Assets, Standards and Commodities

The Assets, Standards and Commodities group widened their remit to looking at asset management systems, developing harmonised standards, and the collaborative procurement of commodities, such as salt, and lighting columns.

To help achieve this, it is working hard to develop links with industry via the supply chain, with the Highway Term Maintenance Association (HTMA), the Mineral Products Association (MPA) and The Road Surface Treatment Association (RSTA) keen to be involved. Work on collaborative initiatives such as encouraging the use of Low Temperature Asphalt and Building Information Management (BIM) has begun, with the aim of producing MHA wide guidance notes and specifications. The group is also involved with the HTMA work on indexation.

The group uses its links with the MPA, and its involvement with UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG) to ensure that the current development of the Specification for Highway works into an outcome specification is reflected in a review of the MHA Harmonised Specification (HS). This review will include the 6C’s development design guide, and the Highways Maintenance and Efficiencies Programme (HMEP) standard details, hence removing any duplication. The final result will be stored on a document storage system, to make it more accessible and manageable.

There is a trend toward elements of government funding being based on each authorities approach to both collaboration and asset management (e.g. the DfT Challenge Funding). The group intends to use its links with the Midlands Service Improvement Group (MSIG) to identify asset management best practice, which will enable it to identify development and procurement opportunities. It also plans to develop the practise of sharing experiences of specific materials or treatments, e.g. Low Temperature Asphalt, and patching techniques.