American investors held £640.3bn of foreign direct investment in the UK at the end of 2024, accounting for 30.1% of Britain's total inward investment stock. As US voters go to the polls on 3 November 2026, the result could influence the financing conditions, trade policies and investment decisions behind some of the UK's largest construction and infrastructure programmes.
The election comes after the UK government announced £150bn of US investment commitments during President Donald Trump's state visit in September 2025. The package included major commitments from Blackstone, Microsoft, Prologis and other American companies. Much of the money is directed towards technology, property and infrastructure, but the construction industry still faces a separate question: how much of that capital will reach physical projects, and when?
America's £640bn position in the UK
The United States was the UK's largest single-country investor at the end of 2024, according to the Department for Business and Trade's official investment statistics. Its £640.3bn position was substantially larger than the Netherlands at £199.4bn, France at £110.5bn and Japan at £102bn.
The long-term relationship is substantial. US inward investment stock stood at £309.6bn in 2015 and reached £702.5bn in 2022 before falling to £640.4bn in 2023. London Construction Magazine's calculation shows that the end-2024 position was £330.7bn, or approximately 107%, above the 2015 level in nominal terms. These figures measure investment positions, which also change through valuations, exchange rates and corporate restructuring.
The latest country-level evidence also shows continued American investment activity. The 2025–26 inward investment results recorded 239 US-origin projects associated with 15,796 new jobs. LCM calculates that the United States accounted for 23.4% of the 1,020 foreign direct investment projects recorded across the UK during that financial year.
Those figures cover the wider economy. The Office for National Statistics' latest full annual country-level investment release covers 2024, while the 2025–26 project statistics measure investment activity and associated employment rather than the value of construction contracts.
How much American investment goes into construction?
The UK does not publish a single, comprehensive percentage showing how much American foreign direct investment becomes construction expenditure. Data centres can sit within technology companies, logistics facilities within property portfolios, and infrastructure projects within investment funds or holding companies. Much of the associated capital is recorded outside the construction industry itself.
Commercial property offers a more direct indication of American participation. Research by the British Property Federation and CoStar, reported in March 2025, found that US investors deployed £13.6bn into UK commercial property during 2024, accounting for a record 33% of total investment transactions. American investors had acquired £49.7bn of UK commercial property over the preceding four years.
The 33% figure measures investment transactions in commercial property, not the American share of UK construction spending. Purchases of completed offices, warehouse portfolios and existing buildings can involve substantial investment without generating equivalent new-build work. Equally, a US-backed data centre may generate construction expenditure through a UK subsidiary without that activity appearing under construction in foreign investment statistics.
The distinction is particularly relevant to the £150bn package announced on 17 September 2025. The total included £90bn of additional long-term investment ambition from Blackstone alongside its previously announced £10bn UK data-centre commitment. Other contributions covered corporate operations, technology investment, property and business expansion. They cannot all be counted as future construction orders.
Where US investment is reaching UK projects
American-backed development is visible across data centres, logistics, life sciences and commercial property. The following programmes show the range of investment, with their values and development stages separated.
| Investor / programme | Announced value | Construction position |
|---|---|---|
| Blackstone / QTS, Cambois, Northumberland | £10bn campus investment | Enabling works underway; first two data-centre buildings received reserved matters approval in December 2025. |
| Equinix Hertfordshire Campus, South Mimms | £3.9bn proposed investment | Outline permission granted in February 2025; detailed design and subsequent approvals progressing. |
| Microsoft UK AI and cloud programme | $30bn (£22bn) over 2025–28, including $15bn capital expenditure | Multi-site programme; Microsoft withdrew from the proposed Loughton arrangement in October 2026. |
| Amazon UK expansion | £40bn planned investment, 2025–27 | Includes fulfilment centres, delivery infrastructure, data centres and wider operating investment. |
| Google UK investment | £5bn two-year programme announced in 2025 | Waltham Cross data centre opened in September 2025; wider programme includes R&D and engineering. |
| Prologis Cambridge and Daventry programme | £3.9bn investment intentions | Life-sciences campus expansion and rail-freight/logistics development intentions. |
The projects differ substantially in their delivery positions. At Cambois, Northumberland County Council confirmed approval of reserved matters for the first two of up to ten planned QTS data-centre buildings in December 2025. QTS says earthworks will continue during 2026, with construction of the first building scheduled to begin in the same year.
At South Mimms, Equinix's Hertfordshire Campus proposals involve £3.9bn of investment. The developer estimates that construction will support 2,500 jobs, alongside 200 permanent operational positions. The project has outline planning permission, with further detailed approvals and site infrastructure work forming part of its development programme.
Amazon provides a different construction market. Its £40bn UK investment plan covers 2025–27 and includes four new fulfilment centres, delivery stations, upgrades to more than 100 existing operations buildings and part of an earlier £8bn data-centre programme. The overall commitment also includes operating activities, so its full value cannot be assigned to building work.
