Construction Innovation partners:

Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB), Arup Australasia, Bovis LendLease, Brisbane City Council (BCC), Building Commission (Victoria),Brookwater JV, CSIRO, DEM, John Holland, 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, TheUniversity of Newcastle (UN), The University of Sydney (US), Universityof Western Sydney (UWS), Woods Bagot

FROM RESEARCH OUTCOMES TO BUSINESS APPLICATIONS

During 2005 and beyond, we will be making strident moves todemonstrate the business applications and benefits generated by ourapplied research and technology transfer - leading the way forthe property, design, facility management and construction sectors. Anumber of our projects have now extended into product trials in ourpartner organisations and we are already collaborating on early stagecommercialisation. 

Trade delegation in Japan

Raising awareness of Construction Innovation and its commitment to moving ideas into practice was an integral part on my recent trip to Japan.

As part of the official Queensland Government Trade Delegation aseries of  meetings and seminars with senior representatives ofthe property and construction industry were held in Nagoya, Osaka andTokyo. The Honourable Peter Beattie, Premier and Minister for Tradeopened the Tokyo seminar and invited all delegates to that eveningsofficial reception.

The trip has advanced opportunities for international validation andcommercialisation of our research and has promoted our partners asleaders in collaboration and innovation.

One exciting opportunity is through Shimizu Construction, theseventh largest global heavy and civil engineering construction firm inthe world. Shimizu is considering the Construction Innovation research software Project Diagnosticsin the important international validation phase of this tool later thisyear, and we are discussing other potential joint activities with otherplayers.

TG58^th Joint International Symposium Combining Forces Advancing Facilities Management and Construction through Innovation.

MP launches leading FM project

The Action Agenda and the SOHFM Exemplar Project were officially launched by the Hon Warren Entsch,MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism andResources on 28 April at the Sydney Opera House. The project willreceive significant support from Construction Innovation andnew project partners Transfield Services Australia and the Sydney OperaHouse. The Australian Government Department of Industry, Tourism andResources has provided funding support for the development of theemerging FM industry, endorsing a Facilities Management Action Agendaand the implementation of recommendations of that agenda through theSydney Opera House (SOH) FM Exemplar Project.

Construction Innovationhas led the formation of a team of industry, government and researchparticipants who will work together on the SOH FM Exemplar Projectunder the leadership of Jason Morris of Rider Hunt. This excitingindustry-focussed research project will use the SOH to research andcreate world class FM models that will have a direct beneficial rolefor the Australian FM industry as well as the economy as a whole.

Construction InnovationChair John McCarthy also successfully lead the Action Agenda processand has recently been endorsed by the Australian Minister for Industryto lead the upcoming three-year implementation phase.

As such the SOH FM Exemplar Project will focus on three key research themes:

 DigitalInterface of FM documentation and services in relation to the StrategicAsset Management plan of Sydney Opera House

 Procurement

 Benchmarking

The Sydney Opera House FMExemplar Project will drive an extensive industry dissemination programthroughout 2006, up-skilling the FM industry through importanteducation and training outcomes

It will not only raiseawareness of leading-edge facility management, but also demonstrate thevalue of these practices to Sydney Opera House business objectivesthrough the increased effectiveness of its FM activities.

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 CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION PROJECT UPDATE

DesignCheck - Phase 2 update

Project participants: CSIRO, The University of Sydney, BuildingCommission (Victoria), Woods Bagot and Australian Building Codes Board.

Australias building codes exist to protect the community. But thecodes can be complex and non-compliance expensive. For onehigh-residential building the wrong answer cost $5 million in designand construction changes. For house builders getting the details rightcan mean many visits to the local council to negotiate approval.

The Construction Innovation project team lead by Dr Lan Ding has developed DesignCheck an automated design checking system that quickly assesses if a buildingdesign meets the requirements of Australias new building disabledaccess code. Its the first step towards a comprehensive program thatwould cover all of Australias diverse building codes. DesignCheckturns complex codes into a readable format and then automates thechecking process against the sketch designs, detailed designs andspecifications. Through early identification of potential problems, thesoftware overcomes inefficiencies in code compliance checking byreducing both time and costs.

For example, when designers load a sketch design file into DesignCheck,it allows a path of travel to be checked against accessibility by thedisabled. When a detailed design is loaded, elements such as door type,door width and handrail height can be checked. If designers would liketo check more details such as fittings in a disabled toilet, they canbe checked through specifications. Recently a shopping centre foundthat it didnt comply with the requirement that the travel distance toa choice of the points to exit should be equal or less than 20 metresand finding solutions was expensive.

Building designers are not the only professionals likely to benefit from DesignCheck.It will also be useful to building certifiers, consultants, buildingcode authorities and specification writers, and could smooth the wayfor everyone involved in complex building projects from office blocksto home extensions.   lan.ding@construction-innovation.info

New projects from December 2004 for Program A: Business and industry development 

2002-067-A    E-business security and legal issues [Martin Betts, QUT]

Participants: Qld Dept of Main Roads, Qld Dept of Public Works, Queensland University of Technology, The University of Newcastle  

• defining construction industry contract requirements for electronic tendering systems

• providing guidelines to facilitate secure e-tendering that conforms to legal standards
• enabling construction organisations and their clients to beconfident that online communication can be both secure and legallycompliant

2003-003-A    E-business adoption [Kerry London, The University of Newcastle]

Participants: John Holland, Building Commission (Victoria), Qld Deptof Main Roads, Qld Dept of Public Works, RMIT, The University ofNewcastle

• uptake through information dissemination specific to construction e-business
• identifying the cultural, social and economic barriers and drivers to e-business adoption
• providing the platform for future ICT industry innovations  

2004-016-A    Supply chain sustainability [Kerry London, The University of Newcastle]

Participants: Rider Hunt, Brisbane City Council, Qld Dept of MainRoads, Qld Dept of Public Works, Queensland University of Technology,The University of Newcastle

• improving economic, social andenvironmental sustainability of the pre-cast concrete and constructionand demolition waste supply chains
• identifying the competitive behaviour and market sector performance issues in these sectors
• enabling business process efficiency and effectiveness of publicsector program delivery by influencing policy development andorganisational behaviour

2003-050-A    Construction site safety culture [Dean Cipolla, John Holland]

Participants: John Holland, Bovis Lend Lease, Queensland University of Technology, University of Western Sydney

Improving the ability of construction organisations to drive a safe culture. This will be achieved by:

• identifying the management and supervisory positions critical to safety performance

• examining the competencies/skills/knowledge/behaviours required by these roles to successfully drive a safety culture
• linking the effectiveness of existing training packages andlearning tools to individual site and industry OHS outcomes and safetyperformance

Congratulations to Dr Lan Ding who was one of 16 finalists selected in this year's Fresh Innovators Awards which is supportedDesign Check innovations in the update above.

The Fresh Innovators forum helps 16 early career innovators developexpertise in presenting their ideas clearly to a general audience andto the media. Innovators need to communicate clearly about theirinventive, and often pioneering, work to potential investors, industryusers and other key stakeholders such as the wider business communityand media. After a day of media and presentation training, thefinalists presented their innovations to University, school andbusiness audiences, as well as the general public and the media.

For more information see http://www.freshinnovators.org 

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Our Second International Conference, Clients Driving Innovation - Moving Ideas into Practice willbe held at the Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise from 1214 March2006.  The Conference will be held in association withthe International Council for Research and Innovation in Building andConstruction (CIB), International Construction Research Alliance(ICALL) and the International Alliance for Interoperability(IAI).  

We are delighted to have the earlysupport of our Gold sponsors - Queensland Department ofPublic Works and Aus-PeBBu (The Australian Performance Based BuildingNetwork). Our Bronze sponsors include the Australian Institute ofProject Management, Queensland Department of Main Roads and theAustralian Greenhouse Office. The Australian Institute of QuantitySurveyors will sponsor our formal dinner.

