocated through utility companies and other private-sector businesses.

The HS2 rail link between London and the Midlands—Europe’s largest megaproject—is the flagship example of this infrastructure investment, and reflects the vital role of infrastructure in the UK’s cities and regions. It is creating opportunities for businesses across the UK to supply the project, and presages future infrastructure that will further connect these cities and regions.

The importance of supply chains has become acutely clear during the pandemic, as has the value of a talented workforce—and national transport infrastructure is key to both. Infrastructure is also an acutely local issue, as supply chains and access to talent always comes down to the last mile. The government’s target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 adds extra impetus to infrastructure requirements designed to both meet immediate needs and ensure long-term environmental sustainability.

Victoria Whitehead, Head of Infrastructure and Transport at Lloyds Bank, notes that the pandemic changed the way many people work and travel, adding: “I don’t think there can be a recovery of urban economies without reliable infrastructure.”

Infrastructure takes many forms and, in the digital age, as the UK transitions to a net-zero economy, transport and digital connectivity are central pillars. Both require public- and private-sector involvement, with private investment and private contractors at the leading edge of the challenge and opportunity.

1. Transforming transport in Birmingham

For InstaVolt, the UK company recently named the country’s top electric vehicle (EV) charging network based on electric car owner ratings, Birmingham and the West Midlands represent a clear opportunity for growth—not just for its own business, but for many forward-thinking firms operating in the region.

Birmingham boasts the highest number of electric vehicles of any UK city outside London, while nearby Coventry regularly tops lists of the UK’s EV-friendliest cities, thanks to its high charging-point-to-vehicle ratio and low average charging cost. There’s an ever-increasing demand for EV infrastructure in the region, and companies like InstaVolt are seizing the opportunity.

“We’re looking to fill in the blank spots and match the charges with where the demand is, and Birmingham and the West Midlands have performed very well for us,” says InstaVolt CEO Adrian Keen. “We enter into partnerships with businesses that own land where there is space for charging points, including big brands like McDonald’s and Costa Coffee. Our model is that we will occupy an area of their car park at no cost to the business and bring charging infrastructure to those sites, and we pay our landlords to be on those sites.”

In addition to business-to-business partnerships like these, Keen emphasises the importance of working with the public sector.

“There are huge opportunities for local authorities, which sit on and control vast amounts of land across the country, to also work with us in that same way,” he explains. “Short-stay car parks; high-street opportunities. Some retail parks and leisure facilities are owned by local authorities. So, when they partner with us, they help bring EV charging infrastructure to their communities and drive the transition to net zero. It’s a wonderful sustainability initiative for the area, as well as an income stream for both local authorities and businesses.”

As well as receiving income from companies like InstaVolt, host businesses can expect to see increased traffic to retail and hospitality sites as drivers seek out locations with charging points. Such businesses typically see an increase in sales thanks to drivers using the 30- to 45-minute charging time to leave their cars and spend money in shops and restaurants on-site.

“Our busiest sites see more than 100 charging sessions a day and our data shows that retail sites can experience an increase in dwell time of up to 50% for customers charging an electric vehicle, translating into an average on-site spend of £80, up from an average of £36 per visit,” says Keen. “And that’s at this really nascent, early stage in the transition, so the potential is enormous.”

Recognising the opportunity, Birmingham City Council has developed an EV charging strategy that is being implemented by ESB Energy. The aim is to have 394 fast- or rapid-charge points installed by the end of 2022 at key locations, primarily taxi ranks and public hubs such as shopping centres.

The second phase, lasting until 2032, will expand that network to 3,600 charge points, and will be carried out in collaboration with private-sector charging system providers such as InstaVolt and businesses with locations suitable for EV charge points such as supermarkets and fuel stations. Meanwhile, EV battery manufacturer Britishvolt recently announced a £200 million investment in a factory just outside Birmingham, which will be one of the UK’s largest upon completion, further cementing the city’s growing reputation as a hub for EV infrastructure.

Keen’s ambition is that better access to EV charging points will help make cities more attractive destinations for residents and businesses alike.

“I think the environment will start to define a city,” he says. “People want to avoid dirty cities with lots of smog and pollution, so we should be building clean cities with fresh air and more green spaces. People will want to work there, and businesses will want to be associated with that.”

Local authorities in Birmingham recognise the critical importance of better, cleaner transport to the city’s continued economic growth, and are planning to make its local transport carbon-neutral by 2030. Birmingham already produces less CO2 per capita than most UK cities—4 tonnes per capita (tpc), compared to a national average of 4.3 tpc—according to Centre for Cities.

As well as decarbonising the city, the explicit aims of the plan include connecting people with employment and training, attracting inward investment and improving quality of life and social justice; access to efficient transport is closely correlated to social advantage.

“Where we see constraints on economic growth in cities and regions, it’s often where the brakes have been put on transport investment. Transport is key at every level. Effective and sustainable local transport connects people to their places of employment and to leisure facilities. Ease of travel within an urban area is vital to the well-being of its citizens and to the quality of life, says Victoria Whitehead, Head of Infrastructure and Transport at Lloyds Bank.

She adds: “Making infrastructure sustainable through electric vehicles, and the charging infrastructure they need, is also essential. To thrive, cities also need transport infrastructure that connects them to the rest of the country and internationally.”

2. Connecting Sunderland

Like Birmingham, Sunderland is leading the way on vehicle electrification. In 2021, when Nissan, the city’s largest employer, announced plans to ramp up its production of EVs, it put Sunderland at the heart of global EV manufacturing.

