IPWEA Blogs

Vancouver Launches Digital Project to Improve Park Access

By Anirudh Sharma posted 3 hours ago
The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation has launched a digital project which aims to improve accessibility for people with disabilities and diverse needs. The Parks Board is working with AccessNow, a digital platform that allows users to search and rate the accessibility of places, to conduct specialised accessibility audits using advanced technology and auditors with lived disability experience. “Making our parks accessible for everyone is a priority for us,” said Tom Digby, Chair of the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation. “By improving access to clear and reliable information, we continue to support more inclusive, welcoming, and easy-to-explore ...
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The Engineering Pipeline Leak: Mentoring Graduates for Lifelong Careers

By Anirudh Sharma posted 3 hours ago
Australia and New Zealand’s infrastructure plans are ambitious. Australia currently has $230 billion in planned, committed, or in-progress public infrastructure projects, and a similar pipeline is projected in New Zealand. However, both countries are facing ongoing challenges when it comes to workforce capacity. According to   Professionals Australia , we’re experiencing a growing crisis when it comes to a shortage of engineering skills in the region. Modelling suggests that Australia alone will face a skills shortage of approximately 200,000 engineers by 2040 unless drastic pipeline interventions are undertaken. Interestingly, data from the   Australian ...
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IPWEA Awards Recognise Best NZ Public Works Projects

By Anirudh Sharma posted 4 hours ago
By Steve Mooney New Zealand asset management and public works professionals joined with IPWEA Aotearoa New Zealand in Auckland on April 30th for the annual New Zealand Excellence Awards Gala Dinner at the Pullman Hotel. Organisations from around the country entered their projects in eight categories, with the winners announced at an event held in collaboration with principal sponsor Geotab. IPWEA’s New Zealand Country Head, Steve Mooney, says the awards highlight best practice in the sector and it was a great evening to celebrate outstanding projects. The awards recognised innovative projects in New Zealand and offered a networking opportunity for industry ...
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Unstable Ground: Navigating Compounding Climate Disasters and Infrastructure Resilience

By Anirudh Sharma posted 4 hours ago
Globally, we are seeing an increase in extreme weather events. From torrential rain to catastrophic wildfires, what were once “unprecedented” events or statistical anomalies are now becoming a regular feature of our annual weather cycle. For every 1°C of warming, the air holds approximately 7% more moisture. This has resulted in more intense and frequent weather events including floods, heatwaves, and fires, and has fundamentally changed the baseline for our infrastructure. Director of Sustainability at IPWEA Dr Jacqueline Balston says: “Climate change is altering not only the weather systems we experience but will also result in a raft of secondary hazards ...
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National Collaboration: The Australian Public Lighting DNSP Community of Practice

By Anirudh Sharma posted 4 hours ago
By Adele Finch, Chair of the Australian Public Lighting DNSP Community of Practice There are about 2.5 million street lights in Australia and almost 90% of these are managed by electricity distributors (called Distribution Network Service Providers or DNSPs in the industry). Public lighting infrastructure represents a critical intersection of public safety, energy efficiency, and urban innovation. However, for many years, the challenges associated with managing these vast lighting networks were often addressed in isolation by individual utilities. Recognising the need for a unified approach to these systemic issues, the Australian Public Lighting DNSP Community ...
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Do We Still Review Annually for Impaired Assets?

By Anirudh Sharma posted 6 hours ago
By Adam Thomas Generally speaking, most of our infrastructure-rich organisations are required by Australian Accounting Standard AASB 136 Impairment of Assets to review their assets annually for indicators of impairment in service capacity and therefore value. AASB lists the following indicators to look for: Abnormal market value decline : The market value has decreased more than would be expected as a result of time or normal use Adverse business environmental changes : Significant technological, market, economic or legal changes that have an adverse effect on the entity during the reporting period, or will take place in the near future Interest ...
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Three Ratios That Can Tell You Almost Everything About Your Fleet

