From complexity to confidence

Infrastructure projects are as complex as they are critical, ranging from heating the homes of an entire nation to building a new rail line linking cities and countries.

Our infrastructure experts have extensive experience of delivering compelling economic and financial analysis, ensuring that leaders can rely on plans based on clear and robust evidence.

A well-designed infrastructure scheme delivers:

• optimal incentives and risk-sharing mechanisms
• a solid regulatory structure
• robust due diligence, reducing risk

How we support infrastructure schemes

We offer economics, finance, and sector-specific specialisms under one roof, enabling us to assist you with:

• understanding how regulatory frameworks and policy will affect a new project
• impact assessments and cost–benefit analyses, supported by stakeholder engagement
• delivering insight into the state aid implications of an investment
• determining how the relationship between financing and regulation will affect a project

Building success into your scheme

We understand that all of the key elements of a new infrastructure project interact; regulation affects both profits and the distribution of costs and benefits.

Our experts act as your strategic advisers from project inception, ensuring a consistent approach to all facets of your project. We are experienced in liaising on behalf of our clients with other professional partners, including financial teams and planning experts.

With consistency delivered across all moving parts, you’ll have full confidence when building strategy, and also when presenting evidence to stakeholders—from planning authorities to policymakers.

Weighing the effects of climate change

In addition to our decades of experience dealing with infrastructure issues, we always have one eye on the future. With climate change at the top of the agenda for corporations, governments, and communities around the globe, the issue will dominate future infrastructure projects and the significant investments that get them off the ground.

Our experts are heavily engaged in the debate around decarbonisation. We can advise you on the costs and benefits of increasing the resilience of your assets.

Our experienced economists also advise our clients on how to integrate costs of carbon into impact assessments for investments, which are becoming a vital part of determining when and where to develop new infrastructure.

Our experience

Our clients—including Gatwick Airport, the Broadband Stakeholder Group, and the Welsh government—value our expertise across all types of infrastructure projects, including transport, conventional and renewable energy generation, transmission and distribution, water, and telecoms. We have advised on airport capacity expansion, road and rail scheme development, and broadband roll-out.

Oxera were able to combine their deep knowledge of UK regulatory practice and principles with the right combination of “sense check” and advocacy to ensure that we made a compelling case in our business plan and subsequent discussions.

- Peter Moore, Director, Infrastructure, iCON Infrastructure