Are Digital Engineering and Building Information Modelling the Future of Australia’s Construction and Infrastructure Industry?

DATE PUBLISHED: October 19, 2022

key takeaways

The market for DE and BIM in Australia is developing. We think it is likely to follow the trajectory of the US and the UK, where the benefits are seen to outweigh the risks. Expect to see more use of these in major construction and infrastructure projects in Australia.
DE and BIM are concepts that can help provide a pathway to creating more efficient and robust projects while simultaneously reducing the potential for significant dispute resolution.
Contracts require careful consideration when incorporating concepts of DE and BIM to ensure that they address key issues, including intellectual property, privacy and confidentiality, licensing, data issues, warranty and liability impacts and insurance.

As the world continues to create new technology across various sectors, the construction and infrastructure industry is increasingly utilising digital engineering (DE) and building information modelling (BIM).

However, international reports continue to find the industry has been slow in its uptake of these technologies and the significant potential they offer.

In this update, we cover what DE and BIM comprise, how Australia is implementing DE and BIM technology, and highlight legal matters to keep in mind when using DE and BIM in your construction and infrastructure contracts.

What is Digital Engineering?

Digital engineering incorporates engineering concepts for designing and constructing projects with an enhanced ability to improve innovation and integration of technology into the projects and the ecosystem within which it is to exist.

DE allows the ‘digital twin’ of the project and its environment to sit within a single digital location. This enables information and data to be transferred and shared throughout the execution and lifecycle of a project.

By considering the ecosystem as a whole, DE has a greater capacity to consider environmental impacts, sustainability and simulate how the project can be managed over time once it is physically completed.

DE assists in improving innovation, cost-effectiveness, sustainability and project delivery, providing the potential of enhanced value in construction and infrastructure projects.

What is Building Information Modelling?

Building information modelling is a form of DE in which the project is created to ensure it's physically constructed in an efficient, innovative and cost-effective manner.

BIM achieves this by incorporating data from different software, processes and properties into the project to manage and analyse the inputted information. The analysis can be used to simulate different outcomes of workshopped solutions to potential problems identified through the use of BIM.

The analysis and simulation components of BIM capability are best utilised in conjunction with DE conceptions of designing and building with the ecosystem as a whole in mind.

How are DE and BIM used in Australia and internationally?

At present, DE and BIM are primarily utilised by the construction and infrastructure industry during the design and construct phases through BIM’s ability to manage information, analyse and simulate outcomes.

BIM is used to analyse data to improve the process of delivering the project by ensuring designs are structurally sound and compliant with building codes.

Cost-saving and sustainability measures can also be digitally tested, and delay minimisation strategies by working through potential problems on a digital platform in advance.

DE and BIM have the potential to be used throughout the lifecycle of both individual projects and the ecosystems in which they exist. By considering the ecosystem as a whole, DE and BIM technologies can track and simulate data to create and contribute to more sustainable project outcomes.

Australia’s uptake of DE and BIM and the development of protocols is generally considered slow by international standards.

It can be helpful to look at how the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) have approached regulating and mandating the use of BIM in large-scale projects and the development of international standards.

What are the US and UK's approaches?

While both the UK and the US have regulations and guidelines on BIM usage in large-scale projects, they have taken different approaches.

The UK Approach

This has predominantly been driven by government mandates for BIM usage for public projects.

The Construction Strategy mandated collaborative BIM usage for all public projects by 2016 and was extended to 2020 for the centralisation of digital assets to better utilise the technology throughout the lifecycle of projects.

The UK continues to strive for greater implementation and utilisation of the technology’s abilities by 2025 in the latest Construction Strategy. In conjunction with these public initiatives, the UK has also published BIM standards to guide the industry as a whole.

The US Approach

The US approach, in comparison, is more industry driven. Both government and industry standards have been published in the US.

However, the government has not mandated BIM usage. Instead, the US has relied on the construction industry itself to drive the change, an approach which has seen a steady increase in BIM implementation throughout the years.

Both the UK and US standards have incorporated the international standards, as have the Victorian standards in Australia. We anticipate that these standards will be incorporated and adopted across Australian jurisdictions.

The development of international standards

International standards have utilised levels of BIM that assist users with appropriately using the data based on its purposed accuracy and reliability. This approach, in turn, can assist in liability being appropriately apportioned between the designer and party building the works.

