What are Council assets?

    The City of Unley owns and manages a significant amount of assets. They contribute to the look and feel of Unley - and many of these offer benefits or services to our community.

    To understand the different assets and what they are for, we’ve grouped them into four asset classes – buildings, open space, stormwater and transport. 

    Our building assets provide facilities for a range of community services. These assets include our sport and recreational facilities like grandstands and changerooms, the City’s Town Hall and Civic Centre, community centres, libraries, public toilets and places for recreation like our Swimming Centre.

    Our open space assets are where our community meets, enhancing the liveability of our City and supporting healthy living through places for leisure and physical activity. These assets include playgrounds, sporting grounds, artwork, irrigation to green our City, smart city technologies and a variety of structures. 

    Our stormwater assets help manage the quality and quantity of water runoff from rainfall, while protecting the community from flooding. These include our creeks, underground drainage networks, water systems that recycle stormwater to green our parks and reserves, and other stormwater infrastructure such as raingardens and tree inlets. 

    Our transport assets connect people and places by providing an effective movement network to get you where you need to go efficiently and safely. These extend beyond our roads and include footpaths and cycling paths, kerb and water table, traffic control devices, street lighting and bridges.  

    What is asset management?

    We need to ensure we look after our assets in the most cost-effective way possible, both for current residents and future generations, at service levels which are understood and agreed to by the community. This is what we call asset management. 

    Asset management planning allows us to understand how much an asset will cost throughout its life. This includes the creation of an asset, its upkeep, its eventual replacement, and how to dispose of the old asset responsibly.

    We do all of this by ensuring we collect quality information about all our assets, such as their age, location, use, material, condition and value. 

    What is an Asset Management Plan?

    Our Asset Management approach collates the information about our assets in a ten-year Asset Management Plan, which outlines both the financial and technical elements of managing each asset to support the delivery of services to our community. 

    Asset Management Plans are part of our Council’s range of strategies which are identified in the Local Government Act, and this means they need to be reviewed in regular cycles every four years.

    What are the benefits of an Asset Management Plan?

    There is a clear need for a planned approach in the maintenance and delivery of infrastructure assets to ensure Council allocates its resources effectively and efficiently to meet its strategic objectives.

    Asset management enhances the liveability of our City, while always aiming to meet the changing needs of our community. We know we need to continue to invest in assets and maintain them in a way that is logical and programmed, but also innovative, trying new approaches for greater efficiency.