This year we welcome Ben Clark as the new YIPWEA Chair, taking the helm from predecessor, Nicole Daaboul.

Clark is recently back from the UK where he presented ‘Life-Cycle Optimisation using Asset Genetics in a Digital Revolution,’ with Ashay Prabhu, Director of Assetic, to an international audience at the Institute of Asset Management’s (IAM) annual conference. The three-day event gathered nearly 400 delegates to talk about best asset management case studies in the context of rapid advances in digital technology in the age of asset intelligence. Australia is a leader in public works asset management and Clark is at the forefront.

One major takeaway from the conference is the role big data now plays in the way assets provide services to the community.

“This is an exciting moment. We are experiencing a significant shift in our ability to consume, translate and use big data. It’s not just information, but the ability to generate wisdom around the way we manage assets,” said Clark.

Career projects 

Clark has always had a passion for strategy. After a Masters of Geoinformatics and Surveying in 2012, Clark was employed as a civil designer for the City of Salisbury, Adelaide, where he worked closely with the asset management team. Here he saw a way to channel his love for engineering and surveying at a more strategic level.

Five years later at the City of Tea Tree Gully, Clark worked on one of the defining projects of his career.

The goal was to more accurately forecast the deterioration of assets to improve the efficiency of asset management. The award-winning project, Managing Assets through Capability and Knowledge (MACK), prioritised three outcomes: improved service delivery, risk management and investment. Assets under review included roads, footpaths, parks, playgrounds, trees and recreation centres.

Data collection began with a survey of community satisfaction with council assets and took into account 23 years of population change and forecasts, as well as council budgets. Tablets were given to field staff to streamline community feedback using asset deterioration software.

Clark oversaw the implementation of this innovative asset management information system that would, over a 10-year period, use big data to make intelligent, data-driven decisions about council assets. The strategy is also underpinned by the IPWEA National Asset Management Strategy template, which applies a maturity assessment of management practices.

“I got to be involved with a project that was trying to make a significant cultural shift in asset management and help improve the community outcomes provided in the long term,” said Clark.

The project has drawn international attention, with Clark presenting at the International Public Works Conference (IPWC) in Perth in 2016, earning the IPWEA’s National Asset Management Award in 2017, and presenting updated findings at the IAM in Liverpool, UK. In addition, Clark would go on to win the South Australian Division’s Emerging Leader Award in 2018. If that weren’t enough, he also completed a Master of Business Administration in 2018, with a major in Portfolio and Project Management and Leadership.

Service and sustainability

Clark is dedicated to the central role of public works and the way its professionals will continue to provide these services in a sustainable way in the future.

“It is the way in which our communities are able to navigate our cities with roads and footpaths; maintain healthy and balanced lifestyles in parks and open spaces, gardens and playgrounds; as well as community services provided through the buildings that public works provides,” he said.

Where councils have traditionally categorised assets by their condition, Clark and others are applying trends in big data to better understand assets in terms of function and capacity, as well as condition.

“The other major trend is the need to better optimise our capital planning programs to ensure we are able to maximise the community benefit we can provide through our assets in a sustainable way,” Clark explained.

Clark now works as a Lead in strategic asset management for the City of Adelaide, and he says many of the day-to-day challenges are the same no matter the size of the council. He still develops risk profiles, turns advice into strategies and implements the framework for the council.

“We look at how we, as an organisation with limited budget, can make smarter long-term decisions that are financially sustainable,” he said.

“We want to help ensure the future generations living in this city will enjoy the same or greater level of service that we currently enjoy.”

Looking ahead, Clark continues to strive for the balance between providing services and creating sustainable resources. He sees himself using his engineering experience to provide current and future residents with the assets to promote positive, healthy lifestyles that will benefit many generations to come.

Connecting young engineers

To that end, Clark sees Young IPWEA (YIPWEA) playing an integral role in the future of public works professionals.

“YIPWEA is there to support its members on their public works career journey and provide a network of like-minded young professionals who can support each other,” he said.

“IPWEA provides such a great platform, and as YIPWEA members we need to continue to leverage that platform and drive the future of engineering.”

Clark initially needed encouragement to get involved in IPWEA, but once he attended his first event, he was hooked.

“I very quickly realised the need, as young professionals, to increase our knowledge though networking with more experienced members, and that we are the generation that will change the future of engineering and asset management,’ he said.

Clark also became a Local Government Management Challenge Mentor in 2015 and 2016, and a National Challenge participant in 2015.

With that in mind, Clark’s priorities as YIPWEA Chair this year include the roll-out of the Coffee Cup Challenge Engagement Program. The aim is to connect experienced professionals with young professionals in an informal, no-pressure environment. These relationships will help to build confidence and skill for young professionals to progress their public works careers, while creating mutually beneficial contacts.

Written by: Chelsea Wallis for inspire magazine, issue 11, August 2019