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December2005, Issue 18

Reflecting on 2005...Gearing up for2006
Project update
Publications
Our Second International Conference
Scholars' corner
Updates and events

Construction Innovationpartners in progress:

Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB), Arup Australasia, Bovis Lend Lease, Brisbane City Council (BCC), Building Commission (Victoria), Brookwater JV, CSIRO, DEM, John Holland, Qld Building Services Authority (QBSA), Qld Dept Main Roads (QDMR), Qld Dept Public Works (QDPW), Qld Dept State Development and Innovation (QDSDI), Qld University of Technology (QUT), Rider Hunt, RMIT, The University of Newcastle (UN), The University of Sydney (US), University of Western Sydney (UWS), Woods Bagot.

REFLECTING ON 2005 ... GEARING UP FOR 2006

(from CEO of the CRC for Construction Innovation Keith Hampson)

The end of another year is almost upon us. As 2005 winds down, I thought it appropriate to look back on some of what Construction Innovation achieved and is continuing to achieve for Australiathrough the property and construction industry.

One of our key objectives is in creating relationships for a better future of the construction industry. Construction Innovation is, of course, a classic example of this: we bring industry, government and research together.

Construction Innovation was instrumental in bringing the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC) to fruition. This organisation, which brings together several groups with disparate interests, continued its innovative work in 2005 to find a whole-of-life approach to sustainability. This year we were involved at the genesis of an organisation that brings owners, designers and constructors together to improve safety in the built environment. The Construction Safety Taskforce is in its early exciting stages but its vision is far reaching.

Creating a sustainable future is another of our key aims. In mid-November, Construction Innovation, ASBEC and the Australian Greenhouse Office in the Department of the Environment and Heritage convened a half-day forum to workshop ideas for the developers of the Your Building web portal. The portal is intended to be a one-stop shop for designers, owners, tenants and managers of commercial buildings to learn why and how to create a sustainable commercial building. Its a vital project and one with significant benefits for those key groups and Australian society.

Creating a smarter way of doing things is also a key focus for us. The Sydney Opera House FM Exemplar Project was launched in April. This project, while focused on the Opera House, will be an important case study in facilities management for buildings in Australia and internationally.

Our success in these endeavours has also been recognised with several awards in 2005. At the Queensland Engineering Excellence Awards the Road Asset Management Investment project was highly commended. And at the Project Management Achievement Awards we had several winners: Peter Scuderi was named Australian project director of the year; Project Diagnostics won the Queensland product development award; and Garry Creedy won the Queensland student award. Congratulations to all.

In addition to a busy year of new and ongoing research projects, 2006 also holds two key events for us:

• The 2^nd International Clients Driving Innovation Conference is on from 1214 March 2006
• The Cooperative Research Centre renewal process to ensure another seven years of funding for Construction Innovation.

We look forward to theseevents and trust you will be alongside supporting us in these endeavours in 2006.

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PROJECT UPDATE

Since launching the Sydney Opera House FM Exemplar Project (SOH FM) in April 2005, the Construction Innovation-led research team has been developing strategies that will best respond to the needs of SOH while gaining knowledge about some of the most up-to-date FM systems available today. Three major areas of research are being investigated:

1. Building Information Modelling (BIM)
2. Procurement
3. Benchmarking.

The outcomes of which will be integrated into the Strategic Asset Management Plan and the business objectives of SOH. The first area of research has been in the area of BIM (a 3D database designed specifically for built facilities). In the context of the SOH FM Project, BIM integrates a digital description of a building with all the elements that contribute to its ongoing function such as air conditioning, maintenance, cleaning or refurbishment and describes the relationship between each element.

The lack of consistent data in a single source has become an ongoing issue to the management of the facility, one that the SOH FM Exemplar Project aims to resolve. Research from the Construction Innovation project is providing evidence that a 3D digital model of Sydney Opera House will save time while improving the operation of the facility through consistent, accurate and current data that enables faster and more effective management.

The long-term value of the project is not just about improving the FM processes at SOH but also providing an important case study for buildings throughout Australia and internationally.

Spotlight on commercial sustainability 

Imagine a single location where you can go to find out anything you need to know about sustainable commercial buildings. Your Building, the latest Construction Innovation project, launched in June 2005 at Parliament House, Canberra, will be that place. Partnering Construction Innovation is the Australian Greenhouse Office in the Department of the Environment and Heritage (DEH) and the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC).

