Economics, policy and regulation

Strength in numbers.

Investment in infrastructure and the built environment rightly attracts a high level of scrutiny. Whether you are in the private or public sector, comprehensive cost-benefit analysis is essential when appraising or prioritising project proposals, bidding for funding or allocating funds.

It’s not just about the economic case. An equally rigorous approach must be applied to the social and environmental outcomes of projects and policies to make balanced decisions, win public backing, avoid regulatory and legal challenges, and achieve the best outcomes for all.

What can we do for you?

Our specialists in economics, policy and regulation provide robust and comprehensive analysis to assist with decision making at all levels.

We offer:

Clarity and rigour

We’ll evaluate policies and projects from every angle to give you a clear picture of costs, benefits, impacts and options.

A community of expertise

Our economists work across sectors and are supported by our experts in the environment, social value, energy, project delivery, infrastructure and the built environment, so there’s always a specialist to provide accurate information and analysis.

A partnership approach

Our involvement needn’t end with a single piece of work. We can partner with you to measure, optimise and realise the value of a project, programme or portfolio of investments over time.

We have led a series of studies into how Port Talbot can seize the economic opportunities presented by floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea.

Services we provide

Shaping policy and regulation for sustainable growth

We have a multidisciplinary skill set and draw on industry-leading guidance and approaches, including the HM Treasury Green Book and the five-case model. Many of our specialists are Better Business Cases accredited.

We can:

Frame a business case with full consideration of economic, social and environmental benefits and costs, to win investment and aid decision making.
Carry out cost estimation to evaluate the likely expenditure involved in a project or investment.
Provide cost consultancy and intelligence to benchmark the estimated costs against industry data and comparable projects.
Draw up funding strategies for investments, identifying and shortlisting potential sources of funding against agreed criteria.
Provide environmental economics including biodiversity net gain, ecosystem services evaluation and flood risk appraisal, to calculate and monetise environmental impacts.
Carry out investment evaluation to assess whether investments have realised the benefits that were promised.

We can:

Conduct policy evaluation to calculate the likely economic benefits and costs of a policy, and to help set appropriate values for subsidies, charges, penalties or incentives.
Analyse the social impacts of policies and projects on different economic groups, measuring the effects on accessibility, inclusivity, equity and wellbeing.
Help with placemaking by analysing how interventions would affect local employment, productivity and economic opportunities in a city, town or region.
Carry out scenario planning and risk evaluation to assess how policies or regulations might play out in various future scenarios.
Perform revenue modelling and demand forecasting to inform business plans and regulatory submissions.
Assist with energy economics, modelling the economic implications of changes to energy supply and demand, consumption patterns, market interventions, prices and tariffs.

Our people

Meet the team

Our experience

Future Port Talbot, UK

As part of our role as multidisciplinary engineering consultant to Associated British Ports, we’ve led a series of studies into how Port Talbot can seize the economic opportunities presented by floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea. We produced a masterplan, supported by preliminary designs of port infrastructure and operational facilities, showing how manufacturing and assembly could work alongside energy infrastructure to develop Port Talbot into a hub for the floating offshore wind industry.
Net Zero Technology Centre, UK

We were commissioned by the Net Zero Technology Centre to develop the strategic outline business case for the Remote Operations Centre of Excellence, a unique opportunity to equip the energy industry with knowledge, experience, confidence and technological solutions to accelerate widescale adoption of remote operations.
PCRAM assessment for Thames Estuary 2100, UK

We applied PCRAM – a tool we developed with the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment to assess physical climate risks – to the Thames Estuary 2100 project, which aims to protect London and the Thames Estuary from tidal flood risk. PCRAM helps decision makers understand benefit-to-cost ratio, target investment, and plan programmes of investment that align with existing organisational and regulatory investment cycles. As part of the project, we collated a longlist of potential scheme funding sources, scored and weighted them based upon factors agreed with the client, and shortlisted funding options to proceed.
UK urban regeneration

By writing business cases and supplying economic analysis for funding applications, we’ve helped local authorities in the UK access more than £500M in funding through regeneration funds such as the Levelling Up Fund, the Future High Street Fund and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Yellowknife senior citizen facilities provision, Canada

We developed a business case for the government of the Northwest Territories and care provider AVENS to expand its facilities for senior citizens in the region. Competitive finance for the project was dependent on having a well defined risk allocation and appropriate governance. We amended the standard five-case approach of the business case to include enhanced risk identification and mitigation, and completed a study of site risks that could affect project delivery.