RC108 SeptOct2023 - Magazine - Page 9
ReNew Canada engaged Trevan to discuss this important study as well as his unique journey in the infrastructure sector.
What prompted you to enter the infrastructure industry?
To be honest it was a bit of an accident. My background
is technology and management consulting. I became involved with a group that was looking at technology in the
built environment. It was fascinating to me. All these big
buildings and all of this infrastructure didn’t have much
of a focus on technology. It was almost an after thought in
the construction industry 20 years ago. I was drawn into
the built environment through digital consulting, from
buildings to cities.
There’s a late great English architect, Cedric Price,
who said, “Technology is the answer, but what was the
question?” So often we’re just picking at solutions that
are shiny and nice but may not necessarily make sense or
really solve the right problem.
When AECOM came to me with a query about city
planning, that’s when I crossed over. It seemed like a
natural progression. The thing that really interests me is
how the people, processes and technology come together,
often driven by policy.
What were some pivotal points in your career that led
you to AECOM?
I had a realization that technology tended to be an afterthought, incorporated at the end of projects. As I looked
at the world around me—with my engineering background and technology slant—I realized that construction
and infrastructure is the last bastion of analogue. This
really came to the fore for me when writing the vision
RENEWCANADA.NET
that became Sidewalk Toronto and being part of the
process that followed—the two worlds, technology, and
infrastructure, did not come together easily or naturally.
And knowledge of both is key to success in many cases.
I’m a technologist with an understanding of construction and can navigate the technology gaps. I also became
well poised to optimize the various offerings of AI, modelling, and digital twins.
My key philosophy is: what is the outcome and how
does it help?
One of Justin Trevan’s
first infrastructure
related jobs
was predicting
how pedestrian
movements were
affecting sway of the
in London along the
Thames River.
What are the key findings of the AECOM/CUI MaaS
feasibility study?
This is something that we instigated with CUI proactively. In working with various municipalities and transportation authorities there was mention of MaaS and
the problems it might solve. But everyone was coming
at it from different angles, and with no defined plan or
roadmap. We realized it came back to a single question—
what really is the problem being tackled here? And how
do we get all those involved engaged in discussing it in a
common way so we can all move it forward together.
So, we applied a collaborative approach and brought
together transit authorities, municipalities, academia, and
equity and diversity groups for a series of roundtables
that dived down to the root issues for all. We also looked
globally for examples of successful solutions. Then we
focused on the GTA and gave everyone a single reference
point, apples to apples, to make sure we were all on the
same page.
The consultation was undertaken over the course of
nine months and the key findings were illuminating.
First, governance and ownership are critical issues.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2023 – RENEW CANADA 9
