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Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been widely praised as a new paradigm and the next digital transformation in the architecture, engineering, construction and owner/operator (AECO) industry, moving towards a more productive and agile industry. This research is an attempt by the Australian BIM Academic Forum (ABAF) to fulfil two key ABAF objectives by: 1. Collectively promoting BIM education and learning across Australian universities and 2. Develop the minimum requirements for BIM-related curricula, with the objective of bridging the gap between BIM university education outcomes and workplace performance requirements. Driven by the needs of the Australian AECO industry, this framework is the first in Australia to set minimum requirements for BIM/DE education across Australian universities, with the aim of creating a sustainable pipeline of graduates in AECO-related courses, who possess the knowledge, skills and abilities required by the Australian AECO industry. As a result, the framework recognises the need to cover the education of BIM/DE-ready graduates across wider generic fields to address issues throughout the whole asset life cycle.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Lean construction are developing rapidly in terms of knowledge and application. BIM facilitates a more integrated process for construction project delivery that provides significant benefits for projects and the stakeholders, mainly clients, including improved project collaboration and quality as well as reduced construction duration and project lifecycle costs. Likewise, Lean construction deeply influenced by lean thinking, has two common goals of minimising waste (muda) and maximising the value to the client. Conceptually there are significant opportunities for synergising the two practices. Although attempts were made to draw the links between the two for better improvement, a lack of an integrated model including influential factors and barriers to BIM and Lean construction adoption was identified in the existing literature. To bridge the gap, this chapter aims to develop an integrated model for BIM and Lean construction adoption. Mixed methods systematic review was employed in this study. Quantitatively, it was found that there is no link between BIM adoption and Lean construction or Lean production. Moreover, this study reviewed the extant literature on the barriers/issues of BIM and Lean construction adoption and proposed an integrated framework including the influential factors for the adoption of BIM and Lean Construction in the construction industry. This study concluded that most of the factors influencing BIM and Lean Construction adoption overlapped across three categories, including supply chain (industry and institutional), organisational and project.

The construction industry has one of the highest waste intensities in Australia. While currently there are barriers to the implementation of sustainable waste management (WM) practices, there is a lack of viable solutions to overcome these barriers. This research aims at examining the main barriers and issues to the implementation of sustainable WM in the Australian commercial construction industry with a focus on incentivization as a possible solution. To this end, a qualitative approach through interviewing experts in the field is adopted to explore new ideas around possible solutions to the issue. Thus, 13 online semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts in the Australian construction industry and the findings show that participants are willing to use more sustainable WM practices, however, the barriers are too substantial. The findings also indicate solutions such as influencing WM practices by stakeholders (client, government, and industry regulators) through financial incentives, mandating measurable and relevant KPIs, amending existing legislations, implementing stewardship programs, conducting audits on waste contractors to improve the waste reporting reliability, and creating separate waste streams to foster a Circular Economy. This study benefits researchers and practitioners by shifting their focus more towards solutions around the incentivization of head contractors (HC) towards sustainable WM practices.

Interest in advanced digital technology such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) has grown remarkably in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) industry over the past decade, and BIM research has proliferated globally. In Australia, alongside the increasing rate of implementing BIM within the AECO industry, academic research has also risen on the topic; however, to the best of authors’ knowledge, a systematic review of the extant literature on BIM in Australia is missing. This study addresses this lack by offering a Scientometric analysis to explore the state of BIM literature in Australia. To this end, a quantitative approach using the ‘science mapping’ technique is employed to examine 473 articles in the field and to highlight their academic discourses that have occurred and emerged over time. Findings revealed primary topic areas in BIM research and their connections as well as research institutions active in BIM research, key authors and their collaboration networks, influential countries, and research outlets. The findings are instructive in identifying the gaps in current research. Research in the area of 3D modelling, visualisation, and technical aspects of BIM has dominated BIM research in Australia. There has been less emphasis on the managerial aspect of BIM, education and training, as well as the emerging and interrelated areas such as the Internet of Things, Blockchain, and Digital Twin. Analysis of the collaboration network of the Australian institutions active in BIM research shows that institutions mainly work in isolation with little or no in-country collaboration. From an international perspective, findings demonstrate an increased collaboration with China rather than those identified as leading countries in BIM research such as the U.K. and the U.S. By providing a view from a meta-perspective, the present study contributes to the body of knowledge of BIM in Australia by informing the researchers, the institutions, an

