Leica’s Matt Wheelis to keynote this years Construction Innovation Forum

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Leica’s Strategy for the Global Building and Construction Industry to be delivered at this year’s Forum

The Air Conditioning and Mechanical Contractors’ Association (AMCA) in partnership with its Gold Partner C.R. Kennedy are pleased to showcase the people, processes and technologies that will help deliver the eighth successful event.

Joining CR Kennedy, the international keynote speaker is Mr Matt Wheelis, Segment Manager, Building Construction of Leica Geosystems. Matt leads Leica’s sales and business strategy for the Building Construction segment in North America for all product lines including Construction Layout and Reality Capture.

Prior to joining Leica, Matt held Senior Management positions at Autodesk, where he led industry strategy for construction and project collaboration across building, heavy, and industrial construction. His accomplishments include establishing job cost control in the cloud and advancing multiple SaaS / Cloud, mobile and BIM solutions for construction. With a BA in Accounting and Master of Civil Engineering, Matt brings a unique perspective to advancing construction technology at all levels.

Joining Matt Wheelis and the CR Kennedy team will be Matt Rumbelow, a past presenter at the AMCA Construction Innovation Forum. Matt has recently taken up a role within the Building Construction segment.

A graduate with honours in architecture from UniSA, Matt has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities that BIM can bring in practice. His work with global BIM leaders such a Lecia, Autodesk, Trimble, and Solibri, Matt is uniquely placed to identify benefits and develop strategies that leverages the potential of BIM technologies across different industries.

Matt is particularly excited about the availability of the BLK360 scanner in Australia. Matt’s previous experience with laser scanning and point cloud acquisition with both clients and vendors highlights just how revolutionary this instrument will be for many outside the traditional survey field.

Matt will be joined at the forum by thought leaders and practitioners from across the supply chain, each providing unique insight into how leading firms such as Bryden Wood, Turner, McKinstry, Woods Baggot, COWI and Autodesk are utilising technological advancements to deliver innovative best practice solutions in the building and construction industry.

This year’s forum returns to the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre – 14-15 September.

Tickets are available at www.bimmepaus.com.au

BIM IS BACK IN THE BLK AT SID2017

As the premier event of its kind in Adelaide, we are pleased to showcase some of the people and technologies that will make the joint conference on August 11th such a success.

Presenting a keynote address is the Vice President of Business Development at Leica Geosystems, Mr Faheem Khan. With more than 20 years of experience, Faheem Khan oversees global strategy for the development of the Leica’s laser scanning solution portfolio, and leads the software product management organisation.
Faheem’s presentation will acknowledge that our industries are constantly in change. Leica’s major technological advances including the BLK360 scanner create link are driving the growth of reality capture solutions and reshaping our expectations to better in-form BIM, GIS and survey processes.

Assisting Faheem and the C R Kennedy team will be Matt Rumbelow, who has returned to Adelaide to work with the our new Building Construction segment.
A graduate with honours in architecture from UniSA, Matt has deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities that BIM can bring in practice. His work with global BIM leaders such a Lecia, Autodesk, Trimble, and Solibri, Matt is uniquely placed to identify benefits and develop strategies that leverages the potential of BIM technologies across different industries.
Matt is particularly excited about the availability of the BLK360 scanner in Australia. Matt’s previous experience with laser scanning and point cloud acquisition with both clients and vendors highlights just how revolutionary this instrument will be for many outside the traditional survey field.

Technology as an Enabler for Prefab Construction at prefabAUS 2015

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Very proud to represent Arup at the annual prefabAUS conference held at Melbourne University. The presentation which was sponsored by memko and Dassault Systemes showed how the prefabrication industry can leverage from the sophisticated technologies that have been developed and refined by the Automotive and Aerospace sectors.

The conference was opened yesterday by The Hon. Lily D’Ambrosio. Read about her opening comments and the ‘new era’ of prefabricated construction in The Australian Financial Review.

It was great to present to the attendees how Arup has provided consulting services for innovative prefabrication projects both locally and internationally, and highlight the collaboration of the Arup US teams on landmark Atlantic Yard project.

For more information regarding the conference presenters and topics covered, visit the prefabAUS site here.

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buildingSMART shows how we can Build Smarter

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BIM is fast becoming the Holy Grail in facilities and asset management. But how is BIM being applied in the real world today? Is it working? What results are being achieved?

