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Hitting a plateau: The state of Australia’s local government infrastructure

By Anirudh Sharma posted 18 hours ago
The 2021 National State of Assets (NSoA) report offers a ‘steady as she goes’ review of Australia’s local government infrastructure. The infrastructure report published by the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) shows that while close to 70 per cent of local government assets are in good condition, $51 billion are in poor condition requiring increased maintenance and/or replacement. “The key finding in the 2021 NSoA is that two-thirds ...
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IPWEA courses stoked my passion for asset management: Kevin J. Smith from Fire Rescue Victoria

By Anirudh Sharma posted 18 hours ago
Kevin J. Smith needs to be at the top of his game every day, especially during bushfire season. As Contracts, Safety, Security and Compliance Manager for Fire Rescue Victoria, Kevin ensures firefighters and others providing emergency response services have whatever they need to protect Victorian communities. “My role focuses on specification development, procurement and management of vendors to provide goods and services across the state,” says ...
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The infrastructure projects that will benefit from the Brisbane Olympics

By Anirudh Sharma posted 18 hours ago
Brisbane’s winning bid for the 2032 Olympic Games is good news for all of South-East Queensland, says a leading researcher, with new and upgraded infrastructure benefits to flow quickly.   Associate Professor Pierre Benckendorff from the University of Queensland says much of the infrastructure featured in Brisbane’s bid was already in the pipeline, but the Games will create more urgency to push forward with planning.  “What the Olympics does is ...
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How two local authorities in America plan to use infrastructure stimulus funding

By Anirudh Sharma posted 18 hours ago
As difficult as it’s been for societies across the globe, the pandemic has provided a generational opportunity for governments to escalate their infrastructure spending. We asked senior decision-makers at two local governments in the United States – City of Ames’ Tracy Peterson and City of Golden’s Jeff Hansen – how they plan to spend the stimulus investment to benefit their communities. Governments see infrastructure spending as a powerful way ...
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Two fleet managers explain how technology is transforming their work

By Anirudh Sharma posted 18 hours ago
Gone are the days of handwritten logbooks and paper ledgers – fleet management today is a digital enterprise. We asked two fleet managers and members of the IPWEA Fleet Council how technology will continue to change the way they do their job. Dean Gutteridge is Manager of Fleet at the City of Gold Coast, where he is responsible for about 7,000 fleet assets from chainsaws and brush-cutters to earthmoving equipment and 50-tonne landfill compactors. ...
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Q&A with Ross Goyne: ISO Standards Feedback

By Anirudh Sharma posted 18 hours ago
In this month’s Q&A, we talk to former IPWEA President, Ross Goyne about the important role he plays in representing IPWEA at the Standards Australia Mirror Committee MB – 019 and how you can provide feedback in the revision of ISO 55001 and the other ISO Asset Management Standards. Q: Introduce yourself and explain your background with IPWEA: A: I am a civil engineer with over 43 years’ experience. The first 27 years was spent in local ...
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How a regional council pursues ‘best practice’ in asset management

By Anirudh Sharma posted 19 hours ago
What, exactly, is a corporate asset specialist? “I see myself as a translator and a facilitator,” says Lance Scriven, who fills the role at Dubbo Regional Council, in regional NSW. “I act as a bridge between infrastructure and finance teams.” Dubbo Regional Council is one of a growing number of local government bodies achieving positive outcomes by employing staff whose sole purpose is to pursue ‘best practice’ in asset management. “There’s a commitment ...
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IPWEA and the Local Government Association of South Australia team up to deliver asset-management expertise

By Anirudh Sharma posted 19 hours ago
Did you know that about two-thirds of the 537 local government areas in Australia contain fewer than 30,000 people? “That’s roughly 350 councils with relatively small constituencies,” says Steve Verity, IPWEA’s Principal Advisor on Asset Management. Of those 350 smaller councils, about one-third serve populations of less than 5,000 people. “As you can appreciate, the organisations within that cohort have extremely constrained resources, both physically ...
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Are spreadsheets sabotaging your asset management?

