Engineer exodus to Saudi is damaging major UK infrastructure projects, HS2 contractor warns

The departure of many British engineers and experts to Saudi Arabia and North America is harming the delivery of major infrastructure projects in the UK, according to the boss of a key contractor.

“So you see a lot of British people in Canada, you see a lot of British people in the Middle East… because there they can work on very iconic projects, which is good for their career and good for their knowledge,” Laurent Germain, chief executive of Egis Group, told City A.M.

France-based Egis, which provides consulting and construction engineering services, currently holds contracts for the delivery of HS2’s Old Oak Common station and the Sizewell C nuclear plant. It also is part of a consortium appointed to operate the M25, under a 30-year contract.

Germain said the number of engineers leaving was creating “a lot of tension” during the recruitment process, with demand for talent currently outpacing supply.

“The best way to avoid this is to secure big projects here in the UK because then the best engineers, UK engineers, will be motivated to stay and work on HS2 or Sizewell or on the exention of Bakerloo Line,” he explained.

Germain’s comments come after a series of disastrously executed UK infrastructure projects overran initial budgets and now face decades of delay. Planning red-tape, inflation and poor management have conspired to leave the UK falling behind European rivals in its ability to deliver critical infrastructure.

Embattled HS2 has seen costs rise from around £30bn to over £60bn since its inception, with the issues being such that former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak axed the northern section of the project to Manchester in November.

It was revealed in January the planning application for the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing (LTC), a proposed motorway tunnel to the east of London, had reached a record 359,000 pages in length, at a cost of £300m.

The LTC’s managing director Matt Palmer told City A.M. at the time he was losing key staff overseas, many of whom had had their confidence in UK infrasrtucture undermined by the scandal surrounding HS2.

Brits are being lured by higher pay and the more reliable stream of work offered by the Middle East and Canada. In Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has unveiled a package of investments to fund a major push into tourism and renewable energy.

Some $1.3trn (£981.3bn) is being invested across the Kingdom’s real estate, infrastructure and transportation sectors by 2030. The famous Neom line project has taken the largest contract, at $28.7bn, according to Knight Frank.

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Egis Group employs over 19,000 people in more than 100 countries. Germain told City A.M. his team in Saudi Arabia now mainly employed British nationals.

The infrastructure executive also rued a dearth in employees in the UK public sector, particularly government agencies which oversee the delivery of major projects, such as the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) and Infrastructure Projects Authority (IPA).

“One key issues is for our clients, be it the government or infrastructure agency, to have a very strong technical team internally in order to manage the suppliers, designers and contractors,” he explained.

“Engineers, of course and construction project directors. I mean people who have, in their life, experienced how to run a construction site.”

A HM Treasury spokesperson said: “The Chancellor has vowed to lead the most pro-growth Treasury in this country’s history and infrastructure investment is crucial to that which is why the government has already taken immediate action including planning reform and establishing the National Wealth Fund.

“The government will also publish a 10-year infrastructure strategy to give the private sector certainty about the project pipeline and intends to launch the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority to drive more effective delivery of infrastructure across the country.”