Why quality is the backbone of infrastructure delivery

Matthew Bithell, Delivery Director
01 December 2025
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In an age where innovation, speed, and cost efficiency are often seen as the defining measures of infrastructure delivery excellence, one crucial ingredient that is often underestimated is quality. Why? Because it’s generally seen as a basic expectation embedded into project requirements. As long as infrastructure meets the minimum acceptable quality standard, it can be considered complete. But that mindset undersells the true impact of quality.

This article explores how putting quality first in infrastructure projects can help deliver greater value for clients, improve outcomes for the public, and strengthen the resilience of our national infrastructure.

Prioritising quality separates the innovators from the adopters.

Putting quality first

Quality is not simply about compliance or technical proficiency, it ensures that infrastructure performs safely, efficiently, and reliably over time. It also delivers long-term asset value and resilience, as well as strengthening public trust. In fact, the UK Government recently published its 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy where it outlined high quality infrastructure as the key to driving economic growth.

With today’s infrastructure landscape fraught with tighter budgets, ageing infrastructure, climate change and growing public expectations, prioritising quality from the outset is not just best practice, it’s a strategic priority for service providers. Prioritising quality separates the innovators from the adopters. From design through construction, operations and maintenance, embedding quality at every stage of the infrastructure lifecycle leads to significantly better outcomes. Quality reduces the risk of costly rework, unnecessary project delays, and delivering better value for both public and private investment, the travelling public and businesses that rely on the road network.

From design through construction, operations and maintenance, embedding quality at every stage of the infrastructure lifecycle leads to significantly better outcomes.

Design defects or reliability issues can jeopardise future investment and partnership opportunities.

The true cost of poor quality

When quality is treated as a box-ticking exercise rather than a fundamental principle, the consequences can be costly and far-reaching. Poor design decisions, inadequate maintenance practices, and the use of low-quality materials can lead to avoidable rework in best case and severe infrastructure disasters, at worst. The Morandi Bridge collapse in Genoa, Italy, in 2018 serves as cautionary reminder of the devastating impact of inadequate infrastructure designs and delivery. A 200-metre section of the bridge fell during a heavy storm as a result of long-term corrosion of the prestressed concrete cables. Corrosion was further compounded by poor maintenance and insufficient structural monitoring. The bridge’s poor material quality and the failure to address known structural weaknesses meant there was little resilience. This disaster highlights the catastrophic consequences of neglecting quality – put simply, it undermines long-term asset resilience and performance.

Infrastructure that hasn’t been built or maintained to high quality standards often requires more frequent repairs, have shorter asset lifespans, and demands greater operational input. In many cases, the cost of rectifying quality failures far exceeds the cost a right first time approach. This can then extend to reputation and investment. Projects plagued by design defects or reliability issues can jeopardise future investment and partnership opportunities.

Clients and stakeholders are rightly holding delivery partners to higher standards, with the expectation of infrastructure that not only works, but stands the test of time in an increasingly unpredictable climate.

Sustained quality transforms infrastructure into a lasting legacy.

A first-time right approach - embedding quality from day one

Delivering quality starts at the outset, where key decisions shape the entire lifecycle of an asset. When quality is embedded from day one, engineers have the opportunity to create infrastructure designs that not only meet functional requirements but also anticipate real-world scenarios, operational needs, and long-term performance expectations.

By building quality into the initial design phase, we can ensure that maintenance is practical, efficient and effective, and that safety features are properly integrated to ensure higher standards of operational efficiency. This is what we call a “systems thinking approach” which ensures quality is consistent through design, construction and maintenance. There is an inherent need to ensure that quality is maintained through close collaboration between teams who deliver infrastructure designs and those that operate and maintain the assets. High levels of collaboration and engagement help to minimise friction, streamline construction and facilitate maintenance. It also ensures innovation and high-quality materials are considered throughout the design cycle to keep assets functioning safely and efficiently for their design life producing more resilient designs. This also extends into ensuring the use smarter or more sustainable materials.

High levels of collaboration and engagement help to minimise friction, streamline construction and facilitate maintenance.

