Defence Infrastructure: An Interview with Caroline Compton-James

Investment in defence infrastructure continues to rise across the UK. As a result, the delivery of resilient, modern and future-ready defence estates has become an increasingly important priority. 

Ahead of Defence Estates & Infrastructure 2026 (30 September–1 October), Defence iQ Editor Joanne Swann revisits a conversation with Caroline Compton-James, Deputy Chief Executive of SCAPE, recorded following the publication of the UK's 2025 Strategic Defence Review. 

Drawing on more than 25 years of experience across government and the built environment, Caroline discusses the role of procurement in strengthening the defence estate, SCAPE's work with defence clients, the importance of social value, and how collaborative procurement can accelerate the delivery of critical defence infrastructure.

1. Can you explain SCAPE's role within the UK's infrastructure ecosystem?

SCAPE is proudly a public sector procurement organisation. We're owned by six local authority shareholders and offer best-in-class procurement solutions across the built environment.

This spans consultancy, construction, infrastructure, civils, and utilities - from both a works and services perspective. Our role within the UK's infrastructure ecosystem is to provide clients with a robust route to market, enabling the delivery of key infrastructure projects at pace. That includes projects within the defence sector and broader critical infrastructure that supports the defence estate.

2. What kind of involvement does SCAPE currently have in defence or public sector infrastructure projects?

I looked into our current portfolio, and I can give you a helpful top-line figure. At present, we have over £1 billion worth of construction projects underway with four defence clients. In addition, we have around £200 million worth of consultancy commissions across our defence portfolio.

More broadly, across all our frameworks and market areas, we currently have about £8 billion worth of activity in progress.

3. SCAPE is due to award new frameworks in 2026 - can you give us any insight into what we can expect?

Before diving into what's coming, I think it's helpful to touch on what makes SCAPE unique. As mentioned earlier, we're a best-in-class framework provider. Our core strengths lie in providing an accelerated route to market for public sector clients, enabling high-quality delivery in construction and built environment projects.

Our clients really value the speed, collaboration, and level of service that we bring. With that in mind, we're expanding our procurement offer. In 2026, we'll be launching a corporate services framework designed to retain our strong SCAPE values while reaching beyond the built environment. This new framework will support public sector clients with needs in areas such as finance, HR, and IT.

That's our immediate next step. Following that, as our existing frameworks reach their term, we'll return to the cycle of re-procuring our established consultancy and built environment frameworks. But first up is our new corporate services framework.

4. What should suppliers and contractors be doing now to best position themselves for the upcoming frameworks?

Watch this space!

As I mentioned earlier, collaboration is at the heart of what SCAPE does. We work very closely with our delivery partners, which allows us to drive real value for the taxpayer. A great example is the investment we've made in innovative solutions like the circular twin - made possible through strong partnerships on our frameworks.

With the upcoming frameworks, we're looking to embed this collaborative approach even more deeply. We want to work with partners who share our commitment to long-term relationships and driving best value for the public sector. It's also important that our partners are aligned with key public policy principles.

SCAPE is a Gold Standard framework provider, which means we align with the Construction Playbook and the government's Procurement Policy Notes. We're seeking partners equally invested in delivering value through those policy frameworks.

5. How do you see the Strategic Defence Review influencing future defence infrastructure investment?

The Strategic Defence Review, alongside the government's Spending Review, sets the operating context for our industry.

The Strategic Defence Review gives clear direction on where government wants to invest in the defence estate. From SCAPE's perspective, we welcome the increased spending commitments. The Spending Review indicated a 7.3% rise in capital expenditure for defence and an ambition to raise defence spending to 2.6% of GDP.

For those of us operating in this space, it's both a signal of intent and a call to action. It confirms the need to invest and calls on industry to help deliver. From a construction and consultancy angle, there's a responsibility not only to maintain existing assets but also to innovate and prepare for future requirements.

What I'll be watching with interest is how clients choose to modernise their existing estate while also building future-proof infrastructure. It's a hugely exciting time, and SCAPE is ready to support.

6. How can defence infrastructure programmes better incorporate and measure social value?

What's great about social value in this context is that clients are able to define what it means to them, setting their own KPIs through frameworks like SCAPE. Social value is not a one-size-fits-all concept - and rightly so.

SCAPE supports early engagement to help clients shape what meaningful social value looks like for their specific projects. Our frameworks also include standard KPIs around time, cost, quality, local economic spend, and local labour. Clients can use these or set more localised measures, depending on their priorities.

One of the benefits of working with SCAPE is access to our delivery partners, who are committed to achieving those social value goals. Larger, longer-term programmes also allow us to drive sustained impact in a way that smaller, individual projects might not.

We also produce social value reports for clients, helping to demonstrate the additional value that effective procurement can generate. In this way, SCAPE offers a value-added service - both in terms of access to partners and measurable social impact.

7. Looking ahead, what's the biggest opportunity you see for innovation in defence infrastructure delivery?

A phrase I've heard recently when speaking to clients is the need for defence organisations to be agile - to respond to the evolving needs of the estate and government priorities. But with that agility, there must also be a focus on delivery.

This is where SCAPE's procurement model can really support innovation. Our accelerated access to delivery partners enables early contractor involvement and deep collaboration, which in turn fast-tracks the delivery of high-quality assets for the defence estate.

So for me, the biggest opportunity lies in innovative procurement - and that's something SCAPE is proud to offer.

8. Any final thoughts?

The Strategic Defence Review highlighted the importance of strong public-private partnerships, and I think it's worth reflecting on the value they bring. When we have shared outcomes and work together, we can truly deliver for the public estate.

SCAPE is a great example of this - a vehicle that brings the public and private sectors together. In times of tight budgets, demonstrating value for money and wise spending of public funds is more important than ever. Done well, public sector procurement is a good news story - even if people outside procurement don't always see it that way.

So, as we look ahead to delivering on the ambitions of the Strategic Defence Review, I believe procurement has a vital role to play. SCAPE is ready to help make those ambitions a reality.