Just in time?
Publication of the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) illustrates the clearest picture yet of how the ambition of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) translates to funded capability. At the 2026 NATO Ankara Summit, amid an increasingly volatile global security environment and criticism from allies, former Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis, restated UK commitments to increase defence spending from 2.3% of GDP to 2.7%, with a trajectory to 3.5% by 2035. While this remains lower and slower than commitments already made by countries such as Poland and Germany, it finally marked a fundamental change in the UK's long-term defence posture.
The plan commits almost £298bn over the next four years, with substantial investment across multiple domains, notably Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE), Air, Land, Maritime and People. At £63.6bn, the largest domain spend supports DNE and the UK’s Continuous at Sea Deterrent, with an additional £20bn compared to the previous four years. As Lord Robertson observed during the 7 July Defence Select Committee session, the nuclear portfolio continues to consume around 25% of the defence budget, inevitably limiting investment elsewhere. For those of us involved in the built environment, £22.7bn allocated to infrastructure and estate immediately catches the eye. In practice, however, infrastructure investment extends well beyond the single domain and is embedded throughout the plan.
While the DIP provides funding certainty, detail on the costed force spending plan remains limited. Emphasis on nuclear investment across Barrow, Faslane, Clyde, Derby, Devonport and Aldermaston provide confidence for the supply chain and secures ring fenced funding delivered through a national supply chain ecosystem. The challenge now moves from planning to successful delivery at scale.
Beyond bricks and mortar
There is a significant shift in recognising infrastructure and accommodation as strategic enablers of military capability rather than operational overhead. Housing has been given greater focus within the DIP. The SDR is unequivocal as the defence estate is the foundation upon which our Armed Forces operate as housing quality has a direct impact on morale, recruitment and retention. The scale of the challenge is apparent: 1 in 10 require considerable refurbishment following decades of underinvestment, while service personnel report high dissatisfaction with their family homes. Now, the plan is to modernise 43,000 defence homes over 10 years. Pace is the imperative: delivering such ambition would require an average of more than 80 homes to be refurbished, rebuilt or substantially upgraded every week for the next decade.
The DIP indicates a degree of back-ending, allocating £2.7bn for service family accommodation and £1.4bn for single living over the next four years. The ambition is clear, but the practical question remains: is the current funding profile sufficient to deliver the necessary pace of improvement? Defence infrastructure already manages a substantial portfolio, but this requires sustained national delivery across a geographically dispersed and operationally active estate. Now is the time to actively engage industry in shaping delivery plans and preparing for implementation. Given the funding allocated, and drawing on Gleeds' experience of residential delivery, including PFI programmes, there is a credible path to success.
Defence reform: innovate to succeed
The DIP recognises infrastructure as a key contributor to delivering approximately £2bn of defence efficiencies but this opportunity extends beyond just upgrading buildings. Effective stewardship of defence land and assets can unlock wider value through partnerships, private investment and smarter use of estate. Rather than viewing surplus land as an asset for disposal, it should be considered where collaboration, joint ventures and dual-use development can generate long-term value.
Creation of a new Defence Housing Service (DHS) illustrates a fundamental rethink, establishing an independent organisation focused solely on delivering accommodation for Service personnel. It presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape how defence housing is planned and procured, to bring greater agility, sharper accountability and a renewed focus on improving the lived experience. Independence creates space to challenge established practices and adopt more modern ways of working. However, continued reliance on traditional approaches risks limiting the very transformation the new organisation has been created to achieve. This reform is a positive step, yes, but as DHS’ new leadership recognises, success will be measured by outcomes rather than standalone structural change.
The Defence Select Committee also highlighted that the delay between the SDR and DIP created uncertainty and reduced supplier confidence. With delivery now dependent on industry mobilisation at scale, establishing certainty must be a priority.
Do the basics well
Although reform and innovation will be critical to delivering the ambitions of the DIP, success will ultimately depend on getting the fundamentals right. The 2025 Fingleton Review identified excessive complexity, duplication and risk aversion as key drivers of delay, and called for regulatory reform to improve productivity, affordability and delivery. While focused on the civil and defence nuclear sectors, its findings have wider relevance across defence, reinforcing the need for streamlined governance, reduced bureaucracy and a proportionate, risk-based approach.
The Defence Housing Strategy acknowledges the backlog of repairs and improvements, and the progress made in reducing it. Sustaining this requires consistent delivery of the fundamentals, including effective maintenance, reliable services and proactive asset management. A move away from a reactive “fix on fail” approach towards whole-life management of the estate is therefore essential. Establishment of the DHS provides an opportunity to strengthen governance, assurance and simplify procurement arrangements to support delivery.
Crucially, better data is fundamental to better decisions. Given historic challenges in maintaining accurate estate information, asset condition data and lifecycle forecasting, defence must improve data quality and accelerate digitisation to support evidence-based investment decisions.
The way forward
The DIP presents a welcome vision for the future, providing a level of investment certainty not seen for many years. As one of the UK's largest landowners, the MoD has significant opportunities to unlock greater value from its estate through smarter management and partnerships, and a more strategic approach to infrastructure. When every pound must deliver more, infrastructure should be viewed not as an afterthought but a strategic asset capable of enhancing resilience, generating efficiencies and strengthen military capability.
Perhaps the most important message is that defence infrastructure is not a support function, but a military capability in its own right. Realising this ambition will require close coordination across government, industry and delivery partners. Early engagement, collaborative planning and streamlined procurement will be critical to maintaining momentum, certainty and affordability. Ultimately, success depends on creating a resilient estate underpinned by robust data and effective governance.
The DIP is significant not only because of what it invests in through the infrastructure and estate domain, but because infrastructure investment is embedded across multiple domains throughout the plan. Viewed through this wider lens, it represents one of defence's largest areas of investment.
The funding has been identified, the strategic direction has been set, and the opportunity is there to be seized. The greatest risk is not financial, but the loss of momentum between ambition and execution. Defence and industry must now turn investment into enduring capability, strengthening operational readiness and improving the lives of our service personnel.
