Building 4.0 CRC seeks to achieve better buildings and new efficiencies through technology and collaboration.
Building 4.0 CRC leverages academic partners Monash University, The University of Melbourne, and the Queensland University of Technology’s leading expertise to establish a collaborative approach to building innovation.
Our Program Leaders and Theme Coordinators possess a wealth of research knowledge covering all stages of the building process – Architecture, Design, Planning, Construction, Engineering, Business, Information Technology, and Law.
Our research is industry-led, with our experts committed to catapulting the industry into an efficient, connected and customer-centric future, with ‘real-world’ outputs and applications. Our ‘Lighthouse Projects’ will demonstrate to the wider industry the advances made in CRC projects, through real buildings that are delivered through the CRC.
Our research at a glance
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Program 1
Sectoral Transformation-
Business Model Innovation
Business Model Innovation
This theme explores the strategic alignment, transformation leadership and management to enable total ecosystem perspective of value alignment through either platform or integrated project delivery. The value proposition within the theme provides a roadmap and evaluation canvas to transform into a very competitive value (supply/demand) network (and value receiver/contributor) and collaboration that leads to a cultural shift for a sustainable competitive advantage.
Theme coordinator
Dr Robert Moehler
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Supply Chain Management, Logistics
Supply Chain Management, Logistics
Transforming the building sector aims to address the challenges faced by the global and complex supply chain through increasing the transparency and visibility of the operations, enhancing the traceability and reliability of the supplied materials, and optimising the effectiveness and efficiency of the logistics systems. This theme draws cross-disciplinary experts from business and operation management, manufacturing, and transportation, to procurement and contract, and information technology, in order to provide a holistic view of the entire system.
Theme coordinator
Dr Wen Li
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Finance and Property Development Economics
Finance and Property Development Economics
Finance and Property Development Economics is a multi-disciplinary theme including the core expertise and experience in finance and economics, but also in property development, valuation and customers’ preferences. This theme can contribute to feasibility estimations and viability studies of property development or community development projects. Market and customer analyses, finance, profit and return estimations, and cost calculations are part of feasibility studies.
Theme coordinator
Dr Tanja Tyvimaa
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Contracts and Procurement
Contracts and Procurement
This theme covers all matters relating to the procurement of building projects with a particular focus on commercial arrangements and leveraging opportunities from digital developments. Issues of interest stem from all phases of the project lifecycle, from planning, feasibility and risk allocation, tender processes and negotiation, through to project management, performance and delivery.
Theme coordinator
Ilsa Kuiper
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Culture and Diversity
Culture and Diversity
The traditional construction industry is highly fragmented and competitive, but not efficient. It is also marked by profound gender and diversity imbalance. Shifting the industry to support greater collaboration and innovation involves shifting the culture attending to gender and other diversity at all levels. All prospective projects need to consider their culture and diversity implications.
Theme coordinator
Dr Gillian Matthewson
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Construction Safety
Construction Safety
The Safety Theme will leverage opportunities brought about by new construction practices and technology interruptions to improve construction safety and change the way safety is handled in the whole project lifecycle, making construction a safer and healthier work environment.
Theme coordinator
Dr Carol Hon
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Policy and Regulation
Policy and Regulation
Building 4.0 CRC has a common policy and regulatory thread – ‘More Effective Governance, Policy and Regulation in the Building Industry’. The Policy & Regulatory Theme provides the expertise, experience and capabilities to develop conducive policy, governance and regulatory settings to support the CRC’s broad vision and specific projects.
Theme coordinator
Dr Eric Windholz
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Risk Management
Risk Management
This theme will provide Building 4.0 CRC with surety in achieving objectives and maximising the value via a proactive, systematic, and holistic process.
Theme coordinator
Ming Xu
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Change Management
Change Management
This theme will bring expertise, applied research, and evidence-based practices that can facilitate change and transformation of the construction industry, its associated stakeholders, and its managers and workforce. The expertise spans areas of engineering, management, design and economics, among others, and will help with conducting collaborative projects with industry partners to develop, test and integrate innovative practices in their work.
Theme coordinator
Dr Niharika Garud
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Customers and Markets
Customers and Markets
This theme has the expertise, experience and capacity to inquire into consumer technology adoption of emerging technologies and consumer information processing, to model and optimise consumer user experience and customer centric business models, and to develop analytical and collaborative tools to enable customer centric transformation.
Theme coordinator
Dr Zahra Seyedghorban
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Business Model Innovation
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Program 2
Digital Transformation-
Platforms and Process
Platforms and Process
This theme provides a foundation for the development of a fundamentally new approach to building that is based on a platform approach to: product development; stakeholder co-ordination; continual improvement; and the processes required to achieve this future. Platform-based opportunities lie in: the articulation of product platforms for construction; the use of platform-based approaches to new sections of industry, such as construction logistics; the development of integrated value-chain software platforms; and the possibilities of platform-based business ecosystems as an alternative to construction’s traditional project structures.
