The University of Nottingham has joined forces with Network Rail to launch a new multi-million pound research programme in infrastructure asset management.

The programme will be headed by a new professorial position in the Department of Civil Engineering at Nottingham, jointly-sponsored by Network Rail and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

A growing number of asset-intensive sectors in the UK and overseas - for example utility networks, power stations, railway and road infrastructure, airports, oil and gas installations, manufacturing and process plants – are adopting the principles of asset management.

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The focus of the new research will be to improve the framework for optimising and implementing major decisions on the operation, maintenance, renewal and enhancement of physical assets like these, in order to deliver a safe, economic infrastructure. These decisions drive tens of billions of pounds of engineering expenditure each year in the UK alone and have impacts on outputs of national significance.

Professor Andrew McNaughton, Chief Engineer at Network Rail, said: "The whole area of asset management is still in its infancy and the potential benefits far exceed the considerable gains that have been delivered to date. This investment will enable us to push forward the boundaries of knowledge in infrastructure asset management."

The research programme will be based within the Nottingham Transportation Engineering Centre (NTEC), at Nottingham's Department of Civil Engineering which is headed by Professor Andrew Collop. It will fit in well with NTEC's plans to develop highway asset management.

(CD/JM)