Transport and Main Roads (TMR) is an early adopter of Digital Engineering (DE), which involves working collaboratively using digital processes to capture information for design, construction, operations and asset management. The current focus is on the planning and design stage but the ultimate goal is to apply Building Information Modelling (BIM) across the whole life cycle, resulting in a more reliable basis for decisions.
The Queensland Government's State Infrastructure Plan (SIP), released in March 2016, seeks to implement the use of Building Information Management progressively into all major state infrastructure projects by 2023. For TMR, DE is the process of digitally generating and managing asset/infrastructure data during its lifecycle. As a subset of DE, BIM enables a collaborative way of working using digital processes to capture 2D and 3D, object-based attributed information for design, construction, operations and asset management functions. TMR is currently working to develop a program of work which will support the implementation of BIM into the department. TMR has representation on both the Queensland BIM Working Group and the National DE Working Group, both of which are government led groups looking to establish consistent policy and principal frameworks that promote the greater uptake of DE / BIM in the delivery and management of buildings and infrastructure assets.
TMR have been progressively moving towards documenting in 3D over the past two decades. This has been driven primarily by a desire to improve the quality of design and deliver projects more efficiently as advancements in 3D CADD modelling software became more readily available. The advancements in the tools to efficiently design and document in 3D have really accelerated in recent years to a point where the current systems, processes and policies are falling behind in terms of currency and relevance.
To date the focus on BIM implementation has been at a project level. However, over the past couple of years there has been a push in TMR to expand BIM to a network level, from design into construction and finalisation, to provide better data for Asset Management which is managed at a network level via a suite of internal asset management systems.
An increasing number of projects are requiring the contractor to maintain the BIM model throughout the construction phase and provide an “As-Built” Model at handover.
TMR’s BIM Guide aims to aid further development of this process by:
• increasing the department’s project managers understanding of the benefits of BIM so that they can better brief their design teams
• creating a common language so that owners, designers and constructors understand what they are being asked to provide
• outlining the process that should be followed to efficiently implement BIM on a project with the end in mind
• providing a framework so that those new to BIM can understand what is involved and decide if/how they could benefit from adopting BIM
Further work needs to be done in developing a legal framework to build BIM requirements into both design and construction contracts.