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Editorial

Industry News

Cover Feature: A1 Roadlines

FEB/MAR 2022 Volume 7 Number 5

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About the Cover Over the past 50 years, the name A1 Roadlines has become synonymous with innovative road marking and road work zone safety equipment and solutions. From its humble beginnings in suburban Melbourne, A1 Roadlines has grown to become one of Australia’s leading suppliers of road marking and road work zone safety equipment. Turn to Page 10 for the full story.

EDITORS COLUMN

TIME TO START CONSIDERING STORMWATER MANAGEMENT ON A NATIONAL SCALE Dear Readers, Following yet another series of devastating rainfall events – some of which are continuing even as I write this editorial and the subsequent devastation faced by numerous cities, towns and regions across Australia, one could almost be forgiven for wondering if we are stuck in a 'Groundhog Day' style loop where we are condemned to a life of watching the same events and consequences play out time and again. Indeed, many areas of the country seem to barely have the opportunity to recover and rebuild from one major disaster, before they face the next devastating occurrence. This is particularly true when it comes to flooding, with some areas under water exactly 1 year (to the day) after the previous major flood event. It's no small irony that the driest inhabited continent on earth should suffer so badly during major rainfall events. And that while great swathes of the country are submerged under floodwaters, much of our great continent remains arid and, in many aspects, massively underutilised and unproductive. Alarmingly, despite the fact that even in my relatively short lifetime, these major flooding events have occurred more times than I could possibly remember, we still seem to suffer the same extreme consequences. And the toll is horrendous not only in financial terms (with costs often measured in hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars) but also in emotional and social terms... especially in light of the lives lost as a result of these latest floods. 2

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Together with the human lives lost, there are the massive wildlife and stock losses (often involving stock which graziers have been previously struggling to feed due to drought) and, of course, property losses. Put simply, these latest flood disasters in Queensland and NSW have devastated thousands of homes and businesses in both rural, urban, suburban and CBD locations. And while there will no doubt be attempts to calculate the dollar value of the losses, the true cost of these major floods is for all intents, impossible to calculate. With that in mind, I believe that it’s time that we seriously start to consider stormwater management on a much larger scale – for instance, a state-wide or even national scale. Much of our great nation is sorely lacking in water for much of the year and as a result, is massively under-utilised and under-productive. At the same time, large areas are inundated by floodwaters with alarming regularity. What’s more, climate science provides clear evidence that extreme weather events will continue to occur with increasing regularity and severity. In the meantime, Governments are stuck in a seemingly never-ending cycle of having to spend hundreds of millions of dollars repairing and rebuilding infrastructure after each of these major flood events, and it looks set to only get worse. Access to water is perhaps the single most important factor in increasing the habitability and productivity of any area. I believe that the time has come for us to develop and implement a plan to capture

and/or redirect and harness this stormwater to help 'open up' Australia's interior while at the same time, drought proofing much of the country. I’m well aware that this is an idea that has been floated in various guises for more than a century, mostly to be dismissed as either being too expensive, or for that matter, a pointless exercise for a country with a small population such as ours. However, our population, and the planet's population is growing at an extremely rapid rate. It's not only about having somewhere to live - everyone has to eat. This would be a 'Nation Building' project in every sense of the word, providing an opportunity to create a massive agricultural economy. Growth ONLY EVER comes from investment. This WILL cost many tens of billions of dollars. That said, considering the cost and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the tens of thousands of jobs that these projects would create (both during construction and ongoing), and massive long term economic benefits that a plan like this can deliver for generations to come – including for many remote indigenous communities – make them an excellent investment.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

MELBOURNE ENTREPRENEURS LAUNCH WORLD’S FIRST-EVER ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN BLOCKCHAIN COMMUNITY The world’s first ever architecture and design community - State of Address - has launched on the blockchain. Founded by four Melbourne-based entrepreneurs - Chris Stribley, Domenic Cerantonio, AJ Batra and Anmol Sekhon - State of Address (S-of-A) uses nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to turn products of architecture and design into investable assets that are unique, scarce, and transferable… all of which have the potential to be on-sold for longer term gain. Right now, the costs for individuals and communities to engage architects are high and can be out of reach for the average person or community. Yet, some would argue good architecturally designed spaces (physical and virtual) have never been so important in our lives. S-of-A sets out to democratise architectural designs and decrease the prohibitive costs of entrance to the end consumer, all the while, unlocking immense market potential for architects and designers alike. Dom Cerantonio, renowned architect and co-founder of S-of-A explains: “The current architect and consumer relationship is very linear. Currently, architects need to find clients who will initially commission them, support their ideas and if they are lucky enough, pay them for their time.”

“S-of-A aims to reinvent the architectural model whereby architects can create products at their own discretion that are scalable and sold in an open global market.” “We aim to provide perpetual royalties into our products that reward architects just like we see in other industries such as Music and Publishing,” he said. “On the client side, there are also significant benefits,” Mr Cerantonio added. “Prospective buyers will be able to shop through various design pieces till they find what they are looking for, purchase instantly and at a fraction of the cost. Via the use of NFTs, S-of-A sets out to tokenize the architectural design industry and unlock significant economic value that exists in the underlying work created by architects and designers.” “In Australia, only 2% of all new homes between 2012-2021 we designed by architects,” Mr Cerantonio said. “We hope that by reducing the cost to the end-customer, we can increase this statistic and improve the standard of living through better designing buildings and environments,” he added. While the launch of S-of-A signifies a new wave in architecture and design for our physical environments, it equally opens a world of possibilities for the digital space.

Anmol Sekhon, blockchain specialist and co-founder of S-of-A says: “While it’s clear the ‘in real life’ benefits S-of-A can offer, what’s equally exciting is the untapped market opportunity for the digital spaces we’re all becoming accustomed to.” “S-of-A aims to provide unique digital immersive environments that could be utilised in various mediums. Think - dream homes, art galleries (to display digital art), Zoom backgrounds, virtual office spaces, digital classrooms - the opportunities are endless.” S-of-A has launched as an initial membership token “Mint Pass”. Which will allow members to purchase new architectural design collections as they are released. S-of-A has already partnered up with emerging and leading architects and designers, as the community grows, S-of-A plans to be the leading library of architectural design on the blockchain. A place where future home builders or city shapers can browse the marketplace and purchase architectural design NFTs that suits them best. For more information visit: www.s-of-a.io

NEW INCENTIVE FOR LOW CARBON TIMBER The Federal Government’s move to increase support for the use of low-carbon timber is good news for the building and construction sector and will support jobs and economic activity while reducing greenhouse emissions. Master Builders Australia’s CEO, Denita Wawn said, “The announcement of $300 million to incentivise the greater use of low carbon engineered wood products in commercial and medium density housing is a big pragmatic policy win for the building, construction and forest industries, consumers and the environment.” “Master Builders Australia has called for measures that will assist the industry 4

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

to make use of more sustainable building materials without imposing excessive costs on the industry or consumers,” she said. “This new incentive announced by the Federal Government will help bring down the cost of construction, develop local capacity in low-carbon timber product manufacture, deliver healthier buildings for our clients and the community,” Denita Wawn said. “We have also jointly, with the Australian Products Association, called for measures to tackle a forecast a major shortfall of timber housing frames in the next decade and this measure will have positive flow on effects in addressing this challenge,” she said.

“It is these kinds of innovative and practical solutions that produce win-win solutions that mean that builders and consumers can choose more sustainable building materials and healthier buildings without also choosing to take on prohibitive additional costs,” Denita Wawn said.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

SHOWCASING A LEGEND OF PIONEERING AUSTRALIAN AVIATION BESIX Watpac is delivering a stunning new exhibition space at Adelaide Airport to showcase the historic Vickers Vimy, the first aircraft to complete the journey from England to Australia. Delivery of this important historic display space is in addition to BESIX Watpac’s major contract to deliver the new Adelaide Airport Terminal expansion. The Vickers Vimy is arguably the most important piece of Australia’s pioneering aviation history. Brothers Sir Ross and Sir Keith Smith, supported by mechanics Wally Shier and Jim Bennett, took off from England on 12 November 1919 and reached Darwin 28 days later. The extraordinary feat won them the £10,000 prize offered by the Commonwealth Government for the first Australians to fly from England to Australia in less than 30 days.

The new exhibition space project will see the Vimy relocated from a standalone building at Adelaide Airport and take pride of place in a special exhibition space in the new terminal. South Australia’s Artlab Australia is undertaking the delicate operation to dismantle and reassemble the Vimy in its new home.The Vickers Vimy relocation project has been jointly funded by the Federal Government, South Australian Government and Adelaide Airport. Adelaide Airport Managing Director, Brenton Cox, said it was exciting to see work commence on the Vimy’s relocation. “The Vickers Vimy is a treasured national asset and Adelaide Airport is proud to be its custodian,” Mr Cox said BESIX Watpac Manager South Australia, Al Crosby says it’s an honour to be involved in such an important heritage project.

“This is an extremely important project for the preservation of a remarkable piece of Australian aviation history and it’s a great way for BESIX Watpac to complete the Adelaide Airport Terminal expansion,” Al said. The exhibition space will be the second aviation history display facility delivered by BESIX Watpac. The company completed the stunning Qantas Founders Museum facility in Longreach, Queensland in 2020. The Vickers Vimy was a remarkable aircraft for its time. Developed as a bomber in the closing stages of WW1, it entered service too late to see action. Powered by twin Rolls Royce engines, the open cockpit Vimy completed the 17,910 kilometre journey from the UK to Australia at an average speed of 137 kph. The Vimy was originally displayed in Melbourne, then Sydney before being relocated to Adelaide in 1957.

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This is the new DesignBUILD. An industry event with a renewed focus on advancing excellence and innovation in Australia’s built environment. An event that celebrates quality products, sustainable solutions and knowledge exchanges in commercial design and construction. This is a new DesignBUILD that sees a co-location with Total Facilities and a digital building zone which looks towards the future of construction technology and smart buildings. Built over more than 30 years but with a forward vision for a better built environment. This is DesignBUILD reimagined.

Co-locating with

Pictured (L-R): Jason Marshall (Elevate Consulting Engineers), Jared Lillywhite (Aurecon) and Sean Whitfield (Elevate Consulting Engineers).

