National Highways interim chief executive Nick Joyce has slammed the sector for 'inconsistent' work and 'rubbish' scheme outcomes, demanding a renewed focus on quality.

In one of his first public addresses, after just half a year in the job, Mr Joyce hit out at the impact of 'rework' jobs on the network when things had gone wrong, suggesting the public was being let down.

'One of the first things that I've discovered is, actually, the quality of work on our network can be quite inconsistent,' he said. 'And the amount of avoidable rework that has to happen is huge. Whether that's at the small end, from actually not doing site completion properly or aftercare, or to be blunt, some bigger things like not building to the right design or not using materials in the right way for the project.

'That's a bit rubbish for all of us, really. It's rubbish for us as a client, it's rubbish for the supply chain, and it's rubbish for the people who were expecting the benefits. So we really, really do need to make sure we focus on the quality of what we do.'

National Highways stressed that Mr Joyce's wider point was that the sector needed to double down 'collectively' on quality and addressing issues when they arise so that road users see the benefits of investment as quickly as possible.

The operator said it did not have any examples to share of avoidable rework and declined to comment on whether there would be a specific improvement plan to prevent these problems in future.

In his punchy speech at an industry event, Mr Joyce emphasised the strain the strategic network is under as it makes its way through the third road investment strategy 2026-2031.

'Firstly, demand for the network over the next period is going to grow by at least 6%, and that will put pressure on the performance of the network. Customer expectations are rightly increasing in terms of information, anytime reliability, and incident response. The climate is changing, which places different demands on the networks, about how we maintain, operate and plan. And as many of you know, our network is not getting any younger. Most of our assets were built in the 1970s or before.'

He gave the example of a structure on M42, which had to be demolished, as demonstrating the kind of challenges that will increase in future.

'[It was] an old structure, but not one that we thought was at extreme risk. Last year, we thought, well, it's not quite right. Increase inspection frequency. See some more things, increase inspection frequency again. Then we moved to weight restrictions, then we moved to a lane closure. In July, we closed the bridge entirely. If you go down there now, it's not there. It got demolished two weeks ago.

'I think that is something that is going to be an increasing feature of the way we need to monitor, manage, and then intervene in the network in the coming years. Our focus now is to fill that gap in the network and work out how we can bring the connectivity back together as soon as possible. But I am really optimistic about how we can meet these challenges.'