Digital solutions in civil engineering can provide climate change ... - New Civil Engineer

Digital solutions in civil engineering can provide climate change data essential to meeting net zero | New Civil Engineer

Many countries have established overarching commitments to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to net zero, and organisations are becoming increasingly subject to specific requirements to reduce emissions.

Anne-Marie Friel is partner - infrastructure at Pinsent Masons

In the UK, for example, the government has committed to achieving net zero by 2050 and has established frameworks such as the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, which requires disclosure of climate related risks. Failure to comply with GHG and sustainability promises is becoming a critical financial, reputational and legal risk for all stakeholders in infrastructure and the importance of disclosing climate risks grows, it is becoming a necessary requirement for individual projects to have positive sustainability benefits.

The infrastructure sector needs to quickly adapt to making the changes that will ensure that climate change targets are met. The challenge for the sector is that achieving climate promises will require a significant system-level change in the approach taken to the development and operation of infrastructure at all stages of the asset lifecycle. Climate change obligations are now regularly being incorporated into supply chain contracts and, increasingly, the use of validation systems, such as PAS2080, are being employed by project stakeholders to ensure that the right methodologies and processes are being adopted “on the ground”.

In almost every case, this holistic, systems-based approach to climate change management will require the application of digital tools throughout the development process. This is to ensure the right data is available at each stage for climate-related issues to be fully considered and impact to be properly measured.

Two of the digital technologies that will need to be adopted on a much broader scale include Building Information Modelling (BIM) and digital twins. The use of BIM during the design stage, before construction commences, will help optimise a low-carbon design, and support better planning and programming, for increased efficiency and reduced waste and is a key building block in supporting the golden thread of information across the asset lifecycle. The use of digital twins can be used in multiple ways to mitigate climate risk, from monitoring environmental factors through to enabling better climate resilience mitigation across connected systems.

The operational model which will support the digital strategy, in support of climate change mitigation, needs to be considered as part of the overall procurement and contracting strategy for any asset, new or existing.

Where BIM is utilised across the infrastructure sector, contracting models will need to evolve to integrate the specific BIM requirements into the project contractual suite and to reflect the impact of this way of working on the design and construction phases. Where forecasting of sustainability impact will take place at the design stage this suggests that a longer period of collaborative working is needed before the final design becomes ‘fixed’ and to ensure that any design and value engineering decisions which take place throughout construction take the sustainability impact into account.

The success of digital twin projects, particularly across organisational boundaries, requires data to be shared, utilising legally enforceable, consent-based data sharing models. Structuring a multi-party data sharing project, requires careful planning and consideration of purpose, benefits and risks (for all stakeholders). This will be underpinned by legal structures which provide strong governance that engender trust and collaboration. The underlying ownership and licencing of the intellectual property rights in the model will need to be agreed where multiple organisations are collaborating on model development.

A clear idea of the intended operating model for BIM and any digital twins during the contract lifecycle is necessary to enable successful procurement to be realised and ensure that the business case for any necessary investment is in place with budgets provided. During implementation, organisations will also need to undertake appropriate due diligence on the software licence requirements applying to the technology platforms supporting the operating model and ensure appropriate resource is in place to manage the digital elements.

The successful achievement and measurement of climate change targets will require the implementation of a digital strategy at each stage of the asset lifecycle to deliver the necessary data and is likely to require a greater focus on collaboration around that data. Organisations that work to understand the detailed nuances and legal issues associated with the use of digital solutions and data sharing in support of climate risk mitigation, and who proactively consider how this is reflected in their procurement and contracting strategies, will be in the best possible position to achieve their climate change targets.

- Anne-Marie Friel is partner - infrastructure at Pinsent Masons

This article summarises the research paper ‘ Procurement and contracting for climate change data and digital solution’ by Anne-Marie Friel, Mark Marfé, Chris Martin and Rebecca Harding, published in the journal Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Civil Engineering

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