Building and construction industries supply chain project (domestic) : report for Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources

The Commonwealth Department of Industry, Science and Resources is identifying best practice case study examples of supply chain management within the building and construction industry to illustrate the concepts, innovations and initiatives that are at work. The projects provide individual enterprises with examples of how to improve their performance, and the competitiveness of the industry as a whole.

Using game technologies to improve the safety of construction plant operations

Many accidents occur world-wide in the use of construction plant and equipment, and safety training is considered by many to be one of the best approaches to their prevention. However, current safety training methods/tools are unable to provide trainees with the hands-on practice needed. Game technology-based safety training platforms have the potential to overcome this problem in a virtual environment. One such platform is described in this paper - its characteristics are analysed and its possible contribution to safety training identified. This is developed and tested by means of a case study involving three major pieces of construction plant, which successfully demonstrates that the platform can improve the process and performance of the safety training involved in their operation. This research not only presents a new and useful solution to the safety training of construction operations, but illustrates the potential use of advanced technologies in solving construction industry problems in general.

Using BIM for smarter and safer scaffolding and formwork construction: a preliminary methodology

The goal of this research project is to develop specific BIM objects for temporary construction activities which are fully integrated with object design, construction efficiency and safety parameters. Specifically, the project will deliver modularised electronic scaffolding and formwork objects that will allow designers to easily incorporate them into BIM models to facilitate smarter and safer infrastructure and building construction. This research first identified there is currently a distinct lack of BIM objects for temporary construction works resulting in productivity loss during design and construction, and opportunities for improved consideration of safety standards and practices with the design of scaffolding and formwork. This is particularly relevant in Australia, given the “harmonisation” of OHS legislation across all states and territories from 1 January 2012, meaning that enhancements to Queensland practices will have direct application across Australia. Thus, in conjunction with government and industry partners in Queensland, Australia, the research team developed a strategic three-phase research methodology: (1) the preliminary review phase on industrial scaffolding and formwork practices and BIM implementation; (2) the BIM object development phase with specific safety and productivity functions; and (3) the Queensland-wide workshop phase for product dissemination and training. This paper discusses background review findings, details of the developed methodology, and expected research outcomes and their contributions to the Australian construction industry.

Development of a data mining-based analysis framework for multi-attribute construction project information

Data mining techniques extract repeated and useful patterns from a large data set that in turn are utilized to predict the outcome of future events. The main purpose of the research presented in this paper is to investigate data mining strategies and develop an efficient framework for multi-attribute project information analysis to predict the performance of construction projects. The research team first reviewed existing data mining algorithms, applied them to systematically analyze a large project data set collected by the survey, and finally proposed a data-mining-based decision support framework for project performance prediction. To evaluate the potential of the framework, a case study was conducted using data collected from 139 capital projects and analyzed the relationship between use of information technology and project cost performance. The study results showed that the proposed framework has potential to promote fast, easy to use, interpretable, and accurate project data analysis.