Laurie Langford, Technical Director – Water, reflects on how cross-sector experience can help water utilities deliver smarter, more resilient outcomes.

Leading Melbourne’s most digitally advanced transport initiative: M80 Ring Road

The M80 Ring Road upgrade stands out as a career-defining chapter. It followed a secondment leading a digital transformation program, so not only was it a technically complex project with multi-agency coordination and strong community expectations, it required further expansion of my skill set during that time.

In that digital design leadership role, I helped guide Melbourne’s most digitally advanced transport initiative. The experience proved the power of digital to transform how we deliver.

Another aspect of the project that stands out to me is the focus on co-design and community engagement. We spent a lot of time working with representatives of the Wurundjeri peoples to incorporate their perspectives and design inputs. We wanted to ensure that their voices were heard and reflected in the outcome. The 6 Layers of Country were incorporated into the design in elements like colours, shared use path experience, tree retention and consolidation of utilities. What the landscape and urban design team achieved was powerful for the whole team because it brought a deeper sense of purpose. Codesigned landscape outcomes enhance community ownership and trust, a model that can strengthen stakeholder relationships in water infrastructure delivery.

Where digital tools make the difference

Sustainability is an area where digital tools can make a big difference. On the M80 Ring Road, we used digital models to analyse materials and quantities, incorporating carbon capture and sustainability targets into the design process.

We explored optimisation options, bringing sustainability to the forefront. By addressing these challenges early rather than retrofitting towards the end, we achieved better outcomes. This proactive approach can and should be applied more broadly.

Transport and water: Shared DNA, shared challenges

In their core DNA, you could say transport and water are the same: complex systems, high public value and scrutiny, and the need for clear governance and trust between delivery partners.

In both the water and transport sectors, our true clients are the end users, our customers, commuters and wider community. There is a great responsibility in providing efficient solutions that truly meet the requirements of these users and minimise risks. Achieving this is made possible through effective communication of the ‘why’. We then must translate those decisions into accessible language for all to understand.

My work leading digital delivery and asset management programs taught me how to use technology not just for efficiency, but for smarter lifecycle outcomes. In water, that means helping utilities plan, build and operate assets with greater accuracy and long-term resilience, ensuring every dollar invested delivers sustained community benefit and considers whole of life costs.

I also bring my passion for addressing strategic challenges alongside clients and a collaborative, future-focused approach that’s grounded in purpose.

Flexibility and foresight in the rapidly changing world of water

Staying ahead of the rapidly evolving water sector means one thing: adaptability. Long-term planning now requires flexibility — not just in delivery, but how we define success. While we can’t always predict the end goal, we can use digital tools to model scenarios, test assumptions, and adapt plans in real time. This type of agile planning is essential for our water utilities, enabling them to respond to changing conditions while still delivering resilient, community-focused outcomes.

Asset management, when paired with digital innovation, is an area with enormous potential. When leading the Victoria Department of Transport’s digital transformation program, I focused on two main aspects: digital delivery and asset management. In digital delivery, I explored how technology could streamline processes and deliver tangible benefits. In asset management, we worked to define the asset information requirements that enable intelligent decision making, management and operations. The key is taking a whole-of-life-cycle approach and optimising through digital inputs, ensuring sustainability and efficiency are built into the process from the start.

A career connected to values

I’m lucky to have had many meaningful moments throughout my career across projects.

There’s something special about walking past something you helped create. Just recently, I passed a copse of gum trees along the Yarra River in Melbourne, planted years ago as part of a public open space project I managed. Back then, they were tiny saplings. Now, they stand tall, a reminder of the lasting impact of our work.

But it’s not just the physical outcomes that matter. Work should be fun, and building a good culture makes all the difference. During my time on the Level Crossing Removal Program, we built a culture that was vibrant, inclusive and genuinely fun. That sense of connection extended to clients too. Trivia nights and casual catchups helped build trust and partnership, making the work more rewarding.

At the end of the day, it’s those little things. The gum trees that grew tall, the laughter over cake competitions, the shared meals and the connections made at trivia that stand out. They remind me that our work isn’t just about delivering projects, but about creating lasting impact and meaningful relationships.

