Austroads: Transport Research and Trends

Review of Impact of Service Authorities on Infrastructure Projects

Austroads is undertaking a multi-stage project to support road transport and traffic agencies across Australia to manage the impacts of third-party assets on the successful delivery of road infrastructure projects, including road projects with a rail interface. To form an effective, evidence-based strategy and action plan, the project included international literature research, jurisdictional consultation and four road infrastructure project case studies.

This webinar with Robert Eames, Nicola Boyd, David Bourne and Maria Drysdale presents the research findings and where change is required to improve the efficient delivery of major infrastructure projects when third-party assets are involved. One key element proposed is a national minimum dataset of information to monitor third-party impacts on road infrastructure projects.

The collection and reporting of high-quality data is essential but depends on stakeholders sharing cost information so that value-based decisions can be made across the whole project. Measurement of costs associated with utilities on projects will permit analysis of past events which will lead to two beneficial outcomes:

• Understanding events and determining patterns will enable predictions of the future to be made.
• Quantitative evaluation of past project events will allow plans for improvement to be developed.

Guide to Project Delivery Parts 2 and 3 Update

Two parts of the Austroads Guide to Project Delivery – Part 2: Planning and Control and Part 3: Contract Management – have been reviewed and updated to assist road-based infrastructure delivery units of transport agencies to improve efficiencies and reduce costs in the project delivery stage.

In this webinar Colin MacKay, Nigel Powers and Karen Cogo present the updated guides which focus on new industry best practice and techniques that have become available since the Guide to Project Delivery was published in 2014, including lean construction and digital engineering.

Austroads Technical Specifications for Roadworks and Bridgeworks

Currently, most Austroads member agencies rely on their unique technical specifications for the delivery of roadworks and bridge projects. In many cases, these specifications have been developed over a number of years in consultation with local industry and suppliers.

While it is recognised that there will always be some requirements that will only apply to a single jurisdiction, standardising specifications (and the associated test methods) has the potential to improve work processes for road agencies, suppliers and contractors.

To increase efficiency for road agencies and industry and optimise compliance with contract requirements, 14 technical specifications have been published for all Austroads member agencies to use for the construction of roadworks and bridgeworks. These specifications are suitable for use with any general conditions of contract, including design and construct contracts. They are expected to be used in conjunction with supplementary local or contract specific requirements.

This webinar, presented by Richard Edwards, takes participants through the technical specifications development process and provides an overview of the structure and layout adopted for the specifications.

General Conditions of Contract for Construction - National Capital Works 4 (NCW4)

This webinar provides an overview of the new General Conditions of Contract for Construction - National Capital Works 4 (NCW4), released by Austroads and the Australian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC).

It covers:

• rational for developing NCW4
• principles underpinning NCW4
• key clauses in NCW4.

The webinar was presented on 25 July 2019 by Richard Edwards. 

Lean Construction: Responding to the Productivity Challenge Faced by the Construction Industry

This webinar provides an overview of the Lean approach to construction project delivery.

It covers

• lean principles, practices and techniques
• key differences of traditional and lean construction
• case studies demonstrating the outcomes that can be achieved
• the current state of lean construction in Australia.

This webinar was presented on 16 May 2019 by Christina Levinson.

Guide to Project Delivery Part 5: Road Construction Quality Assurance

This webinar provides an overview of the first edition of Austroads Guide to Project Delivery Part 5: Road Construction Quality Assurance.

It covers:

• the background to the Guide, and concerns with current Quality Assurance contracts
• measures proposed in the Guide
• what is involved in implementation of the Guide.

The webinar was presented on 20 September 2018 by Peter Balfe.