Becky Wood, Chief Executive of NISTA, reflects on a busy first year for the organisation delivering against its remit to help transform government’s approach to major project planning and delivery.
It’s well known in the world of project delivery that the way you start a project is crucial in determining future success.
Today (1 April 2026) marks one year since NISTA began operating. My top priority since my own start date in June has been the project to set up and operate the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) as a new national infrastructure body bringing together strategy and delivery.
Starting out with an ambition to drive real change in project delivery, we have already achieved several early successes.
But I’m also under no illusions: NISTA is on a journey and there is a way to go to get where we want to be.
As our name suggests, at the heart of NISTA’s remit is an ambition to transform government’s approach to major infrastructure and other projects like major upgrades to key public services.
A key role for NISTA is thinking systematically about the new roads and railways, the schools and hospitals, the energy, water and digital networks, and defence systems, we need for our long-term prosperity and wellbeing - and collaborating across government and industry from the outset on a more joined-up approach to deliver them, while getting full value from the assets and services we already have.
In our first year, we’ve laid down strong foundations to deliver against our ambition. We have done this in partnership with government, industry and academia, and we’ll continue to do so.
Strategy rollout
By the time I joined NISTA in June last year, the team had already been working with colleagues across government for many months to create and publish the UK’s first 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy.
The Strategy is all about giving confidence to teams across government, investors and businesses about the direction of travel and creating the conditions by which the government’s record £725 billion of investment, backed by significant increases in private investment, can deliver real, sustainable benefits to growth. And it shapes most of NISTA’s work and how we operate.
Our key challenge: turn a strategy on paper into positive outcomes in communities up and down the country.
Over this first year, at conferences, industry roundtables, and in one-to-one discussions, the feedback I’ve had from our stakeholders is that the changes we’re making, and the products we are developing, are starting to deliver against that challenge.
A dynamic pipeline
For instance, a big reason for this is the dynamic Infrastructure Pipeline, which NISTA published in July.
The Pipeline – developed in collaboration with investors, operators and construction firms – gives a 10-year forward look at the major infrastructure projects and programmes that are being progressed and planned in the UK.
It offers detail we haven’t had before. It gives the supply chain more of the certainty it needs to plan for the future and invest in jobs, skills and capacity, technology and innovation.
And it gives colleagues across government a more consistent picture of all the significant infrastructure investments planned, helping them make more coherent choices around spending, policy and delivery.
Ultimately, the Pipeline’s success will be judged on the utility of the information it provides.
Which is why just last month we delivered our first upgrade, adding new modelling data on what the workforce demand will be, broken down by region and profession. And every six months, we commit to add new the functionality and information the sector tells us it needs.
A refreshed GMPP
One of the big changes we have worked on over this last year is our approach to the management of the Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP), as part of wider changes to reform the project delivery system.
From today, the refreshed GMPP is reducing in scope, from over 200 projects to around 80 (read more here). Which means more projects will now be overseen directly by departments.
Our goal is more focused NISTA support for government's most complex and significant major projects – those that will have the greatest impact in delivering the government’s various missions. We’re backing this up with tools for faster to support more integrated decision-making and improved project assurance.
This is a significant change, and in response we’ll support the project delivery profession to deepen its capability by providing expert project, commercial and sector advice, targeted training for SROs and project leaders, and practical tools and guidance through our Project Delivery hub.
New spatial approaches
With programmes like its Northern Growth Strategy and the Oxford-Cambridge corridor, the government is recognising the need for a new approach to unlocking growth in every region of the country. The 10-Year Strategy is central to that.
To help us, NISTA created a new Spatial Planning team to work across government to coordinate infrastructure with other policies and programmes that influence how places function.
Our new ALIGN tool is already helping departments and regional and local government to assess local infrastructure needs and better understand where infrastructure can best support economic growth.
Better data
With better quality data, government can make smarter decisions and further improves it project delivery capabilities.
So, in December, we launched our new standard for programme and project data, which gives government organisations a common way of defining, formatting and updating programme and project data.
Being at the centre, NISTA has access to a wealth of data from across government on the performance of projects of all kinds.
Our offer to departments who share their data with us is to make use of technologies like AI to make it easier for new insights and approaches to emerge from the data, which NISTA will then share back with departments.
Enhanced guidance
We have continued to support the government project delivery profession with new guidance on managing the carbon life cycle throughout a project’s lifetime. And enhanced tools for colleagues across the public sector managing the government’s legacy of PFI projects.
This is just a snapshot of some of the great outcomes and innovations that NISTA has contributed to in just one year, alongside the ‘business as usual’ work we have provided.
One year is not a long time in the world of infrastructure or major projects.
My goal, and the goal of everyone in the NISTA team, is to turn this successful first year into a long-term legacy of transformational change.
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