Engineering group Egis urges Ireland to move beyond project-by-project delivery as climate pressure, ageing assets and funding uncertainty reshape national networks.
Infrastructure across the UK and Ireland needs a fundamental shift in how it is planned and delivered if it is to keep pace with social, environmental and economic change, according to a new report from global engineering consultancy Egis.
In a white paper published this week, ‘From Projects To Programmes: How Infrastructure Can Keep Pace With A Changing World’, the firm argues that treating transport, water, energy and digital assets as a series of individual projects is placing growing strain on networks already facing climate risk, demographic change and tighter public finances.
“The challenges facing infrastructure today don’t show up one project at a time. What’s driving change affects whole networks, yet we still tend to plan and build as if each project stands alone”
Egis says infrastructure must instead be managed as long-term systems, planned and operated over decades rather than electoral cycles or capital programmes. Without that change, costs, disruption and operational risk are set to increase, particularly as assets designed for an earlier era are pushed beyond their original limits.
Long-term stewardship of infrastructure is key
Francois Basselot, managing director of Egis in the UK and Ireland, said the pressures facing infrastructure rarely arise in isolation.
“The challenges facing infrastructure today don’t show up one project at a time,” he said. “What’s driving change affects whole networks, yet we still tend to plan and build as if each project stands alone.
“When that happens, we’re constantly catching up instead of looking ahead. This report is about changing that way of thinking by moving away from short term fixes and towards long-term stewardship of infrastructure, before today’s pressures become tomorrow’s failures.”
The report highlights how changing population patterns, more frequent extreme weather and uncertainty over long-term funding have exposed weaknesses in systems built for different economic and environmental conditions. Egis argues that the deeper issue lies not only in underinvestment, but in the way decisions are structured.
By treating infrastructure as standalone assets rather than interconnected systems, organisations make it harder to manage risk, prioritise spending and build resilience over time, the report says.
To address this, Egis outlines five practical shifts in approach. These include earlier engagement with communities to reflect real patterns of use, a stronger focus on outcomes rather than new assets, and planning at network level rather than project level. The firm also calls for wider use of data and digital tools to inform long-term decision-making, alongside greater emphasis on reusing and upgrading existing infrastructure to extend asset life.
Taken together, Egis believes these changes would allow infrastructure to evolve steadily over decades, improve overall performance and reduce the need for costly emergency interventions when assets fail.
The report draws on examples from the UK, Ireland and wider Europe where programme-led approaches have already been adopted, including integrated transport planning, adaptive reuse of existing infrastructure and the use of digital modelling to anticipate climate and operational risks.
According to Egis, many of the technical solutions required are already well understood. The challenge is directing investment in a way that strengthens networks as a whole, rather than deferring action until disruption becomes unavoidable.
The firm is calling on infrastructure owners, policymakers and delivery teams to rethink how long-term planning is carried out, shifting the emphasis from reactive fixes to sustained oversight and stewardship.
As pressures on infrastructure continue to build, the report argues that decisions made today will determine whether essential networks remain resilient and affordable in the decades ahead.
Top image: The Living Streets project in Blackrock, Co Dublin
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