Conference welcome

Hear about the future of buildingSMART and how open standards are being used around the world, directly from the Chair of buildingSMART International.

Addressing IFC 4.3, BIM/GIS initiatives and recent work on handover of information at project completion to support operations and management.

Pooya will provide an update overview of where TMR are with BIM implementation; which will by Gavin’s expertise with BIM for Bridges published content and the future direction with Civil works. TMR will also discuss the work they are doing with buildingSMART Australasia in the IFC realm

We discuss the journey Transport for NSW has been on at both an industry and organisational level, the foundational requirements to gain enough traction to scale, and showcase several initiatives currently providing value to projects across the state.

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A brief overview of the NSW Infrastructure Digitalisation Roadmap, and the initiatives Infrastructure NSW is leading to drive widespread adoption and application of digital practices and tools throughout the public infrastructure lifecycle. 

This is a story about big ambition for mega infrastructure projects across Australasia. Cross River Rail in Brisbane, benefitted enormously from leadership by the CEO, Graeme Newton. Suburban Rail Loop in Melbourne is standing on the shoulders of other projects across Australia and the CEO Frankie Carroll has identified that important role and value that digital enablement will contribute to the project. But this doesn’t happen in isolation. APCC and ACIF identified in 2016 that a coordinated approach needed to be developed to ensure benefits of utilising BIM/DE would accrue across the lifecycle of projects. APCC and ACIF created the Australasian BIM Advisory Board incorporating all jurisdictions across Australia and New Zealand and relevant industry groups. ABAB's mission is for consistency across jurisdictions. I will draw on my experience from Queensland where I led the development of the BIM policy which was part of the State Infrastructure Plan (SIP) 2016 and set a big policy agenda for Queensland to reshape infrastructure assessment, provision, funding and delivery. Importantly, in that work was embedded policy initiatives to ensure that digital would be central to projects over $50M. In 2021, Infrastructure Australia identified through the Australian Infrastructure Plan 2021 that digital was no longer by exception but now by default. How do we as a nation grapple with digital by default. My journey – SIP 2016, Australian Infrastructure Plan 2021, Digital by default, now digital embedded in mega projects is instructive about the role that ABAB plays and contributes. To further explore the examples, Cross River Rail in Brisbane and Suburban Rail Loop in Melbourne are stories of big ambition. These are transformative projects for Brisbane and Queensland and for Melbourne and Victoria. Would anyone contemplate not utilising digital to derive and deliver significant benefits in terms of the project design, construction, delivery, testing and then into operations and maintenance? The answer is clearly, NO. For some time, industry has been saying we need to do things differently, to improve productivity to improve outcomes, digital and ABAB leadership provides that support to government and industry. A question to contemplate, “Where does digital now fit in terms of mega projects?” Really it is focused on sustainable, regenerative, circular economy and digital, but projects can’t deliver this in isolation and governments want to see consistency and industry wants to see a level of certainty when it is tendering for work. That is why ABAB plays a crucial role and leadership is needed if we are going to build big projects.

 A look at IFC model quality review techniques and what conditioning of models is required in downstream use for costing, construction planning and carbon calculations

With in-depth attribute requirements becoming mandatory by Clients and Contractors, such a significant amount of data is generated with the intent to be used for Asset Management, cost estimation and quantity take-off. However, if not checked and validated diligently, the information derived from the model may pose a high risk to the project. 

In this session I will share strategies for getting ahead of risk by exploring automated methods of model attribute embedment and data validation.

IFC and structured BIM used to be something that was typically provided only to meet a deliverable requirement. Contractors are now relying on stuctured openBIM to improve the efficiency of construction activities such as Planning, Estimating and setout. This session will highlight the importance of setting BIM requirements for the needs of construction and how provided information is validated and conditioned for purposes such as automated 4D planning.

