Partners: University of Leeds, University of York, Cranfield University, University of Exeter, University of Edinburgh, Newcastle University, and Oxford Brookes University.
Website: http://sure-infrastructure.leeds.ac.uk/doku.php?id=muscos:home
Start/end dates: 2011-2014
Contact: phil.blythe@ncl.ac.uk
The project will explore how sustainable future infrastructure could evolve in a way where the demands of end users of utilities are serviced by a single entity rather than the (perceived) inefficient, uneconomical and ultimately unsustainable means of multi-service delivery at the moment. Currently the demand of end-users is met by different actors and utilities, without the interface to understand where these demands arise or how they can be met more efficiently and cost-effectively. Hence, infrastructure development is made in the absence of adaptive demand management and the understanding of the inter-linkages between services occurring at the end-user level.
Through understanding these possibilities, the added technical knowledge arising from the interconnection of utilities through services delivery will trigger cross-utility innovation leading to increased efficiency and savings. Finally, exploring innovative models of how a single company (the MUSCO) could deliver such services in the future some clear vision of how planned infrastructure provision could be made more sustainable in the future.