Highlights:
Creating a comprehensive digital intelligence solution in just four days
Uplifting maintenance strategies from reactive to preventative
Aligning asset management strategy with corporate strategy
Information accuracy for better investment decision making
Background Venues NSW:
Venues NSW’s story begins in 1852 when the Sydney Cricket Ground was established by British troops stationed at the nearby Victoria Barracks. Today, and through the formation of Venues NSW in December 2020, the organisation continues that legacy as custodians of the most significant sporting and entertainment precincts in NSW – all within a short distance of more than 80 per cent of the State’s population, and in the heart of the Newcastle-Sydney-Wollongong cultural, social, and economic belt that drives eastern Australia.
Over the years, Venues NSW has hosted the biggest sporting and live entertainment events in the world, including the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. It cares for and operates five distinct precincts, six stadiums and two entertainment centres for and on behalf of the people of NSW. Its network comprises more than $4bn of public community assets, which host some 500 major sport and entertainment events in undisrupted years, attracting upwards of five million attendees each year.
As a NSW Government agency, Venues NSW works closely with partner agencies, the private sector, sports partners, and charity and community partners to reinforce NSW’s position as Australia’s premier state and build its reputation around the world.
The challenge: tackling the disruption of the pandemic
The pandemic has presented many challenges for organisations in 2021, but especially for those that rely on large gatherings of people in one place. The uncertainty throughout 2020 and 2021 led Venues NSW to look for a solution that would create the intelligence to inform evidence-based decision-making on investments, with the right parameters for risk.
"There has been a tendency for a lot of organisations to take a ‘risk-based approach’ during the pandemic and maintain the bare minimum until there was more clarity on the situation. At Venues NSW we wanted to take a holistic and original viewpoint of investment for core maintenance." explains Damien Green, Strategic Asset Manager, Venues NSW.
Venues NSW already had a mature approach to data with scheduled annual condition assessments. Previously these were performed separately, with the data stored and analysed separately. The first task was to bring together disparate data sets from previous assessments, as well as new data from CommBank Stadium to create a single register of all assets.
The solution: getting data in pole position
Good decisions start with good data, and Venues NSW’s approach to data maturity enabled the accelerated implementation of AssetFuture’s digital intelligence solution. This included creating a dynamic Asset Register within the AssetFuture platform, as well as an updated and network-wide Asset Management Plan. Through excellent stakeholder communication frameworks, and a deep understanding of program and project management, Venues NSW and AssetFuture worked to implement a digital intelligence solution in just four days, with the following aims:
Data maintenance - governance and accuracy
Data integrity is critical to the ongoing relevance of asset intelligence for Venues NSW. Regular scheduled condition assessments as well as the capture of new assets and issues are standardised processes for the team. These processes are documented in the Asset Management Plan and align with the NSW Public Sector Policy (TPP19-07 AM Policy) and ISO 55001 best practice.
Aligning corporate strategy to asset management strategy
Creating the link between Corporate Strategy and Asset Management Strategy is core to ensuring success. Venues NSW’s aim is to deliver amazing live experiences for the people of NSW. The NSW Stadia Strategy provides recommendations to target investment in stadia so that they become multi-use hubs with multiple tenants. Venues NSW is a key entity in the delivery of modern stadia and facilities of varying sizes to meet sport and major events needs across the State. The success of the Stadia Strategy also relies on quality services and facilities, transport connectivity and a highly activated entertainment precinct in the stadia surrounds.
For the Strategic Asset Management Plan, this is reflected in the maintenance standards, the risk management strategy, and the measurement of asset performance throughout its life cycle. This line of sight enables forecasting confidence for necessary funding requirements, helping drive the vision of the future for NSW.
Investment decision-making
The solution incorporates full Asset Lifecycle Intelligence capability. This has enabled a consistent and efficient approach to delivering cost, risk, and reliability forecasting. Venues NSW can enable a tailored 5 or 10-year view of cashflow and capital works requirements and forecast asset condition, including “what-if” maintenance strategy scenarios.
Moving from reactive to preventative maintenance
The combination of great baseline data and the Life Cycle Costing approach elevates Venues NSW maintenance approach from a reactive to preventative strategy, combined with frequent and targeted condition assessments, the feedback loop is continuously renewable enabling a deeper understanding of assets and how they perform.
During the data acquisition and assessment programs, COVID-19 restrictions were enforced across the state which introduced additional layers of complexity for the project. Extra precautions for all team members were implemented in accordance with the Covid Safety protocols put in place to protect all members of the community.
"Our facilities are incredibly diverse, from the 19th century Members and Ladies pavilions at the Sydney Cricket Ground to some of the newest major stadiums in the world. It is essential that our asset management solution covers the varying range of assets and the different requirements presented across our network, from much-loved and heritage-listed stands to the ultra-modern CommBank and Allianz Stadiums,” says Damien Green, Strategic Asset Manager, Venues NSW.
The outcome: gold standard asset intelligence
With the COVID-19 pandemic causing unprecedented disruption and uncertainty for public entertainment and sporting stadia, Venues NSW ensured that accurate condition assessments of the various venues it owns, coordinates, and promotes were maintained. Venues NSW also established an Asset Management Policy to align with both the NSW Public Sector Policy (TPP19-07 AM Policy) and ISO Asset Management 55001, the international standard for asset management. Even though there was reduced utilisation of many assets during the pandemic, there were still essential maintenance and capital requirements needed to ensure our venues were ready for when fans and events could return.
The longer-term viewpoint with scenario planning provides the capability to understand and plan for uncertainty in all situations. Venues NSW is now able to understand and model different investment decisions across its entire portfolio.
Future Projects: Simulating Assets
To create a more comprehensive asset portfolio, Venues NSW have partnered with AssetFuture to implement a simulated approach in emulating data for Sydney Cricket Grounds and Accor Stadium Australia via AssetSimulate. AssetSimulate is an internally developed No-Data-Capture solution which aims to simulate an asset portfolio using statistical methods on existing data to estimate the quantity of a wide range of assets tailored to different building types and industries.
Venues NSW presented a unique challenge and as an alternative approach, the AssetFuture team calculated intelligence relatively to the total seating capacity equating the quantity of individual assets on a per seat basis.
Initial analysis has revealed outputs comparable to data that was captured via on-site assessment and helped Venues NSW to significantly improve the completeness of their digital asset portfolio.