INDUSTRY-FIRST ENGINEERING PARTNERSHIP INKED TO BENEFIT INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES International design, engineering and advisory company Aurecon has signed an industry-first partnership with engineering start-up, Elevate Consulting Engineers to create business, employment and sustainable development opportunities for First Nations communities across Australia. The partnership will couple best-inclass engineering expertise with cultural insights to meet the unique needs of Indigenous communities. An ongoing program will provide trainees and emerging engineers with Indigenous backgrounds a series of opportunities for employment, alongside training and professional development. Aurecon’s Property and Place Industry Leader, Jared Lillywhite said “This partnership is the latest testament to Aurecon’s promise to value, celebrate and harness First Nations knowledge and

will enable Aurecon and Elevate to work collaboratively for mutual benefit.” Sean Whitfield, Co-owner of Elevate Consulting Engineers, said, “Indigenous focus is in our business DNA. There is a lot of eagerness from Indigenous communities, but not a lot of opportunities, especially for the technical aspects of engineering.” “This partnership means we’ll be able to expand our work in Brisbane to a much broader scope in the Northern Territory, New South Wales and Victoria, helping create employment and training opportunities for Indigenous people who want to have a career in STEM,” he added. Based in Brisbane, Elevate is a civil engineering design company registered with Supply Nation, Australia’s leading database of verified First Nations businesses. Founded by long-time friends and colleagues, Jason Marshall and Sean

Whitfield, who is proud of his Indigenous background, their goal is to build a sustainable business that values diversity and places a premium on Indigenous employment and training opportunities. This partnership is one initiative named in Aurecon’s 2022-2024 Reconciliation Action Plan as part of the company's broader plan to support and engage with First Nation communities. Previous initiatives include Aurecon’s multi-award-winning Project Gilghi that involved a breakthrough off-grid water purifying system for remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory. Aurecon engages First Nations owned suppliers through its Australian strategic sourcing and procurement practices. Since 2019, the company has spent more than $1 million with First Nations businesses.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

INEIGHT INNOVATION FACILITATES CONSTRUCTION 4.0 CAPITAL PROJECTS InEight Inc., a global leader in construction project management software, recently announced the next installment in a series of quarterly platform enhancements, the latest of which are designed to help minimise risk through price certainty, reduce operational costs with a digital twin, and enable customers to maximise use of daily tools for capital projects by leveraging a broad ecosystem of integration partners and data sets. “The embrace of digitalisation in the construction industry – often described as Construction 4.0 – is only accelerating thanks to recent trends like remote work, sustainability, and supply chain shortages,” said Brad Barth, Chief Product Officer at InEight. “Our open, integrated and secure construction management platform is enabling this transformation with an alldigital approach from project conception through asset turnover. Owners and contractors alike can create more realistic plans, budgets and schedules – informed by the collective knowledge of previous projects – and then execute those projects with full visibility to risks and expected outcomes.” The latest innovations are aimed to equip capital project owners and contractors with intelligent data to make smarter decisions. Enhancements will ensure cost certainty by 8

Construction Engineering Australia • Dec 2021/Jan 2022

identifying potential cash flow issues during the estimating phase to generate predictive pricing, as well as optimise pricing strategy for a wide variety of delivery models. Also, the digital twin provides shared access to a common environment where operational data is available in real-time, enabling crossdepartmental decision-making that creates closer alignment between project owners and contractors. The new integration with SiteSense® by Intelliwave Technologies will see InEight’s open platform incorporate the construction industry’s widely adopted solution for digital supply chain, materials management and tracking of project materials and equipment to enable a holistic overview of project assets and create dynamic, data-driven capital project schedules and budgets. With rising material prices and shortages causing cost increases and delays to infrastructure projects, these innovations will enable smarter construction projects that proactively and predictively adjust everything from price to project schedule based on intelligent data. Additional integrated platform enhancements offer a complete view of construction projects by unifying data from the back office to the jobsite and across the project lifecycle with Microsoft Dynamics 365, provide real-time photos and video of projects for licensed EarthCam customers,

and allow the exchange of data between InEight and Ryvit’s Viewpoint Vista. The latest platform enhancements also include: • Realistic risk-based contingency analysis to optimise profit margins and project win rate • Quality and commissioning managed in one platform to seamlessly interconnect workflows from construction to operations • Access to parametric assemblies and templates from Database Solutions during the estimating process For more information about InEight’s quarterly innovations, visit: www.ineight.com/innovations

ABOUT INEIGHT InEight provides field-tested project management software for the owners, contractors, engineers and architects who are building the world around us. Over 400,000 users and more than 850 customers worldwide rely on InEight for realtime insights that help manage risk and keep projects on schedule and under budget across the entire life cycle. From pre-planning to design, from estimating to scheduling, and from field execution to turnover, InEight has powered more than $400 billion in projects globally across infrastructure, public sector, energy and power, oil, gas and chemical, mining, and commercial. For more information, visit InEight.com

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COVER FEATURE

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

COVER FEATURE

50 YEARS OF INNOVATION Over the past 50 years, the name A1 Roadlines has become synonymous with innovative road marking and road work zone safety equipment and solutions. Indeed, since 1972, A1 Roadlines Pty Ltd has either been directly responsible for - or at the very least, at the forefront of - the development and introduction of many of the line marking and work zone safety equipment solutions used across Australia today. From its humble beginnings in suburban Melbourne, A1 Roadlines is by any measure a true ‘Aussie success story’. But it’s much more than just the story of a small family-owned business borne out of one man’s foresight and entrepreneurial

spirit, which has gone on to become one of Australia’s leading suppliers of road marking and work zone safety equipment… as impressive as that is! The A1 Roadlines story is also about good old-fashioned Aussie ingenuity and innovation. It’s the story of a company that got to where it is by ‘thinking outside the square’ to provide innovative and practical solutions to common issues and challenges. It’s the story of a company that’s built on an underlying commitment to innovation, R&D and product development, and driven by the goal of finding better, safer and more efficient ways of doing things.

FINDING A BETTER WAY While at first glance it might seem a slightly odd start for such an iconic ‘road and highway industry’ business, the A1 Roadlines story was initially borne out of family-owned house painting business in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. In the early 70s, A1 Roadlines Founder and Managing Director Karl Hohendorf was working with his father Heinz in the family’s professional house painting business. Their work included painting the wooden fences which (for those outside Victoria) are a ‘particularly Victorian feature’ of the greater majority of houses built across the state. “In the 1970’s, the majority wooden house fences across suburban

Melbourne, were painted with a Mission Brown oil-based paint mix,” Karl Hohendorf explained. “For maximum speed, efficiency and quality, we would apply the paint to the fence panels using an airless sprayer, which gave us a good quality finish on the rough-sawn wooden panels. But it was a job that wasn’t without it’s challenges.” “At the time, the biggest issue for us was that we would only be able to get one fence panel sprayed before we had to refill the paint pot, so we were spending a lot of the day tending to the spray equipment and paint supply, rather than actually applying the paint.” “Basically, we knew there had to be a better way to do the job, but we already had the best equipment available in Australia,” Karl added. “So, with that in mind, we set about trying to design and build a spray unit that could hold a good supply of paint – enough to spray multiple fence panels - while at the same still remaining portable and, most importantly, still providing us with the good quality finish we were after.” After trialling a couple of initial ideas, the answer to this fencepainting challenge came in the

form of a custom designed and built portable airless spray trolley, complete with multiple paint drums, an on-board airless pump unit, and hand-held spray guns. “Interestingly, as is the case with many relatively straightforward designs, with the benefit of hindsight, the mobile spray unit seems a fairly obvious solution. All that was needed, was for someone to think of it,” Karl said. Needless to say, the new unit worked extremely well, it delivered great results and provided a massive boost in productivity… but that was just the beginning. “Not surprisingly, as pleased as we were with the design and performance of that first unit, it’s fair to say that I had absolutely no idea that that relatively simple idea, would see me move from a life of house painting to an entirely different life in an entirely different industry,” Karl added.

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

COVER FEATURE

FROM HOUSES TO HIGHWAYS From the development of the first spray unit, the move ‘from houses to highways’ happened quite quickly. As is often the case with new, innovative equipment, thoughts quickly turn to what other applications the equipment might be suited. Considering that at the time, the process of road marking generally either involved extremely large and expensive equipment, or at the other end of the scale, a lot of labourintensive hand painting, Karl quickly realised that his new mobile sprayer design would provide an ideal solution for road marking applications – particularly for the lane direction, pedestrian and transverse markings at intersections. “Back in 1972, applying road markings was a much more labourintensive process than it is now, especially at intersections,” Karl said. “The amount of hand painting required, generally meant that even a good crew could usually only complete the line markings at two or three intersections each day at most.” “Put simply, at that time, line marking

was extremely inefficient, and most of that was down to the equipment or, more precisely, lack of suitable equipment,” he added. “The large line marking machines were generally too cumbersome to use at intersections, and weren’t able to be used for transverse lines, while the rest of the work - lane delineators, directional arrows, pedestrian lines and the like was usually hand painted. Some crews were using traditional air spray guns with guide discs, but these tended to produce a far from ideal result to say the least.” “I was confident that the new machine that we’d initially developed for painting fence panels, would in fact provide an ideal solution for painting road markings,” he said. “What’s more, I knew that our unit would be able to do it easier and in significantly less time than the traditional methods, while still delivering an excellent quality result.” And with that realisation, Karl Hohendorf shifted his focus from ‘houses to highways’ and A1 Roadlines was born.

DELIVERING A TOTAL ROAD MARKING SOLUTION From an ‘industry demand’ perspective, the move from house painting to road marking couldn’t have been timed any better – particularly in Victoria. With the introduction of METCON (which saw, amongst other things, the introduction of STOP and GIVE WAY signs and road markings in place of the standard ‘give way to the right’ rule at many uncontrolled intersections) and STATCON (which saw the establishment of a network of Priority Roads with intersections controlled by STOP and GIVE WAY signs and road markings), road marking work in Victoria in the 1970s was booming. With that in mind, Karl made some additional modifications to the spray unit, built a purpose-designed trailer, manufactured a series of compliant road marking stencils and started tendering for line marking work across 12

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metropolitan Melbourne and Victoria. Needless to say, the quality of the line marking work, combined with the speed with which he was able to complete the work, led to a rapid growth in demand for A1 Roadlines’ line marking services across Victoria. Indeed, there was more work on offer than they could handle – even with the new high productivity equipment. From roads and highways, through to carparks, factories, sports courts and more, demand for A1 Roadlines line marking services surely exceeded even Karl’s expectations. That said, while some may have been happy to carry on working at maximum capacity, content in the knowledge that they had established what had quickly grown into an extremely successful business, for Karl Hohendorf, he was only just getting started.