Setting clear project objectives, is paramount to the delivery of a high-quality solution. With a clear brief, supported by rigorous assurance, allows engineering teams to set the tone early for delivering high quality services and carry it through to the end removing the need to compromise. Quality doesn’t stop at the end of construction, it must be maintained through commissioning, handover, operations and maintenance. With a systems thinking approach quality remains consistent throughout. In joint venture projects, there is an even greater emphasis in getting this right as quality acts as the unifying thread that brings together strategic partners with differing systems, expertise and technical approaches. Establishing shared quality standards and consistent ways of working helps align expectations, reduce potential delays, and ensure that every partner is delivering to the same high benchmark throughout the project. In competitive procurement environments, a proven commitment to quality helps delivery partners to stand out, supporting long-term relationship building and repeat business. Sustained quality, from handover to decades of maintenance and service, is what transforms infrastructure from a well-designed asset into a lasting legacy.

We can set new benchmarks for what quality really means in a changing infrastructure landscape.

The need to challenge standards and drive innovation in quality

Delivering quality goes beyond meeting existing standards, which is why it’s important to consistently questioning whether those standards go far enough and pushing for better. Too often, short-term decisions or low-cost procurement undermine long-term asset performance.
The notion of ‘buy cheap, pay twice’ is evident across many industries – poor material choices may meet the immediate project specifications, but can ultimately lead to early failures and costly replacements. The widespread use of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) is a poignant example. What once seemed like an efficient solution during the post-war building boom, has left a legacy of safety concerns and spiralling replacement costs. Which could have been avoided with the understanding that these building were intended to last beyond the 30 year lifespan of RAAC.

Programme quality is another critical factor. Even with the right materials, infrastructure suffers if works are not delivered under optimal conditions. For example, laying pavement asphalt in the cold, makes compaction difficult and can impact bonding, which results in it potentially becoming stiff and brittle, and shortening the lifespan of the pavement. If laid in the warmer months, compaction quality can be achieved providing a durable high-performance pavement. In this example, getting the timing right is as important as getting the design process right.

When it comes to sustainability, low-carbon products typically have higher upfront costs, but they do offer whole-life benefits such as reduced environmental impact, increased durability, and alignment with overall net zero goals. By investing in the right materials and approaches, we can set new benchmarks for what quality really means in a changing infrastructure landscape and a changing world. Innovation in materials and methods opens new opportunities to combine quality with sustainability and resilience. From a resilience perspective, innovative solutions such as self-healing concrete that can repair its own cracks when exposed to water or moisture have the potential to extend design life.

Getting it right the first time is what defines successful infrastructure

Building trust in digital technology through quality service delivery

Digital technology is instrumental to the whole asset lifecycle process from design to operations and the quality of these systems are integral for their proper use and return on investment (RoI). Poorly integrated solutions, unreliable data management platforms, and inaccessible tools can introduce serious risks and inefficiencies that can negatively impact infrastructure performance.

As a digital-led service provider, we embed digital quality throughout our service delivery. We implement robust technical architecture from the outset, ensuring our systems are scalable, resilient, and secure. Data is treated as a strategic asset, meaning we engage rigorous data governance to protect sensitive information and ensure its accuracy, consistency, and usability across the asset lifecycle.

This is evident in the level of trust our clients have in the quality of the digital services we provide them with as well as the value that they bring. A strong example is the digital transformation work we have delivered for National Highways, helping to accelerate data-driven approaches across all directorates. As the strategic delivery partner for its Digital Labs initiative, we managed to deliver savings of around £30m over a three-year period. Central to this success was the development of our Decision Support Tools for highways maintenance and planning, which enabled a shift from reactive work to predictive, and data-led processes that improved efficiency and reduced costs.

The quality of our tools and solutions also extend to their usability and accessibility as we develop them with the end user in mind. Accessibility is built in from the outset, not bolted on. Our solutions achieve industry standards such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), ensuring they are inclusive and usable by all, including people with disabilities. In practice this means ensuring digital systems are accessible to those who suffer from colour blindness for example. This commitment to quality enables smarter decision-making and reduces the risk of digital failure. By holding our digital solutions to the same quality standards as our infrastructure design and maintenance processes, we ensure that technology is an enabler of high-performance.

Quality is the thread that binds every stage of infrastructure delivery, from early design decisions to long-term asset management. When we treat quality as a strategic imperative, and not just a compliance requirement, we build infrastructure that is safer, more resilient, and better value for money.

In an era where expectations are rising and resources are limited, getting it right the first time is what defines successful infrastructure of the future.

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