Asset management is a key responsibility for councils across Australia, since disruptions to essential services or damage to public infrastructure can severely impact communities. By modernising their approaches to proactive rather than reactive solutions, councils are better able to meet the needs of their municipalities now and into the future – using out-of-the-box solutions to remedy old and new challenges.
Being responsible for multiple vital services, councils are routinely monitoring, inspecting, repairing and upgrading infrastructure around their communities.
There are a number of factors councils must consider when choosing the best maintenance solution, such as costs, proactive management, sustainability, climate change resilience and community safety.
As natural disasters and extreme weather become more frequent throughout the country, asset management is more important than ever.
Due to this, councils are finding different ways to monitor and maintain assets by embracing new technologies, engaging with community members and turning to natural solutions.
Here Council has collated five innovative strategies being used by councils around Australia to protect key assets and keep vital services running.
1. Modern maintenance: predicting deterioration with AI
Councils often receive complaints about potholes more than anything else, especially following heavy rainfall or storms, and most councils in urban areas can expect to fill in tens of thousands of potholes annually.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is already being used in other asset maintenance and monitoring, with the technology being adapted to tackle road repairs.
Through AI, processes like data collection and analysis can be automated to take the workload off human personnel and keep track of roads to prevent potholes from becoming a problem.
Transport for NSW fills in over 100,000 potholes a year, which is why it is trialling AI technology that tracks and analyses the condition of roads, after Canterbury-Bankstown Council conducted a successful trial in their municipality.
The $2.9 million Asset AITM trial consists of 32 sensors being installed on public transport buses to gather footage and information of roads all across New South Wales. Alongside local weather observations, this data will be used to calculate and predict road deterioration.
Being able to predict the rate of deterioration will streamline maintenance by spending weeks, instead of years, mapping out thousands of kilometres of roads. Councils can respond to pothole callouts and repair any damage to roads far more efficiently if they can accurately anticipate when they require the most attention and repairs.
The trial is funded by the New South Wales Digital Restart Fund and will eventually be available to all New South Wales local government areas.
2. Neighbourhood portals: community feedback made easy
Due to the internet and social media, engaging with community members has never been easier for councils, with locals being able to use these platforms, or neighbourhood portals, to inform local government when assets are damaged, faulty or vandalised.
To maintain the area’s assets, City of Melbourne has launched new interactive portals to connect with, understand and respond to residents.
There is a portal for each neighbourhood in the municipality, including the CBD, Kensington, Carlton, North Melbourne, West Melbourne, East Melbourne, Parkville, Docklands, Southbank and South Yarra.
Each portal has an overview of the neighbourhood, with facts and figures about the area, an acknowledgement of Traditional Owners, an interactive map of Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung significant places, a list of local priorities, Council plans, and options to provide feedback, community news and local stories.
Residents can contact their Neighbourhood Partner through the portal or add a comment to the interactive map about a complaint or suggestion.
These portals have opened up direct and productive communication between residents and Council, creating an online platform for reporting issues and informing locals.
3. Warning systems: sensors monitoring natural disasters
When it comes to extreme weather and flooding, sensors and warning systems can assist councils and their residents in preparing for when disaster strikes – saving assets before the danger hits.
Taking advantage of this technology, Tamworth Regional Council has developed an innovative warning system to warn Nundle and Woolomin residents of potential flooding.
Tamworth Regional Council worked alongside Water Technology and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to develop the Flood Early Warning System.
The system monitors the flow of creeks and rivers with a gauge in conjunction with using predicted rainfall from the Bureau to identify the magnitude of flooding and what risks that poses to the local community. This means residents will receive warnings earlier to ensure they can prepare and evacuate before it is too late.
Other councils have been using flood cameras, social media messaging, manually activated sirens, and flood modelling software to keep residents informed regarding possible emergencies.
The sensors, cameras, and modelling all help to predict flooding, while social media and sirens communicate warnings and evacuation orders.
These kinds of warning systems not only help residents prepare, but also assist SES and council crews to carry out work.
4. Embracing digitisation: heading cloud first into the future
Digitisation has allowed councils to create databases for all their information, automate processes for maintenance, and predict issues before they occur using IoT and cloud technology.
Bundaberg Regional Council has centred its digital transformation on the software as a service (SaaS) model and engaged global public software provider Civica to use its program Authority Altitude.
This means that instead of a reactive approach to maintenance, councils can use software to continuously monitor assets and store data to prevent damage and disruptions before they happen.
All data related to assets and maintenance is stored on a single encrypted database, giving Bundaberg Regional Council complete control over its assets and digital infrastructure.
This means that Council IT staff no longer need to do traditional back-of-house IT work and operating costs have been streamlined with a flat operating expense from year-to-year with zero capital expense.
5. Back to nature: managing green spaces with natural solutions
As Australia deals with environmental degradation, finding natural solutions that are less harmful, invasive or disruptive to both humans and animals will help councils ensure parks and reserves continue to thrive.
The City of Melbourne, in partnership with the University of Melbourne, is trialling goats to clear its parks of weeds rather than relying on toxic herbicides.
The goats have been deployed in Royal Park to regenerate the habitat of the native White’s Skink, because their rocky basking sites are being smothered by grasses.
As part of the trial, the goats are fenced off and only eat the weeds in seven designated areas, with eight additional plots to be left unmanaged as control sites. Once the weeds are cleared, indigenous grasses will be planted and the skink population will be measured.
Other councils around Victoria are also deploying goats for weed control, particularly to clear inaccessible sites.
The goats are not a replacement for chemical weed control or mowing, but will be used in conjunction with other methods.
Herbicides can be very toxic to both humans and animals, so reducing the reliance of chemicals for landscaping and removing weeds will help both labourers and wildlife.
The future of asset management
Whether it’s embracing new technologies, turning to the community or working with nature, the future of asset management for councils hinges on finding innovative ways to maintain key infrastructure.
These new approaches transform asset management from reactive to preventative, preparing councils for whatever may come in the future, whether it’s new technology or the next natural disaster.
