Forging a mutually beneficial relationship

In the right environment, and with the right support, nature can help us manage infrastructure assets, now and for the long term, says Andrew Heather.

With our climate changing and our populations growing, we need to make our cities, our human settlements, more resilient to extreme weather, sea level rise and flooding. But we can’t keep adding to greenhouse gas emissions by always building new assets. We also need to better manage and improve the performance of the existing built environment, utility systems and communications and transport networks.

Nature can teach us much about strength, adaptability and interdependencies, and offers solutions to help address some of the challenges infrastructure owners and operators face now, and in the future.

Nature-based solutions and asset management can forge a symbiotic relationship – one in which nature and human systems exist together in a way that is mutually beneficial.

Go wide: think systems

The big divide between traditional asset management and nature-based solutions is the breadth of thinking.

Asset managers know their asset base, its reliability, costs and the risks from failing to provide the service it was built for. But they tend to focus on direct impacts and direct costs to the asset owner, as they strive for efficient delivery. Environmentalists, by contrast, are likely to consider the interaction between environmental factors to identify sustainable levels of water abstraction or to cope with flooding, for example.

By collaborating and considering together the wider system of people, businesses, assets, environment and the climate, asset managers and environmentalists can open a whole treasure chest of opportunities – where sympathetic solutions benefit many parts of the system; where conflicts are reduced, and costs shared.

It’s an approach that requires us to apply a range of future scenarios as a matter of course when assessing the need for new assets or refurbishing old ones. It’s about anticipating the future operating environment and how it might change over time.

Flexibility is key, so where the outcome is uncertain – risky – investment is made in stages, leaving the door open to change the pace, scale or direction.

In many parts of the world, much of the infrastructure we need is already built, so the emphasis going forward will be on improving the performance and resilience of these assets. Nature-based solutions can help.

In Hong Kong, we piloted cost-effective ecological enhancements to existing concrete nullah or drainage channels. As well as improving habitat condition and increasing the number of species in the river channel, the enhancements also improved water quality, with reductions in both biochemical pollutant levels and ammonia-nitrogen – reducing the cost of water treatment.
Newtown Creek in New York was once one of the most polluted industrial sites in the US. We supported the implementation of nature-based solutions to help the watercourse to recover. Bioswales now capture rainwater runoff that would otherwise have entered combined sewers – allowing it to infiltrate the soil and be absorbed by vegetation – and impervious surfaces were replaced with permeable substrate, organic topsoil, and vegetation. Water quality has improved, and the trees and other vegetation have improved air quality and made the area more attractive. The installation of the green infrastructure systems has also alleviated pressure on the city’s grey infrastructure needs, helping to reduce capital costs.

Many nature-based solutions have multiple benefits – such as natural flood management improving water quality as well as reducing flood flows. By taking a strategic and collaborative approach to designing interventions it is possible to share costs and raise multiple revenue streams for nature-based solution – so making your overall asset programme even more cost effective.

A new way to work

To blend natural and engineered solutions for a more resilient, more affordable future, we will have to organise ourselves differently. Asset managers, environmentalists and systems analysts will need to support each other to innovate and explore opportunities to deliver wider benefits and design solutions that can adapt to the future.

Mobilising the power of digital tools – such as information-rich 3D models to plot and test outcomes, and geographic information systems to capture and analyse spatial and geographic data – will support collaboration and the design and delivery of efficient, interconnected infrastructure that combines nature-based solutions where they can be most effective, achieving better overall outcomes for society and the environment.

If this new model is to gain traction, directors, owners and governments must be prepared to take risks, giving time and space to softer solutions to demonstrate they can be a reliable alternative or supplement to hard engineering.

In many parts of the world, much of the infrastructure we need is already built, so the emphasis going forward will be on improving the performance and resilience of these assets.

Andrew Heather

Principal asset management consultant

For their part, regulators will need to collaborate with each other and with those they regulate. Rapid, the Regulatory Alliance for Promoting Infrastructure Development, is one example. It consists of economic, environmental and water quality regulators to address the projected water shortfall in southern England.

As we look to develop more resilient infrastructure and services, such alliances are likely to become more common, attracting utilities, government agencies, local authorities, landowners, insurers and investors.

Thinking on nature-based solutions and asset management is evolving, but to fully mature it’s the human side that must develop the fastest.