For 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 in this forecast stay at current levels, they are forecasted to reach US$79 trillion, a shortfall of US$15 trillion. Road transport and energy infrastructure requiring the largest injection of funds.

I read with interest PWC’s ‘2018 Middle East Capital Projects and Infrastructure Survey’. From the findings, the Middle East construction industry needs to change and improve the way projects are procured, financed and delivered. It is great to read that the industry is responding through increased collaboration and innovation. New technologies and changes to regulation can further facilitate the delivery of capex programs. It is worth noting that the UAE Government has mandated the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) on Government projects in Dubai, which should help drive collaboration and efficiencies if utilised appropriately.

This leads me to BIM. The utilisation of BIM as a tool for asset and cost management, as well as whole-of -life costing, is the way forward for construction cost professionals and asset managers on a global scale. This will help further define the role of the Quantity Surveyor moving forward beyond that of estimation.

All sectors of the built environment will need to work together to enable the effective utilisation of BIM to the Quantity Surveying profession and other stakeholders involved in the development and management of construction assets.

For their part, AIQS and NZIQS have jointly developed a BIM Best Practice Guide (for Quantity Surveyors) which will be launched at the November ICEC-PAQS 2018 Conference in Sydney. The Guide highlights key knowledge areas relating to BIM, including information on what Quantity Surveyors need to know about BIM, interactions with other BIM stakeholders, specifics about 5D BIM, what to expect on a BIM project, timeline of Quantity Surveyors’ role in the BIM Execution Plan (BEP), what information Quantity Surveyors need from 3D information models, popular 5D software options, quality assurance, and legal issues to be aware of while working on BIM projects.

In addition, AIQS is an active participant on the Australasian BIM Advisory Board (ABAB) which was established to develop a consistent approach to the adoption of BIM across jurisdictional boundaries. AIQS is one of only two professional bodies to part of this principally government (Commonwealth, State and Territory, and NZ) advisory body.

The ultimate success of BIM depends on its ability to capture all relevant data in the BIM model, and to successfully exchange data between different project participants without the encumbrance of intellectual property constraints.

Moving to the topic of prefabrication and its increasing use across the construction sector. The benefits of pre-fabrication to the vertical construction industry are increasingly being realised by clients as a way to save money and construction time without losing out on quality or durability. Quantity Surveyors, who are brought into the equation, pre-design, are well positioned to assess and make a determination about whether prefabrication is a viable solution. I am inspired by the innovation, design and sustainability features of Daramu House in Sydney, an engineered timber building, which is due to be completed late 2019.

It is possible for a significant prefabrication industry to further develop in Australia, as long as there is a level playing field in terms of cost, quality and compliance with the National Construction Code. Ultimately, it will be up to all those in the development and constructions sector, from consultants, contractors, unions and employer groups, through to governments and the prefabrication industry who will determine the success, or otherwise, of building prefabrication in the Australia.

Another emerging area for the Quantity Surveying profession is the provision of a contingent workforce. The divesting of in-house Quantity Surveyors by government agencies has resulted in an increase consultancy services to government, typically through contract arrangements with a Quantity Surveying firm. More recently, we have seen an increase in the utilisation of a contingent workforce by governments, whereby a Quantity Surveyor (in this instance) will be imbedded in a government agency for a fixed duration and working under direct government supervision, though still technically employed by the Quantity Surveying company.

While this already occurs in some jurisdictions, details around engagement by some governments are still under development.

Grant Warner

CEO Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors