The team also developed methods that allow road authorities toproduce budget estimates for a project life-cycle cost with definedlevels of confidence.

Construction Innovation partners that collaborated on thisproject are Arup, John Holland, the QueenslandDepartments of Main Roadand Public Works, RMIT and the Queensland University of Technology.

Constructing relationships for better project delivery

Relationship management is touted as introducing a fresh approach tofacilitating cooperation between parties involved in major contracts.Not all are convinced of this though, and reports on the success ofcontracting approaches such as partnering and alliancing vary greatly.

Differences in the culture of organisations involved in construction projects largely explains this mixed response. The CRC for Construction Innovationbrought together a project team under the title "Project Delivery -Facilitating a Change in Culture" to look at current attitudes andperceptions of relationship management, and examine how anorganisation's culture can be managed to realise the potential benefitsof relationship management.

One aspect of the project led by Prof. Steve Rowlinson,a visiting professor at Queensland University of Technology, involvesassisting the Queensland Departments of Main Roads (QDMR) and PublicWorks (QDPW) develop changes in their organisations' culture andattitude that support relationship contracting. This will involveimplementing factors such as mutually agreed and understood objectives,a process for resolving problems quickly and cooperatively and aculture that fosters continuous, measurable improvement. Collaboratingpartner QDMR has seen the benefits of the project through an improvedunderstanding of why some projects have succeeded and others failed,especially as the Department is increasingly looking at non-pricecriteria in determining tenders.

Another aspect of the project assesses the culture, performance,innovation and flexibility of relationship contracting within theBrisbane Water Enviro Alliance (Brisbane City Council and JohnHolland). The Alliance has successfully used activities such asindividual coaching, team-based exercises and innovation-focusedworkshops to build teamwork.

Beneficial outcomes for industry from this project include:

• a toolkit to assist organisations develop a culture that fosters relationship contracting
• a syllabus for a subject module within a Masters in Project Management program
• a report on best practice in relationship management, to be released after the conclusion of the project
• guidelines for relationship management in projects, tailored to the participants, and
• ongoing education and training programs.

Partners collaborating on this project are the John Holland, QDMR,QDPW, BCC, QUT, RMIT, The University of Newcastle and CSIRO.

LCAdesign features at green conference
(by Deborah Singerman)

Construction Innovation's Development Manager Peter Scuderi spoke about the LCADesignenvironmental assessment software to an audience including architects,engineers and local government planners at the recent Green BuildingConference in Sydney organised by the Institute for InternationalResearch.

The tool is an example of the centre's commitment to an informationand communication technologies (ICTs) platform and uses internationallyrecognised Industry Foundation Classes developed by the InternationalAlliance for Interoperability to transfer data straight from 3D CADmodelling to a constantly updated lifecycle inventory of buildingproducts and materials. Peter is an IAI (International Alliance forInteroperability) Australasian Chapter Board member and coordinator ofthe IAI International Education and Training Group

The inventory includes Australian and international data, the formerdeveloped to represent typical industry practice, technology, productand geographical coverage from public, commercial-in-confidence,industry and professional sources, and personal experience.

LCADesign links the inventory to dimensions and quantitiesvia a building product calculator to provide an eco-profile comparingenvironmental impacts across the whole building supply chain frominfrastructure (e.g. transport, forestry, power, water), though bulk(e.g. concrete, clay, structural steel), shapes (e.g. cables, fittings)to items (e.g. fibres and fabrics, paints, sealants). In this way, LCADesign will help designers, specifiers and people procuring products reduce the environmental impact of commercial buildings.

Del Jones (QDPW), Philippa Watson and Pene Mitchell (CSIRO) are thekey researchers who have worked on developing the Life Cycle Indices(LCI)database that is at the back end of LCADesign.

LCADesign is being trialled across Australia with industry partners.

Project partners are Arup, Bovis Lend Lease, Woods Bagot, ABCB,Building Commission, QDPW, CSIRO, QUT, RMIT and the University ofWestern Sydney.

Our guest writer Deborah Singerman (dsingcbeat@ozemail.com.au)contributes to a number of industry and mainstream publications onsustainability and practice issues including Construction Contractor,Indesign, Architectural Review and the Sydney Morning Herald's Domain.She was formerly editor of Building Products News and SPECnews, aquarterly from NATSPEC - the national building specification system.

