Post by Waugh Infrastructure Management Limited

Andrea Kydd-Law’s Thoughts on the 2026 Āpōpō Congress - Do Asset Management Unicorns Exist? Who thought unicorns would be on the agenda at May’s Āpōpō Congress? As a unicorn fan, I’m glad they showed up. I dreamed of unicorns as a kid and was rightly devastated when I discovered they weren’t real. I dealt with it and moved on - until an engaging Congress presentation by economist Shamubeel Eaqub - “Selling Unicorns” - reminded me that unicorns can exist, only this time in the less magical realm of asset management. Not the sort with rainbow-coloured manes and glittery eyes (sadly). The asset management unicorns Shamubeel spoke of are programmes and deliverables living in the fantastical Venn Diagram of Fast, Good and Cheap. It would be truly magical if these three things always collided in a glittery explosion. The reality is they can’t. But what if we paid more attention to the one ‘unicorn in the room’ – maintenance? On 9 June we recognised Global Maintenance Day. This year’s Global Maintenance Day theme, Resilience in Maintenance - Securing Reliability for the Future, recognised maintenance as a critical lever for long-term infrastructure value. That was the premise of Shamubeel’s presentation, and the evidence he presented backs it up. The challenge is that maintenance plans don’t look like unicorns - they look more like the ponies. However, anyone who’s ever owned a pony knows they are solid, reliable and good doers … they’re just harder to sell than unicorns. There are no ribbon cutting ceremonies for maintenance. You can’t win an election on the back of a good maintenance plan. But maybe, if Blackadder could come up with a plan so cunning he could stick a tail on it and call it a weasel, we can make maintenance plans so glittery and appealing we can call sell them to our decision-makers as the unicorns they are. How about you? What are the unicorns in your field of expertise? (Image credit: Shamubeel Eaqub)