Dear Colleagues

Thank you all for your support throughout 2014.

We have had a great year, and achieved some exciting outcomes. Key highlights for 2014 include:

  • Growing our partnership base with three new core members joining us. We welcomed the Western Australia Department of Housing, Aurecon and Griffith University to our SBEnrc family.
  • We held national industry development workshops to help identify new research projects for commencement in mid-2014 to extend through to the end of 2015. Bringing together existing and new partners allowed research end users (industry and government) to align future SBEnrc research activities to real industry needs.
  • As a result of the industry development workshops, we’ve started five new industry-focused projects, including projects on new topics such as housing policy and workforce practices.
  • Our international outreach has been extended via a number of projects and partnerships with Chalmers University, Sweden and NTNU, Norway. Building collaborations and linkages helps us to develop stronger capacity for our research and avoids reinventing the wheel.

Last month we ran a very successful BIM for Business Industry Seminar and cocktail event at Curtin University, attended by about 100 people. The seminar included the launch of the Integrated Project Environments report by Doug Morgan, Executive Director, Planning and Technical Services at Main Roads WA. This also marked the first international visiting professor contribution through collaboration with Chalmers University’s Göran Lindahl.

 

I would also like to acknowledge the work of the Strategic Forum, an initiative of the Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF) and the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC), who are working together to produce resources for increased productivity, safety and sustainability for use by government and the construction industry. On 2 December 2014 in Canberra, The Honourable Bob Baldwin MP, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, launched their latest resource, A Framework for the Adoption of Project Team Integration and Building Information Modelling. The SBEnrc’s Integrated Project Environments document has been developed as a complimentary resource especially relevant to the Australian transport infrastructure sector.

BobBaldwin,Robin,Teresa,Keith

L-R:   Robin Fardoulys, Chair, ACIF; Hon Bob Baldwin MP; Teresa Scott, Executive Director, APCC; Dr Keith Hampson

 

Looking to 2015

Next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Construction Research Alliance. Those early days of collaborative research paved the way for the formation of the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Construction Innovation in 2001 and the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre in 2010. It has been an honour and a pleasure to work with some of these people for almost twenty years.

In early 2015 we will shape new project themes that will take our research beyond 2015, helping us fulfil our vision to be an enduring world-class research and knowledge broker in sustainable infrastructure and building design, construction and management to enhance the performance of Australia’s built environment industry.

We are looking forward to 2015: to continued growth, new applied research themes, and strengthening our partner network. Never before has the need for applied research to improve productivity and effectiveness of our industry been higher for us to maintain our global competitive advantage. Variability and volatility across the world highlights the importance of applied research and how it can create more affordable and effective community outcomes.

 

John V. McCarthy AO, Chair, SBEnrc; Dr Keith Hampson, CEO, SBEnrc

We wish all of you a very happy and safe holiday season and we look forward to working with you again in 2015.

Best regards

Keith

Dr Keith Hampson, Chief Executive Officer
Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre
Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia
E: k.hampson@sbenrc.com.au
W: www.sbenrc.com.au

Our challenge is to continue growing the value and impact of our applied research more deeply and broadly across Australia and to secure a more durable financial base. The Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) is acknowledged as an excellent example of a CRC that has graduated into an independent organisation delivering unique industry, government and research collaboration.