Assimilation of architectural and services design in early design modelling. How can buildings in a climate as varied as Australia's balance the best environmental comfort standards for their human occupants, cost and at the same time meet the urgent imperative of reduced energy consumption and associated carbon emissions? This practice-based research will develop tools to support more informed decision making in the earliest stage of an integral approach to services in the design of buildings. ....Assimilation of architectural and services design in early design modelling. How can buildings in a climate as varied as Australia's balance the best environmental comfort standards for their human occupants, cost and at the same time meet the urgent imperative of reduced energy consumption and associated carbon emissions? This practice-based research will develop tools to support more informed decision making in the earliest stage of an integral approach to services in the design of buildings. It will provide knowledge about designing architecture that is more environmentally responsive, can provide comfortable air in more optimised ways, that consume less energy and do this through promoting smarter use of information in practice.Read moreRead less
Reforming the procurement of construction and financing of Australian infrastructure: Advancing capacity, competition and investment. The project will significantly assist Federal and State governments in delivering value for money in the provision of a substantial infrastructure pipeline. The project will promote the transformation of the domestic construction industry in Australia, in terms of saving unnecessary transaction costs, promoting productivity, advancing training and accessing the wo ....Reforming the procurement of construction and financing of Australian infrastructure: Advancing capacity, competition and investment. The project will significantly assist Federal and State governments in delivering value for money in the provision of a substantial infrastructure pipeline. The project will promote the transformation of the domestic construction industry in Australia, in terms of saving unnecessary transaction costs, promoting productivity, advancing training and accessing the world's best knowledge and skills. In total, the project will help ensure that new infrastructure contributes to Australia's economic growth and counters inflationary pressures. Finally, the transferable knowledge outcomes of this project have potential to capture global attention and promote Australia as a leading nation in the provision of infrastructure.Read moreRead less
Incorporating Design Management Culture within the Total Project Management Process: a Socio-technical Approach. New project delivery methods (e.g. design & construct; alliance contracting) in major commercial and infrastructure projects have the potential to dramatically increase the value added to clients and the wider community.
However to realise this potential, we need to better understand those socio-technical factors that foster an effective design management culture within tradition ....Incorporating Design Management Culture within the Total Project Management Process: a Socio-technical Approach. New project delivery methods (e.g. design & construct; alliance contracting) in major commercial and infrastructure projects have the potential to dramatically increase the value added to clients and the wider community.
However to realise this potential, we need to better understand those socio-technical factors that foster an effective design management culture within traditional construction companies, especially their knowledge sharing culture.
This project will develop and test an innovative research methodology that blends approaches from the social sciences and engineering. The findings regarding design management will have wide applicability to industry and cover civil, building, mining and process engineering projects, each of which has its own culture.Read moreRead less
Life Cycle Measures of Cost Effectiveness for 4 D CAD in Design and Construct Projects across Industry Sectors. The effective and efficient delivery of complex construction projects will be transformed by the increased application of virtual design and construction technologies, including 4D CAD. By combining a 3D computer model of a design with the time dimension of the construction schedule, 4D CAD enables risks and opportunities to be better managed during the design phase and hence avoid co ....Life Cycle Measures of Cost Effectiveness for 4 D CAD in Design and Construct Projects across Industry Sectors. The effective and efficient delivery of complex construction projects will be transformed by the increased application of virtual design and construction technologies, including 4D CAD. By combining a 3D computer model of a design with the time dimension of the construction schedule, 4D CAD enables risks and opportunities to be better managed during the design phase and hence avoid costly issues during construction. However this requires addition design costs which currently represent a barrier to the uptake of this transforming technology. This project will overcome this by developing a flexible framework that allows the benefits gained across the life cycle of a project through using 4D CAD to be set against the additional costs and thus make this emerging technology more attractive to industry. Significantly this research will be based on comparative cases studies across different industry sectors including civil, building, and process engineering.Read moreRead less
Performance Characteristics of an Innovative Structural System - Compound Curved Sandwich Shell Structure. An innovative structural system utilising sandwich panel technology and shell action has recently emerged. These aesthetically pleasing curved structures are durable and spacious with fast construction time. They have residential and commercial applications and have attracted considerable local and overseas interest. There are no definitive procedures for their analysis and design and thei ....Performance Characteristics of an Innovative Structural System - Compound Curved Sandwich Shell Structure. An innovative structural system utilising sandwich panel technology and shell action has recently emerged. These aesthetically pleasing curved structures are durable and spacious with fast construction time. They have residential and commercial applications and have attracted considerable local and overseas interest. There are no definitive procedures for their analysis and design and their behaviour is complex involving many variables such as sandwich layer interaction, shape, openings, structural action, etc. This project will generate fundamental knowledge on their behaviour over a range of properties and operating conditions and develop guidelines to ensure safe and economical design, bringing economic benefits to Australia.Read moreRead less