Paul Middleton, Asset Management Lead for Local Government Discipline at WSP, speaks to the Local Council Roads Innovation Group (LCRIG).
Q. What are the biggest challenges facing the highways sector?
A. “The biggest challenges we face today are skills shortages in both the public and private sectors along with hyperinflation and ever-tightening budgets to build new infrastructure or maintain the existing network. The sector also contributes to high levels of carbon emissions through the delivery of works and material choices, but also in how inefficiently the end customers use the networks. Covid 19 has changed the way services are delivered through the increased use of digital technology thus enabling what used to be traditionally location-based teams to now be located remotely. Hybrid working has provided the flexibility for employees to define how and where they would like to work however it has an impact on salaries that employers are paying as they are no longer location dependent. Hybrid working has generated a better work-life balance for employees as well as opportunities and, it has also had a positive effect on the carbon footprint as fewer people are commuting to their place of work on a regular basis. This, however, is a fine balance as there is a need for social interaction for both the employee’s benefit and also it is critical for those projects delivered by a team that can include the client, designer, and contractor.”
Q. How is WSP working with councils to help them deliver highway services?
A. “WSP has highly skilled and knowledgeable staff across all areas of infrastructure that local authorities own and manage. These resources can be seconded staff into clients local offices to complement the clients highways team, or working remotely through to our specialist global teams. WSP works closely with councils to understand their needs to ensure that the right outcomes are delivered and that national and local agendas such as sustainability, digital engineering, and being future-ready are built into the projects.”
Q. How has your team adapted to the challenges brought about by Covid-19?
A. “My team, working alongside our wide range of clients, has adapted well to recent challenges, mainly through embracing digital technologies which enabled remote collaboration. As our Asset Management projects can be delivered remotely the adaption to hybrid working has been simpler than more front-line operational services. This however has put the emphasis on ensuring that good project management and communication processes are in place and followed, and also recognising the essential needs and benefits of having face-to-face meetings with the client.”
Q. How much importance is put on innovation within your business and in what ways can it enable change?
A. “Future Ready is a key initiative within WSP globally that empowers us all to advise, design, and think for the future in every project we deliver. The programme challenges the status quo to help societies, modernise, excel and thrive in a sustainable way. This looks at four key areas, climate, society, technology, and resources which are all intrinsically linked to each other. These four areas are not exclusive to just the projects that we deliver for our clients but can also be applied to support the client as an evolving organisation in the services that it delivers. Within WSP we capture ideas, innovations, improvements, and benefits (I3B) whether they be for our internal business or the services we deliver to our clients.”
Q. In what ways do you collaborate with local authorities and the wider supply chain?
A. “WSP collaborate with a range of clients and their supply chain partners, this can be through the facilitation of project-specific workshops through to national good practice groups. We encourage all participants to contribute to these so that we share best practice and ideas that can support the successful delivery of projects and initiatives. In our Local Government discipline, we have in excess of 20 local authorities attending and contributing to our Asset Management Good Practice events that are set around focused areas dependent on their needs or the direction the sector is heading.”
Q. In terms of funding for roads, what do you think works well and what needs to be improved?
A. “The DfT Incentive fund has been a great mechanism to ensure that sound Asset Management principles are both present but also implemented within local authorities. This is now evolving to focus the attention on new and current challenges that councils are facing especially around sustainability, however Asset Management remains at the core of the Incentive Fund. The main challenges with regards to funding for local authorities are ever tightening and reducing budgets but also that these budgets are managed on an annual basis in most instances. Annualised budgets restrict the amount of multiyear planning and implementation that can be undertaken and can stifle innovation. The term ‘design on the shelf’ has limited possibilities if the funding to deliver the schemes in subsequent year is not confirmed. This is especially true when trying to define maintenance schemes across different asset groups and across different years which if looked at holistically would deliver optimum Asset Management outcomes and enable investment into innovation.”
Q. How important is the role of LCRIG in driving change within the sector?
A. “LCRIG has the needs of local roads at its core and has shown that it can bring government decision makers, the supply chain, and local authorities all together to work in a collaborative manner to meet the challenges that the sector has. This has been shown by how many members have joined LCRIG and actively participate in its events and knowledge sharing which is key to making changes that fundamentally will result in better services and managed assets for the customers.”