CLC launches Construct Zero sprint to quantify energy transition pipeline

The Construction Leadership Council's Construct Zero programme announced on 26 October a sprint project to give construction firms a quantified view of the UK energy transition pipeline, with an industry-facing pipeline due for publication in the New Year.

The Construction Leadership Council (CLC) said many construction businesses do not yet have a quantified view of the scale, timing and potential client base of the pipeline. It said this lack of visibility creates uncertainty for firms weighing investment in capability, skills, equipment and supply chain capacity, even though the 7th Carbon Budget sets a clear direction of travel.

Hannah Vickers, Co-Lead of Construct Zero, said: "this project will help organisations anticipate change rather than react to it, ensuring businesses are prepared for future opportunities and challenges".

The project

According to the CLC, Construct Zero is using its convening role to bring interested members together across its cohort to do three things.

The first is to develop a quantified view of the energy transition pipeline, starting with the 7th Carbon Budget and adding detail from emerging government policy, to identify the likely scale of growth, key markets and client groups.

The second is to work with potential partners, including the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) and the Infrastructure Client Group, to test and strengthen that evidence base.

The third is to monitor government policy and confidence signals through an agreed Performance Framework, so businesses can judge whether the market is developing at the pace required.

Stuart Togwell, Chief Executive, Kier Group and CLC Deputy Co-Chair, said: "By improving understanding of the future pipeline, this work will help businesses invest with greater confidence in people, skills and capacity."

What happens next

The group's initial findings were published at the Association of Consultancy and Engineering's Parliamentary Reception on 26 October, the CLC said. A short programme of webinars and engagement with group members and CLC trade associations will follow, before the final industry-facing pipeline is published in the New Year.

Companies that want to join the project should contact Stuart Young at the Department for Business and Trade. The CLC said it would expect interested companies that are not already part of Construct Zero to agree to apply to join the programme.

Background

The CLC said Construct Zero's refreshed programme, published on 12 May, reflected the 7th Carbon Budget priorities, including the importance of enabling low-carbon infrastructure. The council announced the refreshed programme and updated priorities on 12 May 2026.

Construct Zero was launched in March 2021 and the CLC describes it as a movement of over 300 construction organisations publicly committed to making a difference. It has six priorities for the industry, one of which is enabling low carbon energy infrastructure.

Its Performance Framework, which the sprint project will use to monitor policy and confidence signals, was developed to give the CLC a sector-level dashboard on progress towards net zero, according to the council.

The Climate Change Committee's seventh carbon budget, the starting point for the sprint project's evidence base, sets out a pathway that requires twice as much electricity as today by 2040. The committee said this means rapidly expanding the transmission grid and upgrading the distribution network, and sees around half of UK homes heated by a heat pump by 2040, compared with around 1% in 2023.

NISTA, one of the sprint project's potential partners, already publishes a national infrastructure pipeline. The government launched that pipeline on 17 July 2025, covering around 780 public and privately led infrastructure projects and setting out £530bn of projects and programmes over the next ten years, according to HM Treasury.

The CLC's industry-facing energy transition pipeline is due to be published in the New Year.