The Advisory Board releases its Position Statement on

Building Information Modelling and Digital Engineering Education

The Australasian BIM Advisory Board (ABAB) held its second meeting for 2021 on 1 July 2021 and endorsed the release of the Australian Building Information Modelling and Digital Engeering Education Position Statement (Education Position Statement).  The Education Position Statement articulates and promotes education and training standards that drive high-quality consistent digital delivery education in Australia by integrating and aligning with national and international standards and keeping pace with emerging capabilities. “The built environment is an integral part of Australian life that supports a large portion of our economy, infrastructure and society” remarked Andrew Curthoys, ABAB Chair and representative of the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC).  “Global best practice acknowledges the adoption of digital delivery to data and knowledge, and the importance of education pathways to enable the workforce, across the lifecycle of the built environment to progress and remain contemporary”.   

Infrastructure Australia provided a peak into, the soon to be released, Infrastructure Plan that highlights the critical need for digital construction and refers to the work of ABAB to drive a consistent approach to the adption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Digital Engineering (DE) across Australia.  Infrastructure Australia recognises the value of implementing BIM and DE to improve Australia’s productivity in the construction sector, and ABAB’s role in producing a range of supportive tools and guidance materials.

“Adoption of BIM and DE enables governments’ to leverage their procurement spend to deliver a range of economic, environmental and social outcomes, as well as stimulating the economy and supporting fiscal repair” said Andrew.  ABAB’s current portfolio of projects aligns with governments’ economic policies:

• Asset Management BIM Generator (Stakeholder consultation stage)

Its 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 (to be trialled across projects in 2021)

Applied across a range of different types and sizes of government projects to help government and industry deliver projects more effectively. The collation of national data and comparisons will demonstrate the value to government of investing in a client-led BIM framework and system.

• National BIM/Digital Engineering Prequalification and Panel

Driving consistency in how governments request the provision of BIM and Digital Engineering services by providing a seamless ‘provide information once’ approach for a provider wishing to work in multiple jurisdictions.

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: Australasian BIM Advisory Board (abab.net.au)