This buildingSMART Australasia Seminar will address these questions and more with a case study presentation from the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (SHFA) on the century old heritage-listed Pyrmont Bridge, a major Sydney landmark that attracts more than five million pedestrians each year.

Wayne Sahlman, Senior Facilities Supervisor at SHFA, will present a case study on the 3D BIM solution that has been implemented for the Pyrmont Bridge.

A supporting presentation will also take place in each State providing examples of BIM Modelling for Asset Management:

  • Melbourne – Daniel Kalnins, Senior Engineer – Digital Engineering, CIMIC Group
  • Brisbane – Paul Nunn, General Manager BIM, PDC Group
  • Adelaide – Harry Turner, Transport Services Leader, Aurecon
  • Sydney – Bob Baird, Executive Director – CFPC, Department of Defence

The evening will close with a panel discussion. Places are limited in each location, please follow the below links for further event specific information or to book your ticket online!

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When Richard Petrie joined buildingSMART as chief executive officer in 2013, he took on the goal of driving the standards-writing organization’s growth — in order to drive change across the entire architecture, engineering and construction industry.

Having worked in construction as both contractor and client, Petrie has seen firsthand the frustrations of a slow-to-evolve architecture, engineering and construction industry. From within buildingSMART — a not-for-profit organization that has been working to standardize the language and processes of BIM (Building Information Modeling) users since 1995 — Petrie has observed an increasing emphasis from several European governments on improving construction efficiency.

“All of those governments have very serious social needs that they have to fulfill with increasingly limited budgets,” Petrie says. “Completing these projects in the best way possible is very important, and you can’t do that if you don’t have accurate and clear data.”

buildingSMART is setting out to provide that data by leading the entire building industry into the digital economy.

Overcoming Fragmentation

There are two key challenges in architecture, engineering and construction industry that buildingSMART is seeking to address.

First is the fragmentation of the supply chain.12 As designers, builders and owners expand their focus to the entire life cycle, it becomes increasingly important to understand how each component and system impacts others. While savvy suppliers are integrating vertically, providing inter-related products, services and knowledge, many designers are finding the information they need through sharable information made possible by BIM.

Second, Petrie finds, construction clients are rarely well informed about the construction, building management and asset ownership process, which means they are also fragmented. For example, the efficiency to which buildings are designed isn’t always met in operation. This is in part because product data isn’t easily transferred from designers and builders to owners and facility managers.

“Altogether, this disjointed relationship with clients and the fragmentation of the supply chain is a great drag on the transformation of the industry,” Petrie says.

 Creating a Universal Approach to Construction

buildingSMART describes openBIM as a “universal approach” to the collaborative design, realization and operation of buildings based on open standards, such as its IFC family of standards. This approach allows all project members to participate in modeling, regardless of the software tools they use; it creates a common language for widely referenced processes; and it provides one system for housing asset data over its entire life-cycle.

Petrie sees openBIM as a solution to the industry’s fragmentation challenges and buildingSMART as a path to the significant opportunities for improvement in building and infrastructure cost, value and environmental performance.

“I believe those opportunities are only truly available with open international standards and, in order to create those open international standards, a neutral entity for the development and promulgation of those standards is needed,” Petrie explains. “That is the role buildingSMART International is taking on.”

With its newly defined vision, the volunteer-driven organization has made major headway in the past year. From creating new standards to defining data to the harmonization of processes across the supply chain, the group has demonstrated real progress and results.

The Push for Interoperability

The group’s push for progress aligns with demand from several governments. As a case in point: Petrie indicates the UK government’s push for interoperability as an example of where openBIM is heading.

While the UK has had requirements for open data since 2012, in 2016 the government will formally launch a program in which procurements must use BIM Level 2 documents.

This set of methodologies is designed to introduce the construction supply chain to trading and operating in a data environment, allowing the government to focus on the strongest leaders and drive value for its spending programs.

It’s a demand driven not by technology, Petrie says, but a cultural shift resulting from seeing real change in how each construction dollar is spent. “That is the reality that will provide the real driver to ensure that this program moves forward the way we hope it will,” he says.

Petrie adds that thus far the group is achieving its predicted targets in the UK, and work is underway for a Level 3 program slated for 2020-2025.

The Smart Future of Building

To expand the organization’s work, Petrie is seeking to build a community of experts to ensure that future standards accurately reflect the needs of real-world users. Volunteers work at both the international and chapter level, in an integrated process for developing new standards and deploying them into user communities.

