Advisory Board comes together to reset its agenda and take a tour of the Cross River Rail major project that utilises Building Information Modelling  

For the first time in two and a half years, the Australasian BIM Advisory Board (ABAB) came together on 27 July 2022 for an in-person meeting. The meeting enabled members to experience first-hand the results of digital delivery on a major infrastructure project. “ABAB’s initiatives have been instrumental in supporting major projects to consistently adopt building information modelling (BIM) to drive efficiencies in design, construction, and operations of governments’ social assets”, Andrew Curthoys, Chair and representative of the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC) said.

“The visualisation aspects of BIM have enabled the Queensland Government to work with end-uses of the rail system to ensure transparency, buy-in, and a rail service that meets the needs of Queenslanders,” Andrew said.

The meeting also provided an opportunity for ABAB to review and reset its direction to ensure relevance to governments and the building and construction industry. The reset looks to the future of digital delivery in Australia and New Zealand and the emerging challenges and gaps in the consistent adoption of digital delivery. To inform the Board’s decisions and direction, presentations were received from GS1 Australia and the National Association of Testing Authorities on the latest advancements in digital barcoding and how it positively impacts the practical operations of digital delivery. Fujitsu Australia presented on the importance of state-of-the-art Cybersecurity to protect the data held in digital construction models. Lastly, the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning presented its Digital Twins agenda, after which the Board agreed to include a focus on Digital Twins as they are created from BIM data.

ABAB continues to drive national consistency, aligning with the recommendations in the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan, specifically the recommendation ‘Digital by Default’. “It is of Trans-Tasman importance that ABAB assists to drive the recommendations stated in the Infrastructure Plan,” Andrew said. A unified approach will drive positive outcomes that support our building and construction sector to become more productive and viable.

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, Austroads 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.