From the Editor Welcome Get in touch If you know of interesting case studies or ideas that push for asset management advancement, please get in touch to contribute. As always, we will consider any submission with asset management at its heart. Email josh.ellicock@theIAM.org For our spring issue of Assets were featuring a number of case studies from the water industry, a sector we often hear to be leading the way in asset management advancement and maturity. This is exemplified by three of the Asset Management Excellence Awards (for Digital Innovation, Risk Management and Project Achievement) all going to projects in the water sector. We take a closer look at the success stories behind these achievements. In our knowledge base section, Ryan Clarke and Keith Bingham explain what it means to provide good asset stewardship in the context of waste water assets by instilling a proactive culture of rehabilitation to our urban sewerage systems. Writing an opinion piece, Dr Hossein Sharifpour (winner of the 2021 McKeown Award for Individual Achievement) explains the link between sustainable development and asset management and the urgent need to shift decision-making from an engineering perspective on megaprojects to considering in more depth the impact we are having on future generations. On a similar theme, John Woodhouse discusses how having the right systems and processes in place will allow us to ask the right questions in the decisive decade we are in. He explains the need to ensure decision-making across all levels is helping us to achieve the best gain to pain ratio rather than following the previous narrative of balancing cost, risk and performance. And Sammamish Plateau Waters Tammy Whipple hopes more companies find the courage to implement long-term financial plans to look after the infrastructure on which we all depend. We also take a close look at the pioneering work carried out by the team developing the IAMs new Subject Specific Guideline (SSG) on Asset Decommissioning and Disposal and, in particular, the challenges around changing states of assets during this stage of the asset life-cycle. Meanwhile, Mark Knight and Tim Creasey set out the critical need for greater focus on change management as there is a tendency for the people side to be overlooked particularly as project changes and the management of physical changes are highly recognised and understood areas of AM. They explain the need to shift the focus onto the people element in order to enact truly successful change and deliver project outcomes. Thank you for to those who contributed to this edition of Assets. As always, if you know of interesting case studies or thought leadership pieces you believe our readers would benefit from, please do get in touch. For the next issue, we will have a broad theme of transport, so any feature articles on that topic would be particularly welcome. I hope you all enjoy reading the issue and I value any honest feedback you have or suggestions, so please do get in contact with me via email at josh.ellicock@theIAM.org Contributors Ryan Clarke Keith Bingham Mark Knight Tim Creasey Keith Brown Ryan Clarke Keith Bingham Keith Brown Mark Knight Ryan Clarke, MSc BSc (Hons) GMICE, is a Engineer, Water, Ports and Power, Ireland, for AECOM. He is a Civil and Infrastructure Engineer currently working in waste water civil projects and asset management. His roles include asset planning and delivery support, project manager and project engineering. He is a data aficionado with a passion for sustainable civil engineering using holistic asset management. Keith Brown is Principal Consultant at GHD (Gutteridge, Haskins and Davey). As a graduate engineer in 1981, he saw the smarter preservation and adaptation of our built environment as looming challenges, with the advent of accessible IT providing a key enabler. This was the start of his asset management journey, which he has enjoyed for the past 40 years. Keith Bingham, BEng (Hons) CEng MICE, is Associate Director, Civil Infrastructure, UK and Ireland, at AECOM. He is a Chartered Civil Engineer and Associate Director leading a team delivering national physical infrastructure asset management programmes. He is also a part-time construction lecturer and is involved in the creation of industry apprenticeships in Northern Ireland. His current efforts include inaugural IAM Ireland Ulster Branch activity. Mark Knight is a member of the IAM Knowledge Leadership Group and Director of Projects for the IAM USA Chapter. He is a principal consultant at 1898 & Co. and has contributed to several IAM Subject Specific Guideline documents. He is also a Prosci-certified change manager. Tim Creasey Tim Creasey is Chief Innovation Officer at Prosci, the global leader in change management solutions and provider of choice for 80 per cent of Fortune 100 companies. Creasey is known for pioneering industry-leading research, tools and approaches that enable organisations to achieve greater success with the people side of change.