This presentation will cover: 

Stakeholders

- CPB and Westgate Tunnel Project

- IDD Tech

- EIC Activities

Westgate Case Study – Bridge 73

- Introduction to the Project & Bridge 73

- Traditional approach (The problem)

- A better solution – how IDD was used (The solution)

-- GIS – setting context - (Image, Vector and Scene Services)   

-- BIM – working with real engineering design (ACC, Hierarchy, Prefabs and Grasshopper)

-- Time – Optimising Delivery (XER import and subtasks)

-- Resources – Lift Planning, Traffic Planning, Logistics and Laydown Planning, Excavation planning, ----Space Proofing.  (Plant Library, Keyframes & Mounting)

-- Communication – Bringing it all together in sequences, videos and AR/XR

About ToBe Builder

- Four Pillars of an IDD Approach (GIS, BIM, Time & Resources)

- Features & Technical Description of Solution (Esri, ACC & Schedule Integrations)

- Outcomes and Benefits of IDD approach

Using the BlenderBIM Add-on to open and run an IDS, Getting data types right in IDS, Where to find ISO-standardised attributes, properties, and quantities in the IFC docs instead of requiring custom properties, Defining property set templates

If a picture tells a thousand words – how much value does a model bring? 

Our role as designers is to communicate our design with all other parties in a project.  Use of advanced digital tools allow our teams to communicate more effectively with the client, stakeholders, construction, fabrication, and site teams essentially rendering drawings irrelevant, leading to the big question …  can we deliver our bridge projects without the use of design drawings? 

Oystein will present and outline how Scandinavian countries like Norway have used a model-based delivery approach (without drawings) for the design and construction of major bridge and infrastructure projects such as the 634m Randselva Bridge in Norway designed by Sweco, leading to a 10% reduction in construction costs compared to a traditional drawing-based approach. Oystein will also show how this drawing free workflow has been successfully used for smaller more traditional bridge projects.  

John will outline how a similar mindset has been adopted for the design and construction of bridge projects such as Eumemmering Creek in Melbourne and the value that comes by providing more detail such as 3d rebar and 3d steelwork connections in the design model helping to streamline the design and construction process reducing risk and saving time in the delivery programme.

This talk reports the findings and conclusions of recent research into substandard performance between information systems and applications which remain a problem for the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) sector, and lead to significant economic, social and environmental costs. The sector suffers from poor interoperability because it lacks a holistic ecosystem for exchanging data and information. As a result of collaboration between the University of South Australia (UniSA), GHD and DBM Vircon this research extends understanding of issues which affect ecosystem interoperability in the AECO sector. Research questions guided a review, survey, semi-structured interview, focus group meeting, and interpretation of the results. The authors believe that incorporating AECO sector industry partners' views is essential for meaningful proposals to emerge. Open questions asked of industry partners received candid responses and confirmed key issues including: the need for the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) to be fully interoperable; the side effects and impacts of vendor lock-in; integration problems caused by multiple Common Data Environments (CDEs); handover data and information challenges; the impacts of poor interoperability on sustainable development. Through engagement with industry this research offers better understanding of interoperability challenges in the AECO sector and has generated more meaningful actions and solutions capable of improving the sector’s data and ecosystem interoperability.

Unpacking the Global Traceability Framework – key principles and how does it fit with BIM models.

With 39% of global emissions coming from buildings and their construction, we need to decarbonise the way we design and build to bring our emissions down to meet net zero targets. Assessing the carbon footprint of infrastructure is more complex than doing so for buildings.

To do this, urgent and ambitious action is required and we, as engineers, architects and consultants have an important role to play.

Most of the carbon footprint is locked in at the conclusion of the design process as designers don’t have the right information at the right time to evaluate the Carbon impact of their design decisions.

At SYSTRA we believe that we can make a significant difference by having low carbon solutions at the heart of our design process.

During this session we will present our approach to sustainable design and the innovation that has been implemented with CARBONTRACKER, which is a tool that supports our sustainability commitments by predicting and measuring the carbon impact of each step of the design process, providing engineers with real-time CO2-emissions information that can be taken into account during decision-making.

