Centre for Business Innovations and Sustainable Solutions (CBISS)  is delighted to highlight a significant research achievement by CBISS member, Mahinda Yapa Mudiyanselage and Onoh Nkiruka Patricia whose latest work has been published in Sage Business Cases—a globally respected platform used by universities and business schools worldwide.

The case, The Edinburgh Tram Megaproject: Challenges of Delivering Sustainable Urban Infrastructure, examines one of the UK’s most high-profile infrastructure projects and offers rich insights into the real-world challenges of delivering sustainability in complex, large-scale developments.

About the Case

The Edinburgh Tram Project was launched as a flagship sustainable transport initiative, intended to reduce car dependency, lower emissions, and support long-term urban development. However, despite these ambitions, the project experienced substantial delays, cost overruns, and governance challenges before eventually becoming operational.

This case takes students and practitioners inside those challenges. Rather than focusing only on financial performance, it explores how project delays affected the three pillars of sustainability:

• Environmental – increased congestion, emissions, and pollution during prolonged construction

• Social – disruption to daily life, reduced transport access, impacts on health and local businesses

• Economic and governance – cost escalation, public trust, accountability, and reputational damage

By doing so, the case moves beyond traditional project management narratives and reframes “delay” as a sustainability issue, not just a scheduling or budgeting problem.

Why This Case Matters

What makes this Sage Business Case particularly impactful is its emphasis on governance, risk management, and stakeholder engagement in megaprojects. Drawing on empirical evidence and professional perspectives, the case highlights how weaknesses in decision-making structures, communication, and risk identification can magnify social and environmental harm—even in projects designed to be sustainable.

For students, the case develops critical skills in:

• evaluating trade-offs between cost, time, and sustainability,

• analysing infrastructure projects through an ESG lens,

• understanding how public trust and legitimacy are shaped by project outcomes.

For practitioners and policymakers, it offers timely lessons on how large infrastructure investments can better align ambition with delivery.

The CBISS Contribution

This publication reflects CBISS’s commitment to applied, interdisciplinary research that speaks directly to real-world challenges. By contributing to Sage Business Cases, Mahinda Yapa Mudiyanselage has helped ensure that CBISS research reaches classrooms, executives, planners, and future decision-makers across the globe.

It also reinforces CBISS’s role in advancing scholarship that connects:

• infrastructure and sustainability,

• management and governance,

• policy, practice, and societal impact.