Infrastructure Resilience

New Zealand’s Local Government Act requires Councils to provide for the resilience of infrastructure assets. But what does ‘resilience’ mean in this context? How can the level of resilience be assessed? What is an acceptable level of resilience? How can community expectations regarding resilience be balanced against requirements to manage growth, service standards and concerns about aging infrastructure?

This paper covers:

• The preliminary findings from research undertaken into the seismic response of underground infrastructure.
• A methodology for assessing vulnerabilities to earthquakes and for improving robustness. This methodology will then be broadened out to provide a framework for ascertaining an appropriate level of resilience to natural disasters in general.

WSP Client Director for Water
Philip has a background in the planning, condition assessment, design and rehabilitation of wastewater, stormwater and potable water systems. He has over 30 years’ experience in civil engineering in New Zealand, Asia and England.

In 2010 he was elected as a Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers of New Zealand for advancing engineering practice in the field of trenchless technology. Following the Canterbury earthquakes, he has been involved in recovery and rebuild activities in Kaiapoi and Christchurch. Philip led the research project into the Seismic Response of Underground Utilities undertaken by WSP Research and GNS commissioned by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).