Liam Coleman

Liam Coleman is Technical Director, Bridges at Sterling Infrastructure Australia and a Fellow and Chartered Structural Engineer with more than 24 years of experience delivering, managing, and optimising transport infrastructure across Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.

Throughout his career, Liam has held senior leadership and technical roles with KiwiRail, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, Network Rail, WSP, and Sterling Infrastructure, leading major initiatives in bridge engineering, asset management, infrastructure resilience, and network performance. He is widely recognised for combining engineering expertise with practical asset management strategies to improve investment decision-making and long-term infrastructure outcomes.

While serving as Professional Head (Structures) at KiwiRail, Liam led the management of more than 1,600 bridges and 100 tunnels and drove the organisation's transition to a risk-based, data-driven asset management approach. He also spearheaded the development and implementation of standardised bridge designs, reducing project delivery time and costs by more than 50% while improving consistency, safety, and network outcomes.

A regular international speaker and published author, Liam is passionate about helping infrastructure owners and operators maximise value from aging assets, manage risk effectively, and deliver resilient transport networks. At Future Roads 2026, he will share insights on risk-based asset management and how standardisation can accelerate infrastructure delivery while improving efficiency, affordability, and long-term asset performance.