Investors more positive about UK infrastructure, survey finds

Investor sentiment in UK infrastructure in 4Q2025 was the most positive it has been since 2023, according to the latest six-monthly pulse survey from the Global Infrastructure Investor Association (GIIA)⁽¹⁾.

The survey, taken by GIIA investor members who collectively manage more than $2 trillion of assets across six continents, asked respondents to rate 12 countries or regions in North America and Europe based on how appealing they were as investment environments.

For the first time since 2Q2023, the UK scored above one on the scale; five is deemed extremely favourable, zero neutral and negative five extremely unfavourable.

This put the UK ahead of France and Italy in the EU, and Mexico in North America – a slight improvement on the six-month and annual comparisons in 2Q2025 and 4Q2024 respectively.

Karl Horton, data services director at BCIS, said: ‘UK infrastructure appears to be in a relatively steady place ahead of the new year. The results of this survey are promising and suggest investors are warming up to the UK investment landscape.

‘The reasons for this are likely a combination of factors – confidence in public spending commitments, policy improvements and the softening of risk that comes with greater cost certainty, even when labour and materials costs are high. When it comes to confidence, it’s sometimes a case of better the devil you know.’

The survey also asked respondents to identify key barriers to investment in the UK, US, Canada and the EU.

On a scale of zero to 10, where zero is not important and 10 is the most important, investors considered the lack of visibility over the project pipeline to be the UK’s greatest investment barrier, scoring it above four. This remains unchanged since 2Q2025.

By comparison, only Canada received the same rating while the EU and US were given lower scores.

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Elsewhere, the UK’s rating for an unattractive regulatory regime has markedly improved since the second quarter, moving from just above seven to around two and a half points.

In 4Q2025, the UK saw a score reduction on almost every barrier on 2Q2025.

Survey commentary noted that developments in government policy, including the confirmation of reforms in the water and power sectors, had contributed to more favourable investor sentiment.

However, it added that uncertainty still looms over the long-term outlook in the UK due to a challenging economic and political environment, including the impact of persistently high inflation and interest rates.

Survey analysis suggested these factors continue to undermine areas like fibre infrastructure where smaller ‘altnet’ fibre broadband providers do not have the scale required to overcome such challenges.

‘High interest rates and cost inflation will continue to pressure UK infrastructure supply chains into 2026. The Autumn Budget has not really helped in this way by raising the cost of doing business. That said, these are known problems and as we move into the new year, an updated Infrastructure Pipeline will hopefully calm the waters and bring greater certainty’, Horton added.

The GIIA’s latest pulse survey followed the UK’s Autumn Budget. Key infrastructure announcements made by the Chancellor included additional funding for the Lower Thames Crossing Scheme and the planned use of a new public-private partnerships model to help build and upgrade neighbourhood health centres.

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^{(1) GIIA – Pulse Survey: The latest trends in investor sentiment, industry reflections and core market projections – here}