Seizing the opportunity: Germany and the UK look to infrastructure to stimulate growth
PATRIZIA's Corporate Communications thought leadership lead Andrew Belt reports on the respective infrastructure investment drives in Germany and the UK and shares the views of PATRIZIA Head of Fund Management Infrastructure Graham Matthews on how best to seize the opportunity and create economic growth through their plans.
“Inaction is a weapon of mass destruction” went the refrain from Maxi Jazz on the hit single by English dance music band Faithless in 2004. Included on the track ‘Mass Destruction’, the lyric by itself is a thought-provoking one, albeit the end result of said inaction taken to extremes for dramatic effect.
As a species, we have always sought to evolve and progress, with stasis associated with catastrophic consequences. In the world of real assets and asset management, inaction is not an option with a lack of upgrades responsible for slower economic growth and, in the worst instances, for loss of life.
In infrastructure, this can result in crumbling assets, as seen by bridge collapses in Genoa in 2018 and Dresden in 2024.
Graham Matthews,
PATRIZIA Head of Fund Management Infrastructure
Infrastructure investment essential
Investment is therefore essential to maintain safe, functioning infrastructure which supports stronger economic growth, higher living standards, and benefits society at large. As the two bridge collapses highlight, however, the necessary funding and political will to prioritise these infrastructure enhancements, in Europe at least, has not been forthcoming.
Or as Graham Matthews, PATRIZIA Head of Fund Management Infrastructure, puts it:
“Across Europe, infrastructure is creaking. Decades of underinvestment coupled with decreasing government budgets means more private capital is needed to plug the investment gap.”
Investment managers like PATRIZIA are ready to support infrastructure investment in Europe and are already doing so, by bringing much-needed capital, but also the skills and experience to efficiently and effectively enhance infrastructure capabilities.
PATRIZIA’s infrastructure businesses in Germany
PATRIZIA manages the caverns storage business at Etzel and Corymbia – an EV charging platform based in Germany. Etzel is where PATRIZIA manages underground caverns storing fuels – vital for Germany’s energy security – which, since 2021, has been a testing ground for hydrogen storage and last year saw the signing for large-scale hydrogen storage – the first such agreement of this kind in Europe.
In 2023, PATRIZIA launched Corymbia, which is deploying hundreds of ultrafast EV charging stations across Germany.
What now?
Having announced and then adopted the infrastructure fund, the government is now in planning mode, with discussions taking place with key stakeholders.
Detailed allocation decisions and designation of specific projects are expected towards the end of this year and going into next year before work can begin to deliver the transformations across Germany.
infrastructure plan
The UK’s 10-year plan
In June, the UK followed suit with Chancellor Rachel Reeves announcing a 10-year GBP 725 billion infrastructure plan.
Unlike the German infrastructure fund with its focus on decarbonisation, a focus of the UK plan is on maintenance of public buildings, such as schools, hospitals and courts.
Nevertheless, the UK plan also emphasises the government’s ambitions across energy transition, digital connectivity, and water infrastructure upgrades. Supporting data centre development is also included in the plan.
PATRIZIA’s investments in the UK
PATRIZIA has existing investments in the UK across digital connectivity, data centres and water infrastructure.
PATRIZIA is invested in both Connexin – an internet of things (IoT) and internet service provider based in Hull – and CityFibre – a UK firm providing full fibre networks across the country. One of Connexin’s solutions is based on identifying leaks in water systems through sophisticated technology at the earliest opportunity to prevent significant water wastage.
As referred to in our article on data centres, PATRIZIA gained planning consent for the development of a 700,000 sq ft 140MW data centre in Buckinghamshire with the UK Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government Angela Rayner overriding the stymied local planning process to ensure the nationally significant proposal moves forward – a precursor to the current plan.
Digging deeper into the UK plan, despite its infrastructure designation, there is a significant proportion of outputs best served through real estate solutions, such as a 10-year Affordable Homes Programme. In addition to PATRIZIA’s infrastructure presence in the UK detailed above, the company is invested in affordable housing in the country with GBP 100 million currently targeted for its affordable sector residential platform and further such plans in the pipeline.
A new Infrastructure pipeline is expected to be published this month (July 2025) by the newly formed National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA), which will outline further details on UK projects.
A catalyst for change and economic growth
While the infrastructure investment political will in Germany and the UK may only scratch the surface of the potential infrastructure needs in both countries, the impact will still be felt and act as an economic stimulus.
“The schemes in Germany and the UK provide a massive opportunity,” Graham says.
“Improved infrastructure means increased productivity and efficiencies across the whole economy, which leads to stronger economic growth and improved living standards in both countries.”
More than that, with trust in politicians at a particularly low ebb, improved infrastructure and tangible economic growth stimulated by governments can help turn a faithless population into believers.