Skip to main content

Parsons Brinckerhoff launches highways management seminars

The first of Parsons Brinckerhoff’s regional seminars on how the UK should deliver whole-life asset management of its highways will held in Newcastle today, 23 October. The seminars, called Cracking up or Cracking on, are being run in association with the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), whose president, . David Gibby, will introduce the event. The cost of maintaining the country’s roads is constantly under pressure from growing demand on the system and increasingly common extr
October 22, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The first of 2693 Parsons Brinckerhoff’s regional seminars on how the UK should deliver whole-life asset management of its highways will held in Newcastle today, 23 October.

The seminars, called Cracking up or Cracking on, are being run in association with the Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation (CIHT), whose president, . David Gibby, will introduce the event.

The cost of maintaining the country’s roads is constantly under pressure from growing demand on the system and increasingly common extreme weather events.

Additionally, the network suffers from a growing maintenance backlog that runs into the tens of billions of pounds and is only made worse by the pressures of austerity.

The seminar will consider how the strongly competing demands on budget and the challenges of annualised funding impact the planning of effective long-term maintenance. How can practices be more efficient, changes made to mind-sets and asset deterioration be prevented, while adding value and resilience without adding costs?

“Over recent years we have seen the UK highways industry increasingly adopt a more systematic approach to the management of this hugely valuable national asset,” said keynote speaker James Elliott, UK head of asset management at Parsons Brinckerhoff.

“We have seen the development of new standards and practices, including the internationally recognised PAS 55 BSI standard, and more recently the development led by the UK’s Institute of Asset Management, of a new international ‘benchmark’ – ISO 55000 - for the recognition of good asset management practice.”

Other keynote speakers will be John Reed, head of technical services at 1284 Durham County Council and Neil Eglintine, contract manager at Newcastle City Council.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Lessons in asset management from the US
    August 14, 2014
    Jason Bittner discusses effective strategies for implementing efficient asset management practices The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) established a performance-based highway programme aimed at improving how Federal transportation funds are allocated. The MAP-21 programme requires state departments of transport (DOT) to develop risk-based transportation asset management plans (TAMP) for roads and bridges. This move has also refocused attention on the need for asset management in t
  • Rob Wallis is new CEO of Transport Research Foundation and TRL
    July 2, 2013
    Rob Wallis is to become the new CEO of the UK-based Transport Research Foundation and TRL. Wallis joins from BSI, where he was managing director, Europe, Middle East and Africa region, an international division of approximately 1,000 employees. Prior to BSI he held managing director and senior director roles leading transport-focused businesses at Hedra, EDS and LogicaCMG, having begun his career at the CAA. Taking over his new role on 15 July, Wallis will replace Dr Sue Sharland, who is stepping down as CE
  • Fugro Aperio stage 12th DIPA conference in Birmingham, England
    July 16, 2012
    The 12th Developments in Pavement Assessment (DIPA) conference organised by Fugro Aperio was taking place today in Birmingham, central England. DIPA is Britain’s only highways event dedicated to pavement assessment, covering the latest policy, best practice and survey technology developments. Speakers include pavement experts from local government, consultancy and research, and the data collection sector.
  • US DOTs in critical funding battle
    February 9, 2012
    In the US, state DOTs are preparing for the upcoming reauthorisation battle in a tough economic and political climate. Set to expire by the end of the year, the bill is a critical funding source for many transportation projects in the US. However transportation officials in the US are facing a tough battle as the political and economic climate has changed considerably since the last reauthorisation was passed, shortly after President Obama's inauguration in January 2009. Since then, the recession has contin