If we want the world’s best planners, designers and engineers to build their careers here, we need to give them something worth staying for. 

Over the past year there’s been a steady trickle of LinkedIn posts announcing relocations to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and beyond. These are not people running away from the UK; they’re people running towards tax-free salaries and a conveyor belt of major projects. It’s a reminder that in a global market for talent, standing still is the same as moving backwards. 

The good news is that we’ve seen some genuine progress at home. The NPPF changes and the opening up of the “grey belt” are, in my view, a saving grace for the industry. They provide a clearer pipeline of work, a sense that difficult choices on land supply are finally being confronted, and opportunities for both public and private sectors to plan with a bit more confidence. 

Government has also done well in moving strategic sites and investment beyond the capital. That’s good for levelling up, and good for keeping high-calibre teams busy in cities that haven’t always seen their fair share of attention. In many ways, the regions are now doing some of the heavy lifting in terms of ambition. 

But we shouldn’t ignore the growing problem in the Capital. It was schemes like Battersea Power Station and King’s Cross that kept some of the best people actively employed, stretched and engaged in London for over a decade. Those projects acted as anchors – places where talent gathered, learned and then dispersed into the wider market. Without a new generation of large, complex urban regeneration schemes coming through, the temptation to look overseas inevitably grows. Some of that expertise will transfer into big infrastructure, but not all of it. 

We also spend a great deal of political energy talking about immigration as a challenge, while saying surprisingly little about the risks of emigration. For UK plc, the bigger long-term threat may be the quiet loss of our home-grown talent to other markets – especially if, once gone, they decide not to return. 

City Hall has levers it can pull now: giving clearer signals on growth, showing greater pragmatism on delivery burdens, and working with boroughs and investors to unlock investment and construction. It cannot simply be a case of waiting for No.10 to shine a spotlight on London. 

If 2025 has taught us anything, it’s that talent follows opportunity. Our job next year is to make sure more of that opportunity is found in London and across the UK, rather than only in someone else’s skyline.