Newcastle University is building a set of research laboratories on its Science Central campus to test how urban water systems interact with other city infrastructure—such as energy grids and transport networks—under real-world conditions. This matters because the UK must invest heavily in its ageing infrastructure over the next 50 years, yet planners currently lack the tools to predict how a failure in one system (for example, a flood overwhelming a drainage network) might cascade into others, such as power outages or road closures. The facilities will allow researchers to simulate these interdependencies at scale, using physical models of surface water management linked to digital twins of other city systems. If the research succeeds, it could reduce the cost of infrastructure ownership and improve resilience against extreme weather events. The work is part of the wider UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure & Cities (UKCRIC), a national network spanning 14 universities that aims to give government and industry the evidence base to make smarter, more coordinated infrastructure investments.
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The UK Collaboratorium for Research in Infrastructure & Cities (UKCRIC) will provide leadership and support for the development and growth of a coordinated and coherent, world class, UK-based national infrastructure research community, spanning at least 14 universities. It will engage government, city and commercial policy makers, investors, citizens and academia in a joint venture that drives innovation and value creation in the exploitation of services provided by national infrastructure. Through central coordination, providing a focal point for knowledge transfer, UKCRIC will support a step-change in the nation's approach to infrastructure investment. A key UKCRIC objective is, through the coordinated investment in a range of national research facilities, to directly address the first four Engineering Grand Challenges prioritised by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in 2015: (i) Sustainable engineering solutions to provide water for all; (ii) Future Cities; (iii) Engineering across length scales; and, (iv) Identifying risk and building resilience into engineered systems. This application is for a capital investment contribution towards the development of urban infrastructure engineering research facilities to be based on Newcastle University's Science Central campus development. This will provide world class, and unique, research facilities in surface water management. Furthermore, by providing the research infrastructure to interconnect multiple infrastructure systems UKCRIC@Newcastle will create a unique 'integrated infrastructure' research facility to understand system integration and infrastructure interdependencies. As a result of these activities, UKCRIC@Newcastle will support the wider UKCRIC aims to: 1 Generate new knowledge, technologies and digital solutions that reduce the risk of, and add value to, the very large investments in infrastructure that will have to be made over the next 50 years; 2 Develop innovative solutions, including digital solutions, to infrastructure problems that reduce the cost of ownership of infrastructure and enhance the value of derived services; 3 Radically improve the resilience of infrastructure systems and services against extreme events; 4 Grow and maintain the capacity and capability of infrastructure professionals so as to enhance domestic and global commercial market opportunities.
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