Well-planned and effective engineering and infrastructure projects that are adaptable and also improve the environment and lives of people serve as benchmark examples for what society should expect from engineers, says consulting engineering firm Arup South Africa CEO Damane Hlalele.
Infrastructure has a long-term impact and engineers must consider the effect of projects and infrastructure over time, as well as the adaptation of the infrastructure in the more distant future.
However, engineering skills are often regarded as only of secondary importance, compared with the costs of a specific project, he says.
“Complex and long-term infrastructure engineering requires many interrelated skills sets, including engineering design, planning, execution, technical maintenance and human psychology, to remain effective over the multidecade life spans of infrastructure.
“But, if we design and construct projects and pieces of infrastructure that are used by the community and improve their lives, then they serve as visible examples of the quality of infrastructure development that our society requires and must demand.”
This will subsequently improve the understanding of the value that engineers and engineering firms add and, hence, improve the importance of experience and quality service criteria in the awarding of projects, says Hlalele.
However, the construction of projects often exceeds the duration of the political cycle in which they were started. Engineers will have to consider the risks of nonpayment in such cases, which waste resources and result in infrastructure projects not being completed, consequently impacting negatively on the perception of engineering projects.
“The overt support from communities for specific infrastructure projects is an effective way of overcoming the vacillation caused by five-yearly changes in the political landscape; such support and the successful completion of projects will benefit the community and improve their perception of engineering and infrastructure projects.”
Further, direct support of communities will ensure that funding for such projects remain on the municipal budgeting committee’s agendas, allowing for completion of the projects.
“The non-completion of public infrastructure projects is a common problem, which leads to time and resources being wasted. Sometimes, projects are abandoned and then completed by other contractors, which adds costs, as the engineering work has to be redone,” Hlalele adds.
Meanwhile, the effectiveness and use of infrastructure over the long-term must be determined and planned for, and the development of various areas, including densification and changing use patterns, often depends on good or poor civil engineering.
The question of available space for new modes of transport or for parks and natural areas for people living in cities is often determined by engineering work done in the distant past, he notes, adding that these long-term planning horizons make engineering not only particularly complex but also an important element of development and economic growth over the long-term.
Arup’s research division investigates the changing nature of using infrastructure and aims to predict some of the characteristics of society in future, including urbanisation and environmental considerations in infrastructure design, says Arup South Africa marketing and communications manager Charlotte Middleton.
As infrastructure impacts significantly on communities and economies over a long period, the relevance of infrastructure and its adaptation to support new uses in the future are key considerations that must be planned for, she adds.
“The infrastructure that we build must not prevent future generations from flourishing, but must support and enable new uses, which is only possible with detailed, expert engineering planning and design,” Middleton concludes.
Story highlights:
* Well-designed, constructed and used infrastructure acts as a benchmark example for other infrastructure projects.
* Examples of well-engineered projects improves the understanding of the value that engineers and engineering firms add and will bolster this criterion in the awarding of projects.