 

Membership in buildingSMART International is open to companies, government bodies and institutions from around the world. Dassault Systèmes joins buildingSMART as an International Member, with full voting membership rights on the new Standards Committee and membership rights with buildingSMART chapters.

The company joins other leading proponents of openBIM that recognize the benefits from openBIM can achieve the greatest impact and momentum by working together in a common community.

Members benefit from the collective activities of other members locally and internationally, and play an active role not only in identifying issues, but also in the development of solutions.

The nature of buildingSMART is that it is a voluntary organization where solutions are developed on a mutually supportive co-developed basis, and so we need members to be active in our community,” Petrie explains.

Petrie acknowledges that it will take time to develop and communicate the organization’s mission, but, he adds, “The changes that we are hoping will be available as a result of these new standards will not only affect the technical communities, but will have implications for the way in which companies function.

As published on April 9, 2015

http://perspectives.3ds.com/architecture-engineering-construction/spotlight-on-buildingsmart-driving-an-open-approach-to-design-and-construction-evolution/

Six and Out? More like Six and Just Getting Started for BIM-MEP AUS

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This weeks BIM-MEP AUS Construction Innovation Forum will be the sixth time that Sumit Oberoi and his team from the AMCA have gathered the best BIM thinkers from around the world to present on the latest for the MEP industry.

Six years makes this one of the longest running BIM events, and certainly one of the most accessible, both in terms of registration fees and published content. Six years later the admission price is still under AU$1000, and the professionally recorded presentations are still available FOR FREE for the entire BIM community.

In fact as we count down to CIF2015 starting Thursday, I recommend that you review the fantastic keynotes and industry benchmarks that BIM-MEP AUS has achieved.

In particular, the video presentations are a much under-utilised resource that deserve revisiting (even the one from yours truly) …

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And lastly, but certainly not least, I would like to publicly acknowledge the tireless work of Sumit Oberoi in particular. Having been involved in almost every version of BIM event across the country, and running a few myself, the effort and ability shown my Sumit (and his team) is to be commended. Sumits ability to bring the BIM leaders and vendors into the same room is extraordinary, as well as his continued interest in the technological developments which allows the AMCA members to rightly claim to be the most BIM ready of the entire AEC industry.

Moreover, Sumit has championed the education of the industry, and has been heavily involved with the newly opened ITH facility at Box Hill. Designed in collaboration with the AMCA, the ITH is home to the Refrigeration and Climate Control Centre of Excellence (RCCC) in partnership with the Air-Conditioning and Mechanical Contractors Association (AMCA) and the RCCC, it provides the main training facilities for the air-conditioning and allied industries.

Whilst there are certainly more vocal and public proponents of BIM with the Australian AEC industry, I would contend that very very few would be able to list the achievements and advancements that Sumit has been involved with across his six years of service to the BIM-MEP AUS initiative.

Whilst this certainly not a eulogy for Sumit (perhaps more like a BIMroast!), if you get a chance to speak with him and his team this week at CIF2015, I think a thanks would be in order.

Thanks.

Too much BIM is never enough! BIM MEP AUS starts August 6th

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As a previous presenter at the Construction Innovation Forum (BIM MEP AUS), I am looking forward to another outstanding event hosted by the hard working team at the AMCA.

I am impressed by the wide variety of technologies and vendors that have been brought together for this years conference, including Dassault Systems, Trimble and Aconex.

But don’t take my word for it. BIMguru Bilal Succar has summed it up best by posting that CIF is “one of the very few BIM events in Australia worth attending every year” … 

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Watch this space for further news regarding the speakers and content being featured at CIF2015, and if you cant wait until August, relive some of the “moments” of CIF2014 below!

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See my previous post about CIF2014 here.

Construct15 gets under under way …

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Great to finally see @Construct_15 kick off in Perth today.  Since November of 2014, a lot of blood, sweat, spit & tears have gone into this event, which is by far the largest I have been involved with. Speakers from all over Australia and New Zealand as well as another 22 countries travelling to Perth to share “Global Knowledge and Global Solutions” for the construction industry over 4 days.

Due to professional reasons (well beyond my control!), I am unable to attend the event personally, but am there in spirit, tweets and webmastery.