The aim is to demonstrate during the session how CARBONTRACKER can:

•help Engineers to perform low carbon design,

•help project delivery teams to have all the required information to drive CO2 trajectory and meet CO2 reduction objectives,

•help Clients and Project Management Consultants to set an ambitious CO2 Baseline and monitor their achievement during all design stages and across the supply chain.

Despite decades of development and research, maintaining data integrity in analysis, design, and documentation remains a significant challenge in the AECO sector. Engineers often begin their design journey with an architectural Building Information Model (BIM), which must be converted into formats suitable for simulation. This typical workflow frequently results in data loss and inconsistencies. Embracing standardised protocols like Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and OpenBIM, while refining and optimising these processes, can greatly enhance the reliability and efficiency of the entire design and analysis workflow.

We developed a sophisticated data management pipeline that captures, manages, associates, and converts different building digital assets. By adhering to IFC standards, we have significantly improved the efficiency and interoperability of our processes. We leverage existing geometry (both basic and detailed representations) and metadata to enhance efficiency and minimise design discrepancies. In this presentation, we will illustrate how this platform can be used to streamline structural design.

Our integration with BIM and IFC allows us to capture both detailed geometry and idealised centreline representations. Our pipeline also automates the specification of structural types, cross-sectional properties, and materials, enabling accurate and automated mapping of metadata.

Engineers and operators have the flexibility to intercept the pipeline at any stage to incorporate their design assumptions and bespoke requirements. This process is facilitated by platforms that cater to their strengths, whether it's structural analysis software or tools like Rhino/Grasshopper, which offer powerful parametric modelling capabilities. 

Throughout the design process, it is crucial to synchronise any revisions or structural specifications with the architect. By leveraging their model as the basis for ours, we establish an architectural-to-structural design mapping at the individual element level. This framework enables direct communication of updates, fostering efficient collaboration between disciplines.  

Ultimately, our end-to-end platform enhances data fidelity and cross-disciplinary collaboration, ensuring seamless integration and real-time updates between design and analysis. This approach not only minimises discrepancies but also contributes to more reliable and efficient project delivery.

This case study provides a comprehensive analysis of the ongoing development of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Contemporary project, emphasizing its innovative and technologydriven approach. In alignment with ISO 19650 standards and guided by the principles of the Victorian Digital Asset Strategy (VDAS), the NGV Contemporary exemplifies the integration of multi-platform technologies, including Revit and ArchiCAD, within a comprehensive Common Data Environment (CDE) comprising the Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) and Aconex. NGV Contemporary, while still under development, represents a transformative addition to Melbourne's cultural landscape. It will be a landmark new gallery that celebrates the central role of art and design in contemporary life and culture. With up to 10,000 square metres of exhibition space, it will be one of the largest purpose-built museums of contemporary art and design in the Southern Hemisphere. Located in the heart of the transformed Melbourne Arts Precinct, NGV Contemporary will amplify Melbourne's leadership position as a global centre of architectural excellence, art, design, and creative innovation. Central to the success of the NGV Contemporary project is its openBIM approach. This open and collaborative Building Information Modeling (BIM) methodology fosters transparency, interconnectivity, and information sharing across various design and construction software platforms. It allows stakeholders to seamlessly exchange data, ensuring that all aspects of the project, from architectural design to construction planning and management, are integrated efficiently. In this case study, we explore into the details of NGV Contemporary's multi-platform, openBIM approach. We examine how ISO 19650 compliance and the strategic use of openBIM support the ongoing design and construction of this remarkable gallery. The project highlights the potential for openBIM to serve as a catalyst for streamlined project management, cost efficiency, and enhanced collaboration among stakeholders in the creation of cultural landmarks. The NGV Contemporary project showcases not only the capabilities of openBIM but also the power of collaborative technology in transforming cultural landscapes and advancing digital project delivery.