“Europe will take the lead on electrification around the world for Nissan—and within Europe, Sunderland is the city that will take the lead towards electrification,” said Ashwani Gupta, Nissan’s Chief Operating Officer at the time.

So, what makes Sunderland—a city that just three decades ago had an unemployment rate of around 20%—so attractive to business investment in this sector? Part of the answer lies in the city’s legacy as a manufacturing hub. For decades, it excelled in shipbuilding, along with glassmaking and coal mining, and when those three pillars of the local economy collapsed during the latter part of the 20th century, engineering and manufacturing remained a natural fit for the regional workforce.

The network effect of manufacturing and engineering businesses that have confidence in Sunderland is clear. In 2017, car parts maker Unipres—whose Sunderland plant manufactures parts for major automotive brands including Nissan, Renault and Honda—opened a £500,000 training academy, where apprentices master their trade in a state-of-the-art simulated working environment. That same year, US automotive seating and E-systems giant Lear Corporation chose its Sunderland plant for a £1.5 million extension, beating competition from other European locations.

Unsurprisingly, given its role in automotive manufacturing, Sunderland is involved in several autonomous vehicle projects. The city council is also a partner in the 5G CAL (Connected and Automated Logistics) project, alongside a range of public and private organisations including the universities of Newcastle and Coventry, the Connected Places Catapult and Nissan. The project aims to demonstrate that autonomous freight vehicles can be rapidly shifted from automatic to manual control—a key test for the safety and efficiency of self-driving lorries.

Sunderland is aiming to make 5G mobile an integral part of its digital infrastructure, and the city was one of the country’s first to establish a 5G network. Rolled out in December 2019, one of the network’s first initiatives was providing free, ultrafast Wi-Fi in public spaces. 5G also delivers far greater efficiency for local businesses, especially those with a remote or hybrid workforce.

“One of the great benefits of 5G is the low latency, which just means much less delay time between a mobile device and the network,” says Ben Weland, Head of Telecoms, Media, and Technology at Lloyds Bank. “That can be essential to enable other technologies, and one case is autonomous vehicles. You want your autonomous vehicle to have the best connectivity and the least possible delay in communications with any data centre it is using.”

Meanwhile, 5G technology is also being integrated into public services. Sunderland has begun using 5G for intelligent traffic mapping, and social housing residents in the city centre now have ultrafast connectivity, levelling up opportunities and addressing digital exclusion.

Fuelled by inward investment, astute use of government enterprise status in the 1990s and a healthy talent pipeline from the region’s five universities, the city has reimagined itself as an advanced engineering hub. But its wider regeneration is not yet complete—and the city still lags behind others in key metrics such as employment, skills and business dynamics, according to the Centre for Cities.

The city’s leaders are addressing these issues with a focus on digital connectivity and productivity to help ensure Sunderland’s future success.

Sunderland’s razor-sharp focus on digital infrastructure was highlighted when it was named UK’s 2020 Smart City of the Year. Its city council is extremely ambitious in its connectivity strategy, and a key aspect is fibre connectivity.

In 2021, the city began work to put full-fibre broadband within reach of almost every home and business. Fibre provider CityFibre, whose work is being coordinated with the city’s road resurfacing programme to minimise disruption, is installing the network, and the project is due to be completed by the end of 2025.

CityFibre recently announced the completion of a £4.9 billion debt raise via the new, government-run UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB), which aims to fund a green industrial revolution and support local economic growth by partnering with public and private entities across the UK. Ben Weland, Head of Telecoms, Media, and Technology at Lloyds Bank, which coordinated with UKIB in the debt raise, calls CityFibre a “key driver in the future resilience of local economies”.

“In 2021, CityFibre invested more than £60 million in Sunderland,” he says. “We are thrilled to be supporting the continuation of such activity in this city and others across the UK.”

Claire Rowntree, Deputy Leader of Sunderland City Council, which was named Digital Council of the Year in 2021 by Connected Britain, highlights the importance of cross-sector partnerships in making such initiatives a reality.

“Here in Sunderland, we’ve always worked closely with national, regional and city partners in both the private and public sectors on driving forward investment and growth,” she says. “We’re very aware of hi-tech and digital innovation and building up our infrastructure, especially with a 5G network.

“Partnership work is underway on our networks, including 5G for business and public service applications, and making assets such as street furniture and buildings available for the very latest telecom equipment and infrastructure. Investing and installing these networks stimulates economic growth, and they help transform how we improve public service delivery in a range of services from health to education. This all benefits residents, businesses, investors and visitors, as well as reducing the digital divide.”

Connecting is the key to thriving

The obvious benefits to business of improved digital and transport infrastructure include improved efficiency of supply chains and employee travel, while digital inclusion expands the market for products and services. Ultimately, smoothly running, inclusive and greener cities with excellent digital and transport connectivity are attractive locations for both companies and employees.

Transport and digital improvements are clear examples of the rapid infrastructure evolution underway in many UK cities and regions. These infrastructure elements operate as part of a wider ecosystem of innovation, skills, work and leisure, homes and workplaces, all of which are essential to thriving local and regional economies.

“Our cities and regions are being renewed on a scale not seen since the 1950s,” says Mark Burton, Head of UK Regions at Lloyds Bank. “That renewal is essential to build sustainability into our cities. It is also a once-in-a-generation opportunity for investment, and I would urge businesses to take advantage of it.”