More than 9 in 10 (92%) of financial advice clients with over £200,000 in investible assets have an allocation to infrastructure investments, according to new research.

Three quarters of the wealth managers and financial advisers surveyed by Time Investments said they also expected their clients’ allocation to infrastructure to increase over the next 12 months.

For the average client - 71% of those surveyed - their current target allocation range to the asset class was between 4% and 6% of their investment portfolio.

The key drivers advisers identified as nudging infrastructure investments were the desire to de-risk portfolios through diversification (68%), increased focus on ESG (61%), desire for secure income streams (45%), and defensive investment strategies (44%).

Advisers and wealth managers were keenest on digital infrastructure (78%) and social infrastructure (71%) followed by renewables (46%), healthcare (45%), education (38%) and transport (23%).

Andrew Gill, co-fund manager of the Time UK Infrastructure Income Fund, said: “Global economic growth, including the UK and Continental Europe, is expected to be weak in 20242 and sectors that rely on persistent or growth in demand could be impacted. We have a preference for sectors that have a higher degree of ‘availability’ based revenue, effectively as long as the asset is operational, income will be received.

“Whilst political risk is elevated in a general election year, UK infrastructure looks well supported by the two main Westminster parties.  UK public debt remains highly elevated and though infrastructure has been an easy target for spending cuts, such as in the early 2010s, there seems to be a greater understanding of the need for continued, well-targeted infrastructure investment.”

Pure Profile surveyed 200 UK wealth managers, financial advisers and discretionary fund managers on behalf of Time Investments in September.