IS Design & As-Built Rating

Why undertake an IS Design & As-Built Rating?

An IS Design and As-Built Rating provides third-party assures assurance to stakeholders, investors, and local communities that a project is sustainable, cost-effective, and has made a positive impact. 

 It independently verifies and certifies that a project has been designed and built to best-practice industry standards and that it performs sustainably, now and for the future.  

 The IS Design and As-Built Rating: 

• Ensures projects deliver benefits across the quadruple bottom line of infrastructure development: Economic, social, environmental, and governance 
• Identifies project sustainability risks and unlocks opportunities in the design and construction phases 
• Embeds a sustainability commitment across the entire project delivery team, including contractors, service, and supply chain  
• Recognises and rewards a project’s sustainability achievements and the inclusion of sustainable design and construction elements 
• Measures sustainability performance ‘as-built’ 
• Drives sustainable thinking, collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement for current and future infrastructure projects 

 An IS Design and As-Built Rating can be applied to every infrastructure asset class and major works, including roads, pathways, rail, water, aviation, and maritime. Projects are scored through specific IS credits and achieve one of five performance ratings: Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, or Platinum.  

 For small infrastructure projects under $100m, explore our new Rating tool, IS Essentials link below.

What are the outcomes of an IS Design & As-Built Rating?

The IS Design and As-Built Rating achieves the project outcomes that matter.   

It identifies crucial project focus areas at the outset – such as water use, energy use, or stakeholder engagement – and provides the flexible framework to drive performance towards these critical outcomes during the tender, design, and construction phases.  

Example outcomes can include: 

Social outcomes 

• A collaborative design process with key user groups and stakeholders – ensuring infrastructure projects are universally accessible, reflect cultural heritage, and meet wider community needs 
• Supporting jobs and skills across an inclusive and diverse project workforce  
• Cultural representation and recognition in project design and construction 

Governance outcomes 

• Easy embedding of sustainability options into supplier contracts 
• Sustainable procurement, supplier, and vendor analysis 
• Development of consistent, sustainable frameworks for future project design
• ‘Whole-life’ asset thinking that stretches outcomes and challenges BAU 

Environmental outcomes 

• Reduced environmental impact through considered, innovative design – lower emissions, reduced waste, lower materials, use of existing infrastructure connections and assets 
• Reduced impact on the community during construction – noise, dust, traffic 
• Enhanced biodiversity through vegetation rehabilitation and management 

Economic outcomes 

• Reduced capital expenditure 
• Use of locally available resources and materials through design adaptation and innovation 
• Improved workforce capability and training upskill 
• Engagement of local businesses and workforce

IS Design and As-Built training: For beginners & professionals

Want to know how to plan and implement sustainability initiatives? How to manage a Rating and ensure success?  

We provide a range of self-paced, online training modules for learners and ISAPs (Infrastructure Sustainability Accredited Professionals). 

Courses range from IS Rating Skills basics, assessing and submitting a project for a Rating, and pathways to full ISAP accreditation. Browse our current training calendar below to find the right course.