From the outside, a Guildhall state banquet can look like distant pageantry. But the recent speech by the Lady Mayor of the City of London, Dame Susan Langley DBE, at the banquet for German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was something far more substantial, a clear and timely call for the UK and EU to deepen their cooperation on financing European defence, with London at the heart of that effort.
Her words recognised a reality that many in the built environment understand instinctively. In an era of heightened geopolitical tension, defence spending is not just about equipment and hardware. It is about long-term investment in resilient infrastructure, modern estates, secure facilities, digital capability and the physical spaces where our armed forces live, train and operate. To support that transformation, Europe needs both capital & competence and the City of London is uniquely placed to help mobilise the former, while the UK’s construction and engineering sector stands ready to deliver the latter.
The Lady Mayor’s explicit call to remove barriers to cross-border capital flows between financial centres such as London and Frankfurt deserves particular recognition. It is a constructive, outward-facing message at a time when it would be easy for countries to turn inward. By arguing that London should work with its European counterparts, not against them, she positions the Square Mile as a facilitator of shared security and shared prosperity. That spirit of partnership is exactly what is needed if the UK and Germany are to turn headline commitments on defence spending into real projects on the ground.
For the construction industry, this agenda opens up a horizon of opportunities that go far beyond any single contract. Defence estates across the UK and Europe contain barracks, training centres, logistics hubs, research spaces, airfields and naval facilities that were often built for a different era. Many now require fundamental renewal to meet modern expectations around safety, sustainability, digital integration and quality of life for service personnel. The Lady Mayor’s remarks implicitly acknowledge that this renewal will not happen by chance; it will require thoughtful financing, patient capital and a pipeline of work that rewards long-term collaboration between government, investors and delivery partners.
London, as Europe’s leading financial centre, can help design those long-term frameworks. But the bricks, steel and engineering intelligence will come from the construction supply chain spread across the UK and beyond. Contractors, consultants, designers, testing and inspection specialists, digital construction teams and professional services firms all have a role to play in reshaping defence infrastructure so that it is fit for the next generation. The Lady Mayor’s confidence that the City will be an important source of the finance we need is, in effect, a vote of confidence in the industries that will turn that finance into built reality.
There is also a deeper, values-based dimension to her intervention which deserves to be highlighted. By stressing that friends should work together not only for prosperity and progress but because they share common values, she connects the financial strength of London directly to the defence of democratic societies. In doing so, she makes a powerful case that the capital’s markets, institutions and professionals are not detached from the wider public interest. When responsibly directed, they are central to protecting it.
For London’s construction community, this is an invitation to think strategically about where expertise can be strengthened and how capability can be aligned with the needs of a changing defence landscape. It may mean investing in skills for working on high-security facilities, deepening experience in complex retrofit, or building partnerships that can respond to long-duration, multi-phase programmes. It may also mean engaging earlier and more openly with clients, investors and policymakers as defence-related projects move from concept to delivery.
Ultimately, Dame Susan Langley’s message that discussion is good, action is better is one the built environment understands very well. The sector is built on action: on turning policy and finance into structures that stand the test of time. If the UK and Germany follow through on the direction she has set out, the coming years could see a new chapter in which London’s financial power and the construction industry’s technical skill combine to strengthen both Europe’s security and its prosperity.
It is right to welcome this initiative, and to recognise it as more than a diplomatic soundbite. For those who design, build, maintain and modernise the spaces that underpin our collective safety, the Lady Mayor’s speech is a clear signal that they will be central to the story of European defence in the years ahead. The task now is to match her call for cooperation with the practical partnerships and projects that will bring it to life.