Consultancy

WDM® is the UK’s leading provider of highway surveys and monitoring equipment. In order to enable our clients to maximise the use of survey data the WDM® consultancy services was developed a number of years ago. This group has a unique understanding of highway maintenance management and asset management.

The Consultancy team is led by Chartered Civil Engineers working within an ISO 9001:2000 third party accredited quality system and provides specialist assistance and support to central and local government and the private sector to manage and maintain their highway assets.

The specialist advice available is ideal for those clients who can no longer justify in-house expertise in all areas to deliver effective services.

The Consultancy team is experienced in producing cost effective solutions and expertise covering asset management; condition assessment, particularly relating to skidding resistance policies; financial modelling and long term programmes of maintenance. The team also supports knowledge transfer, providing training based on both national and international experience.

Worldwide

WDM® provides survey services worldwide. The survey work is often supported by consultancy services and works with clients to develop policies and management systems for safer roads and more cost effective highway maintenance processes. Work has been undertaken throughout Europe, operated and co-ordinated through our Bristol Head Office, as well as in the Far East and Australasia.

Work in the Far East and Australasia is co-ordinated through the Company’s Office in Wellington, New Zealand.
Telephone: +64 (0)4 233 6221,
Mobile: + 64 (0)21 66 5027,
Address: PO Box 2494, Wellington, New Zealand

Asset Management

WDM® has worked for many years in Australia and New Zealand, giving the Consultancy team invaluable insight into the experience gained by those countries, which is now generally accepted as currently setting the benchmark for this type of work. The Company has also been successful in attracting experienced asset management engineers from this area to join them in the UK.

The Consultancy team supplies expert advice and support for the development of Highway Asset Management Plans and the Company is particularly experienced in implementing these plans forward into practice.

Skid Resistance Strategy

The time when lack of knowledge of skid resistance could be used as a defence against claims for damages because of insufficient road surface friction has long gone. If an authority does not know the skid resistance it cannot manage the safety of its network.

Any authority that has not set standards cannot say a particular level of skid resistance is safe. Without knowledge, and a clear policy based on acceptable standards, highway authorities remain liable and likely to have to accept liability, even when liability is not justified.

Network-Referencing

Effective asset management relies on accurate and up-to-date network referencing. With the introduction of the Localism Bill in the UK, and the Department for Transport’s move from the use of road class to road hierarchy, it is appropriate to audit the current network and review to determine if it remains fit-for-purpose in the current economic climate.

The WDM® Consultancy team has wide experience of these tasks, particularly in bringing networks up-to-date, and also in working with local teams to set maintenance hierarchies.

The team has developed particular skills and procedures for defining SCRIM site category and validating the input.

Useful links: DfT Road Network Policy Consultation http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/closed/2011-02/roadnetworkconsultation.pdf

Analysis and Reporting

The WDM® Consultancy team has a long held reputation for clear understanding of structural deterioration of flexible pavements. It has in-depth expertise of analysing Deflectograph and FWD measurements, together with the interpretation of Ground Penetrating Radar, to define structural strengthening requirements.

The link between reduction in service level or structural capacity and an increase in routine maintenance costs has been persuasive, but largely based on anecdotal evidence. The Consultancy team has developed procedures for quantifying that relationship, which can be used in the argument for capital funding to save on routine budgets later.

Scheme Identification and Prioritisation

Implementing an effective Highway Asset Management Strategy relies upon robust systems for scheme identification and assessment. Increasingly highway authorities need to demonstrate that they are achieving value for money from the schemes that they carry out. The WDM® consultancy has extensive experience of working with highway authorities in developing and improving scheme identification.

Often authorities have SCANNER, SCRIM and Deflectograph data, visual condition data and other data sources that are used as part of scheme identification. Developing a prioritised list that considers all available data can be a complex task. The WDM® consultancy has developed a number of tools and techniques to help authorities in developing scheme lists.

Training

WDM® staff regularly provide training courses covering all aspects of the Company’s work as well as supporting national conferences. The Company has also taken a leading role in organising and running International Conferences with the theme of Safer Roads.

Courses are run either in a client’s office, at the Company’s Head Office in Bristol or at a regional centre. The course content is specifically tailored to the expected audience and can either be hands on small groups, largely lectures with workshops, largely workshops or a combination of all three. Typical examples of recent courses include:

The Complete Management Solution

Worldwide

Asset Management

Skid Resistance Strategy

Network-Referencing

Analysis and Reporting

Scheme Identification and Prioritisation

Training

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