In the GLA’s infrastructure team we have been looking intently at the challenges London’s developers face when managing their interfaces with local infrastructure networks and how these challenges impact on Londoners.

London’s developers play a crucial role in shaping and evolving our infrastructure to meet Londoner’s demands, yet most agree that more could be done to coordinate development infrastructure works for the benefit for all involved.

We know we are not the first to look at this issue; the planning, design and construction of new infrastructure in London has always been a complex undertaking and inherently depends on developers, local authorities and infrastructure companies working in close collaboration, and all working closely with local communities. 

But, as we all know, this is often easier said than done. Projects where a critical partner is insufficiently engaged are consistently more vulnerable to cost and programme overruns and create additional disruption to Londoners. Developers, local authorities and infrastructure providers are each then forced to react with compromises that lead schemes to fall short of their original ambitions, often sacrificing their best intentions for the sake of programme, viability and delivery targets.

While this problem is not unique to London, the capital’s density and growth demands create a multitude of interdependencies between parties that pressurise the challenges. Moreover, the persistence and familiarity of coordination failures to those in the sector clearly demonstrates how hard they can be for any individual party to overcome on any given project, let alone on a systemic basis.

Considering systemic solutions, the Mayor, boroughs and London’s infrastructure providers have together launched a new service aiming to drive better coordination of infrastructure and development works, and ultimately to deliver the infrastructure that London needs to support good growth.

The Development Infrastructure Coordination Service provides the interface that developers need to manage their interactions with local infrastructure services. Facilitated by borough-based infrastructure coordinators, the service connects developers with infrastructure networks through all RIBA work stages.

When using the service, developers are able to draw on the Coordinator’s expertise in local infrastructure constraints and alert them to coordination opportunities that can save money and enhance the value of their scheme.  For the developer’s benefit, the coordinators maintain strong working relationships with other borough officers from highways to planning, and with each of the local utility companies. By facilitating clear communication up front, they are able to help each party proactively prepare for the development and to minimise the risk of disruption further down the line.

To use the service, developers procure the borough’s infrastructure coordinator on a time charge fee basis where fee rates only achieve cost recovery. The result is to vastly simplify interactions with infrastructure networks, reduce cost and programme risk and deliver well-planned and executed infrastructure.

 Roll-out of the Development Infrastructure Coordination Service has already begun; its available in Croydon, Lambeth, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Westminster, and we are growing to meet demand across London.

Furthermore, the Development Infrastructure Coordination Service is just one of a suite of services that the GLA has established with these intentions. The infrastructure planning service seeks to prepare high-growth locations for anticipated infrastructure demand in a coordinated manner, while the streetworks coordination service targets the works planned by London’s infrastructure providers, identifying opportunities for collaboration and supporting their execution. We are also building data tools to support all our work. London’s Underground Asset Register (LUAR) is collating records from each of London’s infrastructure providers, and the Infrastructure Mapping Application (IMA) sets out planned works that enable the identification of collaborative working opportunities.

For any additional information or to get in touch visit the website.