Infrastructure management

In our road management role for the UK’s Highways Agency we’ve been working with Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services (formally RCS) in a fully integrated team for eight years – our joint remit now covers much of southern England’s strategic road networkHelping infrastructure owners and operators maximise core budget returns by adding long-term value and optimising performance to benefit their customers as well as their balance sheets – that’s what drives Mott MacDonald’s approach to managing and maintaining infrastructure as varied as transport systems and utilities.

We’re able to offer first-class services in all aspects of asset management by combining our multi-disciplinary skills of infrastructure planning, design, rehabilitation and maintenance with our global experience in project management, partnering, supervising, funding and finance. Our aim is to help infrastructure owners ensure their assets are always in good condition – through planned strategic maintenance as well as reactive work – and operate to the highest efficiency standards as well as the most cost-effective performance regime.

We’re experienced in working individually or in partnership to manage assets that may be site specific or regional and our portfolio features many long-standing commissions proving the benefits of improved service through teamwork. 2006 marks 13 years since our US colleagues in Hatch Mott MacDonald began operating Caldwell Borough’s wastewater plant in New Jersey and in our road management role for the UK’s Highways Agency for example, we’ve been working in partnership with RCS in a fully integrated team for seven years. Now our joint remit has grown to three managing agent contracts encompassing much of southern England’s strategic road network. The newest – the Agency’s first Enhanced Managing Agent Contract – means our integrated team, InterRoute, is now responsible for maintaining not only the infrastructure for motorways and trunk roads across much of the south west but also technology such as roadside communications and electronic signage.

In the energy sector Mott MacDonald has teamed up with transmission line constructors Eve Group to provide UK network owners and operators with detailed information on the condition of their assets and a focused analysis enabling them to optimise their asset investment programmes. The solutions we offer provide customers with affordable and independent inspections, risk assessments and analyses, enabling them to make informed decisions and minimise the costs associated with asset ownership. We also offer a full project management service to ensure seamless integration of our end-to-end solutions.

Investing the optimum amount in maintenance and renewal to meet long-term performance needs amid changing risks is a challenge facing all asset owners. UK water companies for example are under pressure to ensure security of supply and levels of service while reducing abstraction and managing uncertainty in the supply demand balance. Building on methodology we developed for UK Water Industry Research Limited to assess headroom - the crucial margin between demand and supply – we’re able to offer an innovative technique that manages the risk in long-life maintenance budgeting and is equally applicable to any asset from water mains and sewers to power stations to roads and railways.