English universities will need to spend £5.6 billion to bring their “deteriorating” research facilities back into full use, according to a National Audit Office (NAO) report that has highlighted the crumbling state of academic science laboratories.

Drawing attention to the imbalance in investment in new laboratories against spending on maintenance, the influential parliamentary body urged UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to take a “broader view” on how it manages its infrastructure spending, stating that it should “assess how existing research infrastructure can be used to support strategic government priorities and innovative companies”.

In 2025-26, UKRI provided English universities with about £233 million of funding to spend on new and existing research infrastructure, of which only £59 million could be spent on maintaining existing infrastructure, explains the report,  on 13 March.

Overall, it is estimated that English universities spend £1.8 billion a year on research infrastructure, of which £758 million is spent entirely on maintenance, it adds.

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However, Research England estimates that £5.6 billion would need to be spent to restore all university-owned research facilities to “full operational use”, says the report, noting that “some infrastructure can no longer be used as intended.”

The report’s publication comes after Research England’s executive director, Jessica Corner, told vice-chancellors on 10 March that its budgets for research infrastructure “must now be directed towards sustaining existing research facilities” and “should not be used for new buildings or major new infrastructure”.

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With annual spending in digital research infrastructure more than doubling to £707 million by 2029-30, other research infrastructure funding streams – including the World Class Labs scheme for renewing existing facilities – will be reduced, she explained. That was worth £628 million in 2024-25, notes the new report, but will fall to £246 million a year by 2028-29.

Referencing surveys by Research England, the NAO report focuses on current institutional priorities. “Even though the overall condition of the university sector’s research infrastructure is deteriorating, universities are adding to it (and the future maintenance burden) by building new facilities without disposing of obsolete or redundant facilities,” it says.

“Some university buildings have had to be closed because of health and safety hazards such as asbestos or reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC),” it adds, stating it is likely “universities are spending much less than is needed to maintain the condition of research infrastructure”.

Similar issues are also faced by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, which operates some of UKRI’s largest research facilities, the report says. In 2023 it estimated that 45 per cent of its estate is in an unacceptable condition with a maintenance backlog of £360 million. That council is now seeking to find cost savings of £162 million by 2029-30.

On the issue of balancing the building of new laboratories with the maintenance of existing ones, the NAO report highlights the “fragmented” funding approach at UKRI, which sees some £1.1 billion of spending divided into “multiple funding streams” awarded by UKRI and research councils.

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Urging more “strategic oversight” of UKRI’s infrastructure portfolio, the report states that the country’s main research funder “is still not managing all its research infrastructure as an integrated portfolio” and should do more on “balancing acquisition of new capabilities with maintenance and renewal of existing infrastructure”.

In some cases, “over-optimism” over the business case for new laboratories had led to scaling back or even cancellation of high-profile projects, according to the NAO report.

It highlights the decision in 2021 to spend £46 million on refitting and upgrading the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements plane before decommissioning the scheme – as announced last week. In that case, the business case for the project was considered “very low risk” even though feasibility studies had yet to be carried out, says the NAO report, describing this assessment as “far too optimistic” given the cost overruns on similar projects.

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Similarly, a £368 million upgrade to the John Innes Centre, a plant science laboratory near Norwich, will cost £50 million more than approved in 2022, after it was hit by “rising costs”.

The project’s scope has also had to be reduced, meaning it will be less able to support research than envisaged when the business case was approved, the report says.

It also raises concern over progress on a new national supercomputer, stating that the current supercomputer, ARCHER2, will close 13 months before its replacement is ready. 

NAO head Gareth Davies said the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and UKRI were “making headway on the oversight and management of research infrastructure to support strategic government priorities”.

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“But a number of key risks remain to government’s ambition for the UK to be one of the top three places in the world to create, invest in and scale-up a fast-growing technology business,” he said.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com