COVER FEATURE

TAKING IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL “I’ve always seen A1 Roadlines as essentially two separate business – the line marking business where we go out and do the work, and the equipment business, where we design, develop and manufacture equipment and materials for the line marking industry,” Karl said. “Right from the outset, when we developed that very first machine, I knew that we were onto something good. Something that quite literally had the chance to change an industry for the better,” he added. “I felt confident that once other road marking contractors saw how easy the equipment was to use, just how much it could boost their productivity and how it could reduce the amount of arduous physical work they had to do, that they’d would want to use it.” As history now shows, Karl’s instincts were correct, and with a steady growth in demand for the new Australian designed and built line marking machines, A1 Roadlines opened its first dedicated manufacturing facility in Melbourne’s outer south-east. Importantly, rather than simply staying with the one original design, A1 Roadlines launched the A1 ROADLINER range, featuring a number of models to cater for a variety of line marking applications: from highways to roadways, sports fields to car parks. Together with the original ‘walk behind’ units, A1 Roadlines developed designs with reflective bead dispensers, a range of spray gun options, and even a self-propelled compact unit with a stand-on trolley for the operator. With its manufacturing facility now well established,

A1 Roadlines also started importing a selection of additional equipment from German manufacturer Hoffman, before establishing a collaborative relationship with US-based specialist manufacturer Graco – a relationship that continues to this day. “With our own manufacturing facility and design team, we were able to bring in equipment from overseas and then modify it to suit the local conditions and meet the needs of the Australian road marking industry,” Karl said. “This included modifying the machines to convert them to airless spray units for improved performance and spray accuracy.” Together with the rapidly expanding equipment range, A1 Roadlines also started producing stencils and guides and supplying consumables, including paints. “During those early days, road marking was definitely a ‘rapidly maturing’ industry sector,” Karl said. “With the road rules and road marking requirements evolving at such as rapid rate during the 1970s and 80s, for many contractors, it really was a case of ‘learning as you go’.” In fact, in many cases, even the paints and other marking materials being used by a lot of contractors in those early days weren’t ideally suited to the task, and the results could be described as ‘ordinary at best’,” he added. In an effort to overcome the challenges with road marking paints, A1 Roadlines also worked with the team from Dulux paints on the development of a specialist road marking paint specifically for the Australian market. Appropriately named Dulux Roadmaster® A1, this highly durable, low dusting high build paint is used extensively throughout Australia to this day. “From the outset, our goal has always been to provide councils, contractors and road authorities with ‘one stop shop’ providing high quality, reliable equipment and products which have been specifically developed for the task of road marking,” Karl said. “That’s why we’ve always placed an emphasis on providing tools, equipment and materials that focus as much on boosting productivity and making the job easier for the operator, as they do on being able to deliver high quality results.”

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

COVER FEATURE

FOCUSING ON ROAD WORK ZONE SAFETY In much the same manner as A1 Roadlines’ 50-year history ties in so closely with the evolution of the line marking industry across Australia, it also parallels many major developments in road work zone safety and traffic management across Australia. Hardly surprisingly, considering that the company was directly responsible for the development and/or introduction of a wide range of traffic management and work zone safety solutions – many of which have gone on to become standard features of road work zones to this day. “When we started in the 1970s, safety measures at most road work zones generally consisted of no more than a red traffic cone at each end of the job – often without even a flagman to control traffic,” Karl Hohendorf said. “And even though there was significantly less traffic on the roads back then, we soon realised just how dangerous it was for road maintenance and road marking crews to be out on the roads exposed to passing traffic.” Needless to say, witnessing the working conditions and safety risks ‘first-hand’ during their road marking operations became the primary catalyst for development of A1 Roadlines’ traffic management and work zone safety product range. One of the first products to be developed was a set of portable traffic control lights for work zones. Believed to be some of the earliest lights of their type in Australia, the first model of A1’s portable traffic light system featured a red and a green pole-mounted light, fitted to a ‘wheel-barrow’ type enclosure with a 12v battery. As ‘basic’ as these may seem when compared

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

to what’s available today, these cable-connected, battery operated lights represented the latest in safety technology, with their introduction widely considered somewhat of a ‘watershed’ moment in road work zone safety. Indeed, these new ‘state-of-the-art’ portable traffic lights even led to major changes in both the Australian Standard and state specifications for traffic lights. This happened when questions were raised as to whether or not the lights were compliant with the traffic light Standard of the day, when they started being used at a site in Melbourne. When the ensuing investigations revealed that the Standard of the day only applied to fixed traffic lights, it was decided that the new lights were indeed beneficial, and as such the Standard should be amended incorporate both fixed and portable traffic lights. Building on the success of the portable traffic lights, A1 Roadlines went on to expand its road work zone safety offering to include an array of products, including directional arrow boards for vehicles, equipment and roadside applications, portable flexible warning and traffic control signs, variable message boards, traffic speed detection signs and, most recently, the worldrenowned Scorpion® II MASH TL-2 and TL-3 Truck Mounted Attenuators (TMAs).

COVER FEATURE

SUCCESS THROUGH INNOVATION While there are clearly many contributing factors in A1 Roadlines’ 50-year success story, there can be no doubt that one of the key factors in the company’s success, is its focus on innovation. Whether as a result of its ongoing commitment to R&D and continual improvements to its own product range, or working with international suppliers to source the latest in high performance products and materials, A1’s focus has always been firmly set on the delivering high quality, innovative products that maximise safety, productivity and performance. “When I first started out in the 1970s, a lot of the technology that now features in many of our products hadn’t been invented yet,” Karl said. “And it’s not just about equipment controllers, or wireless communications for traffic signals or VMS signs, even things that we all take for granted such as LED lights weren’t available at the time.” “Our first traffic lights and flashing arrow boards all used incandescent globes, while our first trailer-mounted Variable Message Sign (VMS) used a mechanical display board with individual ‘flip disk’ panels to provide three rows with eight characters on each row,” he added. “You had to be very efficient with your messaging back then!”

Be that as it may, A1 has always strived to include the latest available technologies across its entire product offering. From the introduction of computer-controlled programmable line marking units and high performance marking materials, including the latest in Thermoplastic pavement markings, through to full colour, remote programmable digital Variable Message Signs, radar-based speed detection signs, and solar powered traffic signals & signs, A1 Roadlines’ focus on innovation has played a major role in keeping it at the forefront of both the road marking and traffic management equipment industries for 50 years. It was a tradition that started with the company’s founder Karl Hohendorf back in 1972 and is being continued by Karl’s daughter Janine Bartholomew, who joined the company in 1989 and was appointed as A1 Roadlines Pty Ltd’s Director and General Manager in 2020. Importantly, as well as maintaining its focus on innovation, quality products and customer service, A1 Roadlines is also continuing its long history as a successful Australian family-owned business. Indeed, A1 Roadlines is now a ‘3rd Generation’ family business. Janine was the first of Karl’s children to join the business in 1989, followed by her brothers Tim (who was with the company from 1992 to 2018) and Simon who joined the company in 1994. Now, with Karl’s granddaughter Annalise (Janine’s daughter) also working in the business, A1 Roadlines looks set to continue for the next 50 years at least.

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

The DOLRE bridge traffic barrier development demonstrates how the incorporation of FEA into the design process can optimise a solution that is vastly different from the solutions that traditional Engineering methodologies would produce.

Transition Test #1 for 2270kg Ute

Transition Test #2 for 2270kg Ute

Transition Test #3 for 2270kg Ute

A problem was identified and through the iterative use of FEM combined with Eurocodes for structural analysis a solution was found and optimised that was vastly different to the direction that traditional engineering was leading.

Once the bridge barrier design was optimised, the same process was used to assess transition designs to various European roadside barriers in accordance with EN1317 and TR16303-2011 requirements.

Transition Test #1 for 13,000kg Bus

Transition Test #1 for 900kg Sedan

Australian authorities required product assessment to Australian bridge standards. Future finite element modelling in accordance with MASH standards and NCHRP179 validation requirements satisfied ASBAP’s analysis for both traffic barrier and transition designs.

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SPECIAL REPORT

Preventative maintenance a critical factor in enabling structures to meet their ‘Design Life’ by Paul Uno, Director, ETIA It only seems like yesterday that I started my Civil Engineering degree at the University of Sydney in 1971 and now reinforced concrete structures built near the ocean around that period are now theoretically at the end of their design life. The current version of the Concrete Standard defines ‘design life’ in Section 4 “Design for Durability” as 50 years ± 20% (which translates to 40 to 60 years, which is how it was expressed in the 1988 version of AS3600). It is interesting to read the definition of ‘Design life’ in Section 1.6 of AS3600 -2018, where it states “Period for which a structure or structural element is to remain fit for use for its designed purpose with maintenance”. The key word in that definition of design life is “maintenance”. A structure that is designed and built correctly and then maintained regularly can easily extend its design life beyond 60 years. There are many reinforced concrete structures (particularly mid to high rise apartments) along the coastline of Australia that either are approaching or have exceeded the 60-year period (in particular the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne). 18

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

Keep in mind that the term “coastal zone” is not just structures along the coastline but is defined by AS3600-2018 as “locations within 1 km of the shoreline of large expanses of saltwater”. This obviously includes areas such as structures inside Sydney Harbour, or in Perth (on Swan River) or in Brisbane (on Brisbane River). Unfortunately, when older apartment buildings are occupied by residents who have to constantly spend money on rates, strata levies, and general maintenance, the decision to spend more money on ‘preventative maintenance’ relating to durability of the structure is questioned. I have personally come across this scenario (as have many engineers who have communicated with me via my LinkedIn page) where you provide professional engineering guidance on what tests should be conducted in the present (to ensure the structure will be in a sound condition in the future) to then have the body corporate either ignore or debate the point vigorously. The two relevant tests for durability are: (i) the degree of carbonation that the structure has suffered, and

(ii) the amount of chloride ions that have diffused into the concrete by being exposed to a salt water environment. A friend of mine owns a unit in a high-rise tower on Sydney Harbour that was built in the early 1970’s. Five years ago, he asked if his building was safe, after I had told him about a second storey balcony collapsing from a 3-storey building in Manly, NSW back in 2002. I told him about carbonation and chloride testing that is normally done on bridges and older structures especially near a coastal environment. He advised his body corporate of that balcony collapse in Manly and the potential durability and corrosion issues that could impact their apartment block if they did not get an assessment done. However, the Committee decided it was not necessary to investigate or pursue the matter any further (basically swept the issue under the carpet). When the Champlain Tower collapsed recently in Miami (Florida), he and I discussed this durability situation again, especially now that his building was over 50 years old and exposed to sea water, wind and salt spray.

