KNOWLEDGE HUB
Welcome to the Knowledge Hub—a curated space where insights, expertise, and thought leadership converge. Here, we share articles, white papers, and resources drawn from our collective experience to support the advancement of global infrastructure policy. Whether you’re a policymaker, practitioner, or researcher, our goal is to empower informed decision-making and foster innovative solutions for a more resilient and sustainable future.
WHITEPAPERS
March 2025
Creating Sponge Cities to Tackle Surface Water Flooding
This white paper, Creating Sponge Cities to Tackle Surface Water Flooding, is a timely and vital contribution to that mission. Pluvial, or surface water flooding, poses one of the greatest flood risks to homes and businesses across the UK, yet it remains one of the least understood by the public. As we continue to experience more intense and frequent rainfall, exacerbated by climate change and rapid urban development, the need for resilient, nature-based infrastructure has never been more urgent.
Feb 2025
Improving the Performance of Built Environment Systems
The built systems that underpin essential services, including transportation, energy, healthcare, water, sanitation, and communications, are the backbone of modern society.
Their complexity and interdependency have been growing for decades. Digitalisation is accelerating this process, and, in practice, we are now dealing not with stand-alone buildings and infrastructure assets, but with a complex and interconnected cyber-physical system of systems.
A Systems Approach to Infrastructure Delivery
A review of how systems thinking can be used to improve the delivery of complex infrastructure projects
When we think of great infrastructure projects, we often think of amazing feats of civil engineering: tunnels bored under cities, bridges erected over expanses of water, or railway lines criss-crossing the country. In each of these cases, they are of little use without a host of other elements working with them to create an integrated and functioning system – a railway line is of little use without signalling, trains or stations…
A Systems Approach to Infrastructure Delivery
Part 2: Putting the principles into practice
I carried out my review in the context of a series of high-profile projects that had ran into serious difficulties. Unfortunately, these problems were not one-offs. One of the most striking pieces of evidence, we discovered, was work from benchmarking consultancy Independent Project Analysis that showed that, globally, more than two-thirds of mega and major projects disappointed their owners in terms of cost, schedule or a failure to meet desired outcomes…
May 2024
Charging for Road Use White Paper
What is the future of mobility pricing?
Asking drivers to pay directly for their use of roads is back on the agenda. In the U.K., a series of recent reports from Parliament’s Transport Select Committee and a range of think tanks and research organisations have all advocated for a national pay-as-you-drive system to eventually replace Fuel Duty. In Europe, charging HGVs to use the road network is increasingly the norm, while many U.S. states are developing schemes for charging electric vehicle (EV) users…
Oct 2024
Delivering a Resilient Transport Network
Maintaining and future proofing highway infrastructure from extreme weather events
The changing climate is having a major impact on the U.K. ageing infrastructure. Flooding, higher temperatures, storms, and severe weather are more common and accelerate failures and disruptions on the network. We therefore need a more resilient transport network to ensure reliability for people’s travel and for goods deliveries. This requires future-proofing and maintenance of transport infrastructure…
Our Shared Understanding: A Circular Economy in the Built Environment
Our Shared Understanding is a summary of the core concepts that inform the transition to a circular economy. By holding these principles in common, we can align policies, strategies, and initiatives, enabling the built environment industries to work together towards a more sustainable future. We cannot achieve our vision for the built environment unless we transition to a circular economy.
Meaningful Measurement for Whole-life Carbon in Infrastructure
Some 70% of carbon emissions worldwide can be linked to infrastructure. Civil engineers—as the designers, builders, and maintainers of this infrastructure—have a duty to minimise the harmful impacts on our climate by understanding and reducing the whole-life carbon in infrastructure.
A Systems Approach to Infrastructure Delivery
The U.K. government is eager to encourage new construction technologies. They have provided significant financial incentives to site-building methods in recent years, anticipating an increase in the number of projects using this technology, notably for public infrastructure.
Modern methods of construction, often known as MMC or “smart construction,” is a quick means to provide new assists by optimising the efficiency of material and human resources.
How Finance and Digital Twins Can Shape a Better Future for the Planet
The finance industry has long been at the forefront of using data and technology to make better decisions, de-risk and improve return on investments, and create better outcomes. Tackling the big challenges of our day—such as climate change, energy, and healthcare—relies on having the right technologies and data to make the right interventions.
One of the most significant technology developments of the past decade, digital twins—a digital representation of a physical asset or system—is the key in building infrastructure that supports future generations.
Planning for Infrastructure Success
Infrastructure is the foundation upon which we build entire societies and economies. It underpins sustained well-being. The Institute of Fiscal Studies and Democracy (IFSD) has developed a best-practice framework for driving better infrastructure performance in an uncertain world, navigating trade-offs due to scarce fiscal resources, and linking assets and investments to the outcomes that citizens want.
Digital by Default
Record levels of spending on infrastructure and construction projects drive economic growth and can realise a better standard of living for communities across Australia. Leveraging the value of our infrastructure investments is an imperative when other parts of the economy are in stress. Historically, the adoption of digital technology has been slow. Decades of data insights—and the productivity improvements that come with those data insights—have been lost. There is a need to provide certainty and clarity to the industries that underpin the delivery of infrastructure.
GEMINI PAPERS
The Gemini Papers set the Centre for Digital Built Britain’s (CDBB) vision for the future, showcasing the vital role that connected digital twins play in improving social, economic, and environmental outcomes to create a better quality of life for all.
Driven by the Gemini Principles of purpose, trust, and function, the papers are a series of three documents addressing the what, why, and how of connected digital twins. CDBB has worked closely with the industry, academia, and government to explore and create solutions for the challenges facing the built environment.
The Gemini Papers present our learnings from the past five years, capturing the consensus viewpoint of the connected digital twin community—serving as a blueprint for future leaders.
CONTENT FROM THE IPA TEAM
Author
Mark Coates
Vice President of
Infrastructure
Policy Advancement
Bentley Systems
Read articles published by Mark
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Latest Article – March 2025
The Litmus Test
When developers’ shovels fail to hit the ground, the die is cast for generations – why Britain needs a radical overhaul of its planning system
Author
Matt Gijselman
Director of Infrastructure
Policy Advancement,
Asia-Pacific,
Bentley Systems
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Latest Article – March 2025
Smarter, cleaner, and ready for what comes next
Across Australia and New Zealand, the pace of decarbonisation is accelerating, driven by the uptake of rooftop solar, home batteries, electric vehicles, and demand-response systems….
Author
Rory Linehan
Director of Infrastructure
Policy Advancement,
North America,
Bentley Systems
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Latest Article – March 2025
Mediocre? The U.S. Is Falling Behind in the Global Infrastructure Race. Can We Make a Comeback? ASCE’s C grade is a wake-up call. Let’s build boldly.
Last month I joined a room full of energetic infrastructure professionals for the release of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Report Card for U.S. infrastructure. Released every four years, the report gives an overall grade for U.S. infrastructure, as well as a grade and comprehensive assessment across 18 major infrastructure categories…
Author
Daniel Galle
Director of Infrastructure
Policy Advancement,
Canada,
Bentley Systems
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Latest Article – March 2025
Breaking Interprovincial Trade Barriers: How better Infrastructure can unlock Canada’s Economic Potential
The looming threat of U.S. tariffs has reignited a long-standing question: Why do interprovincial trade barriers still exist in Canada? While Canada has prioritized securing international free trade agreements—such as CETA with Europe, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and the updated USMCA in 2020, many in 2025 are asking why trading within our own country remains so difficult.
Author
Peter Rummel
Director of Infrastructure
Policy Advancement,
Germany,
Bentley Systems
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Latest Article – March 2025
From sandpit to excavation pit – the enthusiasm remains.
Last Thursday I visited bauma one day late. Even a slight cold couldn’t stop me from visiting the world’s largest trade fair. The size is reflected in the exhibition space, which is no wonder given the dimensions of the exhibits. The number of visitors is also more than impressive, with the organizers expecting 800,000 interested parties in 2025.
Author
Amelia Burnett
Digital Financial Strategies Director in the Infrastructure Policy Advancement team at Bentley Systems
Latest Article – March 2025
Fill | Artificial Intelligence - Impact on the Built Environment
📢 Do you have eight minutes to share your views on the future of AI in construction and infrastructure?
The 2025 Global Built Environment Survey focuses on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the built environment.
INDUSTRY PUBLICATIONS
March 2025
Civil Engineering Surveyor
The journal of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors
Feb 2025
Civil Engineering Surveyor
The journal of the Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors
