Timing the Renewal Intervention

The economic point at which the renewal strategy can be employed may be easily determined for some assets, but it can be more difficult for others.

For example, similar roads will have a similar consequence of failure and renewal (treatment) cost. Whereas a sewer may have radically different maintenance costs and the consequences of failures will vary significantly along the length of the asset.

The key impact on the timing of such intervention is determining when the economic savings or benefits overcome the expenditure and costs of the renewal activity.

Although the benefits vary for different assets the key benefits generally relate to the:

• Extension of life
• Reduction in actual maintenance costs
• Reduction in risk cost exposure.

The first benefit is relatively constant for all similar assets; however the latter two items are likely to vary significantly even with similar assets and therefore become the key driver for determining the actual time at which the intervention is justified.

The next step required is to determine when the treatment option should be undertaken, e.g. the optimal intervention point.