SPECIAL REPORT

He again asked the Body Corporate Committee to revisit his earlier proposal. The response was, that from their viewpoint no other buildings along the Sydney shoreline are having these types of tests carried out. In particular they were of the belief that because their building was “in the harbour” as opposed to on the coastline, the durability issue would not be as great. In order to prove that preventative maintenance was justified, he had to provide examples of other similar buildings in Sydney where this type of testing was carried out. Even though I contacted many engineers (on his behalf) for case studies, most were not allowed to provide me with this information as it related to the privacy of their clients. Other engineers who specialised in the repair of structures confirmed that Body Corporates are resistant to investigative measures in checking their buildings for long term durability. I am certain that when the final report comes out about the failure of the

Champlain Towers, a major contributor to the failure of that structure will be chloride ingress and carbonation of the concrete surrounding the reinforcing steel (especially if concrete cover was compromised during construction). It must also be mentioned here, that 50 years ago the most common grades of concrete used in all construction (even near the ocean) was either 25 MPa or 30 MPa (revised later to 32 MPa). If those same structures exposed to the sea were built today, the concrete grades required would be at least 40 MPa (minimum). I do not want to see any structures in Australia suffer the same fate as Miami because of reluctant body corporate committees who takes it upon themselves to make non-technical assessments, to “not” carry out durability testing purely based on what they believe to be the cost associated with supposedly non-warranted testing of reinforced concrete structures. Since the Champlain Towers incident, authorities in the USA are now scrutinizing

many ‘older’ structures (and balconies) built along water ways. We don’t want people to suffer the same fate of Champlain Towers just because ill-informed strata committees do not heed the advice from engineers and building professionals warning them of potential failures if older buildings are not checked for durability. Even the 17 storey Iluka Resort Tower built on the Gold Coast in 1971 had to be demolished in 2012 due to corrosion issues. That is why it is important to keep abreast of Standards and Engineering Design Procedures by attending workshops and courses such as those conducted by the Engineering Training Institute of Australia. For more information, please visit: https://www.etia.net.au/ This blog is the first in a series produced for Construction Engineering Australia by globally respected engineering educator and reinforced concrete specialist, PAUL UNO BE MBdgSc MIE(Aust) CPEng NER RPEQ APEC Engineer IntPE(Aus), Director, ETIA (Engineering Training Institute Australia).

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PRODUCT BRIEF

Simple Site Dewatering ... Pumps That Self Prime! Pumps play a major role in the operation of construction sites. They are indispensable in managing site water and for filling water carts. Australian Pump Industries, Australia’s leader in the self-priming centrifugal trash pump market, have developed large wet prime pumps for what has traditionally been a dry prime pump application. Dewatering applications generally involve some solids handling and the ability to move large amounts of potentially contaminated water. Most operators use diesel drive trash pumps to move these large volumes of water fast.

SIMPLE DESIGN What makes Aussie’s self-priming trash pumps so attractive is the simplicity of the design. That is, the non-clog style open impeller handles slurry and solids in suspension. An easy-to-access front opening port enables the pump to be serviced without disconnecting hoses or pipework. In other words, a choke in the pump can be cleared within a matter of minutes and the pump back in action fast.

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

THE SELF-PRIMING PROCESS Aussie’s trash pumps all feature a huge integrated tank in the body that enables it to hold the liquid required for priming. There is a check valve installed on the suction inlet that holds the priming water in the pump. The pump is simply primed by filling the pump bowl with water through the top mounted priming port. When the engine is started, the water is evacuated out of the pump and the resulting vacuum draws water up the suction line. In a matter of minutes, both the suction and discharge hoses are filled with flowing water. The only thing that can prevent a pump from self-priming is an air leak in the suction hose and that’s simple to fix.

AUSSIE’S 6” KUBOTA SITE BOSS

Aussie’s big 6” QP60TD self-primer is powered by a 24.8 hp Kubota water cooled diesel engine. It delivers flows to 4,200 litres per minute, has a maximum head of 35 metres and a vertical lift of 7 metres. “The 7 metre vertical lift satisfies the requirements of most dewatering sites or quarries,” said Aussie’s Chief Engineer, John Hales.

CMY

PICTURED ABOVE: Ideal for fast filling water carts and construction site dewatering, Aussie’s Kubota powered 6” trash pump can be mounted on a trailer or transported by utility vehicle.

“The advantage of our pumps is you can get that lift without any additional priming aid, creating an exceptionally maintenance free product,” he said. A 60 litre fuel tank, integrated in the skid base, allows the pump to run for up to ten hours without refuelling. The standard unit is mounted onto a steel skid base fitted with an integrated lifting bar. It can easily be mounted in a site trailer or transported by utility vehicle if required. A separate drainage sump in the body of the pump is accessed by levering toggles. This enables easy draining of the pump before moving on site. Like all of Aussie’s ‘Quik Prime’ pumps, the QP60TD is covered with a five year pump end warranty. Further information, including a copy of Aussie’s new Pump Smart pump catalogue, is readily available from Australian Pump Industries or authorised distributors throughout Australia. Visit: https://aussiepumps.com.au/

THE CHOICE IS YOURS! TOCK PRODUCT BRIEF

S MODEL F O E RANG

IN S

W O N & SET UPO GO T READY

Fielders KingFlor® range – a structural decking solution for every project technology to achieve superior spanning The Fielders KingFlor® steel decking range capabilities, less deflection and greater provides the designer with the flexibility to composite strength than similar re-entrant tailor a composite flooring solution that best profiles. suits project requirements whilst accessing KF57® is Fielders’ lightest weight formwork the inherent benefits of steel decking over labour and material intensive ply timber and solution. KF57® is an easy to use steel lost formwork alternatives. decking product featuring an enhanced deck The Fielders KingFlor® range is 100% profile and deeper pan stiffeners to provide a more effective mechanical interlock for Australian-made and manufactured using At A1 Roadlines wedecking understand that our customers have the concrete thanacomparable product BlueScope’s speciality material, ® range of preferences when it comes to fleet vehicles. That’s alternatives. Optimal fire performance is one DECKFORM steel. This zinc-coated highthe keyaattributes of this popular decking tensile steel developed by BlueScope why we fit has andbeen service the Scorpion II TMAofacross full product. specifically for steel decking applications. range of suitable host vehicles from world-leading Fielders KF40® is the most economical In addition to DECKFORM® steel’s inherent manufacturers including ISUZU, UD, FUSO and HINO to physical properties it also benefits from the formwork solution in the range. Suitable for name a few. application of a “blue” low glare coating, or a range of building types, KF40® has been LGC. This unique coating reduces the effects specifically designed to provide a strong So, when itsun comes to selecting a fullybyMASH tested, of reflected on workers and is required and reliablepassed shear bond performance giving OH&S workcover guidelines. strong composite slabs. Featuring an optimum and eligible TMA that has also been ASSESSED, Each of the five core profiles in Fielders strength-to-weight profile, KF40® combines APPROVED & RECOMMENDED FOR ® KingFlor range have been developed to the performance of a traditional flat pan ACCEPTANCE throughout Australia by profile with the unmatched economy and provide the most optimal flooring solution ASBAP (Austroads Safety Barrier concrete saving of a trapezoidal deck. As the in the wide range of composite structural Assessment Panel),types the found only in name you widest decking product available, KF40® can building construction Australia. ® need to remember is Scorpion II® TMA RF55 is Fielders’ original steel decking provide improved construction times through product has become the industry from A1that Roadlines. When it comes to the higher m2 coverage per installed length. This standard all vehicle… others are that’s measured brand ofthat host up against to you! is the preferred choice when constructing since its introduction. Its traditional flat pan post-tensioned slabs. or ‘re-entrant’ profile provides unmatched KingFlor KF70® was the first trapezoidal performance in suspended concrete slabs. decking profile introduced in Australia and RF55® is used in both concrete and steel remains a preferred option for many projects that benefit from lengthy unpropped spans. frame construction and utilises patented

It is accepted as the most cost-effective composite steel formwork system for many projects. With the longer spanning capability and a deeper profile than many other formwork systems, the innovative KF70® offers a real alternative and opportunities for significant cost and time savings in construction. The final product in the KingFlor® range, SlimDek 210® has been specially developed to provide even greater material, structural and construction benefits in suitable projects. SlimDek 210® is, capable of achieving unprecedented unpropped spans during construction of up to 7m and propped spans of over 10m. When combined alongside asymmetric steel beams in Fielders SlimFlor® construction system, floor construction depth can be reduced to as little as 290mm, which represents up to a 35% reduction of in slab thickness compared to traditional concrete construction. The KingFlor® range is supported by a detailed technical design manuals and a companion software KingFlor® Designer Suite package. Together, the design manual and software enables designers to quickly assess a multitude of options, to help determine the most economical and effective design solutions. For more information on the Fielders KingFlor® range, visit: www.fielders.com.au

THE EQUIPMENT YOU NEED – THE SERVICE YOU EXPECT A1 Roadlines Pty Ltd | 89 Rushdale Street, Knoxfield, Victoria 3180 | www.a1roadlines.com.au P: 1300 217 623 (A1ROAD) | F: (03) 9765 9499 | E: sales@a1roadlines.com.au Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022 21

PRODUCT BRIEF

Rugged, Safe and Fast New low-profile torque wrench offers twice the lifespan A new lightweight, low-profile Enerpac HMT 13000 interchangeable torque wrench is being introduced to the Asia-Pacific and Australasia offering faster operation, fewer moving parts and with rugged alloys that give it 2.5 times the typical lifespan of comparable tools. The HMT 13000 – which is an extension to the previously introduced HMT product line – is designed especially for low-profile applications only and suits hex sizes from 2 7/16” to 4 5/8” AF (62mm to 115mm AF). The HMT 13000 delivers output torques from 1,829 to 18,289 Nm (1,349 to 13,489 Ft. Lbs) in applications including those requiring powerful tool access to confined spaces in tasks in mining and aggregates, oil and gas, infrastructure and construction, manufacturing, maritime and power generation and distribution. “The HMT 13000 shares the same advantages of low cost of ownership as the broader range, and is also cost-effective and reliable because the cassettes have up to 25% fewer internal components than other designs, reducing the risk of failure and cost of repair,” says Enerpac Asia-Pacific Marketing Manager, Tony Cooper. “The HMT 13000 distinguishes itself through its speed, durability, and efficiency. It is designed to be interchangeable with different tools in the market,” he said.

“When it comes to speed, it offers a bestin-class output-to-weight ratio and is up to 25% faster than traditional designs.” “As for durability, superior alloys make this tool lightweight and gives it a 2.5x longer life expectancy than comparable tools,” Tony Cooper added. “When it comes to operator efficiency, the modular parts allow for interchangeability, but at the same time guarantee a higher productivity. Its 30-degree angle of rotation saves time and money and is 25% more efficient.” Other features that improve operator efficiency are a 360-degree swivel hose attachment, lightweight design that results in less fatigue, and a standard ergonomic safety handle. The HMT series is complemented by Enerpac’s broader range of non-impact professional bolting technologies – including market-leading S and W torque wrenches – and by one of the world’s most comprehensive ranges of pump technologies. These include system-matched electric, air and petrol-powered types as well as the XC Series cordless torque wrench pumps, which are ideal for remote locations, sites that do not have access to power or where having electric cords could cause trip hazards, such as in maintenance workshops.

Enerpac’s low-profile HMT1300 series torque wrench.