Your Building will be a one-stop shop - a web portal that will include information on both the 'how' and 'why' of creating sustainable commercial buildings. The portal will be designed to meet the diverse needs of all those in the commercial building industry from financiers and designers to owners and tenants. It will demonstrate the business case for sustainable buildings, consolidate available knowledge, provide links to other leading materials, and be founded on current research and real-life case studies.

The success of Your Building lies in the input and collaboration of all of Construction Innovation's supporters and partners. What experiences can you share? What is still missing in the industry? Your feedback, comment and experiences are highly valued. To find out more about this project keep in touch by sending your details to k.legge@construction-innovation.info to be included on the Your Building mail & email databases.

Promoting a culture of safety

With around three times as many workplace fatalities as the national average, the construction industry's safety record is far from enviable. Finding out why this is the case and then helping industry create solutionsis the subject of a major Construction Innovation initiative. With industry partners the John Holland Group and Bovis Lend Lease and research partners Queensland University of Technology and the University of Western Sydneyand led by John Holland Group safety manager, Dean Cipolla, the project is identifying:

• management and supervisory positions within a construction company or project critical to safety performance
• types of competencies, skills, knowledge, behaviours required to shape the understanding, attitudes, behavioural competencies, norms and commitment of line management and supervision to site/project safety and safety culture
• types of training packages and learning tools in place and their effectiveness to individual site and industry OH&S outcomes and safety performance.

Ongoing research will focus on those in critical safety roles, examining how frequently they complete safety tasks, how important the completion of those tasks is to their job, and how important these tasks are to reducing injuries on site. Another survey will target site workers.

The project will also examine training systems and assess how the research findings can be incorporated into these training packages. This innovative project is about saving lives and preventing injury. It will have long-term benefits for everybody in the construction industry.

PUBLICATIONS

Clients Driving Construction Innovation book available

This book - edited by Kerry Brown, Keith Hampson and Peter Brandon - is compiled from keynote speeches, research papers and case studies from our First International Conference in 2004. It demonstrates that innovation continues to be prominent within the construction industry and that innovation can occur through leadership from competent clients who know what they want and are willing to work with the delivery team towards developing new processes and principles to achieve their goals.

The Construction Innovation book is available for purchase at $38.50 (plus $AUD8.00 for overseas orders) from r.meaton@construction-innovation.info (07 3138 9291)

Industry publication

This industry publication has been endorsed by the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency and the UDIA, Queensland. Itdescribes the relationship between subdivisional layout and a dwelling's energy efficiency. Effective energy-efficient subdivisions will be more energy efficient than conventional developments. Energy-efficient dwellings should have lower demands on non-renewable energy sources, reduce the level of greenhouse gas emissions, and save money for owners and occupants. Partners on this project: Brookwater, DEM, QDMR, QDPW,QUT and CSIRO

The report is downloadable from our website at /index.php?id=44 or hard copies available for purchase at $19.25 (plus $AUD5.00 for overseas orders) from r.meaton@construction-innovation.info (07 3138 9291)

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OUR SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

12-14 March 2006, Gold Coast, Australia Register on-line now! www.2006conference.crcci.info

Our Second International Conference,Clients Driving Innovation - Moving Ideas into Practicewill bring together clients, designers, constructors and facility managers from around the world to focus on opportunities and case studies of 'clients driving innovation' in constructed facilities. It will showcase advanced technologies and practices developed globally and in Australia.

The Conference promises to be a truly international event and the program is set to be an exciting one with a diverse selection of presentations by over 80 clients, researchers and construction practitioners from Europe, Asia, USA and Australia. A detailed Conference program will be published atwww.2006conference.crcci.infotowards the end of this month.

Keynote presenters include:

• Mrs Janet Holmes Court, Chair, Heytesbury Pty Ltd (John Holland Group)
• Prof Peter Brandon, Director of Strategic Programs, University of Salford (UK)
• Dr Keith Futcher, Managing Director, EastPoint Property Management Services Ltd (Hong Kong)
• Prof Martin Fischer, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University (USA)
• Mr Lorenzo Bellicini, Managing Director, CRESME (Italy)
• Dr Arto Kiviniemi, Chief Research Scientist, VTT Technical Research Centre (Finland)

We would like to welcome the Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner, Department of Employment and Workplace Relations as a Silver sponsor, and Minter Ellison Lawyers as the sponsor of our informal dinner.They will be joined by Gold sponsors Queensland Department of Public Works and Aus-PeBBu (Australian Performance Based Building Network), and others including the Australian Greenhouse Office, Australian Institute of Project Management, Queensland Department of Main Roads and the Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors.

