Annual Report 2011
The natural disasters in our region at the start of 2011 – floods, cyclones and the devastating earthquake in Christchurch – provided us with a timely reminder that we, as researchers and infrastructure and building professionals, have a responsibility to our communities to seek solutions so that natural disasters have less of an impact. Future applied research projects to be undertaken by our Centre will play an important role in helping improve sustainability and resilience, and to seek solutions that will mitigate the social, environmental and economic impact of unpredictable and severe weather patterns.
Our Centre would not be able to continue growing without the commitment and support of our core partners, and we thank you wholeheartedly. Additionally, international participation (formally through VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland; BRANZ in New Zealand; CIB – the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction; and informally through a variety of leading university and other research institutions) provides important global perspectives on our research.
Our research projects have had success due to our strong focus on industry and government collaboration, and we actively encourage our partners to have a close involvement in projects that are relevant and of interest to them. Consequently we attract partners who are committed to collaborating with leading research teams to achieve significant results in the short term, while bringing real value to our partners and to the built environment industry in the long term.
As we continue to position ourselves in the independent research space, we are drawing greater strength from all of our partners and we welcome genuine involvement from other research groups outside our current partnership family.
We are proud of the valuable research outcomes our projects have delivered throughout 2011. Program Leaders: Professor Peter Newman, Curtin University (Program 1: Greening the Built Environment); Professor Russell Kenley, Swinburne University of Technology (Program 2: Developing Innovation and Safety Cultures) and Professor Robin Drogemuller, QUT (Program 3: Driving Productivity Through Procurement) have provided key research leadership roles. Their energies and the in-kind commitment from their respective universities will continue to be fundamental in ensuring the success of our research programs.
Centre highlights of 2011 include:
- Partnering with industry groups such as Built Environment Industry Innovation Council (BEIIC), buildingSMART, Australian Constructors Association (ACA), Australian Green Infrastructure Council (AGIC), Australian
Procurement and Construction Council (APCC), Austroads, Civil Contractors Federation (CCF), Engineers Australia (EA), Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA), Master Builders Australia (MBA), Australian Workers’ Union (AWU), Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner and The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering to target industry research outcomes and run dissemination seminars. - Our Chair, John V. McCarthy AO, continued as the International President of the CIB, the first Australian to hold this position since the CIB was established in 1953. This role includes hosting the triennial World Building Congress in Brisbane, 5-9 May 2013. (The CIB is a worldwide network of over 5,000 experts from about 500 member organisations across 80 countries active in the research community, in industry or in education, who cooperate and exchange information in building and construction research and innovation).The CIB Board appointed Professor Keith Hampson and Dr Judy Kraatz to a new Task Group TG85 on R&D
- Investment and Impact, as Joint Coordinators. This international recognition will help our Centre increase its understanding of how public and private sector policy and practice can be enhanced to better leverage R&D investments.
- Research teams from the Greening the Built Environment; Developing Innovation and Safety Cultures; and Driving Productivity Through Procurement programs conducted a comprehensive round of national stakeholder engagement workshops to seek fresh input into project scoping for the second stage of our Centre beyond 2012.
Our challenge now is to grow the value and impact of our applied research more deeply and broadly across Australia. We look forward to welcoming new partners, as we grow in the property, planning, design, construction and facilities management sectors and extend our Centre beyond 2012 with a fresh raft of industry-driven research projects.
We look forward to maintaining our joint commitment and working with core members, project partners and other industry stakeholders growing the industry value of SBEnrc research into the future
Dr Keith Hampson CEO, SBEnrc and John V. McCarthy AO Chair, SBEnrc