By Anirudh Sharma posted 6 hours ago
Fleet practitioners are often overwhelmed by data. Modern fleet systems can generate hundreds of reports covering utilisation, fuel consumption, maintenance costs, downtime, incidents, emissions, and driver behaviour. The challenge is not collecting data. The challenge is knowing which information matters when speaking with executives. If you could only report three numbers to your CEO, CFO, or executive team, there are three asset management ratios that would provide a surprisingly accurate picture of the health of your fleet: Renewal Ratio Backlog Ratio Asset Maintenance Ratio These measures are widely used across other asset classes such as ...
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Understanding Asset Management: A Key to Sustainable Success

By Anirudh Sharma posted 6 hours ago
Picture a highway overpass. Engineers finished it on time, on budget – success by every official measure. But it also impacted the neighbourhood underneath, fragmented green space, cut off pedestrian routes, and sent a steady stream of pollution into the lungs of people who never had a say in its construction. One project ticked off the list. A dozen slow-burning problems quietly created. This is how most of our cities get built: one decision at a time, in silos, by teams optimising for their own narrow brief and rarely talking to anyone else. The result isn’t dramatic failure it’s something more insidious. It’s a world that functions, technically, while making ...
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Lessons from Kamloops: Consistency, Council Reporting and Better Decisions

By Erin Moroz posted 20 days ago
Lessons from Kamloops: Consistency, Council Reporting and Better Decisions The City of Kamloops shares how it uses NAMS+ to tell the service delivery story to decision makers, identify gaps, support reporting and keep asset management work on track. Consistency is one of the hardest parts of asset management work in a large community. Different definitions, planning expectations and reporting approaches can make it difficult to move work forward, communicate clearly and build confidence in decisions. That was a long-standing challenge at the City of Kamloops. Greg Sawatzky, Asset Management Analyst for the City of Kamloops, says ...
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Inspiring Students: University of Canterbury STEM Careers Day Recap

By YIPWEA Blogs posted 20 days ago
By Tom Crozier, Chair of Young IPWEA Aotearoa As Chair of Young IPWEA Aotearoa, I had the privilege of attending the University of Canterbury STEM Careers Day alongside Steve Mooney, Country Head for IPWEA Aotearoa. The event provided an excellent platform to connect with students, promote the infrastructure and public works engineering profession, whilst raising awareness of the diverse career pathways available within our sector. The Careers Day brought together a wide range of students from engineering, science, and other related disciplines, all exploring potential career opportunities and seeking insights into industry expectations. The ...
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Rising Tides, Receding Shores, and the Infrastructure Challenge

By YIPWEA Blogs posted 24-02-2026
Local councils across Australia and New Zealand are increasingly facing the problem of coastal erosion and land instability from rising sea levels. What was once a rare event, has evolved into a persistent trend that will likely continue to accelerate in coming decades.  The scale of this challenge and the impact on local infrastructure can be seen in coastal areas across Australia and New Zealand. Between 2020 and 2025, the New South Wales coastal town of Byron Bay experienced a number of significant storm events and cyclones, many of which brought higher than normal tides, large swells, and strong winds. The resulting damage included the loss of significant ...
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The Cost of Doing Nothing: Green Infrastructure, Climate Resilience and the Future of Urban Systems

By Erin Moroz posted 17-02-2026
Apartment complex with bioswale for rainwater collection.     Across Canada, communities are navigating   extreme weather, aging   infrastructure   and growing expectations around sustainability. These pressures are not theoretical. They are visible in how public spaces function, and in some cases   fail to   function, under current conditions.       In a recent conversation with   SaskOutdoors —Saskatchewan’s provincial outdoor education association—board member Carmen Gilmore described what climate stress looks like at ground level. During heat waves, playgrounds sit empty when basic infrastructure such as shade or ...
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Global Innovations, Local Applications: International Engineering Projects That Inspire

By YIPWEA Blogs posted 16-09-2025
Innovation knows no borders. Around the world, engineers are developing groundbreaking solutions to challenges that Australian and New Zealand communities face every day. From Copenhagen's revolutionary cycling infrastructure to Singapore's cutting-edge water management systems, international projects offer a treasure trove of ideas that can be adapted for our unique contexts. As young professionals, we have the opportunity to learn from global best practices, while considering how these innovations could transform our own communities. Smart Cities Leading the Way Copenhagen's Smart Traffic System Copenhagen has implemented one of ...
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Council’s ‘Girls in Civil’ Program Builds Pipeline for Female Engineers

