How can Europe make its transport infrastructure more sustainable — not just in design, but also in how it’s procured and maintained?
In the latest LIAISON interview video, Lorcan Connolly from Research Driven Solutions (RDS) introduces the Dynamic Multi-Infrastructure Governance Framework (DMGF) — a key innovation helping transport owners and operators to understand and demonstrate the long-term value of sustainable construction solutions.
Watch the short interview with Lorcan Connolly here
(Read on for a deeper look at the ideas behind the framework and how LIAISON is bringing them to life.)
RDS, a Dublin-based SME, has been developing the DMGF to help move public procurement beyond short-term cost considerations. The goal is to give infrastructure owners and operators a practical way to measure and compare the long-term benefits of greener, more resilient approaches.
“Traditionally, procurement has focused too heavily on the upfront price,” Lorcan explains. “That means the cheapest option often wins — even if it’s not the most sustainable or the best value over time. The DMGF gives decision-makers a way to show the long-term benefits of greener, more resilient approaches.”
This shift is crucial for helping public authorities and infrastructure managers adopt innovative and environmentally responsible solutions — the kind of technologies that often deliver the greatest value over the full lifecycle of a project.
One of the biggest challenges in achieving this, Lorcan says, is data. Many road and rail operators collect information about materials, emissions, and performance, but it’s often fragmented or difficult to access. That’s where another LIAISON innovation, the Digital Toolbox developed by Tecnalia, comes in.
“It’s a one-stop shop to help quantify sustainability,” Lorcan explains. “It gives users access to the data they need to make informed decisions on greener transport infrastructure.”
The Toolbox helps users calculate and compare indicators such as waste generation during construction and maintenance, the end-of-life value and reuse potential of materials, and their environmental and functional performance over time. By bringing these datasets together, it supports evidence-based decisions on project design and procurement — making sustainability not just a goal, but something that can be measured and proven.
The DMGF itself is already being tested in a live commercial tender for the construction of a road section — a significant milestone for a research-based approach to sustainable infrastructure. “People are often surprised that this is already happening in a real procurement context,” Lorcan notes. “It shows that applying sustainable approaches in practice is not only possible, but practical.”
For Research Driven Solutions, participation in LIAISON is also an opportunity to collaborate and innovate. “Working with partners across Europe gives us access to expertise we don’t have in-house, and to infrastructure managers across the continent,” says Lorcan. “It’s a chance to turn our research into real-world tools that can help change how Europe builds and maintains its transport networks.”
When asked about the future of transport infrastructure, Lorcan is optimistic but realistic. “Sustainability, resilience, and resource efficiency will be at the centre of how infrastructure is designed, procured, and built,” he says. “Quantifying those sustainability benefits is going to be essential.”
With innovations such as the Dynamic Multi-Infrastructure Governance Framework and the LIAISON Digital Toolbox, Europe is taking concrete steps to make that vision a reality — building a transport system that’s smarter, greener, and better value for generations to come.
