Australia

Australia is known as the world's smallest continent and one of the world’s largest countries and has the 13th largest GDP in the world. Australia is considered to be one of the successful economies which was enabled by its political stability since 1901. In the world of research and development, Australia is one of the top 10 leading technology spenders. Despite its rich natural resources, one-third of Australia is covered with deserts. Australia is well endowed with natural resources which contribute to the economy in exporting Iron Ores, coal briquettes, and petroleum gas to emerging economic powerhouses such as China. The Australian economy is heavily dependent on the current infrastructure for cohesion between different industries present in the country. Currently, the infrastructure is supporting various industries in the country for economic prosperity, however, Australian infrastructure overall is reaching the capacity it was initially designed for. With the growing population and demand for Australian products in nearby growing economies like China and India, the demand and strain on Australian infrastructure will undoubtedly be tested. So it is imperative for the Australian government to spend on infrastructure efficiently as it has planned to do so in the coming years. Under the Infrastructure Investment Program, the Australian government has allotted a sum of 110 Australian Dollars to be spent on infrastructure in the next 10 years. Some of this investment will fund marquee projects such as Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail and WestConnex. To implement a lot of these projects, Australia will have to count on its construction industry heavily.

Construction is the third-largest industry in Australia, with 65% workers in trade services, 26% in building construction, 7% in heavy and civil construction, and 2.5% in general construction services. Steel, cement, brick, and aggregates are the top used materials by the Australian Construction industry. The steel industry alone generates 11 Billion Australian Dollars and employs more than 100,000 people. Skills shortage and labor exploitation are the two largest labor issues in Australia and the main reason is the lack of related training programs and low retention rates. The construction industry in Australia is accountable for almost one-third of the waste produced in the country and is currently taking significant measures to mitigate this through the Green Building Council.

The major project Delivery methods used in Australia are Design, Novate and Construct, Public Private Partnership and Integrated Project Delivery. Australia has one of the most sophisticated PPP markets in the world and is predominantly deployed in infrastructure projects of the country. The Alliance contracting which is a more radical form of IPD project delivery is peculiar to the Australian construction market as opposed to its Anglo-American counterparts. Implementation of technology in construction has been one of the major challenges the industry has been facing for a long time. BIM is not extensively deployed in the Australian Construction Market but various stakeholders have been using BIM and its concepts for several years but without any proper structure or guidance. Various Australian and international research institutes and institutions are investigating the potential of blockchain technologies in a variety of industries, including the construction industry.

Recommendations

Despite the decline in business and investment due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdowns, the service sector has become the leading industry in Australia’s national economy. Providing low-cost BIM services can be a business opportunity for new entrants into the market. Investing in cutting-edge technologies like Blockchain offers a huge scope in Australia as they have a strong R&D infrastructure to support this. This will also increase transparency in the industry which it is currently lacking. A huge rise in startups can be observed in the market and this will lead to the development of technologies that will improve productivity, safety, efficiency, etc in the coming years. Investment in PPP projects also offers a great return on investment as it houses one of the most sophisticated PPP markets in the world.