Enduring cross-sector partnerships: How to deliver public value that lasts

The 2025 Autumn Budget and creation of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) offer a rare chance to reset public-private partnerships, but only if they deliver visible improvements to people's daily lives.

The opportunity for a partnership reset  

The Autumn Budget in November and the creation of NISTA have created a rare opportunity to 'reset' the government's approach to public-private partnerships and properly address how the model can help shape the future of social infrastructure.

The question is no longer whether the public and private sectors should collaborate, but how we design relationships that are flexible, trusted and laser-focused on outcomes that people feel on their street, in their schools, and at their GP surgery.

The shift toward a partnership reset offers the opportunity to move away from short-term, transactional arrangements toward long-term relationships with clarity of purpose, stable pipelines, and genuine co-ownership of risk and benefit.

Many lessons have been learnt from the previous era of PPPs and PFIs. Modern contracts will need to be clearer on outcomes during and at the end of agreements, and be designed to encourage collaboration and common behaviours.

What modern infrastructure partnerships must deliver  

The next generation of partnerships will need to be structured differently because the problems they are being asked to solve are different. Modern infrastructure strategy places as much emphasis on how assets are delivered and operated as on what gets built. The 2025 UK Infrastructure Strategy highlights this point, emphasising long term certainty, improved coordination, and better public–private collaboration as essential to success.

That means embedding partnership culture in procurement through joint decision-making boards, transparent data sharing, continuous improvement cycles, and scheduled strategic reviews need to be mandated. This is how we move from a compliance culture to continuous performance improvement.

Making PPPs work for social infrastructure

The shift is particularly visible in social infrastructure. When making the investment case to Treasury officials or local authority finance directors, the conversation now goes well beyond capital cost and unitary charge.

It's important to define people's outcomes first, then price the pathway. That means starting with the desired changes, then designing and consulting on the asset and service model that best delivers them over the life cycle and beyond.

The most compelling cases are those that anchor investment in outcomes people can see and feel. These are shorter waits, warmer buildings, safer spaces, and better access to opportunity.

That requires a different discipline, built on evidence, governance, and financial clarity, but also on storytelling that connects spreadsheets and planning documents to lived experiences.

The critical role of anchor institutions and NFPs

The role of anchor institutions brings this point into focus. Universities, hospitals, housing associations and NFPs (not-for-profits) such as the Campaign for Better Transport are not traditional infrastructure partners, but they are increasingly indispensable.

The power in these institutions lies in their proximity to people, place, and long-term outcomes. They bring a depth of community insight that neither contractors nor councils can easily replicate, along with the ability to shape local supply chains, boost SME engagement and attract innovation-led investment, such as from the green tech sector.

In regeneration and estate-based programmes, their presence often marks the difference between development that happens to a place and growth that is genuinely rooted in it, with major employers backing inclusive-growth strategies.

These institutions can also provide continuity when political leadership changes. Anyone who has worked across multiple council administrations or shifts in national priorities will appreciate that lengthy programmes can be fragile.

What sustains momentum and enables partnerships to thrive in those conditions is leadership that consistently frames decisions around shared outcomes, such as wellbeing, fairness and local prosperity rather than organisational or political wins.

How evidence and collaboration models enable success

Evidence plays a critical role when difficult choices are rooted in transparent data; debate becomes less ideological and more practical. Problems can be reframed as shared challenges rather than contested positions.

Collaboration and partnership models help here by changing how people show up to work and resetting the table from 'client–contractor' to 'problem solvers together,' with shared profit/risk and explicit knowledge-sharing obligations.

Learning flows more freely across organisational boundaries, often from the supply chain upward rather than the other way around.

Translating national ambition into local outcomes

The challenge lies in translating national ambition into local outcomes, as government missions on growth, net zero, health, and opportunity are only meaningful if they result in tangible improvements at the street level in places across the country.

That translation is where integrated delivery capability can really demonstrate its strength, as it requires organisations that can move seamlessly from policy and strategy into planning, design, construction and operation and that can scale solutions to the local context rather than applying a single national template.

In practice, this means explaining complex technical decisions in human terms. When people see how infrastructure improves daily life, confidence in public investment and in the partnerships that deliver it begins to develop.

Example in practice: Gateshead Community Diagnostic Centre

This can be seen in the Gateshead Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC), a state-of-the-art NHS facility repurposed from a vacant retail unit in the Metrocentre, Gateshead.

The first of its kind in the North East, it was delivered through a partnership between Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. It brings diagnostic care into the community, meeting the government's objective of bringing health services to the high street and making them much more accessible to more people.

What long-term success looks like

Looking ahead five years, the next generation of partnerships should be flexible, transparent, outcome-focused and structured around shared risks, shared benefits, and shared purpose.

That should deliver real benefits that connect communities and enable real improvements to people's quality of life - be it their daily commute, access to healthcare, housing, etc. That will allow placemaking to deliver real economic benefits to taxpayers and the UK economy.

We should expect a new generation of leaders who are comfortable with collaboration, skilled in evidence-based decision-making, and equipped to bridge the gap between technical complexity and social impact.

Finally, by solving the problems of past contracting models, it will enable sustainable investment in infrastructure that serves local communities for the next 30 years and beyond.

This article was originally published on the WIG blog.