Welcome to CIHT's 8 Questions, where we ask senior figures in the sector the questions every business leader and ambitious professional wants answered. In this edition, Matthew Lugg OBE, Director of Local Transport at WSP and author of the CIHT Learn 'Highway Infrastructure Asset Management' course is asked about his career, the process of writing the course and advice he would give to users completing the course.
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I find it amazing to think I have now had 45 years’ experience in the Highways and Transport industry. My career has been very varied and extremely fulfilling having worked in all sectors of the industry; in the public sector in both local and central government and the private sector in both consulting and contracting.
As a graduate Civil Engineer, I started my career on motorway design working for the Department of Transport in Road Construction Units. I then went on to a three-year ICE training agreement in Local Government. My ambition and drive to succeed has meant that I’ve never stayed in the same role for more than four years, having been regularly promoted or moved elsewhere to take on more responsibility. My final job in local government was Director of Environment & Transport at Leicestershire CC where I was responsible for 1,000 people and a £100m budget.
In addition to my day job, I have always been keen to take on external roles and have held a number of influential national roles including President of both ADEPT and CIHT, Chairman of the UK Roads Board and the Midland Highway Alliance.
I joined WSP five years ago following its acquisition of the Mouchel Consultancy which was then part of the Kier Group. I was initially employed as Director of Public Services and went on in 2019 to be appointed Head of Profession in the newly formed Local Government Discipline. In January this year my career took on another new phase when I was appointed as Director of Local Transport primarily to lead WSP’s asset management and advisory business along with other specific leadership responsibilities.
As a result of my experience and success with WSP I’m given a lot of autonomy to continue to support the growth of WSP’s Local Government business. In addition to my leadership responsibilities my time is spent between business development and delivering strategic consultancy services.
As WSP is the largest provider of local government consultancy services there are many opportunities to support clients to improve their service delivery and I’m regularly asked to take on service and organisational reviews for local authorities across the UK. In the last few years, I have undertaken highway service reviews for the Government of the Isle of Man, Cornwall Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Liverpool City Council. I have just produced the aptly name ‘Lugg Review’ into the maintenance of the Welsh Government’s Strategic Road Network.
Over the last few years, I’ve led WSP’s Local Roads Asset Management Good Practice Network where every quarter we bring together over 20 local highway authority asset managers to discuss topical issues.
I really enjoy having the opportunity to travel and as an internationally respected expert in highways asset management I have been invited to speak at both UK and international conferences and have presented papers in Australia ,China, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, Scandinavia, South Korea and the USA.
I always value my professional networks which I readily call on to for advice, experience and support. Perhaps my greatest forte is the wealth of experience I can bring to clients.
We are in a period of increasing change and uncertainty which is having a fundamental impact on how we manage and maintenance our transport infrastructure assets. These profound changes relate to a range of financial, technical, environmental and social issues. Perhaps the greatest challenge we face is the imperative to tackle the impact of climate change.
Over the last five years most local highway authorities have declared Climate Emergencies and set more onerous net zero targets than those set by the Government. To meet these targets, local authorities are having to take urgent actions to reduce carbon across all their services including the Highways and Transport services. To achieve this requires producing challenging decarbonisation plans for the management of highway infrastructure assets. These plans need to set out carbon reduction targets and measures to achieve them.
We are regularly seeing the impact of climate change with increasing global and UK severe weather events including more frequent storms, flooding, landslips and storm damage. Last year the UK experienced the highest temperature ever recorded: 41 degrees. The need for increased resilience of our transport network to cope with these events is becoming more critical.
Also associated with climate change is the need to reduce transport related carbon by moving to more sustainable transport modes. The increase in electric vehicles, more investment in public transport and the drive to encourage more active travel is already having implications on the way we manage transport assets.
A further significant challenge is the progression towards greater digitisation which is revolutionising every aspect of the way we manage infrastructure assets including their design, management and maintenance. A few examples include digital twins, 3D design, remote monitoring and artificial intelligence in data collection.
CIHT’s work is governed by its Royal Charter and one of the objectives states that it exists to promote education, training and research. Related to this is one of CIHT’s strategic priorities over the next five years - to promote learning and develop and deliver a digital learning platform for members. This digital platform is now available and is branded as CIHT Learn.
CIHT Learn provides a global network for transport professionals that supports CPD, improve skills and provides information to further career prospects. There are a number of technical and managerial training modules now already available. Recognising how important managing highway infrastructure assets is to a large proportion of CIHT members and the highways industry in general it was only a matter of time before a course on this topic was included.
I have personally championed the principles of highway asset management for over 25 years and was responsible for producing the first UK Asset Management guidance for local highway authorities in 2003. I was also instrumental, whilst seconded to the Department of Transport leading on the Highway Maintenance Efficiency Programme (HMEP) between 2011-13, in producing a range of asset management products including:-
The E-learning toolkit was the first freely available HIAM training module which provided a basic understanding of the principles of AM. Unfortunately, with the demise of the HMEP initiative the E-learning toolkit was no longer supported and available. So, when CIHT approached me about producing a new AM learning module I seized the opportunity to recreate this new module.
Although the course is written predominately for UK Local Highway Authorities the principles are generally generic to any local road authority elsewhere in the world.
It is essential that everyone involved in delivering highways and transport service has a basic understanding of the principles of HIAM to ensure they are able to contribute to delivering the service outcomes. Without this alignment there is a risk that those involved in the service delivery are disconnected and miss opportunities to achieve these outcomes. With all the challenges identified earlier, it is imperative that the so-called golden thread of AM principles is embedded in organisations that deliver every aspect of highway services.
This course has been produced to provide a basic introductory level on understanding the principles of AM (similar to the HMEP E-learning AM toolkit) and does not go into any detail. Each of the four components of the module provide information and advice on the key components of AM including:
I would hope anyone who has completed the course would been keen to encourage others to undertake it and possibly consider using it as a joint learning exercise. In WSP, for example, we have developed a number of internal training sessions for our early career professionals and this training module can be included in the ECP programme.
For those of you who have completed the module we would welcome your feedback to help improve it further. We would also like to hear what further AM modules you would be interested in as this module just touches the surface of a very broad and interesting technical discipline.
There are some key aspects of AM that this introductory course has referenced which would be beneficial for the non-specialist to gain a deeper understanding:-
Each of these topics could in their own right warrant a specific module.
So I’m keen to have a further dialogue with CIHT and hear your feedback on what further AM training you would value.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the CIHT or its members. Neither the CIHT nor any person acting on their behalf may be held responsible for the use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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