The Civil Engineering Contractors Association (CECA) is calling on the UK Government to examine the impact Brexit might have on procuring infrastructure projects.

The organisation said the UK's decision to leave the EU potentially opens up the opportunity to examine how work is procured in the UK.

CECA Head of External Affairs, Marie-Claude Hemming, said: "Civil engineering contractors are primed to deliver a substantial project workload over the coming years.

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"Yet their ability to deliver these projects in the most efficient way is increasingly being stymied by burdensome procurement processes on projects large and small.

"Our research suggests that this burden is caused, in part, by the rules that are enforced as a result of EU procurement regulations.

"While some of the EU processes are sensible, and ensure a competitive market for customers, the decision to leave the EU potentially opens the opportunity to look again at the bits that are not working as well.

"Clearly the UK's departure from the EU will take time to achieve, and industry will still be bound by UK and global regulations. However, there is no reason why we could not start to look now at what the future of procurement might look like outside the EU."

The organisation is due to publish research next month on the way work is procured in the UK and how this can build up unnecessary cost and waste for the industry.

(LM)