Market sector infrastructure investment rose 12.1% in real terms last year, according to the Office for National Statistics, with the Lower Thames Crossing among the Kent-relevant projects backed by the government’s wider spending plans.
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The Headline Figure
The Office for National Statistics has confirmed that total market sector investment in UK infrastructure reached £31.3 billion in 2025 — a 12.1% rise in real terms compared with 2024.
Meanwhile, the ONS posted the figures on social media, pointing followers to its full infrastructure investment article.
The “market sector” category, as the ONS defines it, covers private companies, public corporations and households. It sits alongside — but separate from — general government infrastructure spending, which the ONS tracks in a parallel series.
Two Years of Strong Growth
According to the ONS’s full infrastructure investment article, the 2025 figure of £31.3 billion is understood to follow a further year of growth in 2024. Prior-year comparisons, including any figures and percentage changes for 2023 to 2024, are drawn from the ONS’s full infrastructure investment article and readers are advised to consult that source directly for verified baseline data.
Back-to-back double-digit increases suggest the sector has been running hot for at least two years. But national totals can mask a messier picture on the ground, where planning delays, procurement timelines and contractor capacity all shape whether money translates into actual bricks and steel.
The figures are measured in 2022 chained volume measures, meaning inflation has been stripped out. The growth is real, not a product of rising prices.
The Government’s Bigger Bet
The ONS data lands against the backdrop of the UK government’s 10-year Infrastructure Strategy, published in 2025, which commits at least £725 billion of funding for infrastructure over the next decade.
That strategy spans transport, health, education, justice and housing. The government frames it as a deliberate long-term push to improve delivery, renew ageing public assets and drive economic growth.
Critics and analysts, though, have pointed out that headline spending commitments don’t automatically become completed projects. The gap between announced funding and delivered infrastructure has tripped up governments before.
What It Means for Kent
One project in the strategy is directly relevant to this county. The government has allocated £590 million to start work on the Lower Thames Crossing — the proposed new road tunnel east of Gravesend that would add a third crossing of the Thames and ease pressure on the Dartford Crossing, which handles around 180,000 vehicles a day.
And beyond that single scheme, Kent sits in a part of England where infrastructure pressure is acute. Housing growth, port traffic through Dover and Folkestone, and long-standing rail capacity issues all feed into local demand for investment.
Local councils, transport bodies and construction contractors across the county could see supply-chain benefits if the broader national investment trend sustains itself — though analysts caution that the distribution of work depends heavily on where projects are located and how contracts are structured.
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Source: @ONS
Key Takeaways
- UK market sector infrastructure investment reached £31.3 billion in 2025, up 12.1% in real terms from 2024, according to the ONS
- Prior-year growth figures and baseline comparisons are drawn from the ONS’s full infrastructure investment article; readers are advised to consult that source directly for verified year-on-year data
- The government’s 10-year Infrastructure Strategy commits at least £725 billion over the next decade, including £590 million for the Lower Thames Crossing
What This Means for Kent Residents
The Lower Thames Crossing allocation is the most direct link between these national figures and daily life in Kent — if the project progresses, it would reshape commuting and freight routes across the north of the county and reduce the chronic congestion at Dartford. Beyond that single scheme, residents and businesses should watch for infrastructure activity in transport, school buildings and NHS facilities, where national investment trends tend to filter through to local contracts and jobs over time. Kent households and firms in the construction supply chain — from materials suppliers to civil engineering contractors — may want to monitor public procurement notices from Homes England, National Highways and Kent County Council, where locally relevant contracts linked to the wider investment programme are likely to appear first.