For more information about the full range of Enerpac tools and equipment, please visit: www.enerpac.com.au

ABOUT ENERPAC Enerpac is a global market leader in high pressure hydraulic tools, controlled force products, portable machining, and solutions for the precise positioning of heavy loads. As a leading innovator with a 110-year legacy, Enerpac has helped move and maintain some of the largest structures on earth. When safety and precision matters, elite professionals in industries such as aerospace, infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, oil & gas and power generation rely on Enerpac for quality tools, services and solutions. For more information, visit: www.enerpac.com.

ABOUT ENERPAC TOOL GROUP Enerpac Tool Group is a premier industrial tools and services company serving a broad and diverse set of customers with operations in more than 25 countries. The company was founded in 1910 and is headquartered in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin U.S. For more information, visit: www.enerpactoolgroup.com

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Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

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NOT ALL CERTIFICATION SCHEMES ARE CREATED EQUAL

ACRS is a steel certification scheme for steel users, and independent of product suppliers - so you know ACRS is working for you. Our comprehensive and rigorous audits include random sampling from standard production and 3-monthly checks on production data by qualified and experienced auditors and technical staff, with independent testing conducted at selected laboratories to ensure accurate results independent of the supplier. ACRS provides EXPERT, INDEPENDENT, THIRD-PARTY steel certification to Australian and New Zealand Standards - giving you confidence in the conformity of your steel supply. Talk to us TODAY about how ACRS Certification gives you confidence in your steel supply.

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INFRASTRUCTURE ASSET

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INDUSTRY EVENTS

Melbourne to Host Week of Built Environment Events in May 2022 BE Summit, DesignBUILD, Total Facilities and Digital Construction Week Together Under One Roof In an Australian first, the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention centre will host a week of events for professionals across the built environment from May 10-13. Covering industries ranging from planning and construction to technology and facilities management, DesignBUILD, Total Facilities, the Be Summit and Digital Construction Week will join forces to create a unique built environment event for Melbourne. Commercial Manager, Lynn Ormiston, said the past two years has allowed time to create a new whole-of-industry style approach to these events. “With the rise of Building Information Management (BIM) systems, the various built environment sectors have become increasingly interdependent, so cross sector knowledge is more important than ever,” she said. “We have collected feedback and fine-tuned these events so this year we are confident of delivering an exceptional experience for both exhibitors and attendees,” she said. The event also brings together all the major built environment industry groups with partner including the Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF), Australian Institute of Building (AIB), Australian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (AIQS), National Precast Concrete Association Australia, Women in BIM, Green Building Institute and the Facility Management Association of Australia (FMA).

TOTAL FACILITIES Australia’s must-attend event for Facilities Managers is back. Colocated with DesignBUILD, the show offers the latest products, technology and information for best-practice infrastructure and facilities management. This is the only event dedicated to Facilities Management and dedicated to help creating better and smarter spaces, cultures, people and insights. Top tier exhibitors include Dulux, Zip Water, Ecolab, ABB Australia, Shred-X and Nespresso Professional.

DESIGN + BUILD THEATRE A carefully curated speaker series covering hot topics in the building and construction industries. Topics include “Clarity in the Eye of the Supply Storm”, “Design of Workplaces post Covid”, “Passive Housing” and “The Benefits of Mass Timber in a Circular Economy”.

DESIGNBUILD - REIMAGINED SHOW FLOOR The community spoke and the event organisers listened. DesignBUILD 2022 has adopted a renewed focus on quality products, sustainable solutions and smart tech from some of Australia's best businesses. Exhibitors represent the best of Australia’s architecture, building, construction and design industries. Expect to see Australia’s best brands represented on the show floor including Rentokil, Bluebeam, Payapps, Binq, Hyne Timbers and Market Timbers. 26

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

size of ad .... 88mm x 135 mm

4" DIESEL TRASH PUMPS we

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AUSSIE PRODUCTION SOARS

SMART BUILDING THEATRE SPONSORED BY RAPID TEST SYSTEMS Learn the latest about creating smarter and more efficient buildings over three days of free presentations by Facility Management industry experts. The Facilities Management Association are pulling together an inspired program with topics including Improving Building Compliance & Occupant Wellbeing, “Unlocking the value in adoption of AS/ISO 41001” and “Practical approaches to getting started on the journey to net zero emissions”.

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Mobile Media Blasting - Wet & Dry DIGITAL CONSTRUCTION WEEK THEATRE SPONSORED BY NBS Located at the centre of the floor and bridging both shows is Digital Construction Week (DCW). DCW is the UK’s leading platform for innovation and technology in the built environment and debuts this year in Australia. The DCW Theatre sessions will cover next generation technology to keep you abreast of developments in BIM. In addition to the DCW Theatre, there will also be a series of exclusive access and site visits to leading building information modelling (BIM) projects currently in progress.

BE SUMMIT The Be Summit is a one-day event held on May 13th, rounding off four days of immersion in the latest products, technology and education from the leaders in the built environment. The Summit features a full speaking agenda of industry leaders, government officials and market leaders plus valuable networking opportunities. Topics will cover the latest thought leadership in the future of work, the circular economy and construction technology.

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Registration and ticketing for all shows can be found at: https://designbuildexpo.com.au/register/ For information on each event and the education programs please visit: https://designbuildexpo.com.au/ https://totalfacilities.com.au/register/ https://besummit.com.au/

1300 240 337 www.enviroblast.net.au Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

PRECAST TECHNOLOGY

One of the most important benefits of using prefabricated precast elements is the fast, on-site installation time. It only takes 5-6 days to erect the houses, which incorporate a total of 45 precast concrete elements. So, all in all it takes about 75 days to build one house from foundation work to finishing steps and the final handover

customer within 6 months of contract signing, saves 10% in tax payments. With a total of 45 precast panels for each house, it only takes 5-6 days to erect a Modernland house made of precast elements. So, all in all it takes a total of around 75 days to build one house from foundation work to finishing steps and the final handover to the real estate developer: (5-8 days for foundation work, 6 days for installing the precast elements and the remainder usually planned for architectural and finishing work). Importantly, short building times are not the only benefit advocating for the use of precast concrete elements to build houses. Together with the speed of construction, there is also the matter of quality control. Using an indoor production plant with high quality automated equipment and machinery, helps to ensure the quality is consistently high. The Precast plant also helps to eliminate any quality issues and delays caused by inclement weather, while also helping to improve safety and reduce the environmental impact of production.

Modernland builds earthquake safe houses in Indonesia with precast concrete elements Modernland, one of Indonesia’s leading developers, is creating a new housing project with tested, earthquake-safe precast elements. Produced by Modernland subsidiary PT. Modern Panel Indonesia, the prefabricated elements are being manufactured at the company’s automated precast plant equipped by PROGRESS GROUP. Now, thanks to the recent installation of new high-efficiency, automated M-System BlueMesh® mesh welding plant from the leading automation machinery provider, PT. Modern Panel Indonesia is also producing the reinforcement for the precast elements. 28

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

THE BENEFITS OF BUILDING WITH PRECAST CONCRETE ELEMENTS Precast has many advantages over conventional building systems and thus the market is very accepting of this new way to build. One of the most important benefits of using prefabricated precast elements is the fast, on-site installation time. In the Indonesian housing market, the government provides a significant range of benefits (including tax concessions) to real estate developers realizing a fast construction time. For example, developers who can hand over a new house to the

PRECAST TECHNOLOGY

EARTHQUAKE-SAFE PREFABRICATED CONCRETE ELEMENTS BENEFIT FIRST HOUSING PROJECT Comprising a total of 120 units, Jakarta Garden City (Cluster Shinano) in East Jakarta is the first housing project of the wellrespected company, to be planned using prefabricated earthquake-safe elements. Not surprisingly, the combination of quality build, facilities and earthquake proof design has made Cluster Shinano extremely popular with real estate agents and buyers alike, with 106 of the 120 units sold within the first 3 months of release. The precast construction also helped deliver affordable quality, with the average price for one of the 67m² units coming in at around US$103,500 – for house has also been tested in the laboratory for earthquake resistance. These approved earthquake tests, carried out in Puskim, Bandung, delivered outstanding results. Astonishingly, the strength of the earthquake test reached more than 9 on the Richter scale and still, the precast concrete elements passed the test!

The plant currently produces around 25 precast elements per shift on the pallets.

The bulk of PT. Modern Panel Indonesia’s customers are independent real estate developers, who on-sell the houses. As well as delivering the precast concrete elements and setting up the houses for the Jakarta Garden City (Shinano) precast house project, PT. Modern Panel Indonesia also handle the structural work, as well as painting and finishing. The houses for the project are built with a full bearing wall system (walls, slabs, beams, and stairs) made of prefabricated

Comprising a total of 120 units, Jakarta Garden City (Cluster Shinano) in East Jakarta is the first housing project from Modernland to be planned using prefabricated earthquakesafe elements.

precast concrete elements. The slab thickness is 120mm, while the wall panels are 100mm thick. With the support of the new automated M-System BlueMesh® mesh welding plant, PT. Modern Panel Indonesia has also completed construction of a hotel as well as a university, with another hotel project currently being finalised. For the hotel projects, PT. Modern Panel Indonesia supplied the precast façade panels with a ready to paint surface, while at the new housing project everything is in their hands (precast structure, architecture, and electrical plumbing) up until the final steps.

PRODUCTION OF PRECAST ELEMENTS: FAST, RELIABLE AND HIGH-QUALITY The team at PT. Modern Panel Indonesia are currently working in two 12-hour shifts per day to keep up with demand for its high quality precast concrete elements. The plant currently produces an average of 60 m³ of ready-mix concrete per hour, for use in the production of around 25 precast elements per shift on the pallets. The finished elements mainly solid slabs and walls as well as beams and stairs - are shipped from the facility to the construction sites day and night as soon as they’re ready for use. The plant, which was fitted out in 2018, incorporates an array of state-of-the-art, fully automated production machinery from German automation leader EBAWE Anlagentechnik, a PROGRESS GROUP company. To further increase production without compromising quality or safety at the plant, Modernland once again decided to focus on automation, investing in a mesh welding plant from the reinforcement machinery expert progress Maschinen & Automation, another PROGRESS GROUP company. Both plant upgrades were made in conjunction with the local partner PT Detede.

