The international cost engineering council and the global demand for cost engineers

This paper describes the development of the International Cost Engineering Council (ICEC) since its inception in 1976 and links this with the global expansion of the project cost management profession over the same period. ICEC is an international confederation of cost management associations with the main objectives of facilitating cooperation between these associations and promoting the profession worldwide. Commencing with four founding associations in 1976, ICEC has grown to a membership base of 44 national associations located in 40 countries. ICEC now represents more than 100,000 quantity surveyors/cost engineers in over 120 different nations. This in itself provides demonstrable evidence of the global rise and recognition of the profession. This paper will track this growth and the concomitant recognition and development of the profession internationally. This will include emerging trends in Africa, China, India, and the Middle-East. This has created tremendous international opportunities for expert project cost management professionals and demand for these services is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, this demand has not been matched by supply resulting in a global shortage in the profession

BIM & Project Cost Management - Implementation Issues & Creative Solutions

This paper examines the issues related to the implementation of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Automated Quantities technologies by the Australian Quantity Surveying profession. The findings provide lessons learnt and solutions that are relevant to the project cost management field on a global scale. Objectives of Study: The effective implementation and use of BIM and automated quantities remains a major issue for the QS profession in Australia as it does for the construction industry generally. The purpose of this study is to investigate the main barriers and problems facing firms and, conversely, to identify approaches that are being successfully used by firms that are leading the way in the field. Methods: The methodology for this paper is based on a review of current industry trends and issues with BIM implementation, detailed interviews with quantity surveying firms in Australia to evaluate how the profession is dealing with BIM implementation and a case study of a quantity surveying at the forefront of BIM implementation. Results: The interviews reveal that there are considerable implementation issues. The key problem relates to quality issues with BIM models the industry requires high quality BIM models for all professionals to be able to use the model most effectively and, more importantly, trust the accuracy of the information and data that is being generated. Liability issues for incorrect information/data generated from the models were also highlighted as a major area that needs addressing. Nevertheless, an increasing number of firms are utilizing 5D BIM tools to dramatically improve the quality, efficiency and sophistication of their cost management services particularly at the front end of projects at the cost planning stage. Conclusions: The paper concludes with a range of creative solutions and recommendations based on the case study results and other innovative approaches adopted by the interviewed firms

Professional Standards For Quantity Surveying & Cost Engineering – Global Issues & Strategies

This paper provides an overview of the various professional standards that have been developed for the Quantity Surveying and Cost Engineering professions by various countries and professional associations around the world. It then examines the issues surrounding the lack of global standards for these professions and explores the benefits of developing over-arching strategies to produce global standards. The paper culminates with examples of current initiatives to develop such standards. The research methodology underpinning this study comprises a literature review and analysis of professional standards. The research results reveal a wide variety of professional standards despite the fact that the fundamental principles and procedures of quantity surveying and cost engineering practices are the same throughout the world. The study will describe current initiatives to develop global standards and will provide a case example of the proposed development of an International Construction Measurement Standard (ICMS). The paper concludes with a range of recommendations and strategies to help address these issues

Life Cycle Costs & Housing Affordability Measurement

This paper examines current problems with home ownership affordability measurement and presents an innovative affordability measurement model that incorporates a comprehensive assessment and risk analysis of housing life cycle costs. The main method used to measure home ownership affordability is the benchmark ratio method whereby housing costs should not exceed a benchmark proportion of household income. the approach typically focuses on mortgage costs with other acquisition and operational costs largely ignored or given scant consideration. There is also a lack of data, impartial advice and financial tools available for home purchasers to effectively undertake a comprehensive analysis and risk assessment of affordability based on total potential costs. Purchasers largely rely on advice provided by entities with a vested interest in the process (such as financial institutions). Deregulation of financial sectors, high levels of competition amongst housing finance providers and a low inflationary environment over the last decade have combined to significantly increase the borrowing capacity of home purchasers in many countries around the world. This has fuelled a dramatic rise in the levels of household debt in countries like Australia who now has one of the highest personal debt-to-income ratios in the world. Questions are now being raised about the lending practices of housing finance providers particularly in the light of the US sub-prime mortgage market collapse in recent years. the model helps to address these problems by providing an independent and comprehensive financial analysis of home ownership costs and the affordability of these costs for a purchaser's specific circumstances. It focuses on creating greater consumer awareness of the total costs of ownership and concomitant financial risks

Quantity Surveying Practice in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region