We would welcome further sponsorship,particularly at the Silver level ($10,000) and for our informal dinner($3,000), lunches ($2,000) and the Book of Abstracts ($2,500). Wealso encourage you to consider displaying your information, servicesand products as the conference exhibition will be an integral part ofthis event and the location of the exhibition will ensure maximumexposure ($1,700).

Last year we stamped our mark onthe national and international scene with 210 attendees from 12countries benefiting from the quality of industry case studies andleading-edge research. Our 2006 conference will build on this successin focussing on the theme of moving ideas into practice. JohnHolland Board Chair Janet Holmes a Court and Queensland Premier PeterBeattie have already confirmed their attendance as key speakers at thisevent.

For more information on the conference or our sponsorship and exhibition packages, contact Louise Adams at l.adams@construction-innovation.info or 03 5983 2180. The conference web site at www.2006conference.crcci.info will feature detailed information on this important industry event in the coming months. A Call for Abstracts will be issued shortly.

The full proceedings from our 2004 International Conference are now online.

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Adaptive Design Tool that Learns

Construction Innovation PhD scholar based at the University ofSydney. He commenced his PhD in< February 2003, with expectedcompletion in July 2006. His research topic Adaptive Design Toolthat Learns described in brief is as follows:

A situated agent extends an existing design tool to modelinteractions from which the agent is able to learn from its'experiences'.

To find out more about his research, please email Wei at wpeng@arch.usyd.edu.au

Before commencing his PhD, Wei completed a Bachelor's degree inEngineering at Wuhan University of Technology, China, and a Mastersdegree in Information Science at the University of New South Wales.

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Construction Innovation events

Queensland Budget Impact on Construction Breakfast (Brisbane: 9 June)

Special guest speaker: The Honourable Robert Schwarten MP

Time:     7:00 9:30am

Where:  Carlton Crest Hotel, Roma (cnr Ann) St, Brisbane

Attendance: $59

Enquiries and registration: vicki.dwyer@mlaa.com.au

Sustainability and Facility Management Forum (Sydney: 9 August and Melbourne: 12 October )

Time:    9:30am 1:00pm Morning Session

             2:00 5:00pm Afternoon Session

             (Half and full day registrations available)

Where: (venues to be advised)

Details: available early June/August.
 
Clients Driving Innovation - Moving Ideas into Practice (Gold Coast, Queensland: 1214 March, 2006)

Our Second International Conference will be held at the Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise 12-14 March 2006.

For more information on the conference or our sponsorship and exhibition packages, contact Louise Adams at l.adams@construction-innovation.info

The conference web site at www.2006conference.crcci.infowill feature detailed information on this important industry event inthe coming months. A Call for Abstracts will be issuedshortly.  

Partner/External-lead events and updates

IAI** (information supplied by Kwok-Keung Yum, CSIRO)

• http://www.iai-international.org.
• http://www.buildingSmart.com.au to promote building Smart. The older interoperability.org.au site will soon be defunct .
• Two important government initiatives are forthcoming: (a) OsloIndustry/government days (May/June 2005); (b) GSA adoption of IFC(2006).
• There will be a mini exhibition together with theconference. This will be an opportunity for IFC compliantsoftware to have a workstation and a poster to arrange demos and buildawareness etc.
• http://www.iai.no

The IAI (International Alliance for Interoperability) is anon-profit, global alliance of the building, construction and softwareindustries with over 600 member organisations in 17 countries. The IAIwas formed in 1995 with the primary focus to develop innovativeconcepts that improve the ways to share information over the life cycleof construction projects. Construction Innovation is represented on theIAI both in Australia and internationally.

Pavement Management Systems Asia 2005 Conference (Singapore: 31 May- 1 June)

Construction Innovation is pleased to be a supporter of the aboveconference, which will feature several notable speakers and includeleading operators from both airport and road sectors, researchinstitutes and industry experts from the region and globally.

Project Leaders speaking at the conference are:

Professor Steve Rowlinson Adjunct Professor of QUT - Building value in project delivery systems; facilitating achange in culture lessons from Australia and

Professor Arun Kumar Dean, Research Innovation, RMIT will discussInvestment decision framework for infrastructure asset management.

