From liability to opportunity: Rethinking asset closure and transition

“How do we shift a liability off our books? How do we design the next life of that asset? How do we create value from that?” – Andrew Alexander, Principal - Infrastructure Investment and Capital Projects, Americas, GHD

Asset closure has traditionally been viewed as the final chapter in an infrastructure or industrial asset’s life: cease operations, decommission, remediate and manage the resulting liability.

But that thinking is changing.

As ageing infrastructure, investor scrutiny, decarbonisation and community expectations converge, organisations are beginning to see closure and transition through a wider lens. Former industrial sites can potentially support renewable energy, new infrastructure and other productive uses, while earlier planning can give asset owners greater flexibility over what happens next.

In this episode, Andrew Alexander joins Ben Hall, Global Thought Leadership Manager at GHD, to explore why asset transition and closure is becoming a boardroom conversation, how organisations can move from managing liabilities to identifying future value and why planning for an asset’s next life should begin long before its current one ends.

• Closure planning does not necessarily mean closing an asset. It creates greater optionality and supports better decisions throughout the asset lifecycle
• Ageing infrastructure and increasingly material closure liabilities are pushing asset transition higher on the boardroom agenda
• Former industrial assets can hold valuable characteristics that support new uses, including renewable energy and energy storage
• Planning for closure earlier can reduce future constraints, improve capital deployment decisions and give investors greater confidence
• Successful transition requires organisations to look beyond individual assets and consider portfolios, communities, technology partners, regulators and other stakeholders as an interconnected ecosystem