UK Infrastructure Commission members announced at launch


The launch of the new UK Infrastructure Commission, chaired by Lord Adonis, is taking place today (30 October 2015) in York, with the members of the commission now identified.

The commission is tasked to produce a report at the start of each five-year Parliament, recommending priority infrastructure projects.

At the launch of the commission, Chancellor George Osborne has pledged £100 billion to infrastructure spending by 2020, to be included in the Spending Review in November. This includes full funding for the government's £15 billion roads investment strategy.

The spending review should also provide details on “a suite of asset sales which the Treasury expects to raise billions of pounds... being identified to be ploughed back into infrastructure projects.”

At the commission launch in York, the members will be present. They are now identified as:

  • Lord Heseltine – former deputy prime minister, who has long-time champion of regeneration of Britain’s inner cities
  • Sir John Armitt – former chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority, and next year’s President of the Institute of Civil Engineers
  • Professor Tim Besley – former member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee and the LSE’s Growth Commission, which recommended an independent infrastructure body
  • Demis Hassabis – artificial intelligence researcher, neuroscientist and head of DeepMind Technologies
  • Sadie Morgan – founding director of dRMM Architects and Design Panel Chair of HS2
  • Bridget Rosewell – a senior adviser at Volterra and former Chief Economist and Chief Economic Adviser to the Greater London Authority
  • Sir Paul Ruddock – chairman of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the University of Oxford Endowment

Meanwhile an advert is still out to hire a new chief executive officer for the UK infrastructure commission.

The commission’s key remits are:

  • Northern connectivity between cities, particularly east-west across the Pennines
  • London’s transport system, particularly large scale projects including Crossrail 2
  • Energy, especially balancing supply and demand with prices reflecting costs to the overall system

Earlier this month Phil Adam, managing director and head of project bonds at HSBC, said: ““The potential scope of the commission’s remit is huge, and could grow rapidly, but this could lead to difficult decisions for the commission in the future as they are held accountable to multiple sectors and stakeholders.”

Adam made the comment at an event hosted by Standard & Poor’s (S&P), the National Audit Office and the International Project Finance Association.

S&P pointed out that “public investment in infrastructure in the U.K. has fallen from 3.3% of GDP in 2009 to 2.8% in 2014, below the EU-28 average.”