Australasian BIM Advisory Board’s excellent Report Card

For the Australasian BIM Advisory Board (ABAB), the new year has provided an opportunity to reflect and report on ABAB’s successes since its inception in 2016. In terms of integrated BIM solutions, consistent Australia-wide approaches and the provision of best practice advice and guidance, the wins for both government and the building and construction sector have been plentiful.  Highlights include:

• Leading a single, national approach to the adoption of BIM through the development of the Australian BIM Strategic Framework. This has been recognised and adopted by the Board of Treasurers which provides the necessary motivation for industry to take a consistent approach to BIM implementation.
• ABAB’s role to champion and influence the widespread adoption of BIM. According to available data collected through ABAB, there is an increase of 8.5% spend on government projects utilising BIM since the beginning of 2019.
• ABAB is the peak body for the consistent adoption of BIM. All governments (excluding Tasmania) are represented on ABAB demonstrating the Australia-wide aspiration to implement BIM in a consistent and effective manner.

Industry’s maturity continues to grow with BIM increasingly applied into the design, construction and operation phases where the benefits of BIM are fully realised. In this regard, ABAB has been instrumental in supporting industry, specifically with the release of its two Australian-first publications:

• Asset Information Requirements Guide—Information required for the operation of an asset.
• BIM Process Consistency: Towards a Common Framework for Digital design, Construction and Operation.

“I am proud and honoured to Chair the Australasian BIM Advisory Board and be part of a leadership forum that has achieved and delivered so much for government and industry in such a short time” commented Andrew Curthoys, Director Innovation and Engagement in the Queensland Government. “ABAB is viewed as the peak body driving BIM uptake and adoption in Australia. It will continue to lead in this vital area of productivity for the construction industry and produce a range of supportive tools to compliment the guidance materials”.

“This next decade will witness significant uptake of BIM and the introduction of machine learning and artificial intelligence to help governments and business deliver projects more effectively and efficiently”, Andrew Curthoys said. For 2020, such supporting tools include:

• Asset Management BIM Generator (under development)

Purpose is to enable asset owners and operators to realise value from BIM enabled asset information, techniques, analysis and automation to increase the use of BIM within the Asset Management function

• BIM Benefits Metrics (measured over time)

Ongoing measurement will provide useful evidence of value to support a future generic justification report.

The BIM Advisory Board established by the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC) and the Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF), together with the key standard-setting bodies, NATSPEC, buildingSMART and Standards Australia, promotes best practice and consistent approaches to BIM practices, standards and requirements.  ABAB guidance materials are available at: www.ABAB.net.au