New ICE Report: ‘A Systems Approach to Infrastructure’

Published December 2020.

Download the full ICE report here.

In March 2020, ICE asked Andrew McNaughton, Chief Operating Officer of consultancy Systra and former Chief Executive Officer of construction firm Balfour Beatty,
to lead a review into the benefits of applying systems thinking to the delivery of complex, major infrastructure projects. The review steering group, made up of key industry thought-leaders, was asked to assess the impact of accelerating technological change and the different approaches taken in adjacent industries to address these changes.

Between April and October 2020, ICE carried out more than 30 interviews with project practitioners from the infrastructure, aerospace, defence, oil and gas, and technology sectors. A detailed literature review was also conducted with the help of Professor Andrew Davies, one of the UK’s leading academic specialists in systems integration and complex projects.

ICE has used this insight to create a Systems Approach to Infrastructure Delivery (SAID) that can be used to help deliver better outcomes for infrastructure owners and users. A second phase of the review will develop and test the SAID model. Insight from Phase Two will be gathered by ICE in 2021.