Defects in new constructions are grabbing headlines right now, but a tsunami of ageing council-owned infrastructure could be next. I show how Asset Lifecycle Management can avoid asset failures and associated costs.
Dramatic Infrastructure Failure
Few modern-day infrastructure failures are as dramatic as that of Morandi Bridge (image above) in Genoa, Italy, in April 2018: a 200-meter section of elevated four-lane highway collapsed without warning, sending cars and trucks plummeting. 73 people died and 600 were rendered homeless.
The cause is yet to be determined but, even just 12 years after construction in 1967, Designing Engineer Riccardo Morandi, was ‘surprised to see the structure age faster than he had anticipated’ and proposed a number of interventions. According to the same report, little was done.
70% of Australian Bridges Same Age
Despite its modern design, the Morandi Bridge was 51 years old when it collapsed. That’s the same age as about 70% of Australia’s bridges, according to Criterion, ‘which is far beyond their design life. These bridges are on the brink of total collapse or major cracks.’
This is backed up by Dr Colin Caprani, Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at Monash University, who says ‘More ‘end-of-life failures’ such as that in Genoa could happen in Australia as the age profile of bridges increases and the growing infrastructure backlog worsens.’
It shouldn’t be surprising; back in 1967, building bridges to last 50 years wasn’t the priority. As Marco di Prisco, Professor of Construction Science at the Polytechnic Institute of Milan, puts it: ‘Back then, you didn’t really think in terms of durability’.
Less Audacious but Critical
Sure, the battle over responsibility for the Morandi Bridge collapse is between private companies not councils and, in Australia, most council-owned infrastructure is far less audacious in design. However, the principles remain: most of our existing infrastructure was not designed to last 50 years, and the seismic changes in its use since then were not foreseen.
Exploding population growth, outer-urban housing estates, private tollway construction and private transport usage have exerted strong pressure on local councils’ built and natural assets. Climate change threatens to ramp this up: more extreme temperatures, droughts, floods and erosion will wreak greater damage on council buildings, roads, parks, rivers, bridges and drainage systems.
Romilly Madew, CEO of Infrastructure Australia and author of the ‘2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit’ agrees, saying that infrastructure planning is facing a unique time, with ‘increasing weather extremes, a shift in the economy, workforce changes, population growth and changes in urban organisation.’
Insurance Australia Group Limited backs this up: ‘Natural disasters in Australia resulted in damages costs, including infrastructure damage and long-term social costs, of more than $9 billion in 2015. Damages costs from natural disasters are expected to double by 2030.’
So, What to Do?
It may sound like gloom and doom but anticipating failure of council infrastructure comes down to charting each asset’s lifecycle from the point of acquisition.
Years ago, council asset management was mainly acquisition, maintenance and replacement. Even this wasn’t easy then, but now council executives have to do a lot more with less money. These days, managing your assets effectively depends on taking the long-term holistic view – financial, operational and social sustainability – over the life of each asset.
To do this, you need to revisit your council’s asset strategy in order to:
- Ensure that all new assets meet your service and reliability standards before purchase.
- Focus on the lifetime cost of new acquisitions, not just the purchase price
- Know the maintenance, operational, upgrade and renewal costs of each asset
- Choose the optimal replacement time, that is, when maintenance costs and risk of failure pass a certain threshold.
Once you have this information, effective asset planning becomes easier:
- Scheduled preventative maintenance replaces costly fixing of breakages
- Unreliable or costly-to-maintain assets are marked for early renewal or replacement .
The money saved, which can be sizable, can be used to tackle your asset backlog, that list of neglected assets that every council struggles to reduce.
Start With A Complete View
Romilly Madew confirms ‘there is a lack of reliable and user-focused information about infrastructure across most sectors …’. Perhaps yours is one of many councils in that boat.
Most councils have their asset management information spread across various systems, PCs and spreadsheets, and much of it is out of date or incomplete. Yours may be just like this. Some councils use GIS systems to fill the gaps, but that just adds another data silo.
This makes effective asset lifecycle management exasperating, if not impossible. As a result, assets often get little attention until they fail. That’s because there’s no easy way to plan and prioritise maintenance or replacement. And, if this isn’t done, you risk unexpected costly repairs rather than scheduled, low cost, preventive maintenance. This is short-term reactivity; the reverse of long-term sustainability.
To manage the short term and plan for longer-term sustainably, an effective asset lifecycle management system for councils should:
- Be fully integrated and purpose-built for local government asset management.
- Provide a clear view of all your assets, their condition and their maintenance status.
- Include analytical reports with granular insights so your executives can make correct decisions.
- Include predictive analysis for asset lifecycle planning and forecasting.
Why Sustainability Makes Sense
‘Sustainability is about looking after things from the cradle to the grave,’ says Graeme Dunnet at OPUS International Consultants.
‘So if we have infrastructure assets and if we apply asset management thinking right from the start through to when we eventually dispose of it, then hopefully we’ve followed the most sustainable approach of conceptualising, designing, building, maintaining and then getting rid of that asset.’
For example, using smart building technology for new buildings can dramatically reduce operating and maintenance costs, in both the short and long term. At the same time, energy use and carbon footprint will be reduced and sustainability improved.
The long-term savings and impacts only become clear when you take a whole-of-life approach to asset management. The Eurozone, for instance, takes this to a new level: it wants new buildings to be designed for deconstruction rather than demolition, so that components are reused at the end of life. In Australia, we have a long way to go, but whole-lifecycle, sustainable thinking is a start.
Sustainable & Financial Benefits
The ISO 55000 standard describes asset management as ‘coordinated activity of an organization to realize value from assets.’ In the council context, that might be mainly value for the community but there’s a financial spinoff, too.
Take this simple example in Penrith, on the fringes of Sydney at the foot of the Blue Mountains. According to IPWEA, some years ago Penrith Council experienced ‘a footpath incident’ (where someone tripped and fell causing injury or loss) every 3 kilometres of footpath. When Council deployed a new maintenance system, the incident rate dropped to every 8 kilometres of footpath. When Council then added a grinding program to eliminate rough walkway edges, the incidence rate dropped again.
The benefits were twofold: the community was delighted with improved safety and council saved thousands of dollars in repairs and legal costs. As a result, Parramatta Council followed Penrith’s lead and saw similar results.
Less Failure = More Vitality
Whether your goal is to improve your bridges, roads and walkways, provide more green space, build smarter facilities or reduce your carbon footprint, asset management plays a crucial role.
If you have many and diverse assets to manage, the task could seem challenging. Yet, taking control of your assets helps you make the right decisions at the right time, with spinoffs for your community and for councils’ coffers.
When communities have better roads, walkways and amenities, more welcoming shopping centres, more modern playgrounds and more attractive green space, they flourish. They attract new businesses; those already there benefit from greater economic activity and the community shares a fresh vitality.
The converse is true too; councils with crumbling, poorly-maintained infrastructure struggle to attract new business and residents. They might even lose some of those they have, and fail to collect enough rates to maintain the assets they have. In the event of a major infrastructure failure, the impact is far more severe.
Effective asset lifecycle management isn’t the impossibility it was 50 years ago. It’s reality and it’s helping forward-looking Australian councils to grow, prosper and support vibrant communities.
Contact us about how to achieve growth and vibrance through effective asset management, in your Local Government Area.
