Investment sentiment in UK infrastructure improving despite geopolitical instability, survey finds

Investor sentiment towards UK infrastructure continued to strengthen in 2Q2026, reaching its most positive level since 2023, according to the latest biannual pulse survey from the Global Infrastructure Investor Association (GIIA)⁽¹⁾.

The survey, conducted among GIIA’s investor members, asked respondents to assess the attractiveness of 12 countries and regions across Europe and North America as environments for infrastructure investment.

The UK outperformed several European peers, including France, Italy and the Netherlands, despite ongoing geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty and domestic policy pressures.

Karl Horton, data services director at BCIS, said: ‘GIIA’s investor pulse survey provides valuable insight into how the UK is perceived by infrastructure investors. The latest findings point to growing confidence in the UK’s long-term infrastructure prospects and its ability to provide stable, investable opportunities. This is encouraging given the heightened global and domestic instability seen in recent months.

‘The survey suggests that this confidence is being driven in part by the government’s efforts to address regulatory challenges in the water sector. Investors appear to recognise the commitment to improving accountability and setting out a clearer framework for attracting third-party investment.

‘However, the UK cannot afford to be complacent. While the findings are positive, political uncertainty and an often-complex regulatory environment remain significant barriers to investment. At the same time, project delivery is slowing. New infrastructure output fell in the first quarter of 2026 compared with both the previous quarter and the same period last year.

‘Maintaining a strong pipeline of projects and ensuring they are funded and can progress efficiently is critical during periods of economic and political uncertainty. Infrastructure investment supports not only the construction sector but wider economic growth. The government has direct influence over some of the factors affecting investor confidence and project delivery, and it must continue to focus on creating a stable, predictable environment that facilitates investment and construction output.’

Survey findings showed that investors identified an unattractive regulatory regime as the biggest barrier to investing in UK infrastructure in 2Q2026.

This marked a shift from the previous survey, when lack of visibility over the project pipeline was cited as the main obstacle. Political instability and sentiment was ranked a close second.

Broader commentary suggested that while investors welcomed the government’s latest regulatory reforms, regulatory uncertainty remains a concern until changes are implemented.

These risks are reportedly showing up inside transactions with investors spending more time on policy durability, pass-through mechanisms and counterparty strength, rather than relying on structural demand alone.

All barriers to UK infrastructure investment were seen as more significant than in the previous survey, with the exception of pipeline visibility. This suggests that updates made to NISTA’s infrastructure pipeline in the first quarter of 2026 may have had a positive impact on investor confidence.

Promisingly, the survey indicated that investors are becoming more willing to deploy large amounts of capital in UK infrastructure.

When asked how much equity they expected to deploy in the UK over the next 12 months, a greater share of investors said they planned to invest between $2 billion and $3 billion than in the previous survey or the same period last year.

Expected investment in new infrastructure or existing assets to support the transition to net zero was also encouraging. The share of investors expecting to deploy between $1 billion and $5 billion over the next five years increased both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

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^{(1) GIIA – Q2 2026 Pulse Survey: Canada and Germany Top Investor Attractiveness as Global Uncertainty Becomes the ‘New Normal’ – here}