The Lower Thames Crossing received planning consent in March 2025. Construction is scheduled to start this year. And Matchtech had already surveyed 34,000 UK-based engineers for it.
That isn’t a boast, it’s a statement of intent about how we believe major infrastructure projects need to be approached. By the time a programme of this scale reaches mobilisation, the window to build a genuine talent advantage has already been open for years. We opened ours early.
The project in numbers
1. Lower Thames Crossing: at a glance
Planning consent granted: March 2025
Construction start: 2026, with opening targeted for 2034
Project value: £10 billion+
Jobs supported: approximately 22,000 across the programme
Route: 14.5 miles linking the A2/M2 in Kent with the A13/M25 in Essex
Main contractors: Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Bouygues-Murphy JV
Local hiring emphasis: Kent, Essex and Thurrock communities prioritised
Matchtech pre-mobilisation survey: 34,000 engineers contacted, ~1,500 positive responses received
2. What our research found
We surveyed approximately 34,000 UK-based engineers specifically for this project, before ground had been broken. Close to +1,500 white-collar professionals told us they wanted to work on the Lower Thames Crossing. That is an active, engaged candidate pool, built with this project in mind, not a generic database retrofitted to a brief.
The skills picture that emerged reflects the full breadth of what a programme like this demands. Construction professionals account for the majority of interested candidates at 51%, covering Site and Section Engineers, Sub/Site Agents, Project Managers and Foremen. Design specialists make up 24%, spanning Design Engineers, CAD Technicians, DSRs and Project Managers. Commercial professionals represent 8%, from AQS and QS through to SQS, MQS, Commercial Managers and Estimators. A further 17% covers the supporting disciplines that often determine whether a project runs smoothly: ITS, Logistics, Professional Services, Environmental and Sustainability, and Land and Utility Surveyors.
It is a strong starting position. But the market is moving, and candidate interest expressed before construction starts does not hold indefinitely without relationship management. The contractors who will benefit most from this pool are the ones who engage with it now, not once they are already under pressure to fill roles.
3. Local hiring is not optional. It needs a plan.
National Highways has been clear that the Crossing should be built by local people and leave a lasting skills legacy in the communities it passes through. That is not rhetoric. It will be embedded in delivery expectations. For contractors, it means the conventional approach of drawing from a national candidate pool and filtering down will not be sufficient. Local pipeline development, engagement with further education and training providers, and proactive community outreach need to be built into resourcing plans from the start.
We have been operating in Kent, Essex and the Thames Estuary region throughout our recruitment of candidates for this project. We understand the local supply, its depth, its gaps and where it can be developed. That kind of market knowledge is not something that can be acquired quickly once a contract is live.
4. Diversity is a workforce supply issue
Women remain significantly underrepresented across engineering and infrastructure. On a project that needs 22,000 people, that is a capacity problem as much as it is a culture one. The employers who will make meaningful progress on this are not the ones who add a diversity statement to a job advert. They are the ones who are prepared to look critically at the language they use, the channels they recruit through, the flexibility they offer, and the structures they put in place to retain and progress women once they are in the business.
We work with clients to review and improve their approach across the full recruitment lifecycle, from job specification to onboarding and beyond. Returner programmes, inclusive interviewing, and proactive attraction strategies have all made a measurable difference for our clients on major programmes. The Lower Thames Crossing is an opportunity to do this at scale.
The conversation to have now
If you are a Tier 1 contractor, a specialist subcontractor, or a client-side team building your resource model for the Lower Thames Crossing, the most valuable thing you can do right now is start the talent conversation. Not at mobilisation. Not at contract award. Now.
We have the candidate relationships, the local market knowledge, and the sector data to support workforce planning on this project from the ground up. Get in touch to talk about what that looks like for your team.
