A year into Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government’s premiership, a plethora of large-scale building projects are underway, including the ambitious task of upgrading Gatwick’s northern runway.
When taking office, the Prime Minister set out a 10-Year infrastructure strategy, detailing a whopping £725bn investment into bettering building frameworks across the UK.
Many of these projects are already underway, with more, such as the aforementioned Gatwick runway assignment, to begin later this year and into early 2026.
But, despite its £2.2bn project pricetag, upgrading Gatwick, which handled 43.2 million passengers last year, doesn’t top the spending charts in Labour’s plan.
Five initiatives are billed at £1bn or more, including the Bradwell B Power Station (£1bn), the West Midlands’ Langley Sustainable Urban Extension (£1bn) and the London Data Freeport project (£1.7bn).
The UK’s most costly infrastructure in 2025 dwarfs these plans in terms of expense, coming with an estimated £3bn price tag, according to construction data specialists, Barbour ABI.
The company ranks the London Gateway Port expansion, which began in November 2024, as the most expensive construction job in the UK as of this year.
Multinational logistics giant DP World has been granted permission to establish the facility as the UK’s largest container port, replacing the Port of Felixstowe, in Suffolk.
According to the port’s operator, PD Ports, it handles 42% of all UK container trade with its supply lanes stretching out, linking the UK to the entire world.
As part of the London Gateway expansion, DP World estimates it will take four years to complete the development, which aims to add two further 400m-long all-electric berths and a second rail terminal to the facility.
The expanded container port will then be able to house six of the world’s largest container ships, which will be served by Europe’s tallest quay cranes.
“This investment enhances London Gateway’s position at the heart of British trade,” Explained DP World CEO and Group Chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem.
“[The expansion will be] creating new capacity and new connections between the UK and the global economy. DP World has invested more than £5bn in its UK operations, providing more than 5,500 jobs, and is proud to be supporting national economic growth by enabling businesses to thrive and increasing resilience in the supply chain.”
The latest £1bn addition to the project’s worth is projected to create 400 new permanent jobs, in addition to the 1,200 already employed at the site.
Minister of State for Investment, Baroness Poppy Gustafsson OBE, said: “The UK is open for business and DP World’s major investment is the latest vote of confidence in our economy, delivering economic growth and showing our Plan for Change is working.”
