Risk prioritisation for cultural and arts infrastructure

Abstract

Asset management is about delivering value to the organisation through its assets. However value is difficult to define for social infrastructure. In a cost-constrained environment challenging decisions have to be made in Cultural and Arts portfolios on which buildings should be prioritised for funding. We present an approach to compare asset performance and risk within one such portfolio. The Western Australian Government’s Culture and the Arts Portfolio includes agencies managing approximately 40 social infrastructure buildings such as museums, theatres, libraries and other buildings supporting culture and the arts. To establish an understanding of the assets in the portfolio semi-structured interviews were conducted with asset management experts. Using these results, an on-line survey and the literature, a risk prioritisation tool is developed. The tool was tested by application to three of the Portfolio’s buildings. The project identifies seven key criteria for the prioritisation of the Portfolio’s buildings. These are: Safety and essential services; housing of collection items; condition of building systems; reputation; technical facilities; service delivery; and public exposure. The project rates buildings in terms of importance and vulnerability in each of the seven criteria. Information is presented using a risk prioritisation score; an importance-vulnerability matrix; and spider chart.