The adoption of innovative technologies in the construction industry has provided significant benefits to the industry. In Australia, the use of innovative construction technologies has grown increasingly over the past decade and received a significant increase in the level of adoption in construction site activities due to the recent pandemic. One technology that is receiving additional attention to be beneficial to the industry is Augmented Reality (AR). However, its current level of adoption is still very limited due to several reasons the theoretically advantages are not yet well received by the practitioners. To address this gap, this study aimed at investigating the low-level adoption and widespread use of AR technology in the Australian construction industry. To this end, semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore perceptions of the use of AR technology and its limitations from end-users perspectives and managers of construction companies in particular. As a result, a model is presented to map the influential factors and barriers to the adoption of AR. Findings revealed several concepts including lack of knowledge about AR, conservative management attitudes, absence of feasibility analysis, operability and work culture as factors influencing AR adoption in the industry. Moreover, the model provides a basis to direct future research on the topic.

Last Planner System (LPS), as one of the most effective lean construction tools to improve planning reliability, has been adopted by increasing numbers of construction companies worldwide. However, previous studies found that the full benefits of LPS are still hindering due to considerable problems, which prevents a wider spread of the technique. To address this gap, this study aims at developing a framework of LPS adoption for construction companies to realize the full effectiveness of LPS. A systematic literature review is undertaken to synthesize existing critical success factors (CSFs) and barriers reported in the literature, followed by a mixed-method analysis to develop an integrated framework to support successful LPS implementation. The proposed framework can be used as a checklist for construction companies to investigate the missing parts in their current operating procedure and develop a corresponding implementation strategy. With a detailed evaluation of identified CSFs and barriers, this study also reveals that project participants, the organization as well as external enablers are required to make relevant efforts in order to secure the full benefits of LPS.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present a modified model for collaboration in BIM-based construction networks (BbCNs). Though BIM is increasingly adopted and implemented across the construction industry, the problems associated with the lack of collaboration among teams in BbCNs remain a major hindrance to reaping the full potential of BIM. Previous studies have been conceptual in nature. This paper, therefore, attempts to modify and validate existing conceptual models that describe collaboration in BbCNs. Design/methodology/approach: To modify the conceptual model for collaboration in BbCNs, qualitative data through semi-structured interviews with BIM experts in the industry were collected and analysed using qualitative methods including the use of NVivo software. Findings: The proposed model includes influential factors and their sub-factors to collaboration in BbCNs, as well as considering their indicators. Findings reveal that several overlooked concepts, particularly unfavourable BIM contractual arrangements, act as the root causes of the unwillingness of team members in BbCNs to engage in collaborative efforts. Research limitations/implications: The study's findings must be viewed in light of several limitations. First, the interviewees in this study were based in Australia hence their perceptions of BIM collaboration are reflective of the sociotechnical setting of BIM-enabled projects in this country. Also, the findings are based on the perception of experts in the field, rather than analysis of performance measures or quantitative assessment of associations among collaboration outcomes and various factors. This, however, provides the field with fertile grounds for future research. Practical implications: The study benefits researchers by shifting the collaboration discourse in BIM-enabled projects from technology-related issues to the people and contractual-related domains. Moreover, the developed qualitative model provides industry professionals wi

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is inherently a team-based activity and possessing the Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) to collaborate across various disciplines and organisations are central for BIM-ready graduates. There is, nevertheless, no systematic attempt to analyse the current approaches to teaching collaboration KSAs across tertiary education institutions. This study is an attempt to provide an account of the current approaches taken by leading universities for training and educating collaboration, as a part of their BIM education programs. To this end, 63 articles on BIM education were identified, of which 18 were used to extract their practices to teaching collaboration. The content analysis of these studies revealed that the practices identified can be presented under 4 broad categories including Instructional approach, Prerequisites, Marking and evaluation, and Feedback, in which each category has various sub-categories. As the first in its kind, the present study provides an analysis and synthesis of the best practices for teaching educating collaboration, and therefore, assists educators and curriculum builders in integrating collaboration KSAs into BIM education in construction-related curricula.