Theme coordinator
Dr Duncan Maxwell
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Digital and Automated Fabrication (Robotics)
Digital and Automated Fabrication (Robotics)
This theme will put particular emphasis on Digital & Automated Fabrication, Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Computational Design, Optimisation, as well as Modelling & Simulation, where novel robotic systems can boost the efficiency and reduce the time and cost for infrastructure construction, daily operation and maintenance.
Theme coordinator
Dr Chao Chen
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Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
This theme focuses on the automation and improvement of decision-making in the building industry, such that it is safe, robust, and cost and resource efficient.
Theme coordinator
Dr Buser Say
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User Interface, Visualisation and Analytics
User Interface, Visualisation and Analytics
This theme will leverage the most recent and capable technologies to support human activity at the centre of activities during all stages of the building lifecycle. This includes the design and invention of effective human interfaces, intuitive data visualisations, and interactive human-in-the-loop analysis tools.
Theme coordinator
Dr Barrett Ens
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Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity
This theme will enhance home automation and security systems for the Building 4.0 CRC platform, including ensuring data privacy, revealing security vulnerabilities, and identifying potential threats.
Theme coordinator
Dr Sarah Erfani
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IoT, Sensors and Construction Tech
IoT, Sensors and Construction Tech
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of sensors, smart devices and computational resources connected via the Internet for monitoring, controlling and actuating processes in real-time. IoT sensors form the core interconnecting backbone between our physical world (sensors) and the digital world (“digital twin”) in the construction industry.
Theme coordinator
Dr Aravinda Rao
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Building Operation and Performance
Building Operation and Performance
This theme focuses on the performance of building after construction. The performance can be defined based on a range of criteria, from environmental and energy aspects to reliability and occupant satisfaction. To meet the performance objectives, these criteria need to be considered from the early design stages.
Theme coordinator
Dr Sara Omrani
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ePlanning and eApprovals
ePlanning and eApprovals
The longer-term objective of This theme is to integrate existing planning, regulation and policy into a platform to facilitate and speed up automatic checking, compliance testing, and approval. State and local government, developers, architects, building surveyors and builders will use this technology to check approval and certification.
Theme coordinator
Dr Davood Shojaei
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Digitising and 3D Modelling of Physical Assets
Digitising and 3D Modelling of Physical Assets
Digitising Physical Assets concerns the development of methodologies and technologies for efficient mapping and 3D as-built modelling of buildings and construction sites. The Theme involves researchers from the three universities as well as industry partners participating in the CRC, who offer collective expertise in various areas related to digitisation, 3D modelling, and visualisation of physical assets.
Theme coordinator
Dr Kourosh Khoshelham
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Digital Project Management
Digital Project Management
This theme’s research focuses on embracing computer-integrated technologies in design and construction project management. It will also focus on the design and development of VR/AR/MR, and Serious Game applications for workforce capacity development towards optimisation of coordination, progress monitoring, and building assembly at the construction site.
Theme coordinator
Dr Ali Rashidi
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Computational Design
Computational Design
This theme aims to automate traditional building design processes by rapidly generating and optimising numerous designs early in the conceptual phase through computational techniques.
Theme coordinator
Dr Abdallah Ghazlan
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Optimisation
Optimisation
Optimisation is a key area of Data Science that focuses on finding optimal solutions to the many complex, multi-decision problems that occur in our society. The Optimisation research group at Monash IT is recognised for its strong links between theory and practice, fuelled by our excellent connections with the broader research community and industry partners.
Theme coordinator
Dr Ilankaikone Senthooran
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Complex Systems Modelling
Complex Systems Modelling
The multidisciplinary culture of Building 4.0 CRC provides meaningful collaboration that is vital for complex systems modelling. This theme will utilise computer simulations for scenario-based analysis to empower decision-makers and designers to better understand the interconnection between elements of the system. Specifically, we will look into the correlation between energy and indoor air quality in buildings and will use IoT-based sensors and machine learning to enhance our capability to optimise system operation.
Theme coordinator
Dr Behzad Rismanchi
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Platforms and Process
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Program 3
Building Transformation-
Materials and Systems Innovation
Materials and Systems Innovation
This theme underpins building innovations. It introduces high-performance materials and systems that solve industry problems cost-efficiently, with no compromise to end-user wellbeing.
Theme coordinator
Dr Rackel San Nicolas
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Production and Process Systems (Advanced Manufacturing)
Production and Process Systems (Advanced Manufacturing)
Under this theme, we will apply cutting-edge advanced manufacturing principles to buildings and building components. There are two aspects we will consider: 1) The advanced manufacturing processes such as new techniques of fabrication, automation and reduction of wasteful activities, and enhancing value-added work within the processes; and 2) Overall manufacturing systems improvement such as production planning systems, manufacturing execution systems, quality systems, yield improvement, or human-machine interactions in the system.
