Mark Bew MBE will lead the discussion on ‘Implementing a BIM Mandate in Australia’ at the breakfast meeting being organised in Sydney CBD on Thursday, 6 October 2016. Mark is the Chairman of the HM Government BIM Working Group, United Kingdom.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is now commonly specified in construction contracts, as clients seek to drive innovation and new technologies on their projects. Around the globe, governments are considering how best to harness the benefits of BIM, and are seeking to learn lessons from the pioneering BIM mandate in the United Kingdom. In Australia, jurisdictions and government agencies have now begun to mobilise, with growing support for local BIM mandates.

Given that there’s presently no common definition or understanding of BIM, or an awareness of how this will impact government and industry alike, Consult Australia is organising this event to explore the opportunities and challenges of a BIM mandate, and what it would mean from a practical perspective in Australia.

Participants will hear about how the United Kingdom has implemented its BIM mandate, what led to its implementation, and what lessons can be learnt from their experience.

Guest Speaker: Mark Bew MBE

Mark chairs the HM Government Construction BIM Task Group, which is charged with delivering BIM Level 2 Maturity into the UK Public Sector Construction Sector by 2016. He is also Chairman of Professional Construction Strategies Group Ltd, which provides clients with leading digital/ BIM strategies and implementation services.

Mark has gained considerable experience serving on two UK construction sector company executive boards, authoring a number of published papers and presenting at major conferences in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. He was awarded an MBE for services to construction in January 2012.

Panellist: Simon Vaux

Simon Vaux is A/Principal Manager Engineering with Transport for NSW (TfNSW) and is currently leading the long-term strategy to implement Digital Engineering (DE) within Transport. He's an active champion of DE within industry and is chair of IWG National DE Working Group, a federally sponsored group, which is working collaboratively to achieve a national approach to DE for transport infrastructure.

A chartered civil engineer with 15 years of experience managing the delivery of transport infrastructure in both the private and public sectors in Australia and the UK, Simon has held various leadership roles within TfNSW since 2007, and has been responsible for the engineering of major heavy rail projects in Sydney.

Panellist: Richard Choy

Richard is the CEO of NATSPEC, a national not-for-profit organisation with the objective of improving the construction quality and productivity of the built environment through leadership of information. NATSPEC’s publications include the National Building Specification, the Local Government Specification (AUS-SPEC) and the National BIM Guide.

Richard sat on the BIM Steering Committees for the AMCA, AIA and Consult Australia as well as on the government digital working group BEIIC. Currently an active participant regarding BIM for APCC, ACIF and the International Construction Information Society, Richard continues to assist with the development of BIM documents for NATSPEC and other organisations.

The breakfast meeting will be held on Thursday 6 October 7:30am – 8:55am in Sydney CBD. This event will be moderated by Matthew Trigg, State Manager for New South Wales with Consult Australia.

Image: Mark Bew MBE