Advisory Board delivers another important guide for industry and government just when it is most needed

At its 27 November 2020 Meeting, the Australasian BIM Advisory Board (ABAB) applied the finishing touches to several initiatives that will bolster its excellent report card for 2020. “ABAB has played a key coordination and leadership role in promoting consistency in the adoption of BIM by Australian governments”, said Andrew Curthoys, Chair and representative of the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC). “This achievement is particularly important in light of governments infrastructure led recovery process, and the need for every dollar spent on infrastructure to deliver economic and social benefits to local communities”, said Andrew.

ABAB is ready to pilot BIM Benefits Metrics 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, which can demonstrate the value to government of investing in a generic, client-led BIM framework and system is a priority task. “To enable the value of BIM to be measured, meaningful comparison between BIM and non-BIM projects is essential and when it is not collected governments lack the data to learn and improve project outcomes”, Andrew said.

Another invaluable tool, the Asset Management Digital Roadmap Generator, is designed to assist business implement digitally sourced data into their asset management functions and systems. The Roadmap, now 40% developed, is being demonstrated to peak asset management associations with a keen interest in empowering asset owners and operators to realise value from digitally enabled asset information. Recognising existing asset performance competencies and maturity assessment tools in the market, this Tool will complement all of them and strengthen the asset management function.

To be released later in December 2020, the third important piece of work is the Digital Twins Report.  The Report provides a brief overview of concepts, benefits, and issues, and examines the difference between Digital Twin and related concepts such as BIM, Digital Engineering and Smart Cities. Its purpose is to support informed decision making by ABAB board members as they formulate ABAB’s position and continue to provide appropriate advice to government agencies and industry. Led by NATSPEC, the Report will be available for download from www.abab.net.au later this month.

The Australasian BIM Advisory Board established by the 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.