The role of digital twins in influencing infrastructure investment

Think of digital twins in a construction setting and what usually comes to mind is a digital representation of physical asset that aids planning, design, delivery and operation of the infrastructure but what if they were used to help drive informed investment decisions too?

The investment opportunity is subject of the latest episode of The Engineers Collective. At the start of the episode NCE editor Claire Smith is joined by former executive director of the Centre for Digital Built Britain, Alexandra Bolton who discusses the findings of some work with the finance industry to look at the broader role of digital twins. Later on Claire looks at how the Cross River Rail project in Brisbane is putting the financial planning aspect of digital twins into action and speaks to the project’s CEO Graeme Newton and digital delivery manager Andrew Curthoys.

Before looking at the project case study, Claire and Alexandra explore the background behind the How finance and digital twins shape a better future for the planet report and look at the recommendations from the report that aim to drive greater use of digital twins for broader benefits and better outcomes.

In Brisbane, Claire discovers from Graeme and Andrew that Cross River Rail is already helping to drive investment decisions beyond the new rail route, even though it is not due to open for several years. According to Graeme, the data generated by the project’s digital twin - as well as the infrastructure itself - was a key part of the city winning the bid to host the 2032 Olympic Games.

One of the key messages from Alexandra, Graeme and Andrew is that infrastructure clients need to be bold when making the decision to use digital twins and take a leap of faith around the use of data that they can bring together, rather than trying to predict how it will be used in the future.

 

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