UTS student wins Digital Construction medal of excellence

UTS Bachelor of Construction Project Management student Daniel Gardner has been awarded a Medal of Excellence at the world's largest skills competition, WorldSkills 2022. Daniel was part of Australia's Digital Construction team, the 'Skillaroos', who came fourth in the world at the event.

As an undergraduate, Daniel found himself pitted against a majority of competitors who had postgraduate qualifications in building information modelling (BIM) along with work experience as architectural technologists. As such, Daniel's achievement can be seen as representative of the strength of UTS's technological offerings in the Bachelor of Construction Project Management, as well as the calibre of UTS students.

The Australian team's training and competition was supported by industry partner Hansen Yuncken who have now also taken Daniel on board as a BIM & VDC (virtual design & construction) coordinator.

UTS lecturer and Australia's WorldSkills 'expert' representative in Digital Construction, Christopher Brown, provided some background on the competition and this emerging discipline.

What is digital construction?

Digital construction is the application of data technology in the construction process to inform every aspect of the project, from the design phase through to handover and facility management.

– Christopher Brown, UTS School of Built Environment

"Digital construction relies on the development of a Building Information Model (BIM) which can act as a single source of truth for a construction project and can contain information related to 5 key aspects as follows:

• 3D BIM which includes geometrical, graphical information of the building from all disciplines
• 4D BIM which includes time-related information and construction sequencing by means of Gantt charts and simulations
• 5D BIM which involves cost analysis, cost management and construction cost estimating
• 6D BIM which focuses on sustainability, environmental, economic and social sustainability impacts
• 7D life cycle and maintenance for handover. Here, BIM can be used for facility management including planning and management of maintenance operations throughout the building’s lifecycle.

"I see digital construction as the future of construction. I believe this because our digital age requires a digital built environment. Digital construction and BIM are the way in which we can achieve digitisation here. They are the foundation that enables innovative technology to revolutionise the way we build and manage and store our built environment data. Also, digital construction inherently promotes efficiency, sustainability and accountability which is sorely needed in the construction industry. Construction is one of the biggest contributors to the climate problem, and I believe the better use of digital construction and BIM can help reduce this impact.

"Given digital construction is still a burgeoning industry, I hope this fact also gives educators and practitioners the opportunity to improve social problems that the wider construction industry faces. Here, I hope that digital construction can be seen as more attractive career to a diverse range of young people, because you do not have to work on site, but still get to be deeply involved in the construction process. I hope that the nature of work in digital construction can be communicated to all young people to help address the gender imbalance in construction. I encourage young people from all backgrounds, especially those who enjoy games like Minecraft,  or The Sims to pursue a successful career in digital construction, like I did."

What do you find most enjoyable about working in the field?

"In the digital construction field you get to be privy to a wide range of information from many disciplines. You engage with architects, structural and MEP engineers, estimators, quantity surveyors, construction managers and the entire delivery team including the subcontractors and trades people. I enjoy this multidisciplinary aspect the most."

How does it feel to be able to wear the uniform and represent Australia overseas?

"I was proud – but also acutely aware of the social, ecological and economic problems our Australian construction and trades face. Recent data from the MATES in construction report shows that QLD apprentices have a very hard time; they are frequently bullied, and nearly 1 in 3 reported having experienced some thoughts about suicide in the past 12 months. Australian male apprentices working in the construction industry are at high risk of suicide and are twice as likely to take their own lives than other young Australian males (Heller et al., 2007).

"There are also serious gender imbalances in the industry which undoubtedly lead to further detrimental cultural problems. I was proud to be competing at the global stage as a representation of the strength of UTS’s Bachelor of Construction Project Management and my own teaching, but felt conflicted that I was also representing an industry and government that appear to provide inadequate support and safety measures to these young people."

What was involved in completing the competition?

"Day one and two were predominantly 3D BIM modelling tasks. Day one involved detailed and extensive architectural modelling of a two storey apartment block with an external tower and set of stairs comprising of nearly 100 rooms. Then the next day involved modelling the structural steel components of this structure (bridge, landings and pergolas). Days three and four tested delivery and management processes which involved tasks such as quantity take off, measurements, adding asset information, coding data, safety checklists, and then setting up drawings for construction and other model management processes and automation on a common data environment (CDE)."

What it was like to represent Australia and for the team to do so well?

"The Australian construction industry is lagging in its digital adoption compared to most other developed countries, so it was a relief to perform well against an array of such strong teams. I am relieved because our performance should be seen in the context of a recent industry report that identified Australian digital construction as being 11 years behind the Singapore construction industry, who are putting out nearly 20,000 Digital construction students each year. Other countries including the UK and Ireland are well known to exceed Australian BIM capability.

"The oversight of federal leadership over the past decade to adequately mandate digital deliverables on Australian construction projects and industry’s sluggish response to organically adopt this new technology, will likely continue to haunt Australian digital construction capacity, education, and innovation. But there are exceptions to the state of Australian digital construction, where Hansen Yuncken has been foundational advocates of digital construction and have pioneered this technology. My deepest thanks goes to their team of experts who helped to train Daniel and support our team. I also believe Daniel’s performance is testament to his fantastic capability and to our historically ground-breaking and industry leading digital subjects in the UTS Bachelor of Construction Project Management undergraduate degree."

What are your thoughts about the WorldSkills Program and its impact on industry?

"Being involved in WorldSkills has put me in contact with some of the best digital constructors across the globe. It has given me insight into how International Standards are being implement in other national contexts, cutting edge curriculum, and the extent and normalcy of BIM deliverables on construction projects in other national contexts. I believe the WorldSkills international technical expert collective will continue to pioneer digital construction on the international stage, and I hope to continue to tap into that expertise by contributing and learning processes, workflows, software, curricula and contacts that will improve digital literacy in Australian construction and education."