Identifying inefficiencies and transforming project management

26 May 2022

Identifying inefficiencies and transforming project management

A swathe of major infrastructure projects across the utilities sector are driving the adoption of new ways of working, cutting-edge technology and innovative methods for reducing project timelines. This report examines the role of location data as the “glue” underpinning new approaches to large infrastructure projects and how having the right data can enable a digital-first strategy that is more efficient and cost-effective.

A new Utility Week report, produced in association with Ordnance Survey, explores how location data will help unlock efficiencies as utility companies look to take on major new infrastructure projects.

For water companies in particular meeting the twin challenges of population growth and climate change will only be achieved through the building of new pipelines and reservoirs.

Large-scale infrastructure projects are unfamiliar territory for a sector which last saw such projects undertaken in the 1980s, but water companies are seizing the opportunity to embrace digital-first approaches in order to achieve project efficiencies.

The use of Business Information Modelling (BIM) is helping overcome some of the main challenges of large-scale projects, such as collaboration across multiple contractors, while the creation of digital twins is allowing new installation techniques to be utilised to their maximum.

Leading projects such as the Havant Thicket reservoir, Thames Tideway and the Strategic Pipeline Alliance are already reaping the rewards of new approaches, cutting project timelines and bringing about savings on the bottom line.

In the future, the creation of digital twins could bring about a wealth of further benefits as utility companies try and plan for an uncertain future with aging infrastructure.

This report explores how location data is the “glue” that underpins infrastructure projects and how having the right data can enable a digital-first strategy that is more efficient and cost-effective.

Featuring contributions from Anglian Water, Jacobs and Atkins, among others, this report identifies the drivers for large-scale infrastructure projects and how new approaches to project management are being employed to great effect.