A workshop around the theme of Infrastructure Futureproofing was held at the IfM as part of a collaboration with Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC).

The scope of the workshop encompassed value and integration of futureproofing into asset management practice. This addressed both the ability of infrastructure to be resilient to unexpected or uncontrollable events, e.g. those associated with climate change, and also the ability to adapt to required changes in structure and/or operations of the infrastructure in the future, e.g. expansion of capacity, change in usage mode or volumes.

The workshop gathered together senior advisors, directors, heads and lead engineers responsible for asset management, facilities management, government policies, built environment foresight and strategies to discuss current practices and how future proofing might be best used within them.

Delegates from London Underground, Costain, UCL, IBM, Crossrail, John Dora Consulting, Heathrow, Cementation Skanska, CIRIA, Network Rail, Arup, Highways Agency, Atkins, Halcrow/CH2M, Infrastructure UK and CSIC attended the workshop.

The workshop aimed to:

• Capture value / relevance of future-proofing in asset management
• Determine challenges of future-proofing in whole-life asset management approaches
• Consider appropriate methods/frameworks of future-proofing in asset management
• Capture means of integrating future-proofing into asset management practice

The workshop activities will result in a White Paper on Infrastructure Futureproofing. It was organised by Dr Tariq Masood and Professor Duncan McFarlane of DIAL and Dr Jennifer Schooling of CSIC as part of CSIC's collaborative project on Infrastructure Futureproofing. Details of the project and workshops are available here.