In part one of this blog post I wrote that populations need good infrastructure to achieve their economic and social potential. Also that transportation, energy, communications, water management, flood defence and other large-scale projects often overrun on cost and time. Better stakeholder collaboration with greater knowledge and data sharing are required to address these issues.

The British government’s National Infrastructure Plan covers more than £460bn of projects. Of these £277bn are under construction. In the past few years, 55 major UK road projects have been completed; £38bn will be spent on Network Rail.  500 coastal defence projects are underway. The transformational Northern Hub, and nationwide broadband roll out are gathering pace. And the reason is: that for every pound the government spends on infrastructure there is a £2.84 increase in economic activity. In the case of broadband the economic benefit is £20 for every £1 spent. Superfast Cornwall for example is bringing astonishing benefits to that region with world-class fiber-optic service now reaching the Scilly Isles.

The downside is that inefficiency is widespread because outdated and fragmented business structures are the norm. This leads to poor communications among professionals and the public. And that compounds any other problems.

On large-scale projects of national importance, with high levels of complexity and risk, contractors and stakeholders need a unified, real time, expert-knowledge platform for design, engineering and operations information.

Such platforms are common in manufacturing but are rarely used in civil engineering. New collaborative commercial models would help reduce waste and rework by integrating and unifying on and off-site project teams and fabricators.

Multi-discipline collaboration platforms can also help civil engineering projects attract much-needed capital. Investors demand openness and transparency and they know that they can reduce risk by ensuring project information is available to all parties in the formats that serve them best.

Investors want to see rapid completion so they can beat competitors to revenue streams. Being armed with this type of information provides that important competitive advantage. Many investors therefore encourage knowledge sharing to achieve collaboration with governments, contractors and the public.

British born infrastructure project knowledge and innovation are in high demand around the world.  In Saudi Arabia for example Newtecnic, a UK-based design company, is currently design engineering the Zaha Hadid designed King Abdulla Financial District’s new metro system. On this massive transportation project collaboration drives the need for sophisticated systems.

This multi-billion-dollar transport hub at the business heart of Riyadh handles three new railway lines, a 16-kilometer underground metro, and links to outlying universities and the King Khalid International Airport. The project uses a shared information system to align objectives among diverse groups. This ensures that all parties are connected to, and can simultaneously collaborate around current designs and associated information in meaningful ways.

The next logical step for the UK’s infrastructure projects is to deploy technology that reduces fragmentation. This would unify documentation and speed up design and construction. That can be achieved by introducing concurrent, flexible and collaborative working. Turning data into accessible knowledge by this means would deliver better operational efficiency. Financial returns for civil engineering and infrastructure investors and stakeholders would also improve. But the most important benefit would be seen in the way our country innovates to make better futures for everyone that lives here.