Infrastructure and Transport: responding to sustainability needs and challenges

Assessment tools and beyond

Ben Smith

November 2012

AECOM

- Multi-disciplinary engineering and environmental consultancy - Sustainability champion roles on:

- North West Rail Link- South Morang Rail Extension- Regional Rail Link (City to Maribyrnong River)- Western Highway Anthonys Cutting Realignment- Brisbane Busway etc.

- Recently produced Sustainability Investment Guidelines for Victoria’s Public Capital Projects (MPV and DTF)

Assessment tools

So, are they a good thing, or a bad thing?

Mostly good, but…

The good points- Mainstreaming- Comparisons and baselines - metrics and measures- Work well for mainstream projects- Added value of certification

And, the not so good…- Diversity of civil infrastructure, bespoke vs comparability?- Alignment with policy?- Scale – process investment versus TBL return - ‘credit chasing’ – the process defines the possible outcomes- part of an integrated discussion with project costs and viability?

Sustainability Investment Guidance

Sustainability in the context of the investment lifecycle

Not many of the tools deal properly with Whole of Life

An iterative process

...and not many take a truly iterative approach to

target setting.

In summary

- tools can help improve outcomes for major civil infrastructure projects…- …but they are not enough by themselves. - Change management, people and conversations- cross disciplinary collaboration drives new solutions, better outcomes- Too much project focus can be dangerous. - What’s the big picture? Achieving 6 star? Too easy to build Greenstar 6 star

buildings and ignore the grid, or to improve resilience in the grid without noticing that demand is falling from the buildings.