Sponsor and exhibitor opportunities are still available. For further information on how you can maximise your exposure to this key audience of up to 250 delegates, contact Louise Adams l.adams@construction-innovation.info, phone +61 3 5983 2180.

You are encouraged to register now to take advantage of the early bird registration fee before 1 February. Full details can be found on the Conference website.

Inassociation with the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB), International Construction Research Alliance (ICALL) and International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI).

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SCHOLARS' CORNER

Safety culture in the construction industry: A multi-level perspective

Construction Innovation scholar Brett Mayze is currently studying toward his PhD and is based at Queensland University of Technology. He summarised his thesis as follows.

This research will assist in providing conceptual clarity to the safety culture literature and contribute to the debate distinguishing the assessment of safety culture at multiple organisational levels. It will build on and strengthen existing theory concerning safety culture and seek to develop a triangulated set of measurement instruments that will provide proactive indicators of safety. This will facilitate the opportunity for benchmarking across the construction industry and identify the key drivers and characteristics of an effective safety culture for CRC industry partner, John Holland. It will also look at measuring and comparing construction safety culture over time and across sites (with a longer-term view of benchmarking across the Australian industry). By partnering with the John Holland group to undertake my research, one longer-term value add to the construction industry will be through gaining an insight into the key cultural leverage points for enacting improvement in individual and group safety behaviours to enhance individual and bottom line outcomes.

In terms of its impact on industry practice, this thesis will broaden existing research into safety culture from other industries (such as nuclear and petrochemical) and seek to Improve industry safety culture with flow on effects for industry attraction and standing as an 'employer of choice'.

Industry supervisor Dean Cipolla of John Holland comments, "Aspects of Brett's work that will benefit the industry include the generation of a theoretical definition that provides a practical application for the assessment of construction safety culture and the development of linkages between construction 'safety culture' and its effects on an organisation's ultimate safety performance."

Before commencing his PhD, Brett worked with the Queensland State Government on a range oforganisational learning and development initiatives. With broad experience in the mining, construction and defence industries Brett has worked with a number of project-based organisations to facilitate individual behavioural and cultural change. He trained as an organisational psychologist with a Masters degree from the University of Queensland and a Bachelor of Science (psychology) from the
University of Newcastle. Feel free to contact him about his research at b.mayze@student.qut.edu.au

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UPDATESANDEVENTS 

Construction Innovation events

Construction Innovation breakfast (Brisbane, Queensland: 22 February, 2006)

Brisbane Lord Mayor, Campbell Newman will speak on 'Meeting the demands of Brisbane in 2020'.Further details on this coming soon.

Clients Driving Innovation - Moving Ideas into Practice (Gold Coast, Queensland: 12-14 March, 2006)

For more information on the conference or our sponsorship and exhibition packages see above.

Partner/Externally ledupdates and events

News from the Australian Performance Based Building Network

(contributed by Peter Boxhall)

The Australian Performance Based Building (Aus-PeBBu) Network has recently extended its informal network to East Asia. AusAID has provided funding to facilitate the participation of two delegates from each of China, Indonesia, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam, and there are self-funded participants from Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore. The main objective of this APEC Informal Network is to providemembers with information on and assistance with the development of performance-based systems of building regulations and standards. In addition, participants will be able to keep abreast of world-wide developments in performance-based building generally.

The APEC Network's first meeting was held in conjunction with the ABCB 'Building Australia's Future 2005' Conference and IRCC Global Policy Summit in Surfers Paradise from 11 to 16 September 2005. The main focus of the meeting was familiarisation with the current building regulatory systems in each of the participating countries and an update on Australian and international developments in performance-based building. The associated participation of the APEC delegates in the ABCB Conference and IRCC Summit was made possible by funding assistance from the ABCB and AusAID.