Theme coordinator
Dr Felix Hui
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Construction Management
Construction Management
This theme is a key enabler for the future, integrating smart processes and real-time data collection and analysis. The construction research is focused on optimising project performance measures such as delivery time, cost and quality.
Theme coordinator
Dr Mehrdad Arashpour
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Structural Optimisation
Structural Optimisation
With a combined expertise in structural modelling and computational mechanics, our Structural Optimisation Theme has the capacity to develop and optimise structural systems for building, bridge and other infrastructure applications.
Theme coordinator
Dr Tai Thai
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Fire Safety
Fire Safety
This theme explores the relationship between fire-safe buildings and industrialised construction. It focuses on understanding the fire performance of building compartments and facade systems by assessing their flammability and associated fire spread hazards. It also studies novel material products used for construction, such as engineered timber and bamboo.
Theme coordinator
Dr Angela Solarte Castaneda
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Sustainable Materials and Design
Sustainable Materials and Design
This theme will further the structural, thermal and construction performance of a range of sustainable materials, in turn providing less carbon-intensive solutions for buildings.
Theme coordinator
Dr Philip Christopher
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ESD, LCA and Energy
ESD, LCA and Energy
ESD, LCA and Energy looks at environmentally sustainable design strategies to minimise lifecycle impacts across the different scales and factors of the built environment.
Theme coordinator
Dr Victor Bunster
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Indoor Environmental Quality
Indoor Environmental Quality
This theme aims to protect all building occupants and maintain healthy indoor environments. It is interdisciplinary, incorporating perspectives from building physics; engineering principles from environmental, chemical and mechanical domain; and management components. The scope of This theme covers a range of emerging topics in urban environments, such as developing energy efficient pathways to healthy buildings, improving resilience of buildings to extreme weather events, and assessing the cost benefit of green building technologies, to name a few.
Theme coordinator
Dr Jenny Zhou
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Building Design and DFMA
Building Design and DFMA
Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) is a concept that was developed in the manufacturing industries to address production problems through product design, enabling manufacturing cost and speed improvements. The Building Design and DfMA theme is aimed at identifying the ways in which design can contribute to more efficient production of buildings (faster, easier, cheaper, less wasteful) and ultimately, better designed outcomes.
Theme coordinator
Ivana Kuzmanovska
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Housing and Urban Design (Affordability)
Housing and Urban Design (Affordability)
The design research expertise offered by the Housing and Urban Design theme provides a vehicle for generating and testing innovative approaches to housing design, delivery and assessment that operate across the scales of building componentry, dwelling typology, site assembly, development precincts and urban systems. The collaborative and multi-scalar nature of design research has the capacity to synthesise complex stakeholder inputs into site-specific and applied project outcomes, supporting the CRC’s aims to affect the whole value chain by integrating digital, sectoral and building transformations.
Theme coordinator
Dr Lee-Anne Khor
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Industrialised House Building
Industrialised House Building
The housebuilding theme focuses on the CRC’s commitment to making better housing that is more liveable and affordable for Australians. This is achieved by utilising a whole of system approach, which integrates industrialised housebuilding aspects including logistics, ICT, prefabrication, customer orientation, and the retention and reuse of knowledge, as well as incorporating aspects of land use, planning, policy, finance, development, and design.
Theme coordinator
Alexandra McRobert
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On-Site Elements of Construction
On-Site Elements of Construction
Construction sites are by nature unstructured and dynamic environments; the complex interaction between structures, materials, equipment, and workers is not often effectively monitored and managed. This theme aims to develop and validate state-of-the-art technologies and processes to connect construction resources to facilitate real-time and precise monitoring, control and optimisation of construction projects.
Theme coordinator
Dr Yihai Fang
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Planning, Uses and Zoning
Planning, Uses and Zoning
The planning system is highly entwined into the building procurement process, interceding multiple times throughout the course of delivering a project. The uncertainty the planning systems introduces to timing, through delays in obtaining approvals and community objections, are considered a significant risk in building construction and a barrier to efficient development processes. Concurrent with these criticisms, the relative clarity and certainty of receiving planning approval in Australia’s capital cities is noted to be a competitive advantage when attracting overseas developers to build and invest in Australia. Clarity and certainty within Australia’s planning systems are therefore critical elements of the building procurement process and the building industry’s future development. For Australia to successful move towards a Building 4.0 industry and improve building phases, it is important to address the potentials for advancements and barriers to efficiencies that exist within Australia’s planning systems.
Theme coordinator
Alexa Gower
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Prototyping and Fabrication Technologies
Prototyping and Fabrication Technologies
This theme relates to the design, production and testing of a broad range of practical solutions for industry-led problems. Projects may involve physical or digital prototyping, the development of innovative systems, or designs for new technology. Adopting a problem-solving approach, this theme works towards bridging the relevance gap between academia and industry and maximising the potential for commercialisation across a broad range of solutions and technologies.
Theme coordinator
Dr Rachel Couper
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Materials and Systems Innovation
Projects
If you’re interested in partnering with us on one of our projects, please email us at info@building40crc.org.