The first major report from the UK’s new National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) marked its first year of operation in April.
The Authority was created to eliminate delays and bottlenecks in the delivery of infrastructure in the UK through merging the National Infrastructure Commission and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority. Its mission is to unite strategic planning and project delivery to speed up construction and unlock private investment.
NISTA analysed the Government Major Project Projects Portfolio (GMPP) between April 2025 and the end of March 2026, and has rated the majority of projects at either ‘green’ or ‘amber,’ showing that delivery is either likely or feasible.
The NISTA report showed that of nearly 200 projects at the end of March, 29 projects (15% of the GMPP) were rated green; 109 projects (58%) were rated amber; and 34 projects (18%) were rated red; with 17 projects (9%) exempt from any rating.
In April 2026 NISTA implemented changes to the GMPP which reset the UK’s infrastructure priorities and created a more streamlined list of 81.
NISTA has also introduced new tools to spot and address risks earlier, including its Early Warning System, an AI-powered tool that uses existing GMPP data to identify projects at risk of moving to a ‘red’ rating. This is being embedded into review processes and is already providing earlier visibility of delivery risks.
The Authority is also pushing for a stronger role in project delivery, arguing that earlier intervention can prevent costly delays and misdirected upfront spending, while also giving industry more confidence in making investments.
NISTA chief executive Becky Wood told a meeting of UK Treasury officials in June that “earlier upstream intervention” would be in the spirit of reforms to the Planning and Infrastructure Act, which recently overhauled the development system to significantly accelerate major projects.
“It’s about making sure we’ve got that robust data and evidence about the instances,” Wood told the Treasury committee.
“Naturally, I think there’s also a lot to the way we’re working with planning reforms to drive change.”
In July, the government also confirmed changes to scrap mandatory pre-application consultation requirements for Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects (NSIPs), under the Planning and Infrastructure Act.
The government expects the reforms to cut up to 12 months from the planning process and potentially save the wider industry £1 billion over the life of the current parliament.
