Introduction

Infrastructure is now a buzz-word and infrastructure planning is almost synonymous with a plea for further investment in new construction and repair and maintenance. However, this is not the attitude of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which sees a need for strategic infrastructure planning on an economic basis and a recognition of social needs as being vitally necessary in the national interest.

The Institution started its dialogue on infrastructure and expressed the need for strategic infrastructure planning in 1974, following a period of excessive demand by the public sector on the construction industry. It was this attempt to inspire economic recovery from the public sector that led to rampant inflation. The Institution had previously expressed grave concern at the level of public sector orders for construction issued in 1972; some two-thirds more in real terms than 1984. It initiated a discussion in 1974 on: 'Civil Engineering - How much can the country afford?1 at which concern was expressed at the stop/go policies of successive governments, the use of the construction industry as an economic regulator, and at the lack of strategic infrastructure planning. That concern is surely understood today some twelve years later. I make this point to demonstrate that the Institution is not a lobby body seeking an increased allocation of public funds for construction. It is a professional body and acts accordingly.