By Anirudh Sharma posted 19 hours ago
If you’re still using spreadsheets for asset management, have you stopped to ask yourself why? Is it because they’re easy to use and all the data is there – even if it’s not accurate? When it comes to the logistics of complex asset management, the reality is that spreadsheets are no longer up to par and there is an increased need for efficiency and accuracy. Asset management tools and processes are adapting to the modern, digital era, but a surprising ...
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It’s time for asset management to be considered a profession in its own right: IPWEA CEO David Jenkins

By Anirudh Sharma posted 19 hours ago
Asset management has long been an area that engineers, accountants and other professionals stumble into, rather than a clearly defined vocation that young people aspire to and train for. But today, a growing number of workers are carving out careers devoted solely to asset management – and they’re finding there’s no shortage of positions to fill. In Australia, this change has been brought about in part by infrastructure spending and population growth. ...
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Smart Street Lighting Controls: An Interview with Kaushal Kapadia, CEO of Schréder Australia

By IPWEA Insite posted yesterday
More than 20 million smart street lighting controls have been deployed around the globe making this easily one of the most widely adopted and proven smart city technologies. Smart street lighting controls can monitor whether lights are working properly, report faults when they are not, dim lights in the off-peak to save energy, measure energy consumption, optimise maintenance tasks and improve asset management. In the past 5 years, more than a ...
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Virtual Fibre: A Game Changer in Connectivity

By IPWEA Insite posted yesterday
CCTV, public WiFi, mobile telephony and a wide variety of smart city infrastructure are all data hungry and getting hungrier. A key challenge for public authorities in deploying such technologies is the need for optical fibre to connect them. Despite the large amounts of fibre already in the ground, it is often not in the locations where it is most needed. Adding new fibre connections to existing poles usually involves digging up footpaths and roads. ...
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Why digital twins are going to revolutionise construction

By IPWEA Insite posted yesterday
With construction output set to grow 85 per cent over the next decade, innovation is desperately needed to lower carbon emissions and improve efficiency. Could digital twins be the answer? Manufacturing a Tesla car might seem a long way from undertaking a major infrastructure project. But there are lessons the industry can learn from Tesla to make construction more efficient and to gain insights into the lifecycle of a building. Take, for example, ...
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OZwater’20 Q&A: what we can learn from the Millennium drought

By Anirudh Sharma posted 3 days ago
Much of Australia has suffered from a lack of water for decades, not least during the Millennium drought. We ask consultant Rachel Barratt how water supply management is changing in light of that event. The Millennium drought, so-called because it began in the early 2000s, lasted nearly a decade and placed extreme stress on huge areas of agricultural production across the south of the country. Since then, drought solutions in Australia have ...
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Back to Basics with Innovative Paver Laid In Situ Recycling: Sponsored Article

By Anirudh Sharma posted 3 days ago
The public works sector is increasingly recognising that the path towards excellence and simply ‘doing things better’ is marked by three guideposts – environmental, social and economic outcomes. In the realm of roads, one contractor has been creating opportunities with a back-to-basics approach and a vision of a more sustainable future. Stabilisation techniques are fundamental, yet demonstrate the biggest pavement recycling impact through simply ...
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Nine big life insurance myths busted

By Anirudh Sharma posted 3 days ago
The following is not personal financial advice, but it does contain useful information which many people should think about. Before examining the nine myths around life insurance, consider one key truth: fully underwritten life insurance can bring an added degree of financial security and peace of mind into your life. Myth 1: Less medical questions means quicker and better cover Several directly available life insurance covers don’t ask many ...
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How recycled road base is being used in Australian construction

By Anirudh Sharma posted 3 days ago
Australia’s local governments are becoming key players in the creative use of waste thanks to an increased focus on building roads made from recycled plastic and other materials. One of the best ways to prevent valuable waste going to landfill is to recycle materials for use in road construction. Regular asphalt roads use tons of raw materials, but recycled road base incorporates crumb rubber, crushed concrete, recycled asphalt, plastic bags, waste ...
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Public works profile: Mardi Cuthbert

By Anirudh Sharma posted 3 days ago
Award-winning female engineer Mardi Cuthbert has fought hard to rise to top of her profession. Now she’s helping aspiring young engineers do the same. When Mardi Cuthbert started out as a junior engineer in 2013, she didn’t see many other women around. They weren’t participating at conferences and industry events, presenting papers, or working in leadership positions. That simple fact nearly finished Cuthbert’s career in public works, and almost ...
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IPWEA member profile: City of Canterbury Bankstown Executive Manager, William Barton

By Anirudh Sharma posted 3 days ago
William Barton credits a few conversations with his grandmother for putting him on the engineering path. Because things could have ended up quite differently otherwise. The father of two had initially considered a career in professional photography, but his late grandmother asked him to consider what he enjoyed doing. He describes these conversations as his first career coaching session, aged 14. While his grandmother hadn’t actually suggested ...
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IPWEA member profile: City of Monash fleet manager Derek Naylor

By Anirudh Sharma posted 3 days ago
COVID-19 has made living and working in Melbourne difficult for everyone, regardless of their industry. But it’s been particularly challenging for those in ‘essential services’, such as the City of Monash’s Coordinator of Fleet and Operations Centre Management, Derek Naylor. Derek and his team of eight have worked throughout lockdowns to keep the municipality mobile. His team procures, maintains and disposes all plant equipment, with around 750 ...
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