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One way our team has been using innovation to improve the quality of digital deliverables is through automation and digital centered procedures. Automation for day-to-day design has resulted in high quality outputs, cost reductions, and design certainty. It also allows for improved cross-regional collaboration spanning across our global business lines.

As the new Head of Digital for the Asia region, I work with the business to put digital adoption strategies in place for the entire region. We may have different requirements and tools across business lines, but we’re all seeing a fundamental shift in how we support our clients on their digital transformation journey. We’ve established the Asia digital consulting practice which partners with clients to create strategies for projects and programs that will support our client’s success into the future. By creating mutual digital goals to deliver projects in a more effective way we enhance and improve digital adoption for ArchTam and our clients.  

The BIM Harmonization project is a great example of how our new digital consulting practice helps clients on their digital journey. We worked with the client to create a harmonized standard for use in all future public works deliverables. The new standard enables the sharing of information regardless of the technical software used, which is especially useful for BIM and GIS disciplines. As a result of the project it will be easier for the client to make assessments across their entire program, and they know what to expect from the models because they are standardized.  

Cities today face unique challenges which can be solved with innovation and the use of digital strategies to pre-empt risks and digitize city assets. A recently published Digital Cities report offers perspectives from myself and other global leaders at ArchTam about solving these unique challenges. We’ve found there are also numerous opportunities for urban planners to work holistically in the expansion and alignment of urban underground spaces by using advanced technologies such as the latest VR and photogrammetry technologies together with 3D spatial technologies. The Asia leadership group contributed to a chapter in the Underground Cities publication which discusses the future of underground space development. In Hong Kong, we saw a lot of excitement over the Fast Track CityHack which we hosted earlier this month. The event helped introduce new solutions to accelerate better outcomes for how Hong Kong can simultaneously provide livability for its people while supporting the sustainability of our planet. It’s an exciting time to work in the AEC industry, and I’m so proud of the way ArchTam is part of the conversation transforming our industry and moving into the digital future.

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The coronavirus pandemic pushed the digital world forward as we worked collectively to find innovative solutions to keep us connected. However, it exposed and amplified the existing digital divide between areas with established broadband infrastructure and those without. This disparity grew as everything from remote learning, remote working, and telehealth activities required an effective digital connection. Reaching far beyond sheer convenience, an affordable and effective means to connect to data and information is now essential as it drives and influences our access to critical applications, innovation and opportunity.

In most cities across the United States, state, local and private infrastructure are separate or loosely connected, with organizations largely deploying their own broadband infrastructures. To advance our communities, we must collectively ensure quality and accessibility to these broadband networks, which can be achieved by converging what we refer to as public-private broadband stacks.

The Broadband Stack is the combination of physical infrastructures and technologies that public and private sector service providers use to connect to devices, locations, end-users and communities in order to improve quality of life experiences, enhance public safety initiatives, and increase economic development activities.

Image: The Broadband Stack

One part of the stack, or one entity, is not enough to be able to bridge this divide. A single form of implementation will not fix it, either. It requires the total partnership, integration, innovation and convergence of the entire broadband stack to create meaningful impacts on our communities, campuses and cities. This will ensure that everyone can address their most fundamental and critical needs and initiatives.

Moving toward converged stacks increases operational capability and lowers costs by reducing parallel infrastructures. The coalescing of state, local and private broadband networks  explores the potential that exists for these organizations to partner with one another in order to lay the foundation for wireless mobility, applications and transport needed to unlock access to knowledge, improvement and advancement for all.

Image: Convergence

We can strategically plan and design converged networks that meet the increasing needs for true broadband connectivity. By helping with governance and increasing interoperability, we can deliver significant cost savings for our clients while enhancing social equity for unserved and underserved communities. At present, many organizations operate in separate stacks, each having their own infrastructure. The goal is to move in the direction of a converged stack, which coalesces state, local and private networks and optimizes them through innovative and evolving partnerships. These partnerships guide a greater strategy of aggregation and allows meaningful accessibility through integrated and converged broadband infrastructures. Additionally, technology and public initiatives often extend beyond the means and reach of one organization or agency. These converged partnerships can maximize the existing budgets, unlock economic potential, and strengthen connection for those that are impacted by this digital divide.

