Investment Strategy

A framework for future investment in major capital projects in order to assist in their planning, financing, procurement and delivery.

Project Description

Development and maintenance of a long term Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland (ISNI) is one of SIB’s core statutory responsibilities as set out in the Strategic Investment & Regeneration of Sites (Northern Ireland) Order 2003.

The principal objective is to set out a clear framework for future investment in major capital projects across the region in order to assist in their planning, financing, procurement and delivery.

The ISNI is drafted by SIB on behalf of Ministers, working closely with the Executive Office and Dept. of Finance, and with officials from the spending departments. It is one of the Executive’s three high level policy documents, published alongside and consistent with the Executive’s Programme for Government (PfG) and Budget.

The first ISNI was produced by SIB in 2005. The Executive published a revised ISNI in 2007 covering the period 2008-2018. The current ISNI was published by the Executive in 2012 and covers the period up to 2021.

To date, over £11 billion has been invested under ISNI in the seven key infrastructure areas covered. These are:

Networks (Roads, Public Transport, Ports/Airports, Energy, Telecoms)
Skills (Schools, HE/FE colleges, Libraries)
Health (Primary Care, Hospitals and Emergency Services)
Social (Social & Affordable Housing, Culture, Sport, Arts & Leisure)
Environment (Water & Waste Water, Waste Management, Flood Risk Management)
Productive (Industry Support, Agriculture & Rural Industries, Government Administration, Tourism)
Justice (Police, Prisons, Youth Justice, Forensic Science, Courts)

A further £8 billion will be delivered by 2021. SIB maintains the ISNI Information Portal (www.isni.gov.uk) to inform stakeholders and the public on progress with schemes in development that are funded under ISNI.

The majority of the finance for ISNI comes from the NI Block Grant. However, there are 39 operational PFI/PPP schemes in Northern Ireland; these have delivered capital assets financed from private sources.

The ISNI was the first such document published anywhere in the UK. Other parts of the UK now have similar statements of future investment intentions.

Project Status

ISNI is an ongoing project within SIB.

SIB Involvement

SIB leads all aspects of the development, implementation and monitoring of ISNI. This includes:

Monitoring progress by departments in the development and delivery of schemes funded under ISNI;
Commissioning research on future infrastructure needs of the region and future trends;
Developing and utilising Strategic Infrastructure Planning Models (SIPMs) to assist departments and agencies to plan ahead with a robust evidence base;
Developing and using the ISNI Jobs Model to assess the impact of capital investment on construction and related industry jobs, and wider jobs impact in the economy;
Consulting with and informing a wide range of stakeholders with an interest in ISNI;
Developing future iterations of ISNI, working with colleagues in the Executive Office and Dept. of Finance in relation to priorities and budgets; and
Maintaining broad market awareness of trends in infrastructure finance markets.