Editor's letter

Construction is an industry built on momentum. When things are moving, they move quickly. When they stall, the knock-on effects are felt everywhere – on programmes, on cash flow and on people.

Building faster, cutting carbon and doing more with less

Our industry faces a tough balancing act: cut carbon, build faster, get more from existing assets and do it all with a workforce under strain.

This issue looks at how that plays out in practice. Stadium owners are weighing retrofit against rebuilding from scratch, with cost, operational life, regulation and future revenue all shaping the decision. We also examine around £455bn of UK net-zero energy infrastructure projects in development, spanning some 262GW of offshore wind, solar, hydrogen and storage. Huge investments but with no easy delivery.

Space presents another question – as cities grow hotter and denser, could more infrastructure and urban activity move underground? And with UK construction needing an average of around 41,000 to 53,000 extra workers a year between 2026 and 2030, we report on how AI and robotics are becoming increasingly important.

Across these stories and more, the practical test is the same: what can the industry actually deliver at the pace now being demanded?

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