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Our Second International Conference, Clients Driving Innovation -Moving Ideas into Practice will be held on Australia's Gold Coast from12-14 March 2006 in association with the International Council forResearch and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB),International Construction Research Alliance (ICALL) and theInternational Alliance for Interoperability (IAI).

Last year we stamped our mark on the national andinternational scene with 210 attendees from 12 countries benefitingfrom the quality of industry case studies and leading-edge research.Our 2006 Conference will build on this success in focussing on thetheme of moving ideas into practice. John Holland Board Chair JanetHolmes Court and Queensland Premier Peter Beattie have alreadyconfirmed their attendance as key speakers at this event.

We are delighted to have the early support of Goldsponsors Queensland Department of Public Works and Aus-PeBBu(Australian Performance Based Building Network). Other sponsors includethe Australian Greenhouse Office, Australian Institute of ProjectManagement, QDMR and the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors.

Further sponsorship opportunities exist and weencourage you to consider this excellent opportunity to maximise yourexposure to an audience of up to 250 key delegates through any of oursponsorship packages. We also encourage you to consider displayingyour information, services and products as the Conference exhibitionwill be an integral part of this event, and the location of theexhibition will ensure maximum exposure.

EXTENSION TO DATE FOR ABSTRACTS Call for Abstracts now due Friday 19 August 2005

The submission deadline for abstracts is fastapproaching and you are encouraged to act now. Full details, includingConference themes and an abstract template are available at www.2006conference.crcci.info/callforabstracts.html.

For further information on this important industry event, visit www.2006conference.crcci.info or contact Louise Adams, Special Projects Officer - l.adams@construction-innovation.info, telephone +61 3 5983 2180. Registration will be available on-line from the end of August 2005.

The full proceedings from our 2004 International Conference are now on-line.

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Psychology of environmental construction

Colin Greville is in the second year of his PhD under a CRC for Construction Innovation scholarship and is based at the University of Western Sydney He summarises his research in brief as follows. The broad area of interest is the 'psychology of environmentalconstruction' - examining the thought processes behind energyefficiency in residential dwellings from the client (homeowner)perspective. Of particular interest is discovering the psychologicallink between initial cost outlays and energy efficient design indwellings, that is, how and why homeowners (separately including owneroccupiers and investment purchasers) think about the cost ofimplementing energy efficiency in the home.  Froman education and marketing perspective the research has great potentialbenefit. This is a new area of research in Australia and there is onlyvery limited research in this area internationally. Empirical evidenceshows that passive solar design and other energy efficiency measurescan be built into a residential dwelling for no additional cost over a'standard' construction and can reduce life cycle costs enormously. Energy efficient homes continue to be in the vast minority for newdwellings and we simply do not understand the consumer psychologybehind this phenomenon. If the causal link can be found that preventsthe proliferation of market driven energy efficient housing then as anindustry we are in a position to drive change through education and/ormarketing. Colin completed a Bachelor of Building with Honours in1999. He has worked as a research assistant and tutor and has lecturedat the Western Sydney Institute of TAFE in the Diploma of Buildingcourse. Feel free to contact him about his research at c.greville@uws.edu.au. Top of page

Partner/Externally led events and updates

Update on activities of the Australian Performance Based Building Network
(information supplied by Peter Boxhall)

The main activity of the Australian Performance Based Building(Aus-PeBBu) Network derives from the participation of our domaincoordinators in the programs and meetings of the European PeBBuNetwork. This participation is very much two way, in that ourrepresentatives are able to:
a) keep up with European developments in Performance Based Building(PBB), and communicate these to Australian building industrystakeholders
b) provide input, pertaining to Australian developments and issues withrespect to PBB, to the European program - this both contributes to theEuropean effort and enables issues of most relevance to the Australiansituation to form part of the European agendas.

The most recent series of European technical domain meetings wereheld in Portugal in November 2005. Brief reports on, as well as theAustralian presentations to, these meetings are available on the"Program & Domains" page of the Aus-PeBBu web-site: www.auspebbu.org

More recently, Aus-PeBBu delegates participated in PeBBu conferencesessions and meetings as part of the CIB Symposium in Helsinki in June2006. Reports on the final outcomes from the EU performance basedbuilding program will be presented at the second CRC InternationalConference (March 2006), for which Aus-PeBBu is a Gold Sponsor.

Aus-PeBBu has now extended its informal network to East Asia, withcounterparts in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, ThePhilippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

Property Council of Australian Congress 05 (Hamilton Island, Qld: 16-19 August)

Congress goes tropical: A stellar speaker line-up and the opportunityfor networking in a relaxed, tropical environment make Congress themust-attend property event for 2005.