A joint Aus-PeBBu/APEC Informal Network seminar was run in conjunction with the ABCB Conference on 16 September. The seminar, entitled 'Assessing Building Performance - An Integrated Model', was presented by Danny Shiem-shin Then, Associate Professor in Facility Management and Asset Maintenance at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The presentation considered performance measurement of building assets as operating facilities, with a prime focus on the relationship between building assets and their contributions to business outcomes. The presentation is available in the 'News & Events' section of the Aus-PeBBu website: www.auspebbu.org.

The Brisbane Aerotropolis: Creating Queensland's Competitive Advantage (Brisbane: 7 February, 2006)

The QUT BAC Airport Seminar series is a joint initiative between the Brisbane Airport Corporation and Queensland University of Technology. Presenter Professor John Kasarda will be discussing why and how airport cities and aerotropoli are emerging around the world along with the competitive advantages they provide for business and economic development.

Date: Tuesday, 7 February 2006
Time: 12pm to 2pm
Presenter: Prof. John Kasarda
Venue: Sofitel Brisbane

Prof. John Kasarda is Kenan Distinguished Professor of Management and Director of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School. Prof. Kasarda has published more than 70 scholarly articles and nine books on aviation infrastructure, logistics, economic development, and competitiveness issues. He has offered numerous executive programs on logistics, firm siting, global supply-chain management, and new air transportation infrastructures to multinational firms. Under his leadership, the Kenan Institute was named the world's top air logistics educational institution by The International Air Cargo Association for its work on airports and industrial development. He is considered the leading developer of the Aerotropolis concept defining the roles of aviation and airports in shaping 21st century business competitiveness and urban growth.

Contact:
Kelli Dopson
Conference/Special Events Management Officer
QUT Continuing Professional Education
Ph: 07 3138 1451
Fax: 073138 5160
Email: k.dopson@qut.edu.au

Research policies and accessibility (Verona, Italy: 21 March, 2006)

Primary Building Accessible Services (BAS) International Meeting - the first of six BAS international events for 2006 to address issues and future research and development needs in the field of disability and design.

For more information contact Dr Annalisa Morini a.morini@itc.cnr.it or www.roma.itc.cnr.it

CIB Meeting (Verona, Italy: 22 March, 2006)

The CIB W084 'Building comfortable environments for all' meeting will focus on safety issues of buildings in emergencies and elderly people with orienting difficulties.

For more information contact Dr Annalisa Morini a.morini@itc.cnr.it or www.roma.itc.cnr.it

Improving Efficiency in Commercial Buildings - IEECB'06 (Frankfurt: 26-27 April, 2006)

The IEECB'06 conference will take place during Light+Building, the International Trade Fair for Architecture and Technology in Frankfurt, Germany.

It will bring together all the key players from this sector, including commercial buildings' investors and property managers, energy-efficiency experts, equipment manufacturers, service providers and policy makers, with a view to exchange information, to learn from each other and to network.

Topics covered include: macro/micro approaches, state-of-the-art equipment and systems and the latest advances in R&D, tools, regulation & policy, demand-side and supply-side perspectives for all branches of activity.

For more information go to:http://energyefficiency.jrc.cec.eu.int/events.htm

AUBEA conference (Sydney: 12-14 July, 2006)

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

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

The School of Construction Property & Project Management will host the 31st Annual Conference. With a general conference theme of 'Building in Value', it will have a teaching, industry and research focus. For more information contact Rick Best at AUBEA2006@uts.edu.au or refer to http://www.dab.uts.edu.au/conferences/aubea2006/index.html

ProMAC 2006CALL FOR ABSTRACTS NOW OPEN (Sydney: 27-29 September, 2006)

ProMAC2006 is the international project management conference to be held at the new Hilton, Sydney, 27-29 September 2006. This 3rd international conference will be hosted by Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM), Project Management Institute Sydney Chapter (PMI Sydney), the Asia Pacific International College and Engineers Australia and aims to lift the profile of the Australian Project Management profession.

The program committee invites abstract submissions addressing one or more of the areas in the below list for inclusion in the conference program. Abstract submission deadline is 7 February 2006.

Sponsorship and exhibition
In addition to the Conference a Trade Exhibition will provide the opportunity for companies to showcase products and services to key industry personnel and to network with existing and potential clients and industry peers.

For further information on Sponsorship packages and the Trade Exhibition at ProMAC2006, please contact Penny Cseszko on +61 2 9265 0700 or email pcseszko@tourhosts.com.au

Visit the conference website and click on abstracts for more information www.promac2006.com

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