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

PRECAST TECHNOLOGY

The new M-System BlueMesh® is currently working one shift per day, using mainly 6, 7 and 8 mm in wire diameters. As the walls are only 100 to 120 mm thick, the bent mesh cannot be produced with wires of a higher diameter range. This specification is reflected across the entire Indonesian market, and as such, the equipment has been specifically adjusted and installed for this need. Importantly, despite the relative slimness of the wall panels, they have been successfully tested for earthquake resistance for more than magnitude 9 on the Richter Scale… a critical factor considering Indonesia’s location at the intersection of the Ring of Fire and the Alpide belt – one of the planet’s most active seismic zones. The mesh manufactured at the plant is predominantly to meet the needs of the company’s precast plant. The new M-System BlueMesh® plant welds reinforcing steel from coil according to individual specifications, which leads to considerable reductions in labour costs and waste. Together with the extremely high quality and consistency of output, the high-tech M-System BlueMesh® plant is also extremely economical in terms of energy, usage, space requirements and steel as well as personnel costs. With no need for manual workstations, the new M-System BlueMesh® plant allows mesh to be produced automatically - with all the corresponding cut-outs for the precast elements - just-in-time and with a minimum of material waste.

FUTURE OF BUILDING: PRECAST CONCRETE ELEMENTS With the automated plant now capable of operating at such high capacity, Modernland

Left: Highlighting the speed of precast concrete construction, the Fieris Hotel in Rawamangun, Jakarta saw 1,015m2 of precast concrete wall panels installed in just 16 days. Right: The attractive aesthetics of the completed Fieris Hotel belie its precast concrete construction, thanks to a range of attractive exterior colour and texture finishes. PT. Modern Panel Indonesia also provided the precast concrete panels for the new Binus University at Alam Sutera, Jakarta. The project’s 1,864m2 of wall panels were installed in just 30 days.

is already planning further projects. They are currently they are developing plans for an 8-storey apartment complex, built with a full precast system (bearing wall system), together with another housing project, and the production of a precast façade for the new 24-storey high Cleon Apartment building in Jakarta.

Modernland is working on creating a new future of safe living with prefabricated concrete elements and is convinced that this will be the future of high quality, affordable building across Indonesia and beyond. For further information, please visit: www.progress.group

Production of mesh directly from coil has been automated with a customised M-System BlueMesh® mesh welding plant.

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

COMPLETE

PRECAST TECHNOLOGY WORLDWIDE

· Highly automated and customized carousel plants

· Slipformer, Extruder, equipment for production on beds

· Battery moulds, tilting tables, various mould systems

· Software for machinery and complete ERP systems

· Reinforcement machinery and mesh welding plants

· In-house precast production and in-house testing plant

www.progress.group

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

How Robotic Innovation is Taking Place Across Construction by: Mike Winn, CEO of DroneDeploy of construction projects come within 10% of their original deadlines. However, ground and aerial robotics advancements have increasingly caught the construction industry’s attention over the past several years. According to a global survey commissioned by ABB Robotics, 55% of construction companies currently use robotics, with 81% indicating that they plan to introduce or increase their use of robotics and automation over the next decade. The most common uses for these technologies (and for the 55% of companies leading the innovative charge) are for interior and exterior surveying and inspection. Drones and ground robots (such as Boston Dynamics’ Spot) traverse through and around sites to pull data about site progress, analyse stockpiles and inventory, and detect early issues before they become expensive problems. Today, drones and ground robotics can deliver digital twins – a complete internal and external digital copy of the construction build. As builds progress, drone and robotic technology captures all elements of project builds and provides greater oversight of each stage of the project. Essentially, it acts as one source of truth across all departments and helps to minimise misunderstandings and misquoting through accurate, real-time documentation.

AERIAL AND GROUND ROBOTICS IN ACTION When companies first began using industrial machinery in the early 1900s, these innovators found technology and automation streamlined processes and made job sites safer for workers. As technology has advanced from the first moving assembly line to drones mapping crop plots and construction sites, innovation through AI remains a driving force in the workplace, particularly in industries you’d least expect. 32

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

INNOVATION IN “LEGACY” INDUSTRIES The most common building techniques and processes used in construction have been around for generations. “Legacy” industries typically carry with them the connotation of being highly traditional and hard to disrupt, and existing statistics around productivity and innovation measures in construction often don’t do much to dispel this notion: a 2015 study by KPMG showed that just 25%

In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic forced many industries to reinvent the ways they’ve worked, including numerous sectors that rely heavily on physical, on-site operations. Agriculture, mining, and construction were some of the industries that experienced a shift towards automation, incorporating technology and AI to help manage projects. Many construction companies juggle multiple stakeholders, both locally and dispersed around the globe, and require solutions for keeping stakeholders informed and engaged.

INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

Southbase Construction Limited headquartered in Christchurch, New Zealand - was one company that transitioned to drone technology and ground robotics to continue operations during the pandemic. The company used DroneDeploy’s platform to track earthworks and subcontractor materials, as well as their 360 Walkthrough technology to inspect and monitor interior builds, which was then benchmarked against existing building information modeling for quality assurance. Through the centralised platform, Southbase was able to document progress photos, drawings, and tasks in the one location, giving project teams one source

of truth across all areas of a build. It also allowed for multiple stakeholders to make informed decisions on the most up to date (and accurate) information, from anywhere in the world. All in all, benefits from using drone technology included quicker build completion, more efficiency, better budget projections, and the ability to do more remote work.

THE IMPACT ON LABOUR One crucial consideration when it comes to adopting automation technologies is that this wave of change isn’t aiming to replace workers but rather to eliminate dangerous or routine tasks and, perhaps most importantly,

upskill the current workforce. Imagine a world where after workers finish the day’s construction tasks, in the evening, a ground rover visits and scans every in-progress structure, capturing data on every aspect and flagging any issues. These robots can compare ongoing progress against blueprints, check for safety concerns, and log any outstanding issues that need addressing. When the crew arrives the following day, they’ll start with all the information they need. We’ve come a long way since the implementation of the first industrial robotic arm in 1962. Today, automation within the workplace continues to grow, with industries such as construction impressively leading the charge. These industries are leveraging drones and robotics to equip their workforces with fast and accurate data that would otherwise take them hours or even days to compile. In today’s industry, it’s all about who gets there on time and on budget, and the construction industry is rapidly pulling ahead. For further information, visit: https://www.dronedeploy.com

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

SPECIAL FEATURE

Third Party Accreditation: the May, the Has, the Does and the Verified Andrew Wheeler, ABES Australia Traditionally when purchasing a manufactured item or product the “Brand” has been a significant indication of the quality as the two tend to be related. However, today with greater globalisation and the emphasis on costs there has been a significant move towards the manufacture of “commodities”. Consequently, when purchasing a product, we have a wider range of producers with significantly varying and competitive costs. Can we have confidence that they all meet the required standards? It is normal for these products to have markings and guarantees indicating that they meet the relevant codes and standards. This these may be the provision of manufacturer test certificates or the provision of printed warranties. While test certificates do provide some confidence, it is recognised that falsified test certificates are on the rise. Recently there have been cases of internationally well-known manufacturers with the reputation for high quality admitting to falsifying test records

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

for numerous years. This raises the question then are manufacturers warranties and manufacturers test certificates a guarantee of the desired quality? And how does third party accreditation assist in ensuring quality? Non-conforming products being introduced into the Australian and the New Zealand building construction industries have increased significantly in recent years. There have been some notability high profile cases demonstrating significant risks to the general public, coupled with high corrective action costs that are primarily born by the owners. It is evident that self-regulation in its current form is not the appropriate tool to ensure that “conforming” and “fit for purpose” products are being provided to the construction industry. In response to these events recent moves by regulators has seen legislation introduced that places the responsibility of nonconforming products on supply chain participants. This goes beyond the supplier to include the builders, the designers and the specifiers.

In the construction industry, systems, products and materials being utilised are becoming more and more complex, resulting in the certifier relying on certificates supplied by the builder, sub-contractors or in some cases from third party product certifiers to ensure quality standards are met. While the builders and subcontractors are in the best place to certify compliance to the various standards for their works, they are generally at a loss to certify prefabricated components and ensure the quality of materials being supplied. Hence, the use of and specification of third-party assessments are becoming more prevalent. In the marketplace today, there are numerous certifying companies and various certifying schemes. This raises the questions. Whom are these third-party assessors? What are they certifying? What standard are they using in their assessment? Do they have the required expertise to assess the quality of the product/process? Do they all assure the same quality outcomes? How can we be

SPECIAL FEATURE

assured that the product being provided is equivalent to what was specified? In this article we will look at third party certification, identifying that there are differing levels of third-party certification and that it is important the specifier/ designer/builder understand what they require from certification: and what scheme their product is being certified to. A certification scheme may be managed by statutory boards or developed within the individual companies/organisations. In evaluating the appropriateness of a third party certificate, it is important to understand how the scheme operates, including to what are they certifying to (is it to a standard or is it performance based), ongoing requirements (is it a compliance check at the time of certification only or are there ongoing checks carried out), whom is carrying out certification and do they have the required technical expertise.

“In evaluating the appropriateness of a third party certificate, it is important to understand how the scheme operates, including to what are they certifying to (is it to a standard or is it performance based), ongoing requirements (is it a compliance check at the time of certification only or are there ongoing checks carried out), whom is carrying out certification and do they have the required technical expertise.”

When looking at the schemes currently available in the Australian/New Zealand marketplace, they fall into one of the following four categories of quality compliance: Four Levels of compliance: 1. May comply - the processes and operation of the facility mean that it can produce the product to the required level, but no checks have been carried out on the final product. 2. Has produced - the processes and operations of the facility produced the product to the desired quality verified at the time of certification inspection. 3. Does produce - the processes and operations of the facility and procedures result in a product of the desired quality which was verified at the time of certification, with regular audits and internal testing to ensure quality systems maintained.

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

SPECIAL FEATURE

4. Verified production - the processes and operations of the facility produces the product to the desired quality verified at the time of certification with ongoing reporting and regular independent audits to verify and ensure quality of product. It should be stressed that all four levels of compliance are legitimate and have a role to play in the wider building and construction industry. It is however critical that those whom are specifying, installing or certifying building products have a good understanding of differences in compliance levels and the associated level of risk that they may be exposing to themselves, their clients, building owners, insurers and the public. To enable a better understanding into these various compliance levels, a description for each follows.

Level 1 May comply - in this case the manufacturing facility has been assessed as being capable of producing the product to the level required. The facility being assessed as capable of producing is the key component in this system. There is no supporting evidence to say that they do actually produce to the standard, they have simply demonstrated that they have the equipment and associated procedures to do so. Cost to obtain this type of certification is generally low as the assessment typically involves a oneoff assessment and does not require any technical assessment. A limitation of this certification is there is no independent verification that the product actually meets desired quality and there is no requirement for ongoing assessments or verification.

Level 2 Has produced – in this case the compliance assessment has verified that the process and operations undertaken to produce the product has resulted in the quality required by the specification at the time of the assessment. The keyword here is produced. While certificates are typically dated with an expiry date, there is no expectation of ongoing external or internal audits to maintain this quality, only an assumption that the process and systems will remain unchanged. So while the assessment has demonstrated that the processes and operations are able to produce the quality required, it could be argued there is no guarantee that the quality will be retained with changes in the system. Similar to the previous level of certification, the costs are relatively low due to the minimal involvement of the certifying authority.

