Sustainable asset management for utility streetworks

Utility infrastructures are one of the critical elements of urban environments. However, utility installation and maintenance operations are costly, both in terms of direct construction costs (estimated to be around £1.5 billion in the UK in 2006) and in terms of indirect and social costs, which adversely impact the UK economy. These costs are significantly increased when the considerable environmental costs are considered. These adverse impacts are mainly due to traffic congestion, both in terms of energy wasted and vehicle emissions. It is now established that the true total cost of any activity can only be measured by considering all aspects encapsulated by the three ‘pillars of sustainability’, i.e. taking account of social and environmental impacts along with economic (both direct and indirect) costs. After a critical review of the existing sustainability assessment tools, it is proposed that an existing tool should be adapted to provide a holistic, robust sustainability costing framework specifically for utility streetworks. This paper discusses key sustainability assessment indicators and provides recommendations for developing a value-based asset management framework for utility streetworks.