The international standard series ISO 19650 breaks down the phases of BIM into five parts:

No.	Description
1	Concepts and principles.
2	Delivery phase of the assets.
3	Operational phase of the assets.
4	Information exchange.
5	Security-minded approach to information management.

These international standards are incorporated into BIM and DE policies within Australia and globally, including the US and UK.

What are the Australian frameworks and guidelines?

To date, Australia has fallen short of mandating BIM usage nationally. Whilst falling short of a mandate, Queensland has begun to set goals for increased implementation in public projects by 2023, and we anticipate that other states may also move in this direction.

Various jurisdictions in Australia have developed additional frameworks and guidance notes on utilising the technology for their projects.

On the East Coast, these include the following:

Jurisdiction	Queensland	New South Wales	Victoria
Comment	Principles for BIM implementation have been released along with various guidelines and policies for Transport and Main Roads, Queensland Health and Queensland Corrective Services projects.	New South Wales Transport has released publications on its DE strategy for transportation projects.	A number of guidelines for the consistent approach to the use of BIM across the State have been published. These guidelines similarly break up the stages of design and construction and incorporate the international standards into the following phases: Part A – Strategic Part B – Organisational Part C - Application

Victoria has made the most progress in terms of uniform standards which can be implemented not just within government projects but private projects as well. However, both Queensland and New South Wales focus on the policies for the particular projects implementing BIM.

Why doesn't the rest of australia use de and bim, and what are the risks?

There are a number of risks associated with DE and BIM that may contribute to these technologies not reaching their potential at this time.

For optimal effectiveness, both DE and BIM rely on the collaboration of stakeholders to share ideas and contribute to the design and construction of the digital twin of the physical asset.

As well as opportunity, this approach can also give rise to risk in terms of protecting intellectual property, privacy, data security and liability.

The allocation of risk and related liability issues warrant particular consideration when utilising BIM in projects. Incorporation of BIM by way of a geometry statement or digital model as a reference only allows accuracy to be warranted by the designer but can transfer significant liability to the party responsible for construction.

When warranting a design using BIM, there may also be additional risks to the designer. These include design defects due to software errors and inadvertent use of non-compliant building regulation data.

Contractors and designers alike are also exposed to liability risks in transferring and sharing the BIM model and potential data loss and misuse.

BIM and DE utilisation can cause uncertainty with regard to ownership and use of information, especially where collaboration from various stakeholders is necessary.

In order to decrease the risk of infringements, misuse of information and disputes, the ownership, rights and responsibilities of each party need to be clearly defined at the outset.

Typically, compartmentalising stakeholder roles and responsibilities in order to define them clearly minimises risks. However, whilst offering increased contractual protection, the approach can have the effect of hindering collaboration necessary for innovative project design.

What to consider when thinking about using DE or BIM

Effective use of BIM and DE technologies relies on collaboration from various stakeholders of the project at different stages. This comes with a number of risks that can be mitigated at the outset to minimise disputes.

Design and construct and construct only contracts can be suitably amended to account for these risks. In this respect, those issues include the following:

No.	Issue	Comment
1	Intellectual property	Incorporating a clear scope of who owns IP in the project and the various components of it. Clearly defining agreed uses of data to protect IP and allow stakeholders to collaborate effectively and efficiently.
2	Privacy and confidentiality	Consideration of how privacy and confidentiality issues and constraints are managed to ensure effective collaboration is not sacrificed.
3	Licensing	Clearly defining responsibility for software licensing. Consideration of the level of licencing and access required for building contractors and subcontractors. Ensuring experienced personnel are engaged to operate the software effectively.
4	Data issues	Incorporation of contingency plans if data is lost or corrupted. Policies for securely storing and protecting data.
5	Liability	Consideration of the ability to use fitness for purpose warranties in relation to data. Consideration of indirect and consequential loss contractual provisions.
6	Insurance	Availability of adequate insurance policies. Contracting the transfer of risk appropriately.

conclusion

Standards and protocols for DE and BIM are constantly evolving throughout jurisdictions across the globe. When considering DE or BIM for your project, it is important to consider what standards are relevant to you.

It is also important to consider adequately amending your contract to mitigate legal issues relevant to the works.

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