This research explores the changing dynamics of major infrastructure planning and appraisal in the United Kingdom (UK). It follows the establishment of the UK’s first National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), an independent arms-length body with a mandate to provide impartial advice to government on long term infrastructure policy and strategy. This advice must support sustainable economic growth, enhance national competitiveness and improve quality of life. To ascertain the performance of the NIC to date, I am undertaking an audit of the commission. The audit will assess their progress against the abovementioned core objectives by examining their work across transport and energy. Specifically, the standalone reports, Transport for a World City, and Smart Power, have been analysed along with a suite of relevant literature. Ten interviews were conducted with key informants with links to the NIC and major infrastructure policy and strategy in the UK. Through Thatcherism and the proliferation of neoliberalism in the UK during the 1980s, the role of the state has become more faciliatory. This shift has created a new asset class and enabled global market forces to be embedded at the core of multiple infrastructure sectors