As 2026 unfolds, public sector clients are reassessing not just what they invest in, but how investment decisions are made. After years of operating under sustained pressure - managing ageing estates, constrained budgets and urgent operational demands - there is a growing focus on resetting priorities around public value, long-term performance including carbon and energy performance, resilience and whole-life affordability.
This reset is less about scale and more about making investment work harder. Across education, healthcare and civic sectors, the emphasis is shifting towards targeted, evidence-based decisions that balance affordability with outcomes - ensuring public assets are safe, adaptable and capable of supporting communities well into the future.
Resetting the market requires a clearer definition of value. For public sector clients, this is rarely a single metric. It is a balance of affordability, carbon and energy performance, regulatory compliance, operational resilience, social value and long-term adaptability. Investment decisions increasingly need to be assessed against this broader scorecard - one that reflects both immediate pressures and long-term public outcomes.
The delivery challenge: doing more with what exists
Across public sector estates, a common challenge is becoming clear: how to maximise value from existing assets while addressing urgent needs. Deferred maintenance, fragmented portfolios and evolving service requirements can quickly erode performance if decisions are made in isolation or in response to short-term pressures.
“As pressures increase, public sector clients are increasingly looking to their advisers to play a more active role in shaping solutions. We see innovation shifting from confined to technology or design - it increasingly sits in how projects are structured, how programmes are phased, and how value is unlocked across estates, supply chains and communities.”
This means challenging standard approaches, testing alternative options and bringing forward ideas that improve outcomes, whether through smarter use of data, more collaborative delivery models, or approaches that better integrate social value, skills development and regional supply chain participation into project delivery.
Without this shift, short-term solutions may ease immediate pressure, but they often store up future cost, risk and operational constraint. By contrast, early investment in data, insight and collaborative planning can unlock better outcomes, reducing whole-life cost, improving resilience and supporting consistent service delivery.
We see public value as a tool for shaping not only what is delivered, but how projects are delivered, embedding priorities such as social value outcomes in the analysis of Best Value. Outcomes such as local employment and skills development to SME participation and regional supply chain engagement are now integral to public sector programmes. When these priorities are evaluated effectively, investment in public assets can support service delivery, long-term economic resilience, and individual public sector clients’ priorities.
Education: enabling learning through future-ready estates
Education estates face a complex mix of challenges. Many buildings are ageing, energy-intensive and misaligned with contemporary teaching methods, while demand for flexibility continues to grow. At the same time, projects must often be delivered within live environments, where continuity of learning is paramount.
Increasingly, value in education projects is defined by whole-life performance rather than upfront cost, reflecting greater scrutiny of operational energy, carbon and building performance through ESG and sustainability reporting. Institutions are prioritising adaptable spaces, estate rationalisation strategies and energy efficiency measures that reduce long-term operational pressure.
Digital estate strategies and data-led scenario testing are also playing a growing role, helping education providers understand future demand, model options and prioritise investment before committing capital.
In practice, this means weighing capital cost with long-term energy performance, operational flexibility, community impact and estate resilience - applying a structured view of value over the life of the asset rather than focusing on upfront affordability alone.
Education projects also offer opportunities to support wider outcomes, from early careers pathways to local skills development, ensuring that investment in learning environments contributes not only to teaching and research, but to longer-term capability in the communities they serve.
Projects such as the Fife College Dunfermline Learning Campus illustrate how education investment can be used to create flexible, future-ready learning environments while also supporting local skills development and employment. By aligning estate strategy with wider community outcomes, education projects can deliver value well beyond the buildings themselves.
Healthcare: resilience, safety and continuity of care
Healthcare infrastructure operates under constant pressure. Much of the estate supporting the National Health Service is among the oldest in Europe, with significant parts built before 1985 and some predating the NHS’s formation in 1948. The age and condition of these assets contribute directly to high running costs, backlog maintenance, energy inefficiency and increasing operational risk. [1]
For many Trusts, capital investment is therefore less about expansion and more about preventing system failure - protecting clinical continuity, maintaining regulatory compliance and ensuring that buildings remain safe, resilient and fit for purpose. Decisions are increasingly shaped by risk, safety and operational performance rather than scale or visibility. Assessing value in this context requires balancing clinical risk, compliance, operational continuity, energy performance and long-term affordability - often under intense scrutiny.