By YIPWEA Blogs posted 21-08-2025
When Armidale Regional Council was having difficulty recruiting for positions a few years ago there was one factor which stood out for Erin Smidt and her colleagues in the human resources area. “A lot of the roles we were recruiting for were for roles which have been traditionally dominated by men,” says Smidt, the Senior People & Culture Business Partner at the council. “So we put our heads together and thought ‘how do we fix this problem, a nd we realised that there was 50% of the workforce we were missing out on, and these were women.” From that point, the council has looked for ways to engage women and get them into roles in ...
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Digital-Ready: The Skills Every Young Public Works Professional Needs

By YIPWEA Blogs posted 21-08-2025
As public works rapidly evolves, digital fluency is no longer optional, it’s essential. From GIS platforms and IoT sensors to data analytics and cloud collaboration tools, the infrastructure sector is being reshaped by technology. For young professionals, this shift presents a unique opportunity: to step up, skill up, and lead the transformation. By developing key technical competencies, embracing change management, and bridging generational knowledge gaps, you can position yourself not just to succeed, but to drive innovation in how communities are planned, built, and maintained. Upskill for the Digital Future Here are some of the key capabilities ...
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From Graduate to Leader: Navigating Your Public Works Career Journey

By YIPWEA Blogs posted 21-08-2025
Starting your career in public works engineering can feel overwhelming. One day you are completing your final university assignment, and the next you are responsible for infrastructure that serves thousands of community members. Every leader in our industry has walked this same path, and with the right approach you can navigate it successfully too. The Early Years: Building Your Foundation (Years 0–2) Embrace the learning curve Your first role is about more than technical skills, it is about understanding how public works operates in the real world. Every project teaches you something new about community needs, budget constraints, and stakeholder ...
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The Balancing Act: Regina’s Electric Bus Decision Highlights Smart Infrastructure Planning

By Erin Moroz posted 17-07-2025
The City of Regina faced the challenge of balancing sustainability, service quality and financial reality in a high-stakes electric bus decision. Learn how they used lifecycle analysis to navigate the trade-offs without sacrificing any of the three. Watch the webinar.  “At the heart of the discussion is a deceptively simple idea: all infrastructure decisions are trade-offs between service, risk, and cost.” This core insight from a recent NAMS Canada webinar underscores the strategic challenge facing municipalities and First Nations communities across Canada: how do we deliver critical services sustainably, affordably, and with an acceptable level ...
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Train the Whole Team: Tillsonburg, Ontario's Approach to Asset Management

By Erin Moroz posted 12-07-2025
For many municipalities, asset management is still seen as the responsibility of a single department—usually engineering or finance. But in Tillsonburg , Ontario, Director of Finance and Treasurer Renato Pullia is leading a different approach: train everyone, integrate the systems, and embed asset management into the culture of the organization.   The shift started when Pullia and six colleagues completed the Professional Certificate in Asset Management Planning through NAMS Canada. What they brought back wasn’t just knowledge—it was a framework they could use to transform how the town plans, budgets, and maintains its infrastructure. ...
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Building Capacity, Not Dependence: How NAMS Canada’s Custom Training Empowers Municipalities

By Erin Moroz posted 12-07-2025
By Nicole Allen, Executive Director of NAMS Canada A mid the fast-paced demands of municipal operations, long-term infrastructure planning often takes a back seat. Yet, effective asset management is not just about maintaining infrastructure but ensuring sustainable service delivery that meets community needs today and in the future. At NAMS Canada, we recognize that time and resources are significant constraints for many municipalities, First Nations, Indigenous communities, municipal associations and communities of practice. Our custom training programs are designed with this reality in mind. A Tailored Approach to Asset Management  NAMS Canada's ...
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Why Asset Management Matters More Than Ever

By Anirudh Sharma posted 19-06-2025
In a world of tightening budgets, aging infrastructure, and rising customer expectations, asset management has become essential. It’s not just about keeping things running—it’s about making smarter decisions that ensure long-term value. Asset management is the coordinated activity of an organization to realize value from its assets . This includes everything from roads and bridges to IT systems and buildings. By understanding the condition, performance, and risk associated with each asset, organizations can prioritize maintenance, plan for renewals, and reduce unexpected failures. A structured asset management approach improves reliability, safety, and ...
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