Future-proofing ‘Next Generation’ infrastructure assets

Infrastructure remains the backbone of an economy. The G20s Global Infrastructure Hub forecasts a need of more than US$4 trillion for infrastructure funding in the world by 2040 (Jessop, 2017). Yet, paradoxically, the poor performance of infrastructure projects and their lack of resilience and adaptability seem to have become the norm.The reasons for such a record of poor performance

Infrastructure remains the backbone of an economy. The G20s Global Infrastructure Hub forecasts a need of more than US $ 4 trillion for infrastructure funding in the world by 2040 （Jessop, 2017）. Yet, paradoxically, the poor performance of infrastructure projects and their lack of resilience and adaptability seem to have become the norm. The reasons for such a record of poor performance on infrastructure projects are numerous. Changes in scope that occur during the construction of assets because of complexity, uncertainty and mismanagement are some of the usual culprits. These changes of scope, for example, may not only result in an increase or decrease in capital expenditure （CAPEX） （Love et al., 2017; Invernizzi et al., 2018）, but also influence the ability to provide added-value during operations and maintenance. Increases or decreases in CAPEX, adversely impact an asset owner＇s ability to provide effective and efficient goods and services as well as taxpayers, contractors and their supply chains＇ profit- ability. As a result, this hinders an asset owners＇ ability to secure infrastructure that is both resilient to unexpected events and adaptable to changing needs, uses or capacities （Love et al., 2017）.