We use the business case process to pragmatically assess options, manage risk and phase investment within live, safety-critical environments. Early feasibility, robust cost planning, prioritisation and clear governance are essential to understanding whether existing assets can be adapted or whether, in some cases, replacement represents the most responsible long-term solution.
The New Velindre Cancer Centre illustrates this decision-led approach. Following early feasibility work, new build was identified as the most effective way to improve compliance, patient experience and long-term performance. Crucially, this was not a default choice, but the outcome of structured option appraisal, balancing clinical requirements, adaptability and operational resilience within a wider live estate.
“Healthcare investment decisions are increasingly shaped by risk, safety and operational continuity. Addressing critical maintenance, improving infection control and integrating digital systems must often be achieved alongside live clinical activity, where disruption carries real consequences.”
Across the sector our data-led analysis of options is supporting safer phasing, better risk management and more informed decision-making, helping Trusts target investment where it delivers the greatest immediate and long-term benefit.
Government and civic: supporting place, participation and trust
Civic buildings, including town halls, courts, libraries, markets and cultural assets, play an important role in shaping place identity and enabling public participation. Many are architecturally significant, deeply embedded in their communities and expected to perform multiple functions over long lifespans.
In civic projects, value is rarely measured by efficiency alone. It must be assessed across accessibility, environmental performance, long-term adaptability, heritage, economic vitality and social value - reflecting the broader public purpose these assets serve.
When assessed through this broader lens, civic investment can support wider regeneration and economic vitality. By combining place-making with environmental performance, accessibility and social value, these projects can reinforce local identity while strengthening town centre activity and community participation. Our approach uses a balanced score card methodology to bring together competing objectives to understand best value.
Civic projects that invest in public buildings, such as Ellesmere Port Market in Cheshire, can act as a catalyst for town centre renewal. They can help support local businesses, strengthen civic identity and create spaces that serve communities in multiple ways over time. The Market no longer supported the needs of local traders and visitors. Cheshire West and Chester Council is modernising it to boost footfall, enhance the customer experience, and support small businesses, while retaining its role as a key anchor in the wider regeneration of Ellesmere Port town centre.
“Public sector clients are increasingly seeking delivery approaches that strengthen local supply chains, support SMEs and ensure that economic benefits are felt locally. Achieving this requires early engagement, clear objectives and a disciplined approach to feasibility, option appraisal and delivery planning.”
Measuring value: beyond capital cost
Public value in 2026 cannot be reduced to capital cost alone. It must be assessed across safety, carbon performance, operational resilience, social value and long-term affordability - recognising the trade-offs inherent in complex estates.
Data provides the backbone of our analysis of best value. Professional judgement brings structure and realism. Together, they enable public sector clients to make defensible, transparent decisions in an environment where scrutiny is high and headroom is limited.
Resetting the market is not about spending more. It is about defining value clearly and aligning investment to it.
Investing with clarity and purpose
Resetting the market is ultimately about making better choices. For the public sector, this means focusing investment where it delivers the greatest long-term benefit - supporting learning, health, community and resilience.
With clear priorities, robust insight and a disciplined approach to delivery, public sector assets can continue to serve communities effectively today, while remaining adaptable to the needs of tomorrow.
How G&T helps
In a market that is resetting around long-term value and accountability, public sector clients are seeking advisers who can help them define, measure and defend value across competing priorities.
G&T works alongside education, healthcare and civic organisations to help shape and test options at an early stage - challenging assumptions, exploring alternatives and prioritising investment with clarity. Our approach combines data and insight with practical delivery experience, enabling more informed decisions across live estates, constrained programmes and complex supply chains.
By taking a whole-life view and by working collaboratively with clients and their delivery partners, we help translate innovation into practical, measurable outcomes that deliver lasting public value.
Connect with our experts: Iain Campbell, Cost Consultancy, Jamie Quinn, Project Leadership, Georgie Danby, Infrastructure Management
