The CEO of a key contractor has warned that the exodus of British engineers and experts to Saudi Arabia and North America is negatively impacting the delivery of major infrastructure projects in the UK. “So you see a lot of British people in Canada, you see a lot of British people in the Middle East… because there they can work on very iconic projects, which is good for their career and good for their knowledge,” Laurent Germain, chief executive of Egis Group, told City AM.
Egis Group, based in France, offers consulting and construction engineering services and currently holds contracts for the delivery of HS2’s Old Oak Common station and the Sizewell C nuclear plant. The company is also part of a consortium appointed to operate the M25 under a 30-year contract, as reported by City AM.
Germain highlighted that the departure of engineers was causing “a lot of tension” during recruitment, as demand for talent currently exceeds supply. “The best way to avoid this is to secure big projects here in the UK because then the best engineers, UK engineers, will be motivated to stay and work on HS2 or Sizewell or on the extension of Bakerloo Line,” he explained.
His remarks follow a series of disastrously executed UK infrastructure projects that have overrun initial budgets and now face decades of delay. Planning bureaucracy, inflation, and poor management have combined to leave the UK lagging behind its European counterparts in delivering critical infrastructure.
HS2, the beleaguered high-speed rail project, has seen its costs double from approximately £30bn to over £60bn since it was first proposed. The escalating issues led former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to cancel the northern section of the project to Manchester in November.
In January, it was disclosed that the planning application for the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing (LTC), a proposed motorway tunnel to the east of London, had ballooned to a record 359,000 pages, costing £300m.
Matt Palmer, the LTC’s managing director, told City AM that he was losing key staff overseas, many of whom had their faith in UK infrastructure shaken by the HS2 scandal.
British workers are being enticed by higher salaries and a more consistent flow of work in the Middle East and Canada. In Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has announced a series of investments to boost tourism and renewable energy.
A staggering $1.3trn (£981.3bn) is set to be invested across the Kingdom’s real estate, infrastructure, and transportation sectors by 2030. The renowned Neom line project has secured the largest contract, valued at $28.7bn, according to Knight Frank.
Egis Group, which employs over 19,000 people in more than 100 countries, has a team in Saudi Arabia that is primarily made up of British nationals, Germain told City A. M.
The infrastructure executive lamented the lack of employees in UK public sector bodies, particularly those responsible for overseeing major projects such as the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) and Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA).
“One key issues is for our clients, be it the government or infrastructure agency, to have a very strong technical team internally in order to manage the suppliers, designers and contractors,” he explained.
“Engineers, of course and construction project directors. I mean people who have, in their life, experienced how to run a construction site.”
A HM Treasury spokesperson said: “The Chancellor has vowed to lead the most pro-growth Treasury in this country’s history and infrastructure investment is crucial to that which is why the government has already taken immediate action including planning reform and establishing the National Wealth Fund.”
“The government will also publish a 10-year infrastructure strategy to give the private sector certainty about the project pipeline and intends to launch the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority to drive more effective delivery of infrastructure across the country.”
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