Image: Planning for Impact

The pandemic has shown us the importance of enabling remote working, learning and living. An evolution in our approach will allow us to achieve the greatest impact in ensuring equity and connectivity for our communities, campuses, and cities. This transformation in partnership demonstrates the importance of integrating and converging broadband stacks to create positive social outcomes and advancing our communities. Getting to the possible is going beyond our self-imposed limits and capacity of our traditional partnerships, infrastructures and approaches so we can realize the full potential of achieving social equity and economic development opportunity, and improving the quality of life for all.

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The coronavirus crisis has shown just how essential innovation is. In response to the pandemic, we moved the majority of our 14,000 staff across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to remote working — in some cases practically overnight. That was possible because we’d already invested in the technology and infrastructure to allow our teams to work remotely and with agility. However, we never anticipated working from home at this scale. When the pandemic first began, several of our leaders had reservations as to how this would work for a prolonged period of time for so many people. We’ve been able to not only sustain in this new working arrangement for more than three months, but also to thrive.

The coronavirus has forced the pace of change — and we need to keep that up. The lockdowns have prompted us to migrate more projects to secure cloud-based platforms and massively accelerate our BIM360 virtual training program to reach more than 400 people in each session. In doing so, we’ve been able to complete six months of in-person training in just a few weeks!

We’ve also seen how digital tools have enabled the super-rapid completion of projects during this crisis. We delivered the NHS Louisa Jordan coronavirus field hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, with zero defects in just three weeks, thanks to embedding dynamic digital tools to record and monitor defects in real time.

Overall outcomes of ArchTam’s digital transformation

The adoption of digital tools and processes has helped us work faster, smarter and better, and our clients are benefiting from improvements in quality, cost and schedule. We’re continually innovating and developing our own tools and processes such as the Reality Capture tool which visually captures on-site construction progress in minutes, and provides open access to all stakeholders to share information easily and efficiently.

I should also highlight a couple of other brilliant solutions such as the Playbook information management platform we’ve developed for LinkedIn and others, and the virtual public consultation tool developed by VR Lead Andy Thomas that is now being used by a number of councils in the UK, Public Health England and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We have talented, insightful people who are bringing digital and innovation to the forefront of how we deliver spot-on solutions for our clients’ challenges.

Next steps

A full transition to making digital “business as usual” is the next step, and to do this we need to focus on skills. We want everyone at ArchTam to be able to design for and in the future. The 2D to 3D upskilling program we’re launching this year for more than1,000 people across EMEA is ambitious, but essential, and I’m excited to see where it will take us.

Upskilling more of our people is key to our success and we are embedding a strong digital and innovation culture through internal competitions such as our Mindblazer and Global Challenge programs. Ian Small, our EMEA Innovation Champion, has been sourcing fantastic solutions through these programs, which encourage innovation and ideas from any employee in any part of the company. Our EMEA Digital Project Delivery team has then been driving this innovation into projects, in partnership with our teams and clients. We’re seeing great outcomes as a result, such as the UK’s first Digital ES for the A303 project for Highways England.

The post-coronavirus recovery

Digital adoption is really a means to transforming outcomes for communities, and our off-site volumetric solution, INNO, that has been developed with Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, is helping to accelerate the delivery of much needed homes. Working virtually in BIM360, producing Design for Manufacture and Assemblydetailing, we’re able to deliver higher quality, low-carbon homes, in half the time. I’m hoping that success will breed further success and increase digital adoption in our industry.

Once clients start experiencing the benefits — the savings, collaboration, efficiencies, better environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes, and more effective operation and maintenance — we’ll start to tip the scales toward digital and innovation as commonplace in the construction industry.

We’re also supporting our clients in their digital transformation journeys as well as our own — delivering a more resilient way of working in the post-coronavirus recovery. The recent crisis has accelerated the transition and we need to build on that momentum. We are proud of the market-leading work we are delivering with the development and use of digital libraries and common data environments, both of which were invaluable to keep design and collaboration going in a virtual environment. As we come out of this crisis we can’t go back to business as usual — we want to accelerate the industry’s digital transformation and support communities in their recovery.

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