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It would be considered that both the Level 1 and Level 2 certifications are acceptable where risks and costs associated with a failure are manageable. Examples of these would be items that could be replaced with relative ease if the standard of quality was not appropriate. Level 3 and Level 4 are different to Level 1 and 2 in that they provide not just an initial verification of the quality produced by the processes and systems, but an ongoing check on the quality. The primary difference between these two levels is the rigour and the independence of the quality audits.

Level 3 Does Produce - the assessment is generally carried out with some input from a technical expert, looking at the systems and the end product ensuring that the specified quality is obtained. This assessment is generally based on internal verification methods that are provided at the time of assessment. It should be noted that this level of certification may also require some ongoing audits from the certifying body, such as annual quality audits and possibly review of internal test results. This level of certification generally provides a good level of confidence that the product does meet the required standards. It does however require a fair degree of self-regulation, as the ongoing assessments are based on results provided by the manufacturer. In such a system there is a significant reliance is on the manufacturer self-regulating that the product does meet the quality requirements.

Level 4 Verified Production - the certifying authority utilises external audits and other verification systems. While the extent and expertise of the external audits may vary depending on the product, they will all include regular audits conducted by technical experts looking at the technical aspects of the product and reviewing the internal quality systems. Additionally, verification that quality is being maintained is achieved through sampling and independent testing. This type of system also typically has full traceability of the product being delivered, enabling the purchaser to determine the source of all materials and identification of the facilities that the product has passed through. In this case the confidence in this product meeting the specified requirements under this certification scheme are excellent and the quality has also been verified by regular third-party testing. To understand the applications for each compliance level let look at a few examples from the construction industry. An example of a Level 1 certification would be a lighting fixture. The manufacturer may hold a third-party certification obtained by providing the third-party certifier with manufacture procedures outlining the materials and configurations used along with any testing and compliance requirements the manufacturer may have also undertaken internally. The assessor will have reviewed this information to the relevant standards (typically a desk-based audit), and if appropriate a compliance certificate will have been issued stating that if fabricated in

“It is recognised that the levels of certification do have cost implications, and these need to be weighed up against the exposure to risk.”

SPECIAL FEATURE

accordance with the installation manuals and using the specified materials the components comply with the relevant standards. Under this arrangement reliance is on the manufacturer to ensure quality. A lighting fixture would be considered not to be a critical element and could be easily replaced in the effect that the fitting was shown not to be compliant with the specification, hence the associated cost/risk with non-compliance is low and this type of certification is appropriate. An example of a Level 2 certification would be a waterproofing system. In this case the manufacturer may obtain third party certification by providing the installation procedures configurations, and materials to be used along with any testing for compliance. The manufacturer would carry out the required type testing to validate the systems works and submit this as part of the certification. When reviewed the certifier can issue the certificate that the system if applied as documented it should meet the required standards. In this case there is no requirement for ongoing checking that the system works. It is noted that as a rule the installers will carry out testing (checked by builders) but the certifier of the system would not carry out the inspection. So for this system there is verification that the system can work, but the final check to ensure that the quality is maintained is on the builder, and failure can be rectified at minimal costs. Structural components would typically fall under a Level 3 and Level 4 compliance where standards require initial and ongoing compliance checks of the products. In these cases, the certifying authority would be undertaking audits to ensure that the procedures and testing as outlined in the standards have been met. Typically, the testing requirements for compliance are carried out by the manufacturer to ensure that the quality is maintained. One of the key additional requirements of this level of

certification is the requirement for ongoing checks on the quality standards through both internal audit and external audits. The regularity and extent of these audits either internal or external is a measure of the assurance of the quality. An example of a Level 3 certification would be an accessible fastener, in this case there is an assumed performance specification that needs to be guaranteed to ensure the overall system is fit for purpose. The associated cost/risk of non-conformance is high and so a level of confidence in the behaviour of the fasteners is required, however in this case as the fasteners are accessible if non-compliant, they could be replaced thus Level 3 certification would be considered appropriate. The Level 4 certification of this system would involve additional quality assessments carried out by independent experts in the field and external testing. Hence, not only would the company be ensuring compliance throughout their systems on a continuing basis, but an external expert is also reviewing compliance of the products and compliance to the systems being managed by the company. The significant advantage of the Level 4 over the Level 3 certification is that by utilising the independent parties for testing and assessments, systemic problems that affect the quality are identified and resolved through the auditing procedure. As an example, if we take the previous example of a fastener, but position it so that it is inaccessible (i.e. encased in concrete or within the structure). Then non-conformance may render the structure not fit for purpose, hence all measures possible should be taken to ensure that the produce meets the requirements and the compliance is independently verified. It is recognised that the levels of certification do have cost implications, and these need to be weighed up against the exposure to risk. Hence some question the

specifier, builder, owner should be asking are:• what are the implications if the quality standards are not achieved? • how critical is component to operations and structural integrity? • what level of third-party certification is required? • is independent testing required? Once the level of certification has been identified, it is then critical during the specification and procurement process to review the proposed third-party certification and ensure that it meets the requirements to ensure that the quality specified is achieved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Andrew is currently the Acting Executive Director of the Australasian Certification Authority for Reinforcing and Structural Steels (ACRS), a chartered professional engineer working in the building construction industry for over 25 years as a consultant, a researcher and senior project manager. Andrew has been involved in design and construction of steel, reinforced concrete and composite structures, and has been involved in both short term and long term monitoring of these structures. Andrew has been involved with the development of several building standards, with his technical expertise and understanding of standards and understanding, Andrew has been involved with the technical assessment of numerous products for use in the Australian and international construction industries. Andrew has an extensive research background in structural engineering with over 60 technical publications. He is actively involved in the dissipation of new research to the engineering community and has been involved in the implementation of quality systems within the building industry. He has extensive practical knowledge in the set up operating and auditing of Quality Assurance systems and has been involved with the quality audits for NATA and SAI Global. His experience in the construction industry has led involvement in a number of international research projects and engagement as technical expert within Australia and abroad.

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Technology adoption a primary driver in improving risk analysis and resilience in construction By Rob Bryant, EVP of APAC at InEight Cost overruns and project delays have been accepted as par for the course, and the pandemic has put processes and practices under greater scrutiny. The stakes are higher than ever, and project owners need a better handle on risk assessment and mitigation if the ‘O’ is going to represent optimism for a better future and not ‘Oh, not again’. After all it should, there is a pipeline of business the scale of which has never been seen

IMPROVING FORECAST ACCURACY With much of the Australian population emerging from COVID related restrictions, there is an increasing energy and sense of optimism. However, the last 18 months, have scarred many sectors of our economy, including the construction industry. Government shutdowns to contain outbreaks in various states have led to many projects experiencing budget blowouts and delays. Victoria’s decision to close the construction industry in September cost more than $1 billion a week. Understandably, some practical questions are raised by the industry as they continue to address the implications of the pandemic. What do we do if another incident like a two-week industry shutdown happens again? What will happen if the supply of materials continues to be disrupted, even after we reopen? 38

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Getting an accurate picture of total risk exposure across an entire capital project has been something traditionally reserved for insurance and finance considerations, where the stakes have been so high due to the scale of projects and the notoriety of the industry. Most projects have been run on isolated, static estimating, planning and scheduling and manual data collection and reporting processes. The approach is limited and often fails to provide project stakeholders with accurate forecasting, leading to schedule and cost overruns. The advances in technology today have the potential to overcome the limitation. The introduction of innovations such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and 4D modelling, are allowing project managers to gain a sophisticated level of insight to inform decision making for capital construction projects. And anyone in the

industry will tell you there is still much to do in adopting this technology and seeing consistent benefits. But it is happening and we can be optimistic, with data to support that sense. There is growing awareness that the adoption of smart technology, such cloudbased solutions that continuously monitors total project risk, can improve project outcomes. In fact, InEight’s Global Capital Projects Outlook 2021 found that 78% of respondents in APAC consider digital transformation to be the biggest opportunity in the short term, citing data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning as key technologies critical to success. By leveraging the right digital tools, project managers can now more accurately track when contractual obligations are met and scope changes are made, enabling real-time progress updates and workflow approvals, as well as facilitate more timely payment processing, subcontractor scheduling and document sharing. Utilising complete risk analytics strengthen the ability of project managers, schedulers, planners and estimators alike to remove risk from the bottom line and increase confidence in the outcomes.

MINING THE OPPORTUNITY FROM HISTORY Digitising the process in construction isn’t just about looking ahead – it allows project

owners to extract value from the past as well. Historical data is a veritable treasure trove of project and organisational knowledge that can be transformed into actionable data, instead of companies starting each project from scratch. By leveraging historical data, project data can be used to form benchmarks for continuous improvement. Not only does this provide what-if scenarios, but also helps create a complete picture of an entire construction lifecycle, to help learn from past mistakes, promote future successes, and save money, time, and resources. Applying machine learning and providing suggestions to help improve decision making is a reality with InEight Schedule. The application for this approach continues to be expanded. By having a holistic view or a project powered by connected data, project managers can ensure efficient and effective use of resources while building resiliency.

Powering a Sustainable Future

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In addition, historical data contributes positively to risk approaches when combined with risk assessment technologies to set more realistic expectations for project delivery upfront. As risk analysis matures in the capital projects space, contractors who can use data to prove a higher chance of meeting their proposed budget and schedule – even if at a slightly higher price tag – will see more winning bids and improved performance. This not only boosts owner confidence, but it also helps to improve owner/contractor relationships once the project is underway. With real-time visibility into risk exposures and their impact on project cost and timelines, a collaborative and assured approach to project management helps to protect the bottom line and achieve timely outcomes. Technology is enabling a more collaborative and confident partnership and shared risk model, and this is happening today with InEight solutions. The increase in infrastructure spending is widely seen as the path to economic recovery and more than ever, there is a need among capital project owners and contractors for data-backed confidence around project cost and schedule. The sector is ripe for transformation and project owners must seize the opportunity to continuously monitor total project risk, find threats and take steps to prioritise mitigation options. Only then can they ensure resilience and optimise project outcomes and improve productivity, profit, and value. There is lots to be optimistic about in a sector that is clearly indicating it is ready for change. For further information and insight, or to download a copy of InEight’s Global Capital Projects Outlook 2021 report, please visit: https://ineight.com

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Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Digital and Sustainable: Lendlease and Google Cloud Partner to Digitally Transform the Built World International real estate group Lendlease and Google Cloud recently announced a new global partnership aimed at transforming the construction and operation of buildings and cities around the world. Working together, the two organizations will help usher in safer, more sustainable, and efficient urbanization projects globally by partnering in three key areas: advancing Lendlease’s nextgeneration IT strategy; integrating new Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and smart data features into Lendlease’s Podium building software platform; and collaborating on joint goto-market initiatives to drive sustainability projects industry-wide. Lendlease is well progressed into exiting its eight on-premise data centres across four continents by 2022, with Google Cloud as its only cloud services provider. With Google Cloud as the foundation for its digital transformation strategy, Lendlease will move to the cloud by migrating its mission-critical enterprise workloads, including its data-intense CAD platforms, in-house project excellence platform, Oli, and its Oracle-based eFinance system. 40

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Not only will this enable Lendlease to significantly increase operational efficiency, but also it will drive improved decision making through enhanced reporting and analytics capabilities, and a stronger cybersecurity posture across the organization. Lendlease will integrate new AI/ML and smart data analytics capabilities from Google Cloud into Podium, the Lendlease platform that runs autonomous buildings and helps manage energy use, human needs, and resource management goals. Today, Podium relies exclusively on Google Cloud for its data storage, network, and computing needs, and firms use the platform to plan construction projects with accurate parts, pricing and supply. Under the new partnership, the two companies will collaborate on new Podium products and services to give customers the needed intelligence to improve quality and safety, as well as accelerate development pipelines.