For more information about this event, please refer to www.iqpc.com.sg/AS-3063/f1 

Third Annual Green Building Conference (Sydney: 29 June 1 July)

Conference highlights include:

• Ensuring Australias Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) through Policy Reform and Progress

• Benchmarking Environmentally Sustainable Development through the Greening of Government Initiative

• Balancing the Financial Rewards with Positive Environmental Outcomes

• Turning Existing Buildings into Green Buildings

• Measuring the Impact of Environmentally Sustainable Development on Work Space Effectiveness and Productivity

• Environmentally Sound Green Building Design and Construction

Speakers at the conference include Construction Innovation personnelPeter Scuderi (Development Manager) and Michael Ambrose (Project leaderSustainable Subdivisions). 

Details  www.iir.com.au/infrastructure

info@iir.com.au

QUT Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering Research Week (Brisbane: 4-8 July)

Mon/Tues 4-5 July
COBRA (the Construction Research Conference of the RICS foundation)
AUBEA (Australian Universities' Building Educators Association)

Wed 6 July
3rd CIB* Student Chapter International Symposium

The Industry Day will present opportunities for:

• bridging the gap between industry and academia

• showcasing the industry collaboration undertaken by the Faculty

Chair John McCarthy will speak as keynote in the morningsession of the July 7 industry day. He will discuss the industry agendafor construction research from CIB revaluing construction, Construction 2020, the FM Agenda as well as models of successful collaborativeacademic/industry research response.

Construction Innovation involvement (speakers yet to be confirmed):

Sustainable Solutions Theme:

Chairperson (Dale Gilbert, QDPW)

Delwyn Jones (QDPW) - Applications and new developments in LCADesign 

Infrastructure & Asset Management theme:

Dean Cipolla (John Holland) - Safety Project

David Marchant (Woods Bagot) - 3D CAD &  visualisation

Gerry Shutt (John Holland) - Optus inCITE

John Tsoukas & Daniyal Mian (Arup) - Project Diagnostics

*CIB - International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction

Norway providing models for leadership in innovation (Oslo: 31 May- 1 June)

(information supplied by Kwok-Keung Yum, CSIRO)

The Norwegian Government together with the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI**) will present its nationalinitiative in construction innovation in a two-day Building SmartInternational Conference in Oslo, 31 May 1 June, 2005. The aim of theinitiative is to highlight the business case for open integrated modelsand implement their supporting software for automatic buildingregistration, plan submission and code checking in Norway by 2006.

If representatives of government agency, industry body or researchorganisations are interested in attending the conference, pleasecontact p.scuderi@construction-innovation.info.He will organise with the Building Smart Conference Organiser and theNorwegian Government to send invitations directly to you.

Australian Construction Industry Conference (Sydney: 18 July, 2005)

Creating Value, Eliminating Waste will be combined with 13thInternational Group for Lean Construction Conference, 19-21 July 2005.

Monday 18 July 2005 - Australian Construction Industry Conference

http://www.tourhosts.com.au/construction2005, registration opens Friday May 13

Property Council of Australian Congress05 (Hamilton Island, Qld: 16-19 August )

Congress goes tropical
A stellar speaker line-up and theopportunity for networking in a relaxed, tropical environment makeCongress the must-attend property event for 2005.

Congress 05 will also see the launch of two ground-breaking research projects:

The Big Think Project - delivering insights into property marketdrivers and business opportunities. 'Big Think' 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)

Register soon at http://www.udiaqld.com.au/services/events.shtml

http://www.bsa.qld.gov.au/Home/News/BuildingAustraliasFutureConference2005.htm

Register your interest. Further details of the conference and the scheduled program will be available at http://www.amca.com.au/ soon.

AIPM 2005 Conference (Melbourne: 9-11 October)

Project yourself into the future will be valuable to all thoseinvolved in the many facets of project management. For more informationsee www.aipm.com.au 

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