I would like to acknowledge the unwavering efforts of just a few people in return:

UPDATED – DDS-CAD MEP: Finally we have a choice … Open(BIM) for Business

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It seems that DDS-CAD (MEP) is finally being released in Australia. The entity IC3D is being rebranded as Central Innovations (website forth coming), and in doing so is hold events in Sydney and Melbourne to launch DDS-CAD. Details for the Sydney event are in the graphic below, and Melbourne event to be posted shortly (I hope).

DDS is considered as one of the pioneers of Building Information Modeling (BIM). The DDS-CAD product suite supports this innovative approach to building design since its introduction. DDS was founded in 1984 in Norway. Since then DDS stands for precision, quality and innovation. Across Europe, the company is a market leader with more than 13.500 active installations of its flagship product DDS-CAD, software for Mechnical, Electrical and Plumbing design (MEP).

Since November 2013, DDS operates as a subsidiary of the Munich based NEMETSCHEK AG.

Melbourne:
Thursday 30th July
195 Wellington Road, Clayton, VIC
Phone to register: t: +61 3 8562 3457

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Sydney:
Tuesday 28th July
77 Allingham Street, Condell Park, NSW
Phone to register: t: +61 3 8562 3457

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Central innovation hosts the first of a series of seminars on DDS CAD in Sydney and Melbourne next week. The events are aimed at engaging the MEP sector in a productive conversation on how we can help shape the future of Australia’s construction space.

Who is Central Innovations?

We are the parent company of both the Intercad and Graphisoft (Australia) brands.We help our customers develop their design process and systems by deploying the world’s most capable design and 3D modelling software. We enhance this with specialist consulting, ongoing training, plus access to industry focused recruitment on top of supplying the world’s fastest design oriented hardware. Whether you work on the design of manufactured products or in the construction space, we have you covered across your entire design process.

Data Design System (DDS) has convinced customers worldwide with its proven CAD/BIM software for MEP project design. Regarding innovation and functionality, DDS delivers solutions for electrical, plumbing, heating, ventilation, air conditioning and photovoltaic systems. All DDS-CAD products support the Open BIM design process.

To celebrate DDS-CAD’s 30 year in the industry, they re-released this footage. Really, they shouldn’t have.

BuildSA. #weBIMasone SOLD OUT!

Build-SA session: Documentation and Deliverables is SOLD OUT.
That’s right, two sessions in a row have now sold out.. All attendees should have now received an email with final venue details but for those who have not you can access this information in our blog by clicking HERE

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A BIMshout-out to the team at BuildSA (great name, wonder where that came from?) as they look to kick off the second session of the BuildSA seminar series. If you are in Adelaide, do-yourself-a-favour and get along to hear from the BIM leaders in your state. #weBIMasone

http://build-sa.com.au/

Session 02: Documentation and Deliverables: July 22
Only a few tickets left. Last Chance. To purchase click HERE to go to our website.
This next session is about delivering BIM on projects. Speakers will be presenting innovative solutions to help you work in a changing industry.

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Session 02: Documentation and Deliverables Part 1
Directors | Project Leaders | BIM Leaders

JULY 22: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
The content list for the next topic is so huge we have split it across two sessions. Also the venue now shifts to the University of South Australia’s City West campus.
You asked, we delivered. Feedback from the first event told us the breakout sessions were great and people want more of them. We have made the workshop sessions longer to give more time for content and discussion. And yes we are working on the coffee too…..

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Where’s the BIMWally? MelBIM highlights video posted

Following on for their sell-out third event last week, it’s great to be able to “Spotlight” the fantastic work of the MelBIM committee and supporters, most succinctly captured in the recent highlight video below.

Take the time to watch the video and count the amount of BIMWallys’ making these events great.

MelBIM is a not for profit group based in Melbourne, Australia that seeks to bring together the built environment community of Victoria, to share and exchange thoughts and knowledge relating to technology and innovation across the AEC+FM industry, with a particular focus on BIM.

The primary vehicle for achieving our objectives is the hosting of a bi-monthly event held at RMIT, Swanston Academic Building (SAB), City Campus. MelBIM events are free to attend and include education-based presentations from industry leaders on a wide range of BIM-related subjects.

Attendees of these events are provided a fantastic opportunity to network and engage with other professionals from backgrounds including Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Facility Management, Manufacturing, Planning, Quantity Surveying, Software Development/Vendors, AEC Services, Product Sales / Retail, Education and Government.

Video created by Spotlight Productions http://www.spotlightproductions.com.au/  Posted June 9th 2015