The aim was to improve fault rectification times, reduce flood risk and the cost of investigations through sharing of interactive drainage data between Walsall Council and Severn Trent Water (STW), incorporating STW drainage assets on a mobile device that can work offline helps gully crews understand the complete surface water network, where a blockage or defect may stem from, and its ownership. Communicating this information to stakeholders saves investigation time, repeat visits and traffic obstructions.
Accompanying these reports with interactive GIS data sets had to go hand in hand, so the system was developed with a simple push button export for Esri Shape, Google Earth or AutoCAD.
Gully crew feedback was excellent, it gives them a portable underground view that previously didn’t exist, removing the “blind jetting” of pipelines, improving productivity by 8%.
Improved communication sped up the fault rectification process removing unnecessary interim revisits and reducing the chance of flooding. Significant operational benefits were realised as a result of this project, plus better communication between stakeholders using common references and data.
Their innovation has since been shared through cross council best practice initiatives and networking events and is operational in councils across the country on numerous water authority networks.
Judges Comments
This innovative end to end asset management approach by KaarbonTech has brought local highway authorities and mains utility clients closer together to achieve mutual benefits. Recognising that local authorities struggle to separate their drainage ownership from water authorities, causing delays in fault rectification, Kaarbontech developed and implemented a bespoke asset management software solution in collaboration with Tarmac, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council and Severn Trent Water. The judges felt that this entry displayed innovative asset management principles and were impressed with the clear vision and methodology, stakeholder engagement process and demonstrable benefits, which have been shared with other clients both in the Highways and Water sector.
Kier Highways embarked upon their journey to develop an Asset Management System in 2015, to provide a framework to deliver the Highways England Area 9 Asset Support Contract using asset management principles. Following the establishment of a robust system, certified to PAS55 a decision was taken to make the logical progression to an ISO5501:2014 compliant system.
Kier Highways embarked upon their journey to develop an Asset Management System in 2015, to provide a framework to deliver the Highways England Area 9 Asset Support Contract using asset management principles. Following the establishment of a robust system, certified to PAS55 a decision was taken to make the logical progression to an ISO5501:2014 compliant system.
A governance structure was established to develop a policy, strategy and objectives to deliver asset management plans which enable the best possible decisions to be made to meet the needs of the highways asset in the West Midlands.
A two-stage audit process, including over 100 hours of audit interview and 39 members of staff, led to Kier Highways Area 9 achieving ISO55001 accreditation in 2018.
Judges Comments
This contract led approach by Kier Highways recognises the importance of a formalised system approach to asset management in order to provide the best whole-life decision making. The judges were impressed with how Kier collaborated with Highways England to achieve their ISO system certification.
The A-one+ GIS asset management system, is the perfect platform to provide a visualisation of the road network and front door access to the network data repository. The GIS Integrated Area Programme (IAP) plots information from both internal and externally hosted data sources. This enables data sources to be cross referenced and analysed for potential traffic management sharing opportunities and the assignment of outstanding defects.
The A-one+ GIS asset management system, is the perfect platform to provide a visualisation of the road network and front door access to the network data repository. The GIS Integrated Area Programme (IAP) plots information from both internal and externally hosted data sources. This enables data sources to be cross referenced and analysed for potential traffic management sharing opportunities and the assignment of outstanding defects.
The beauty and power behind the app, is bringing the benefits of multiple internal and external data sources into one, visual, user friendly, environment. This provides A-one+ with the control, flexibility and benefits during the key decision-making processes, providing a plethora of success criteria:
The IAP answers key questions for A-one+:
Judges Comments
This contract led approach developed a LEAN project to improve network occupancy in Highways England Area 12. The judges noted the clear methodology and explanation of how the Area 12 Integrated Area Programme was developed as well as the articulation of benefits such as improved network occupancy and reduced road worker exposure and potential for wider sharing.
