Community Facing Asset Plan: Maribyrnong City Council Asset Modeling

As a bustling suburb near Melbourne’s CBD, the City of Maribyrnong is committed to better practice and smarter infrastructure planning. Home to approximately 100,000 residents and over 140 nationalities, the challenge of effectively providing infrastructure balance means a more futuristic approach is required. With a significant portfolio valued at over AUD 1.1 billion, covering public infrastructure, parks, and community facilities, the council sought a comprehensive strategy to enhance community wellbeing while promoting sustainable urban development.

The City now has a modernised Asset Plan in collaboration with Modelve, a leading provider of life cycle modelling platform. Modelve's advanced features — including cross category scenario planning, community-centric budgeting and interactive storyboards — are uniquely designed to support the complexities of long-term asset modelling. In particular, the modelling focuses on utilisation and asset health — both of which are increasingly important given the pressures of a growing population and changing demographics.

The partnership with Modelve enabled Maribyrnong to develop an Asset Plan that effectively aligns asset management with community needs. Engagement with community was a cohesive front, deliberating on all four council strategic documents at once, supporting principles of integrated engagement.

By implementing a lifecycle approach, guided by what the community told the city, they were able to deliberate options, such as the pressures of rate-capping, debt, new build and upgrade options. Council's commitment to collecting modernised performance data for its assets greatly enhanced confidence levels and ensured alignment with national data for service levels.

One of the standout features of the Modelve platform is its capacity for creating storyboards and artefacts on the fly, and modelling corridors and nexus-style complexities in scenario analysis. This functionality was pivotal in helping the council visualise the long-term costs associated with asset maintenance and capital, fostering informed decision-making that resonates with the community’s expectations.

The City of Maribyrnong has also applied life cycle models to inform its asset valuations in line with accounting standards and recent AASB amendments. This is a huge step in bringing finance and engineering closer and providing auditors with a real-time state of assets.

As the City of Maribyrnong looks toward 2030 and beyond, the integration of the Asset Plan with financial frameworks will allow for continuous improvement in service delivery. Regular reviews and community feedback will remain essential components of the ongoing strategy, ensuring that the council meets the evolving needs of its diverse population.