Oral Presentation IPWEA International Asset Management Congress 2024

Applying asset management principles to achieve sustainability targets in public infrastructure: how combining sustainability and asset management can efficiently deliver emission-reduction outcomes and future-proof services in an unprecedented, changing climate. (108546)

David Simpson 1
  1. Melbourne & Olympic Parks, MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, Australia

As the climate changes in an unpredictable manner, the way in which we understand service delivery and performance of assets requires new perspectives and considerations. If not properly managed, buildings and infrastructure will continue to be one of the largest energy intensive and greenhouse gas emitting industries.

This year’s publication updates of the ISO 55000 series are evident that there is growing recognition across the asset management industry of the need to embed and prioritise sustainability within organisational decision-making. Its effective application can identify risks and implement opportunities in reducing resource consumption, embedding circular economies, and strengthening service delivery resilience.

Melbourne & Olympic Parks (M&OP) delivers world-class experiences to Victorians through its six major sports and entertainment venues across 40 hectares of Crown land in the heart of Melbourne’s urban environment. To address climate change’s insidious effects and its consequences, M&OP has taken steps to apply asset management principles to meet sustainability goals and targets, and by further expanding its current asset management system by including sustainability considerations.

In its journey so far, M&OP has applied AM principles and processes to its Sustainability Strategy: stakeholder engagement, data driven decision-making, organisationally aligned strategies and planning, and continuous improvement principles.

By embedding sustainability within its asset management system M&OP has matured its approach to interpret asset performance through not just its condition but in delivery of service activities that achieve organisational objectives.

Consideration of a range of climate effects – reduced air quality; fluctuating and extreme temperatures; varying and intense rainfall – has positioned M&OP to better understand and prepare for how assets will need to adapt to a changing climate.