The power problem behind the data-centre boom
The clearest warning about the difference between investment commitments and construction delivery came on 19 October 2026, when Microsoft withdrew from an arrangement to become the anchor customer for Nscale's proposed AI data centre at Loughton in Essex.
The withdrawal followed electricity connection delays that pushed the expected grid supply date into the 2030s. Microsoft maintained its wider $30bn UK investment commitment, while Nscale said it remained committed to developing the Loughton site and was examining alternative power arrangements.
For contractors, the delivery consequences are substantial. A data-centre structure can require earthworks, piling, concrete, steelwork and envelope construction, but its commercial operation also depends on substations, transformers, switchgear, cooling systems, standby generation and integrated testing. Delays to energisation can affect procurement sequencing, building services design and the programme for commissioning.
LCM's earlier analysis of the £100bn UK data-centre development pipeline identified approximately £101bn of proposed building value at stages from pre-application to planning approval. Its London Data Centre Pipeline 2027 also examined schemes across Docklands, Brent Cross, Hayes, Park Royal, Dagenham and the wider Slough corridor, where power delivery and specialist procurement are increasingly central to construction programmes.
What the US election could change
The 3 November 2026 midterms determine control of Congress for the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency. They do not change the president, and their effect on British construction investment will be indirect. The principal transmission routes are fiscal policy, tariffs, financial-market expectations, currency movements and American companies' decisions on where to allocate capital.
If Republicans retain both congressional chambers, the administration could have more room to advance its tax and spending agenda. That could support corporate investment and domestic infrastructure development, although protectionist trade measures and inflationary pressures could also increase costs or make investment in the United States more attractive relative to overseas projects.
If Democrats win one or both chambers, greater legislative opposition and congressional scrutiny could constrain parts of the administration's programme. Changes in fiscal expectations might influence bond yields and international investment decisions. Democratic control would not automatically reverse existing tariffs or redirect American institutional capital into the UK.
Interest-rate decisions remain the responsibility of the Federal Reserve in the United States and the Bank of England in the UK. Congress does not set either country's base rate. Nevertheless, changes in US fiscal policy, inflation expectations and Treasury yields can affect global financing conditions, including the cost of debt used by property developers and infrastructure investors.
Currency movements create another commercial exposure. A stronger US dollar can reduce the dollar price of sterling-denominated UK assets for American buyers, but can also increase the sterling cost of imported equipment priced in dollars. Data-centre developers procuring electrical equipment, cooling systems and specialist technology may face different exposures from property investors acquiring completed buildings.
What UK contractors could see between 2027 and 2030
The 2027–30 outlook depends on which US-backed programmes progress through planning, financing, power connections and construction procurement. Three broad outcomes are possible, although the available evidence does not support reliable probabilities for each.
Faster development
If financing conditions improve and developers secure electricity capacity, more data-centre and logistics schemes could move into construction. This would support groundworks, structural packages, high-voltage electrical installations, mechanical services and specialist commissioning. The strongest regional opportunities would follow projects with secured sites and workable delivery programmes.
Selective and delayed growth
Continued grid constraints and expensive finance could leave large investment commitments in place while individual schemes move more slowly. Contractors could see active work concentrated on established developments, with planned later phases held back by power availability, detailed approvals or customer requirements.
Reduced new project starts
A prolonged period of higher borrowing costs, weaker investment demand or increased trade friction could reduce the number of schemes reaching final investment decisions. US investors might favour existing property acquisitions and refurbishment over speculative development, reducing opportunities for new-build contractors while maintaining some demand for fit-out and asset improvement work.
For London and South East contractors, the investment opportunity extends well beyond conventional building construction. Surveying, ground investigation, remediation, structural engineering, electrical infrastructure, building services, testing and commissioning can all be required before a new data centre or logistics facility becomes operational. These packages are tied to individual project requirements and procurement programmes, not the total value of a corporate investment announcement.
The project-level evidence is already changing. QTS has set out a 2026 earthworks and first-building programme at Cambois, Equinix is progressing the detailed development of its Hertfordshire campus, and Microsoft's withdrawal from Loughton in October 2026 has shown how electricity connection dates can alter even a high-profile investment arrangement. Those delivery milestones will shape the construction workload that follows the American election.
How LCM calculated this
London Construction Magazine reviewed the Department for Business and Trade's 2015–2024 US FDI stock series and its 2025–26 inward investment results on 3 November 2026. The nominal increase of £330.7bn was calculated by subtracting the 2015 US investment stock of £309.6bn from the 2024 position of £640.3bn; the percentage increase was calculated against the 2015 figure. The 23.4% share of investment projects was calculated by dividing 239 US-origin projects by the UK total of 1,020 for the 2025–26 financial year. These calculations measure investment stock and project counts respectively, not construction expenditure.
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Founder & Author, London Construction Magazine | Construction Testing & Investigation Specialist