The Advisory Board tackles emerging national issues

The Australasian BIM Advisory Board (ABAB) held its third meeting for 2021 on 15 September when, in addition to discussing and progressing the current body of work, ABAB discussed several emerging issues impacting the effectiveness and efficiency of asset digital delivery.
These emerging issues include:
• BIM as an enabler for environmental sustainability;
• the need for a continuous thread of data across the project and asset lifecycle; and
• consolidating ABAB’s leadership role to coordinate and leverage the efforts of the many BIM committees and initiatives across Australia.

These nationally important issues will be developed to understand how ABAB can best support the building and construction industry manage these emerging priorities.

Infrastructure Australia’s release of the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan on 2 September 2021, specifically the call to action on ‘Digital by Default’ is applauded by ABAB. The Plan refers to the work of ABAB to drive a consistent approach to the adoption of BIM and Digital Engineering (DE) across Australia. Andrew Curthoys, Chair of ABAB expressed thanks to Infrastructure Australia for “recognising 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”.

Another significant advancement in the adoption of BIM and DE was the release of the Victorian Digital Asset Policy on 10 September 2021. “The Policy is timely with the unprecedented levels of infrastructure spend in Victoria and the need to ensure that every dollar spent delivers optimum value to the Victorian community,” Andrew said.

WSP Australia and New Zealand, demonstrated its advanced use of BIM and DE in the Auckland City Rail Alliance and the Sydney Water Partnering for Success Program projects. WSP’s advanced use of BIM and DE, including decreasing the construction and asset operations carbon footprint, was also applauded by ABAB members.

The University of Queensland Infrastructure CoLab, on which ABAB has a representative, was awarded a Commendation for the ‘Innovative Partnerships Award’ as part of UQ Research Week. “The two-way exchange of innovation between the Infrastructure CoLab and ABAB ensures that Australia stays competitive and applies the latest practices in asset digital delivery”, Andrew said.

The Australasian 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)