• By Matt Hemming
  • Mar 30, 2024

In February 2017, the Queensland Government released the Building Information Modelling – draft policy and principles for Queensland with a request to read and provide feedback here.

This is a long awaited step forward taken by the Queensland Government. Mitchell Brandtman wholeheartedly supports this initiative and what it can mean for the Queensland development and infrastructure landscape.

In reading through the draft it is clear that the Queensland Government has a positive purpose for the implementation of BIM and understands the potential for their future assets and for the industry as a whole.

With Mitchell Brandtman being BIM advocates for well over a decade now, this initiative is encouraged and celebrated and we cannot help but to reflect on the journey that Queensland has travelled to get to this point.

Prior to 2013, the Queensland Government’s professional design and building department, Project Services, was actively engaging in BIM discovery and implementation in close consultation with the private sector. On the Quantity Surveying front, a small working group was established made up of public and private sector, including Mitchell Brandtman, and was meeting regularly to brainstorm collaboration platforms, frameworks and protocols for projects. With the Queensland Government leading by example in BIM development at that time, good headway was made which encouraged the private sector, in at least the QS space, to engage more with BIM and the various disciplines it involves. We also expected a document such as this would come sooner given the momentum at that time, which further pushed industry to listen closely.

This momentum came to a grinding halt late 2012 with the then new Government redeploying many government jobs including within the Project Services department.

But the private sector carried on, pushing the boundaries of BIM and collaboration further, overcoming many of the teething problems of a new workflow in a very staunch industry. So Government is well positioned to now leverage off this progress both locally and internationally, by this re-engagement with the private sector. We are ready, well most of us are... after all, nothing drives change like a looming mandate.

We note that buildingSMART have publically released their draft response to the document here.

Reading through their response, we entirely agree with their recommendations.

This is a great initiative, which Mitchell Brandtman supports entirely. We are working on a formal response to the Queensland Government and encourage any discipline that advocates positive change to have their say too.


about the author

Matt Hemming

Matt is a Partner with Mitchell Brandtman and manages our 5D Quantity Surveying & Cost Planning Team in QLD who specialise in providing cost advice that is relevant and in touch with the market.  Clients rely on his proven ability to provide consistently accurate, timely and innovative advice on all aspects of costs associated with construction.

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