The two firms tasked with maintaining the M25 – Connect Plus (CP) and Connect Plus Services (CPS) – have achieved certification to the international standard for asset management.
CPS has a 30-year Design Build Finance and Operate contract with CP on behalf of Highways England. Together, CP and CPS are directly responsible for end-to-end asset management. This includes making decisions on how best to invest £1.7bn in more than 140,000 assets that comprise the M25 network over the 30-year contract.
External auditor Lloyds Register has confirmed that CP and CPS’ integrated asset management system meets the requirements of ISO 55001:2014.
The asset management system is designed to cope with the scale and complexity of the M25 environment. It underpins asset inspection and, through bespoke decision support tools, generates plans to optimise the delivery of around £50m of asset renewal work every year, through a BS 11001 certified framework.
CPS managing director Brian Johns said: ‘We’ve made a significant investment in this system because we could see the benefits in optimising our life cycle interventions over the long duration of our contract. We are in a unique position to offer our expertise to assist other asset managers in the development and operation of an asset management systems that will produce similar long-term benefits to their business.’
The ISO 55001 standard is relatively new and has to date been mainly adopted by airports and water companies in the UK. CPS said its application to the M25 asset management system has helped enhance its system even further. The certification process provided the assurance of an external quality assessment of the system for shareholders and, Highways England.
CPS said the process of aligning with the standard was a fully collaborative exercise between it and CP ensuring integration of all users across all elements of the system and eradicating duplication.
CPS is the maintenance and operating business working on the M25 on behalf of CP. CPS is a consortium of Balfour Beatty, Atkins and Egis Road Operation UK and CP is a consortium comprising Balfour Beatty, Edge Orbital and Egis Road Operation UK.
