Today’s update: the UK’s construction and infrastructure pipeline is expanding rapidly across housing, transport and clean energy, but is running straight into a deepening skills and productivity crunch. New warnings on labour shortages land alongside major low‑carbon investment commitments and planning reforms designed to accelerate delivery. Here’s what you need to know to stay ahead today.

🏛️ Report warns of severe labour shortfall across £530bn UK pipeline. A new Oxford Economics/Construction Plant-hire Association analysis flags mounting risks to Britain’s £530bn construction and infrastructure programme, citing acute skills shortages and project delivery delays. The sector needs an additional 250,000 workers even as nearly 500,000 existing staff are due to retire over the next 15 years, while apprenticeship completion has slumped to 53% and only 14% of major government projects are on track. The CPA is urging measures including reversing recent employer National Insurance increases and extending investment incentives, underlining the need for coordinated policy if large programmes are to remain deliverable and bankable. (Source: Project Plant / CPA)

🌱 Government backs SMRs at Wylfa and major renewables build‑out. The UK government has selected Wylfa on Anglesey as the site for at least three Rolls-Royce small modular reactors, targeting grid supply from the mid‑2030s. In parallel, large offshore wind schemes including East Anglia Hub (3,100 MW), Berwick Bank and Hornsea Three are progressing, alongside c.3 GW of solar and battery projects from developers such as Fotowatio Renewable Ventures and Conrad Energy, and policy support for expanding solar PV to 47 GW by 2030 with renewed momentum for onshore wind. This signals a long-duration pipeline of complex energy and grid projects, with implications for civils capacity, consenting strategies and long‑term supply chain investment. (Source: Slaughter and May)

🌱 SSE unveils £33bn plan focused on networks and offshore wind. SSE has announced a £33bn investment programme aimed at delivering clean, secure and affordable energy, with a focus on electricity transmission infrastructure and offshore wind supply chains. The plan aligns with the UK’s net zero trajectory and the growing pipeline of large offshore schemes, implying significant demand for grid reinforcement, ports, fabrication and installation services. For contractors and investors, this represents both a major opportunity in regulated and quasi-regulated assets and a need to navigate tight capacities across specialist marine and electrical trades. (Source: SSE)

🏛️ Planning and skills reforms aim to unlock delivery bottlenecks. The UK government is pushing planning reforms to speed up housing, infrastructure and renewables, including new powers for the Secretary of State to intervene where local councils delay key decisions. At the same time, the Apprenticeship Levy is being replaced with a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy and £600m is earmarked to train 60,000 workers, alongside tougher building safety measures such as the Building Safety Levy and a Remediation Acceleration Plan targeting cladding issues by 2029 and a 50% emissions cut from the built environment by 2025. These changes will reshape procurement, programme risk and workforce planning for developers and contractors over the rest of the decade. (Source: Pinsent Masons)

🏗️ Housing permissions hit 20‑year low as councils seek new sites. Planning applications for new homes have slowed sharply, with Q1 2025 registering the lowest level of permissions in two decades. In response, central government has launched a Call for Sites running from November 2025 to January 2026 to support new local plans and future housing supply, even as local authorities continue to weigh development pressures against community and heritage concerns week by week. This backdrop of falling permissions but active site search will be critical for housebuilders, land promoters and allied consultants mapping their land pipelines into the 2030s. (Source: Home Builders Federation)

Also in the news

🏗️ Infrastructure works have begun on the next phase of the £100m Fairham development, which will deliver 3,000 homes, over 1m sq ft of employment space and 200 acres of green space with provision for tram extensions. (Source: East Midlands Business Link) 🏗️ Camden Council is leading a major regeneration plan for the Euston area, reshaping land use and development potential around one of London’s key rail hubs. (Source: IanVisits) 🏗️ A local authority has approved a 29‑storey, 2,519‑home brownfield regeneration scheme despite an affordable housing shortfall and heritage concerns, underscoring ongoing tensions in urban planning decisions. (Source: Home Builders Federation) ⚙️ Infrastructure construction has pushed output close to a three‑year high, even as skills shortages and an ageing workforce are increasingly cited as constraints by contractors. (Source: Project Plant / CPA) 🌱 Plug Power has secured a contract to supply and service 55 MW of electrolyzers for three UK green hydrogen schemes, marking the largest combined electrolyzer award in the UK to date. (Source: Plug Power) The Daily Build is written for people shaping the UK’s construction, infrastructure and energy projects day to day. If this briefing helps your decisions, consider forwarding it to a colleague or project partner. Keeping more of your team aligned on the pipeline makes the whole sector work better.