Getting on
Mark Coates, International Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, and Andy Bowles, Senior Regional Director – Northern Europe, Bentley Systems
MANY across the world have been disappointed by the lack of progress on climate change and the sustainability commitments made between COP26 held in Britain in 2021 and COP27 held in Egypt in 2022. In particular a lack of involvement and focus on the built environment, one of the biggest contributors of CO2, was glaringly obvious. However, forums such as the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Summit11 hosted by Bentley Systems show that meaningful changes are happening in the UK, in the infrastructure sector at least.
The government released its Transforming Infrastructure Performance Roadmap to 2030 in 2021 which looked at five focus areas; improving outcomes for people and nature, place-based regeneration, social infrastructure, retrofitting to achieve net zero, and optimising the performance for the existing built environment. One year after this government publication, Nick Smallwood, CEO of the Infrastructure & Transport Authority, took to the stage at the summit to describe a ‘refreshing’ level of progress. As one of the roadmap’s main focus areas, Nick was keen to make clear that the government sees that all infrastructure has an interface with the natural environment, so we must do the best we can at every point in a scheme.
Working with an array of partners, including Bentley, some of the country’s largest public sector projects are making the link between digital tools and its ability to performance in aspects ranging from project cost, to measuring environmental and social value from the start of infrastructure delivery to final handover. Bentley worked with government to make its digitalisation guide, which as Nick points out, is essential if a client wants to make its priorities clear to contractors and partners from the beginning. If you don’t ask you won’t get at all, let alone at the right cost and pace.
Many across the world have been disappointed by the lack of progress on climate change and the sustainability commitments made between COP26 held in Britain in 2021 and COP27 held in Egypt in 2022.Wherever you sit within the construction and infrastructure sector, there’s a huge benefit from looking at government goals and seeing what your project can do to deliver on these environmental and social value objectives.
For instance, on the A12 road improvement scheme we were able to see the temporary site of its sustainable energy set-up, that uses solar, hydrogen and wind to meet current power demands, without any connection to the electricity grid. The aspiration is that this will be developed on a larger scale for the scheme’s main construction site.
Enhancing productivity makes a difference at every single level, from minimising costs, the environmental impact, timeline, and maximising economic benefits through jobs and opportunities for the wider community. However, the UK construction sector is not yet where it should be in comparison to other countries.
In fact, it’s only at about 40% of the required level, a ‘huge issue’ according to Nick given the scale of the projects the country is targeting, such as HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and Hinkley Point C. Quite literally, the more efficient we are at building things, the more we will be able to build.
Digitalisation is at the heart of enabling this change to happen, assisting the government in building schools, prisons and hospitals, either by managing the complex range of programmes and tools needed to manage a project, or through automation and offsite manufacturing.
Some of the government’s largest projects, which started before digitalisation had taken hold, have made huge strides by embracing a digital approach to ensure efficient management in the future. Aside from new schemes, the success of retrofitting and looking at the future of our existing assets and infrastructure also depends on digitalisation to help log and assess the condition and usage of assets to judge how and when they need to be maintained or replaced. Some of the government’s largest projects, which started before digitalisation had taken hold, have made huge strides by embracing a digital approach to ensure efficient management in the future.
Crossrail, where construction began in 2009, has created a ‘digital twin’ of its network including stations and rail lines, providing more accuracy over its design and construction. Learnings from Crossrail will now go on to feed into the ongoing development of HS2.
Projects such as Hinkley C have gone above and beyond the government’s digital expectations, using a shared data platform for every aspect from engineering design to construction and commissioning. A completely integrated 4D model such as what is used at Hinkley means all partners can work together more efficiently, and as a coherent team, rather than a just a sum of their parts.
This theme was also picked up at the summit by Nathan Marsh, chief digital officer at Turner & Townsend. Mr Marsh stressed the importance of frontloading a project by using digital tools to look at complex challenges such as design, data, integration, and net zero before the scheme even begins, to help identify the types of technology and data the projects will be using. Though as he said this is a lot to bear in mind at the very start this approach reduces the chance of issues later on and increases productivity and efficiency across a project.
Sharing best practice across the industry as we move closer to the roadmap’s 2030 deadline will be crucial to achieving success.
Rather than technology driving people further apart, this strategic approach should also empower contractors ‘to think like a network, rather than just individuals connected by a contract and a schedule’, Mr Marsh said. Both speakers acknowledged that public confidence in the UK’s ability to delivery large-scale infrastructure has been knocked. However, with both sides of the client and contractor relationship taking more responsibility for the outcome, and increasing interest in the digital tools to enable efficiency, they were confident this trend could be reversed.
From the contractor point of view, taking this seriously will be particularly important, as the UK would move to an era of a more proactive government, asking for details such as whole life carbon projections of a project, and closely examining productivity. This shouldn’t be a rod the industry uses to beat itself with, but instead is a chance to make meaningful change, whether building a school or delivering infrastructure which levels up the economy.
Meetings such as COP27 may leave people disappointed at the lack of international progress and co-ordination, but the Transforming Infrastructure Performance summit show progress is advancing. Sharing best practice across the industry as we move closer to the roadmap’s 2030 deadline will be crucial to achieving success.
Mark Coates, International Director of Public Policy and Advocacy, and Andy Bowles, Senior Regional Director – Northern Europe, Bentley Systems
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1 https://infrastructurepolicyadvancement.com