Abstract
The expectation to integrate sustainability aspects (social, environmental, and economic success) into the design, delivery, and operation of infrastructure assets is growing rapidly and globally. There are now several tools and frameworks available to benchmark and measure sustainable performance of infrastructure projects and assets. This paper briefly describes the infrastructure sustainability (IS) rating tool developed by the Australian Green Infrastructure Council (AGIC) that was launched in February 2012. This tool evaluates sustainability initiatives and potential environmental, social, and economic impacts of infrastructure projects and assets. The rating tool provides the following benefits to industry: a common national language for sustainability; a vehicle for consistent application and evaluation of sustainability in tendering processes; assists in scoping whole-of-life sustainability risks, enabling smarter solutions that reduce risks and costs; fosters resource efficiency and waste reduction, reducing costs; fosters innovation and continuous improvement in sustainability outcomes; and builds an organization’s credentials and reputation in its approach to sustainability. The infrastructure types covered by this tool include transport, energy, water, and communication. The key themes of sustainability evaluation will be briefly presented in this paper, and they include management and governance; use of resources; emissions, pollution, and waste; ecology; people and place; and innovation.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Urban Land Institute (2011) Infrastructure 2011: a strategic priority
Elkington J (1997) Cannibals with forks: the triple bottom line of 21st century business. Capstone Publishing Limited, Oxford
Group of 100 (2003) Sustainability: a guide to triple bottom line reporting. Melbourne
Stapledon T (2004) Offices as tools for organisational sustainability. PhD, The University of Sydney
Shaw G, Kenny J, Kumar A, Hood D (2012) Sustainable infrastructure operations: a review of assessment schemes and decision support. In: 25th ARRB conference. Perth, Australia
Australian Green Infrastructure Council (2012) Infrastructure sustainability rating scheme [Online]. Australian Green Infrastructure Council. Available: http://www.agic.net.au/ISratingscheme1.htm
Australian Green Infrastructure Council (2012) Fact sheet 1 infrastructure sustainability rating framework [Online]. Australian Green Infrastructure Council. Available: http://www.agic.net.au/fact_sheet_1.pdf
DTI ‘Strategy for sustainable construction’—consultation events. Available: http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file37172.pdf
Australian Green Infrastructure Council (2012) Fact sheet 2 rating types [Online]. Australian Green Infrastructure Council. Available: http://www.agic.net.au/fact_sheet_2.pdf
Acknowledgments
This work was undertaken as part of The Sustainability Assessment for Infrastructure Project and is part of the larger CRC for Infrastructure and Engineering Asset Management. The CRC for Infrastructure and Engineering Asset Management (CIEAM) would like to acknowledge the financial support from the Commonwealth Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program and the contributions from our industry, government, and university participants. The overall support provided by the CEO, Professor Joseph Mathew, is gratefully appreciated.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Shaw, G., Walters, R., Kumar, A., Sprigg, A. (2015). Sustainability in Infrastructure Asset Management. In: Lee, W., Choi, B., Ma, L., Mathew, J. (eds) Proceedings of the 7th World Congress on Engineering Asset Management (WCEAM 2012). Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06966-1_47
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06966-1_47
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02461-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-06966-1
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)