PARTNERING ON SUSTAINABILITY TO BENEFIT THE INDUSTRY AT LARGE The strategic partnership will also see the two organizations co-innovating around

new cloud-based offerings underpinned by Podium, and working together on new sales and channel opportunities to drive Podium and Google Cloud adoption among existing customers and prospects. Ultimately this will help drive the digital transformation of the global property and real estate development industry, and give firms the advanced tools and capabilities to achieve their sustainability targets. Speaking at the launch of the new partnership, Bill Ruh, CEO, Lendlease Digital said that remaking buildings is both the greatest need and the greatest opportunity in addressing our future. “By using Podium to digitize supply chains, firms can plan construction projects with accurate parts, pricing and supply. This means fewer delays to projects, more precise build plans, and a reduction in cost estimate errors,” Mr Ruh said. “This will also put important information about the lifecycle of building projects into the hands of employees at their work locations, including construction sites and within owned property assets,” he said. Alister Dias, Vice President, Google Cloud in Australia and New Zealand, added: “By running on the cleanest cloud in the industry, Lendlease will gain increased efficiency, lower its environmental footprint, and be able to offer its clients greater information about the lifecycle of building projects.” “Working together, we will also spearhead digital transformation across the global property and construction industry, and enable companies to drive towards a healthier, more sustainable future,” Mr Dias concluded. Today, Podium supports key projects around the globe. In Australia, Lendlease has collected over One Billion data records across 4 property assets including International Tower 1 in Barangaroo as well as Melbourne Quarter. With the partnership between Lendlease and Google Cloud, Lendlease will be able to accelerate and rapidly scale its secure building data across the entire portfolio of assets, improving decision making, sustainability outcomes and the wellness of people using the spaces. Through the Australian pilot, the company has already achieved a 24% reduction in electricity and 21% reduction in gas, and has identified 171 new opportunities for operational improvement.

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DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Technology will be a critical factor in meeting building industry reforms Tom Karemacher, Vice President, APAC at Procore The Australian construction industry has been put under a national spotlight following several high-profile building failures. Serious concerns about quality control and consumer protections, particularly in the construction of apartment buildings, sparked a wave of industry reforms that will see builders around the country turning to technology to drive better outcomes. Builders and developers are facing the challenge of regaining the trust of consumers, as well as insurers, financiers and government – managing a crisis of confidence that requires industry-wide transformation. An uplift in building quality and trust requires a holistic effort and a focus on better defect management, data handling, and reporting capabilities across the board. Technology will play a significant role, both in these efforts and in the improvement of the processes that support them. In New South Wales, Building Commissioner David Chandler is cracking down on dodgy construction practices with new legislation designed to improve quality 44

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

assurance practices and increase consumer confidence. Chandler has also delivered a clear message to the industry: construction businesses must digitise if they are to meet the requirements of the new legislation.

LEAVING PAPER IN THE DUST Since March 2020, the construction industry has been operating under varying COVID19 restrictions that have contributed to the acceleration of digital transformation in the sector. Businesses have had to rely on collaboration tools like Zoom and Teams for the first time, solutions that track and trace people coming and going from building sites have been essential, and the overall adoption of and comfort with technology has skyrocketed. This puts the industry in good stead to continue on this path. Construction companies are well aware of the benefits of going digital, yet according to Procore’s How We Build Now 2020 report, paper-based processes persist on construction sites around Australia, with site activity records (22%), environment (20%) and safety (19%) assessments being the biggest culprits. A further poll

on Quality in the Australian construction industry released by Procore in January saw 38% of respondents acknowledge that paper-based quality assurance processes increase the risk of defects and re-work. When quality assurance processes like inspection test plans (ITPs) are completed on paper, the risk that records will be incomplete, incorrect, or missing is significant and can have a detrimental knock-on effect for any project. Senior stakeholders like project managers and site engineers are ultimately accountable for project documentation and defects. This means that when documentation is incomplete or missing, they have the unenviable task of finding and collating project documentation and tracing the root cause of defects to ensure they can be resolved.

QUALITY ASSURANCE WINNERS WILL BE DIGITAL The majority of Australian construction companies (64%) surveyed in Procore’s industry poll said that quality assurance needs to be a connected and transparent

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

process across all areas of the business, from policy design through to data capture, analysis, and reporting. Indeed, more than half of the respondents (52%) agreed that they need to do a better job of leveraging mobile technology for on-site quality assurance processes in order to make this dream a reality. It is evident that a substantial reduction in building defects and overall uplift in quality assurance processes will require companies to convert to digital. Digitising project management systems allows contractors to work swiftly, knowing they have access to the latest plans and updates across the supply chain – from owners to head contractors and subcontractors. The old approach of ‘I will talk to my project managers and quickly understand what is happening’ simply will not suffice when third parties demand documentation and data, not a point of view. Centralised project management software ensures all stakeholders are working from a single set of up-to-date drawings

and plans, and establishes a baseline of transparency and visibility across an entire project. Digitisation also reduces the burden on site teams by creating clear processes and forms that reinforce accountability and produce comprehensive and traceable documentation. In the case of digitised ITPs, for example, verification hold points can be built into workflows to ensure all stakeholders, including subcontractors, are accountable for their work on a project. Making these processes digital means that defects become easier to trace and rectify, and documentation is no longer 'optional' or incomplete.

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QUALITY IS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE While the industry moves to improve quality assurance in response to downward pressure from regulators and upward pressure from consumers, there is no doubt that construction businesses will reap enormous benefits from digitisation. As regulators look to establish a list of ‘Trusted’ design and building practitioners, quality will also be cemented as a competitive advantage. For further information, visit: https://www.procore.com

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Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

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DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

Accelerating construction’s digital revolution is key to increased efficiency and flexibility By Ross Sterland, Director at ORBIZ Construction, like many industries, has been impacted significantly by everchanging conditions produced by the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the need to constantly adapt. But two things have remained constant; the need to stay within budget and stick to the program. However, with a May 2020 report revealing that 89% of respondents to a pre-pandemic survey in Australia were involved in late and overbudget projects, the pandemic conditions may have been the nudge towards change the industry needed. The pandemic forced most construction firms to look at remote ways to communicate changing plans, coordinate resources, and monitor performance. Many found accelerating their integration of digital systems was the answer. Remaining agile has become critical to project success, so construction firms must invest in the right digital tools to enable them to meet any challenge thrown their way. Not only this, but construction firms must recognise the right time to adjust to accommodate a changing environment and do so in a timely manner. If the recognition is late or the change is slow, projects risk program and budget overrun that they are unable to recover.

inefficient - pushing out budgets and deadlines. Technology has the potential to significantly increase productivity in labour-intensive environments, delivering an outsized positive impact on costs and profitability. With digital solutions evolving so rapidly, we anticipate further emergences in the construction industry to include:

1. Big Data

LESSONS FROM COVID-19 AND THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION The construction industry can take great lessons from its response to the unpredictable and restrictive conditions that arose from the pandemic. While these circumstances created many hurdles and complications, they quickly became the catalyst for finding new digital solutions for supporting project planning and control, highlighting a better way for “normal” times too. Without these tools, projects were likely to become disconnected and

Big data has been a bit of a buzzword for some time now. First emerging in enterprise IT environments, it has since found its way to many sectors, including construction. Big data is about collecting large amounts of information that is then analysed and used to help solve business problems – this is particularly helpful on large-scale projects where there are countless work fronts and stakeholders to connect with the bigger picture. Using this big data, teams can analyse and interpret critical insights, informing future project decisions. For example, input from sensors in plant and equipment onsite can record active and idle times, guiding planning and procurement decisions based on demand and utilisation.

Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

2. Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Big data goes hand-in-hand with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), as it’s essentially automating the decisionmaking process from the data collected. For example, AI and ML can automate the sorting of images captured by mobile devices, drones and security sensors then compare them with Building Information Modelling (BIM) to create valuable insights. Project managers can constantly monitor the location of workers and equipment, allowing for instant assessment of which areas have enough resources and which require additional support or management intervention. A continuous automated progress update can be provided with predictions on future project outcomes, highlighting risks and aiding scheduling.

3. Digital Collaborative Workspaces One of the ways construction projects often deviate from the program is a lack of clear and timely communication. Platforms such as Touchplan®, Procore and Monday.com

has clear lines of communication will keep projects on schedule. It also eases pressure on the workers – boosting overall job satisfaction and improving mental wellbeing. At a time when many construction companies are experiencing recruitment constraints due to international border restrictions, maintaining a happy and motivated workforce has never been more vital.

create digital collaborative workspaces that bring remote workforces together to streamline workflow and increase efficiency. Touchplan enables collaborative planning and provides real-time project status updates by remotely connecting stakeholders across the project, so everyone knows who needs to do what by when. This transparency increases accountability, whilst schedule change tracking and variation reason codes create rich and insightful reports from the work front level.

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With the aim to continuously improve, organisations have the opportunity to adopt new technologies and significantly enhance performance under all operating conditions. Delays and disruptions are endemic in the construction industry regardless of COVID-19, so the ability to quickly adapt and effectively communicate the new plan is always needed. By embracing Lean management principles, construction firms can drive efficiency and build flexibility, creating the best possible platform to manage unforeseen events.

The one thing all of these technologies have in common is their ability to help construction companies prepare for and respond to change. And as a result, they ensure a more streamlined and efficient workforce. Perhaps one of the greatest yet lesserknown benefits this delivers is the positive impact on employee experience. Having a workforce that knows how to adapt to changing environments effectively and

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Construction Engineering Australia • Feb/Mar 2022

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