In the world of asset management, risk has never been far from view. But in 2025, its shape, scale and consequences are rapidly evolving.
There are more stresses than ever on asset owners,” says Clara Owen, National Asset Management Lead at Arcadis.
“Ageing infrastructure, climate change, increased performance expectations, budget constraints, ESG [environmental, social, and governance] requirements – it’s all getting more complex. Therefore, the way we manage risk has to evolve.”
Owen, a veteran of the rail and bridges sector with more than two decades in strategic advisory, believes that the traditional asset management structure – balancing cost, performance and risk – is under strain.
With budgets being driven down and performance expectations rising, risk is now the only lever many organisations can realistically pull. However, the experts say that pulling it blindly, or failing to read it clearly, can carry catastrophic consequences.
Owen points to the 1977 Granville train disaster as a case in point, wherein a crowded commuter train derailed and hit a bridge, killing 83 people, highlighting deadly consequences of poor maintenance and ignored risk.
“The performance objective was to get the train in on time. Budgets were being contained. But the risk – the real probability that something would go wrong – wasn’t acted on.”
RISK EVOLVES FROM REACTIVE TO INFORMED
Asset management is no longer just about maintaining. It is about making informed, risk-based decisions in environments that are not only ageing but increasingly uncertain.
Owen likens the challenge to navigating stairs in the dark: “You don’t rip out the staircase. You look at how to manage the risk of using it – what’s changed, where the hazards are, does it still serve its purpose, and what the consequences might be,” she says.
A smarter approach, she argues, means embedding risk thinking through every stage of the asset lifecycle, from upfront planning to day-to-day operations.
“Good governance, a skilled team, clear roles, high-quality data, and the right tools – that’s what effective risk management looks like today,” she says.
This approach is increasingly being codified in international standards like ISO 55000, which Owen describes as a framework that “brings asset management to the boardroom” and “aligns all involved departments to focus on the same value and outcomes”.
The latest iteration of the standard strengthens the emphasis on risk-based decisions, encouraging organisations to turn data into real insights, not just dashboards.
CHALLENGING COMPLIANCE CULTURE
This push toward more dynamic, evidence-based risk management faces cultural inertia. “Too often, standards written 30 or 40 years ago are still being followed without question,” Owen says.
“Visual inspections every two years might meet compliance, but that doesn’t mean you’re managing the risk.”
In fact, Owen argues that overreliance on outdated standards can become a risk in itself.
“They’re often used as a shield. If something fails, you can say, ‘Well, I followed the standard.’ But does that mean you’ve truly done your duty of care?”
She points to the Hammersmith Bridge closure in London and several bridge collapses in the United States (Pittsburgh and the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore), Ponte Morandi Bridge in Europe (Genoa, Italy) and the recent Gambhira Bridge Collapse in India as wake-up calls for the industry. In all cases, authorities had followed legacy inspection protocols, yet critical structural issues went undetected until it was too late.
New technologies, such as Arcadis Bridge Health, which capture and interpret key data streams, now offer the chance to move beyond traditional methods. The challenge for the industry is to assess these innovations against legacy approaches and ask whether we are truly doing enough to prevent failures before it’s too late.
The results were costly shutdowns, public disruption, and a scramble to modernise.
“That’s the point,” Owen says.
“Standards have to evolve, because the risk environment has – and so must the way we manage the resilience and safety of our assets for the future.”
LEARNING FROM OTHER SECTORS
Imagining what the future might look like, Owen points to sectors such as healthcare for inspiration.
“In medicine, patients are triaged based on risk. They use diagnostics, models, evidence-based protocols. That’s where infrastructure asset management needs to head,” she says.
It means moving beyond condition-based assessment alone to embrace a systems-thinking approach, potentially incorporating behavioural, environmental and system-level insights to truly understand infrastructure risk.
Arcadis, for instance, recently partnered with Michelin in the United Kingdom (UK) to analyse driver behaviour data (including braking, speed and acceleration) alongside road surface data to predict crash risks.
“It’s not just reacting to past crashes,” Owen explains. “It’s about using artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to pre-empt risk.”
This pilot in the UK was highly commended at the Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportations national awards and unlocked millions in additional road safety funding.
DATA IS AN ASSET
Owen looks at data, like infrastructure itself, as a valuable asset that needs proper care.
“Just as we manage the lifecycle of an asset, we need to manage the lifecycle of data. It should be high quality, up to date, structured, fit for purpose, and used,” she says.
Too often, Owen says, organisations collect huge volumes of data but fail to translate it into decisions.
“We worked with one client transitioning from a capital works phase to operations. They were preparing to collect 150 fields of data – but after engaging the operational team, it turned out they only needed 27,” she says.
Collecting the right data (rather than just more data), asking the right questions, analysing the data effectively, leveraging the right technology and involving the right people turns information into foresight – minimising and preventing risks, says Owen.
SHIFTING THE CULTURE
Still, culture remains one of the biggest barriers.
“You can have the best tools and data in the world, but if your mindset hasn’t shifted to whole-of-lifecycle thinking, you’ll be stuck,” Owen warns.
This mindset shift starts at the top. Boards and senior leaders must embed asset risk into strategic planning and align it with organisational values – whether those are community service, financial return, or ESG outcomes.
“As transformation partners, Arcadis has supported many clients in the critical process of clearly defining and articulating their value frameworks – in doing so, we’ve observed how this clarity unlocks deeper strategic insights and fosters a more comprehensive understanding of risk,” says Owen.
“If you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve – what your community, financial or environmental priorities are – you can’t assess risk properly. You’ll default to compliance.”
CLIMATE CHANGE AS CATALYST
One force compelling organisations to reassess their risk posture is climate change. In Owen’s experience, it’s now universally acknowledged as a top risk.
“In a recent global survey, every respondent ranked climate change as the key risk factor for their infrastructure,” she says.
Extreme weather is outstripping the assumptions behind traditional asset design, creating stressors engineers never planned for. Yet many systems still resist “betterment” – investing in resilience during rehabilitation.
This leaves assets repaired to yesterday’s standards while today’s risks escalate. Combined with rising performance pressures, Owen says the issue is unavoidable: “Is the money being spent wisely, and is the balance between short-term fixes and long-term resilience really being maintained?”
“We know the risks, but until we treat all risk data as essential for decision-making rather than optional for consideration, we’ll continue to see preventable failures repeated,” Owen says.
FUTURE-READY RISK MANAGEMENT
According to Owen, a future-ready approach to asset risk is built on three pillars: a clear value framework, a whole-of-lifecycle mindset, and strong data governance – augmented by advanced analytics, technology integration and a focus on sustainability and resilience.
“It starts at the beginning,” she says. “You need to define what value looks like for your organisation. Then align your strategy, processes and systems to support that. And underpin it all with good data, the right digital tools, and collaboration.”
She also sees enormous promise in automation and artificial intelligence.
“Human eyes will always have limits. Tools can process thousands of data points, categorise defects by criticality, and help you decide what matters,” Owen says.
Ultimately, Owen’s message is not about chasing perfection but about becoming more informed and intentional.
“Risk is dynamic. It’s evolving. The best we can do is understand it clearly, manage it proactively, and be willing to challenge old ways of thinking,” she says.
For asset owners across Australia and beyond, the question is no longer just whether to reassess risk, but how urgently they are prepared to do it.
