CEO LETTER
FOR THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN Welcome to the latest edition of our reshaped ‘The Building Economist’. From this edition onwards, we will be providing you with construction industry content that is broader than a specific theme. I encourage you to read the articles that we provide as the times they are a-changin. Change brings about new challenges as well as opportunities for construction cost professionals around the world. In my CEO letter, four change/emerging areas are identified, infrastructure, BIM, prefabrication, and contingent workforce. Innovative and ‘never been seen before’ designs continue to challenge the way in which projects are costed from the
design to construction to obsolescence. Buildings with waterfalls, who would have thought! Across the infrastructure sector we are seeing increasing opportunities for Quantity Surveyors and Cost Estimators, with superior skills, to work closer with Governments around the world in providing cost management and contract management services to facilitate the delivery of major infrastructure projects. Australia is currently experiencing an infrastructure boom. The Australian Government has committed over $75 billion towards new and upgraded land transport infrastructure over the
next ten years ($55bn over next four years). State and Territory governments have a planned investment of some $190bn over the next four years, with NSW Government allocating $80bn. Queensland and Victoria have a planned investment of around $40bn over the next four years, WA $22bn, and South Australia and Tasmania around $4bn. On top of this is the considerable private sector funding across the mining, oil and gas and pipeline sectors of more than $38bn over the same time period. An initiative by the G20 group of countries have forecast that US$94 trillion will need to be invested up until 2040 to meet demand. If the 56 countries involved
THE BUILDING ECONOMIST - SEPTEMBER 2018 - 3
