Infrastructure Management and Performance (IMaP)
The develop of research consortium focused on planning, design and management of flood and coastal erosion infrastructure
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Who
is involved
The scoping of the research is being lead by Paul Sayers and Prof Jim Hall (University of Oxford) and is being supported by Dr Andy Moores and Owen Tarrant of the Environment Agency. EPSRC and NERC are supportive of the submission.
Outline vision for iMAP
iMaP aims to provide a significant programme of research (over 5 years) providing a new, richer, understanding of asset performance and how to manage asset systems efficiently and effectively.
The concept is that iMAP will be primarily funded through the research councils (subject to peer review) but shaped jointly by practitioners and researchers and co-funded by the joint programme (data, in-kind and targeted funds).
Timeline?
Uniquely, the Joint R&D programme (link) is providing funds to scope the programme of work, to ensure that it adequately represents the needs of users, is based on the latest scientific thinking and provides outputs which demonstrate research excellence and real world impact.
The iMAP submission will be developed over the coming months – including Co-I’s, industry partners and topics. Submission of the final proposal will be around December 14, with funding anticipated to commence during 2015
Supporting Rationale
In many places (in the UK and overseas) flood risk management continues to rely upon a broad range flood defence assets to appropriately manage the probability of flooding. The sunk investment and on-going expenditure on both existing and potential future assets is significant (in the order of 70% of the overall Flood and Coastal Risk Management budget for England and Wales). Targeting this investment to best effect (maximising a wide range of benefits for multiple stakeholders) is not straightforward. Without improving our underlying science, actions may be poorly targeted; improving assets that do not need to be improved and leaving those that do. Without continuing to advance our science understanding and our ability to apply this understanding to national policy through to local individual asset management choices investments may be wasted and some risks unnecessarily left unmanaged.
Whilst significant steps have been taken towards performance-based asset management (through initiatives such as FRMRC and the on-going activities under the joint programme), the necessary underpinning science to better plan, design and manage flood defences remains limited. The concept of asset systems has been embraced by the Agency but the ability to analyse the behaviour of all but the simplest of systems across multiple spatial and temporal scales remains out of reach. The temporal sequencing of storm events and deterioration, the spatial correlation in loading and asset properties (from crest levels to underlying geology) and the increasing need to proactively plan for future adaption, multifunctionality and seek innovative funding mechanisms are all recognised challenges but practitioners have limited scientific support to draw upon. Equally, planning (appraisal), design and management continue, from an analysis perspective, to be considered separately and often with value-added understanding being lost between them.
The need for more fundamental science was recently reinforced within the LWEC Flood Research Strategy, CoRDDi and the SAM TAG 5-year plan. Each highlight the need for scientific innovations (made in collaboration with practitioners) if, in the longer term asset, management is to continue to become more efficient and deliver multi-functional performance and co-benefits.
Empirical evidence for the need to support continued research through iMaP also exists. For example, in the 2007 and 2012 storms floods defence assets performed well and better that existing analysis would suggest. This reinforces the belief that greater efficiency could be achieved if we knew more, and were confident in that knowledge.
The reality of funding is that asset managers are increasingly asked to do more with less; deliver multiple benefits with single actions and appropriately plan for future adaptation. IMaP will supporting asset managers and strategist (at national and regional scales) in meeting these challenges, better justify expenditure and deliver more innovative, more efficient and better targeted actions.
The scoping of the research is being lead by Paul Sayers and Prof Jim Hall (University of Oxford) and is being supported by Dr Andy Moores and Owen Tarrant of the Environment Agency. EPSRC and NERC are supportive of the submission.
Outline vision for iMAP
iMaP aims to provide a significant programme of research (over 5 years) providing a new, richer, understanding of asset performance and how to manage asset systems efficiently and effectively.
The concept is that iMAP will be primarily funded through the research councils (subject to peer review) but shaped jointly by practitioners and researchers and co-funded by the joint programme (data, in-kind and targeted funds).
Timeline?
Uniquely, the Joint R&D programme (link) is providing funds to scope the programme of work, to ensure that it adequately represents the needs of users, is based on the latest scientific thinking and provides outputs which demonstrate research excellence and real world impact.
The iMAP submission will be developed over the coming months – including Co-I’s, industry partners and topics. Submission of the final proposal will be around December 14, with funding anticipated to commence during 2015
Supporting Rationale
In many places (in the UK and overseas) flood risk management continues to rely upon a broad range flood defence assets to appropriately manage the probability of flooding. The sunk investment and on-going expenditure on both existing and potential future assets is significant (in the order of 70% of the overall Flood and Coastal Risk Management budget for England and Wales). Targeting this investment to best effect (maximising a wide range of benefits for multiple stakeholders) is not straightforward. Without improving our underlying science, actions may be poorly targeted; improving assets that do not need to be improved and leaving those that do. Without continuing to advance our science understanding and our ability to apply this understanding to national policy through to local individual asset management choices investments may be wasted and some risks unnecessarily left unmanaged.
Whilst significant steps have been taken towards performance-based asset management (through initiatives such as FRMRC and the on-going activities under the joint programme), the necessary underpinning science to better plan, design and manage flood defences remains limited. The concept of asset systems has been embraced by the Agency but the ability to analyse the behaviour of all but the simplest of systems across multiple spatial and temporal scales remains out of reach. The temporal sequencing of storm events and deterioration, the spatial correlation in loading and asset properties (from crest levels to underlying geology) and the increasing need to proactively plan for future adaption, multifunctionality and seek innovative funding mechanisms are all recognised challenges but practitioners have limited scientific support to draw upon. Equally, planning (appraisal), design and management continue, from an analysis perspective, to be considered separately and often with value-added understanding being lost between them.
The need for more fundamental science was recently reinforced within the LWEC Flood Research Strategy, CoRDDi and the SAM TAG 5-year plan. Each highlight the need for scientific innovations (made in collaboration with practitioners) if, in the longer term asset, management is to continue to become more efficient and deliver multi-functional performance and co-benefits.
Empirical evidence for the need to support continued research through iMaP also exists. For example, in the 2007 and 2012 storms floods defence assets performed well and better that existing analysis would suggest. This reinforces the belief that greater efficiency could be achieved if we knew more, and were confident in that knowledge.
The reality of funding is that asset managers are increasingly asked to do more with less; deliver multiple benefits with single actions and appropriately plan for future adaptation. IMaP will supporting asset managers and strategist (at national and regional scales) in meeting these challenges, better justify expenditure and deliver more innovative, more efficient and better targeted actions.