Congress 05 will also see the launch of two ground-breaking research projects:
Australia On The Move - predicting residential housing demand in every major locale across Australia over the next 30 years.
The Big Think Project - delivering insights into property marketdrivers and business opportunities. The Project aims to identify andevaluate the trends, themes, opportunities and risks that will shapetomorrow's bottom lines.

For more information go to: http://www.propertyoz.com.au/congress05

UDIA State Conference - Realising the Vision (Port Douglas, Qld: 17-20 August, 2005 )

The UDIA ANZ Queensland State Conference provides the opportunity tonetwork, learn, listen and see first-hand a variety of developmentsthat may otherwise perhaps have escaped our attention. Realising theVision - is designed to focus thoughts and attention on the ultimategoal - to envisage and steer projects through to their final successfuloutcome.

Register and find more information at http://www.udiaqld.com.au/services/state_conference.shtml

Down to Earth - Erosion and Sediment Management Conference (Cairns, Qld: 6-8 September, 2005)

The Environmental Protection Agency, in partnership with the Departmentof Natural Resources and Mines, Department of Primary Industries andFisheries, The Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand, andthe International Erosion Control Association, is hosting a conferenceaimed at fostering robust discussion about current problems and issuesassociated with erosion and sediment management.

The conference will discuss best practice erosion management in arange of industries such as development, construction, building,agriculture and mining sectors.

The conference will also discuss the current regulatory requirementsand will debate a range of policy options, including incentives andregulatory tools, that will lead to change for better erosion andsediment management.

This event will also have a trade display and sponsorshipopportunities. Online registration now open. For more information go tohttp://www.eianzseq.org/D2E%20Conference.htm

ABCB - Building Australia's Future Conference 2005 (Gold Coast, Qld: 11-15 September, 2005)

The Conference will consist of both plenary and interactiveworkshops over the first 3 days. Sessions will focus on topics andtechnical requirements relevant to all industry professionals coveringareas such as Energy Efficiency, Access for People with Disabilities,Fire Engineering and Performance.

On the fourth day, Thursday 15 September, the ABCB will host thesecond IRCC Global Policy Summit. The Summit will be a full plenary dayfocusing on sustainability. The Summit will draw together key policymakers, regulatory officials, industry representatives, researchers andothers from around the world. It will focus on key issues, identifypossible solutions, and address the policy challenges of responding tothe sustainability issues through regulation and support of industrythrough international best practice.

Note: you may be eligible for Continuing Professional Development(CPD) points if you attend, please contact the administrator of yourCPD scheme for more information.

To register your interest and for further information onaccommodation, the program, topics and presenting a paper can be foundon the ABCB's website www.abcb.gov.au

AMCA National Conference (Coolum, Qld: 25-29 September, 2005)

Register your intereston the Air Conditioning and Mechanical Contractors' Association ofAustralia (AMCA) website. Further details of the conference and thescheduled program will be available soon.

Please visit the conference website for further information: http://www.aipm.com.au/html/conference_2005_portal.cfm

Built environment conference (Sydney:15-18 November, 2005)

With an outstanding line-up of speakers this inaugural conference byPrincipal Event Partner ASBEC ( Australian Sustainable BuiltEnvironment Council)  will address some of the challengesAustralia faces in making the sustainable development of urban centresand commercial buildings part of mainstream policy-making and businesspractice.

Key program themes:

• future perspectives: the demographer, the architect and the environmentalist
• benchmarking and government leadership
• business case: future-proofing, productivity and capturing green premiums
• regulation: incentives, market forces and risk
• sustainable cities: planning, infrastructure and communities
• future buildings: energy, water, waste and materials.

Featuring case studies, new policy directions, interactive panelsessions and six keynote presentations from international andAustralian industry leaders. For the full program go to http://www.pipecommunications.com.au/builtenvironment/. Note that as sponsors of the conference, CRC Construction Innovation particpants are entitled to a 5 percent discount on registration.

AUBEA conference (Sydney: 5-7 July 2006)

The annual conference held by the Australasian University BuildingEducators Association (AUBEA) in 2006 will be hosted by the Universityof Technology Sydney.

The dual aims of AUBEA are basically to promote research in buildingand to share ideas on teaching and learning in building related courses- papers on many themes are welcomed with an emphasis on topics relatedto building education.

http://www.eng.newcastle.edu.au/abe/AUBEA/AUBEA.html

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