Infrastructure Investment Plan 2021-22 to 2025-26: major capital projects progress update - August 2025
Information relating to projects with a capital value of £5 million or more which are at the outline business case (or equivalent) approved stage or beyond.
Major capital projects progress update
The information within this update relates to projects with a capital value of £5 million or more which are at the Outline Business Case (or equivalent) approved stage or beyond.
The information mainly comprises projects included at Annex D of the Scottish Government’s Infrastructure Investment Plan published in February 2021 and other infrastructure projects which have been commissioned since then. The majority of information reports the position as at August 2025. If however there has been a significant change in the status of any project between then and publication, the accompanying information relating to that project has been updated. All projects are capital grant funded unless otherwise stated.
In the recent reports, cost increases have been driven by higher than expected levels of inflation and delays in projects have been down to supply chain issues and labour shortages. All of which have been principally driven by a combination of the recovery from COVID-19, Brexit and the war in Ukraine. In this latest report causes for cost increases include allowances for future inflation and accounting for changes in costs of advance works, additional work due to risk assessments, extended build programmes, and delays in final delivery. In relation to time delays, we are seeing reasons which include the number and complexity of defects needing to be resolved, the implementation of changes resulting from design reviews, and ongoing construction issues. All planned dates and costs in this update are best estimates and may subsequently be subject to further adjustment.
We fully recognise the important role infrastructure investment plays in driving economic growth, delivering net zero, efficient public services and alleviating child poverty. Progress is being made to deliver key infrastructure investments and major projects have been delivered against a continuing back drop of challenging economic and financial conditions which continue to impact on affordability.
We want to provide clarity and certainty on the infrastructure investment that will be delivered over the next four financial years (2026-27 to 2029-30) and following the UK Spending Review, we are able to develop a new Infrastructure Delivery Pipeline of affordable, deliverable projects and programmes – this will be published alongside the 2026-27 Budget and the Scottish Spending Review.
In line with the hierarchy of investment set out in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment Plan, we expect maintenance to form a vital part of the pipeline, driving the sustainability, safety and efficiency of our infrastructure and public services.
The new pipeline will cover infrastructure projects over £5 million and programmes over £20 million – social, economic and natural infrastructure and it will build on our proven track record of working with industry to successfully deliver infrastructure which enhances health, wealth and sustainability for the people of Scotland.