It’s not the first time infrastructure has been top of the agenda: in fact it has had pride of place in most of Mr Osborne’s major budgetory announcements. And this, in turn, is because investment is long overdue: one report by Standard & Poor’s put the country’s ‘deficit’ at £60bn.

At a time of austerity, the assumption has been that investors small and large could get in on the act, an attractive prospect at a time of general uncertainty given the typically income-focused and defensive nature of the assets.

This special report will examine the case for infrastructure and where advisers and investors can turn to gain exposure. It also features results of a survey carried out by FTAdviser looking at adviser views, covering whether they are targetting funds in this space and, crucially, why.

ashley.wassall@ft.com

This special report is sponsored by First State. All editorial is independent.