The free online Construction Pipeline Forecast Tool was launched by the Scottish Futures Trust in July 2021 to provide the construction industry with greater clarity and understanding of future public sector construction projects to be delivered across Scotland.
The Forecast Tool now provides details of more than 1,700 future infrastructure projects, valued at more than £13.4bn that have been submitted by 48 Scottish public bodies.
More than 1,000 businesses currently use the Forecast Tool, the Scottish Futures Trust says.
The Forecast Tool shows planned public sector investment up to 2028, with the majority of the forecast spending occurring before 2025. Projects include new build, refurbishments, and maintenance across a wide range of sectors including roads, health, education, housing and heritage.
Of the 1,700 projects, 54% are below £2m in value, showing the opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Andrew Waring, BIM manager at architecture practice Holmes Miller, said: “We’ve been using it as a supplement to our market intelligence processes to allow us to target clients with upcoming projects with our services. Sometimes when the project gets to tender it can be too late to provide information management services, so having some information on upcoming projects allows us to begin those conversations with clients much earlier. It also helps us gauge the health of the public sector pipeline when business planning.”
Paul Dodd, at and co-chair of the Scottish Futures Trust’s pipeline priority work area, said: “We welcome the continuing commitment by public sector bodies to submit their pipeline data. We are seeing new use cases for the data to support both procurers and industry to provide greater insights in relation to planning, skills and collaboration.”
Balfour Beatty director John Gunn, the other co-chair of the pipeline priority work area, said: “The Forecast Tool has provided valuable insight for our business as we plan ahead, and we welcome the continued management by the Scottish Futures Trust and the on-going support by public bodies in providing their data. I would welcome public sector bodies whose projects are not included to engage with the Scottish Futures Trust and support this key initiative and for industry to register to be updated on new projects.”
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