Government creates Infrastructure and Projects Authority, a new body to help manage and deliver major projects for UK economy.

Infrastructure UK (IUK) and the Major Projects Authority (MPA) are to merge, creating a single government body to spearhead the management and delivery of major projects across the UK

The new Infrastructure and Projects Authority will report jointly to the Chancellor and Minister for the Cabinet Office and be led by current MPA chief executive Tony Meggs to place the government’s major project expertise within a single body for the first time.

Geoffrey Spence, current chief executive of Infrastructure UK will step down on 1 January to pursue a new challenge and role in the City.

"The new Infrastructure and Projects Authority is a further step forward in delivering what Britain needs to prosper in the twenty first century." Matthew Hancock

Chancellor George Osborne said the move signalled the next stage in the government’s plan “to ensure Britain’s economy gets the transformational projects it needs”. 

He added: “I’d like to thank Geoffrey Spence for the brilliant job he has done leading Infrastructure UK since July 2011. Under his leadership, IUK became a more effective organisation, successfully developing and implementing the UK's National Infrastructure Plan, the UK Guarantee Scheme for infrastructure and a new model for private sector delivery of public service, PF2.”

The new organisation will bring together government expertise in the financing, delivery and assurance of these projects, which range from large scale infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and the Thames Tideway Tunnel to major transformation programmes such as Universal Credit.

It will come into formal existence on 1 January 2016

Minister for the Cabinet Office, Matt Hancock said: "The new Infrastructure and Projects Authority is a further step forward in delivering what Britain needs to prosper in the twenty first century. By combining projects expertise with funding authority we will improve the Government's ability to deliver, and the economic security that comes with it. Tony Meggs has been a hugely respected chief executive of the MPA and has the leadership and capability to make the new IMPA a great success. "

"We are miving to the next stage in the government’s plan “to ensure Britain’s economy gets the transformational projects it needs.” George Osborne

Infrastructure UK was established in 2010 and sits within HM Treasury to support major infrastructure projects involving public sector capital, such as Crossrail. It also leads on PFI policy across Government; and negotiates infrastructure guarantees, under which up to £40bn is available to support investment in UK infrastructure projects.  

The MPA was established in 2011 and is housed in Cabinet Office, with a mandate to oversee and assure the largest government projects. It provides assurance of and support to those projects comprising the Government Major Projects Portfolio, some 200 projects totalling nearly £500 billion in public spending.  

Tony Meggs has been chief executive of the MPA on an interim basis since the beginning of the year, and was recently been appointed to the permanent role. His background includes senior roles within the private sector, including overseeing BP’s technology, projects and engineering functions. He has also led collaborations with several universities, including co-chairing a major study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the future of natural gas. 

"We will obviously have to wait for further details to emerge as to how this new organisation will operate, and the wider implications within the newly created National Infrastructure Commission led by Lord Adonis," said ACE chief executive Nelson Ogunshakin. "In the meantime, however, government must ensure it works closely with the infrastructure sector to minimise the uncertainty this policy could create.

"Infrastructure projects take years to develop and deliver, with any possibility that they might change causing companies that might be involved to be very reluctant to invest. Only close collaboration and assurances that this merger does not mark a wholesale shift in government policy during the transition period will calm the market. We hope the government and the new authority led by Tony Meggs will heed this warning."