Industry has strongly called for greater consistency and harmonisation on government activities relating to Building Information Modelling (BIM) at a forum in Sydney today hosted by industry association Consult Australia.
BIM is now commonly specified in construction contracts as clients seek to drive innovation and new technologies on their projects.
In response to this change, the supply chain is building capability and BIM techniques are now rapidly becoming business-as-usual for large-scale projects. This has lead to the creation of a National Digital Engineering Working Group by government.
However, Consult Australia believes all jurisdictions should be part of the working group as industry collaboration is essential to deliver the maximum potential benefits from approaches such as BIM.
Consult Australia state manager, Matthew Trigg, said there is presently no common definition or understanding of BIM, or an awareness of how this will impact government and industry alike. In response, he said industry has created a Digital Built Environment Task Group.
“It is great to see governments moving on BIM, but their paths are not aligned and it is causing problems," he said.
“The benefits of BIM and other digital approaches can be better harnessed. We need to move away from the current situation where positive outcomes are dependent on the knowledge and interests of single individuals within government or industry.
“Policy makers need to recognise the positive benefits of avoiding the future complications that will come from jurisdictions not working with a common purpose.”
Attendees at the forum were asked how they rate the current procurement of BIM by government, with 27 per cent stating ‘very poor’, 44 per cent as ‘poor’ and 29 per cent as ‘average’, with none indicating ‘good’ or ‘very good’.
The forum explored implementing a BIM mandate or whether the focus should be on creating greater harmonisation on areas such as standards, language, skills and competency.
At the start of the forum 93 per cent of attendees expressed support specifically for a BIM mandate in Australia, with this falling to 69 per cent by the end of the discussion.
“The need for government and industry to collectively create a supportive policy environment has become increasingly essential in order to enable the benefits of new technology and approaches.” Trigg said.
To help achieve this Consult Australia is establishing a Digital Built Environment Task Group open to representatives from industry and government with demonstrated experience and overseen by the Consult Australia Innovation Roundtable.
“The intention is to breakthrough the technical language and marketing rhetoric and focus decision makers on those actions that will help to ensure the delivery of long term benefits," he explained.
Expressions of interest to join the Task Group should be sent to matthew@consultaustralia.com.au