Technology Adoption in UK Bridges,
Highways, and Railways
FEATURED PAPER
By Reda Al-Baldawi i and Khamis Al-Romaimi ii
i bj06ar@student.sunderland.ac.uk,
ii khamis.al-romaimi@sunderland.ac.uk
Faculty of Business and Technology
School of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Sunderland. UK
Abstract
While various British Standards and international frameworks exist to assist in the project management of smart infrastructure projects, they do not contribute to the discussion of the means of governing digital infrastructure adoption within these projects. The purpose of this article is to discuss three projects that are developing smart infrastructure: the construction of a digital twin for the Staffordshire bridge of Network Rail, the construction of a digital twin for the A1(M) motorway, and the development of the High Speed Two (HS2) railway between major cities of the United Kingdom. Each of these projects will be reviewed for their compliance with British Standards, digital tools, and governance models for each project. The study employed theories of program and project management (P/PM) to review these projects: Benefits Realization Management (BRM), the Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3), models of change management (Kotter; ADKAR), and the framework for Enterprise Governance of IT (EGIT). Each of these theories allows for an understanding of the digital adoption of infrastructure within each of these projects, as well as the extent to which each is embedded within a governing body. Each of the projects revealed the extent to which digital technology adoption is embedded within a governing body for smart infrastructure projects. The results of these analyses permit an understanding of how the standards and frameworks for governing smart infrastructure projects are necessary but not sufficient for effective project management, and provides a framework for P/PM staff to address the gaps in existing frameworks.
Keywords: smart infrastructure; asset management; BIM; digital twin; British Standards; project governance; enterprise governance of IT; benefits realization management
- Introduction
The bridges, highways, and railways of the United Kingdom are all beginning to be managed through digital technologies, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), Digital Twins, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Zhou et al. (2024) investigated the use of BIM and GIS software platforms within a large highway construction project, and found that using these technologies improved the management of construction crews and their safety on the road. Furthermore, National Highways, the organization responsible for England’s highways, has committed to the digital management of those highways (National Highways, 2021). However, an independent review of the organization by the Office of Rail and Road (2024) found that the organization had published plans for the development of “Digital Roads” within its publications, but there were no digital initiatives for the management of England’s Road systems that were currently underway.
The gap between the digital ambitions of public sector organizations and the governed delivery of their program and projects is rarely discussed in terms of program and project management (P/PM). Much of the existing literature on the digital and infrastructural transformation of public sector organizations has focused upon the digital technologies that have been adopted by those organizations (BIM, Digital Twins, IoT, GIS, etc.), rather than discussing how those technologies have been incorporated into P/PM governance of those organizations. Consequently, this article seeks to fill that gap in the literature by investigating in what ways the British Standards and international best practice in the digital transformation of public sector organizations are (or are not) incorporated into the governance of the UK’s bridges, highways, and railways, and by reviewing which theories of P/PM can help to explain such a lack of incorporation of digital standards and practices by those organizations.
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How to cite this paper: Al-Baldawi, R., Al-Romaimi, K. (2026). A Comparative Analysis of Smart Infrastructure Technology Adoption in UK Bridges, Highways, and Railways, PM World Journal. Vol XV, Issue IX, September. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/pmwj168-Sep2026-Al-Baldawi-Al-Romaimi-Comparative-Analysis-of-Smart-Infrastructure.pdf
About the Authors
Reda Al-Baldawi
Sunderland, United Kingdom.
Reda Al-Baldawi holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Technology, Iraq and is currently MSc student in Engineering Management at the University of Sunderland, United Kingdom. Interested and 4 years’ experience in civil site engineering, planning, construction and engineering management fields such as project risk, quality management, asset management and project delivery. Completed additional training in project management, Agile methodologies, strategic planning, and occupational health and safety. He can be contacted at Redaalbaldawi11@gmail.com
Khamis Salim Al-Romaimi, PhD
Sunderland, United Kingdom
Dr Khamis Salim Al-Romaimi is lecturer in Engineering, Faculty of Business and Technology, School of Computer Science and Engineering, Sunderland, United Kingdom. He completed his PhD from University of Sunderland. He received MSc degree in Electrical Utility Engineering from Curtin University of Technology, Australia. He received Bachelor of engineering in Automatic and Control System Engineering from University of Sheffield, UK. He published various publications in electrical engineering, project management and asset management. His employment experience in electricity and water sectors in operation, maintenance, data analysis, strategic planning, program management, asset planning, economics, system studies, design, projects management, load dispatch center, risk management, asset management and business continuity development. He can be contacted at Khamis.al-romaimi@sunderland.ac.uk
