How Urban Utilities used Forecaz to predict and plan infrastructure demand
- Bradley Rasmussen
- Oct 31, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
CASE STUDY BACKGROUND
Urban Utilities (UU) supplies water and sewerage services to more than 1.6 million customers across five Local Government Areas (LGAs) in South East Queensland - Brisbane, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Scenic Rim, and Somerset. As one of Australia’s largest water retailers, UU is responsible for ensuring the sustainable growth and reliability of critical infrastructure in one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions.
In 2010, Urban Utilities partnered with Forecaz to develop a solution that would deliver accurate, property-level urban growth models to improve infrastructure planning and decision-making across its service regions.
Evidence-based growth modelling for smarter infrastructure planning.
The challenge of demand modelling
Faced with accelerating population growth and increasing development pressure, Urban Utilities needed a more accurate, data-driven way to predict and plan infrastructure demand. Existing high-level assumptions from local councils were outdated and inconsistent with real-world development patterns, resulting in uncertainty for water and sewer network modelling.
The lack of property-level growth data made it difficult for planners to understand exactly where and when growth would occur, particularly in regional LGAs where development density varies substantially. This variability led to inefficiencies in infrastructure investment, higher planning costs, and reduced confidence in long-term planning models.
THE AIM OF THE PROJECT: Was to enhance Urban Utilities’ infrastructure planning capability by implementing a data-driven urban growth modelling solution that provides accurate, property-level forecasts of development and population change across its service regions. |
Enabling predictive modelling for evidence-based infrastructure planning
To overcome these challenges, Urban Utilities engaged Sizztech to implement its Forecaz urban growth modelling platform - an innovative solution designed to combine detailed planning data, spatial analytics, and predictive modelling for evidence-based infrastructure planning.
Forecaz began with an extensive data audit to evaluate existing datasets for quality and completeness. This informed the creation of a tailored implementation plan, ensuring data sources and modelling approaches aligned with UU’s operational requirements. Working in collaboration with UU’s IT and planning teams, Sizztech produced detailed solution design documentation, configured the platform, and managed the full deployment lifecycle from User Acceptance Testing (UAT) through to production release.
Comprehensive end-user training ensured effective adoption and empowered UU staff to independently configure and maintain their models within Forecaz.
Implementation
Rather than executing a single project, Urban Utilities adopted a four-year program of works, embedding Forecaz within Business As Usual operations to continuously maintain and refine its urban growth models.
Under this program, Forecaz provided:
Data management and preparation, including cleansing, verification, and formatting of baseline data and development applications.
Integration of local planning requirements from participating councils for reliable model inputs.
Ongoing platform support and maintenance, including performance monitoring and iterative enhancements.
Continuous improvement and enablement, introducing new features to meet evolving data and process needs.
Outcomes
The Forecaz solution delivered measurable improvements across UU’s planning and modelling functions:
Enhanced accuracy in forecasting growth - with consistent, property-level data across all serviced LGAs.
Greater efficiency in infrastructure planning cycles, reducing time spent reconciling disparate datasets.
Improved transparency for stakeholders through consolidated, evidence-based modelling.
Sustainable adoption and scalability, enabling ongoing refinement without dependence on a dedicated project team.
By integrating Forecaz into its planning ecosystem, Urban Utilities now bases infrastructure investment decisions on real, validated development trends, ensuring smarter, data-led planning for South East Queensland’s growing communities.