This paper examines trends in Quantity Surveying practice and services in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The paper is based on research involving a series of seven biennial surveys of the Australian profession spanning 1995 to 2008 and an extension of this survey to the Asia-Pacific region in 2008 that included all member associations of the Pacific Association of Quantity Surveyors. the surveys have examined trends in general practice and the utilization of information technology with the primary purpose of assisting firms in dealing with change and adapting their operations to meet industry demands. Current industry procurement and technological trends clearly indicate that firms who are unable to re-engineertheir work practices to evolve these trends will find it increasingly difficult to survive in a meaningful and profitable form. The paper initially examines trends in the structure/size/nature of the Australian profession and trends in business practices and scope of services. This is followed by an examination of trends in the utilisation of information technology by Quantity Surveying firms. These results are compared with those from the technology by Quantity Surveying firms. These results are compared with those from the2008 survey of quantity surveying practices in PAQS member countries. The paper concludes with suggested strategic directions for the profession based on the survey findings

Sustainable Development & BIM – The Role of the 5D Quantity Surveyor

BIM and its allied digital technologies provide enormous opportunities for project cost management professionals to dramatically improve the quality, speed, accuracy, value and sophistication of their cost management services. This is particularly the case during the design development stages when various design options are being proposed and evaluated. The ability of the quantity surveyor to use these digital technologies to provide quick and accurate cost advice throughout the design simulation process provides an enormous opportunity for the profession to play a key leading role in sustainable design development. BIM technologies facilitate the rapid simulation of a large number of sustainable design possibilities and the ability of the quantity surveyor to provide accurate and fast cost advice on these simulations is critical. The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues faced by firms in realizing these opportunities and to identify successful practices, procedures and strategies that firms are implementing. The research methodology for the paper is based on detailed interviews with Quantity Surveying firms and case studies of quantity surveying firms that are leading the way. The results show that there is a consistent pattern in relation to the main issues and problems and what was needed to be successful. The greatest issues related to the quality/comprehensiveness of the BIM models, difficulties with designers not providing full access to the models and software/standards compatibility issues. Successful strategies were clearly based on strong commitment and leadership from company directors and positive approaches to dealing with the issues and challenges faced

From creativity to innovation: The social network drivers of the four phases of the idea journey

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Academy of Management via the DOI in this record.Interest has burgeoned, in recent years, in how social networks influence individual creativity and innovation. From both the theoretical and empirical points of view, this increased attention has generated many inconsistencies. In this article we propose that a conceptualization of the idea journey encompassing phases that the literature has so far overlooked can help solve existing tensions. We conceptualize four phases of the journey of an idea, from conception to completion: idea generation, idea elaboration, idea championing, and idea implementation. We propose that a creator has distinct primary needs in each phase: cognitive flexibility, support, influence, and shared vision, respectively. Individual creators successfully move through a phase when the relational and structural elements of their networks match the distinct needs of the phase. The relational and structural elements that are beneficial for one phase, however, are detrimental for another. We propose that in order to solve this seeming contradiction and the associated paradoxes, individual creators have to change interpretations and frames throughout the different phases. This, in turn, allows them to activate different network characteristics at the appropriate moment and successfully complete the idea journey from novel concept to a tangible outcome that changes the field

Electric conductivity in finite-density SU(2) lattice gauge theory with dynamical fermions

We study the dependence of the electric conductivity on chemical potential in finite-density $SU(2)$ gauge theory with $N_f = 2$ flavours of rooted staggered sea quarks, in combination with Wilson-Dirac and Domain Wall valence quarks. The pion mass is reasonably small with $m_{\pi}/m_{\rho} \approx 0.4$. We concentrate in particular on the vicinity of the chiral crossover, where we find the low-frequency electric conductivity to be most sensitive to small changes in fermion density. Working in the low-density QCD-like regime with spontaneously broken chiral symmetry, we obtain an estimate of the first nontrivial coefficient $c(T)$ of the expansion of conductivity $\sigma(T,\mu) = \sigma(T,0) \left(1 + c(T) (\mu/T)^2 + O(\mu^4)\right)$ in powers of $\mu$, which has rather weak temperature dependence and takes its maximal value $c(T) \approx 0.10 \pm 0.07$ around the critical temperature. At larger densities and lower temperatures, the conductivity quickly grows towards the diquark condensation phase, and also becomes closer to the free quark result. As a by-product of our study we confirm the conclusions of previous studies with heavier pion that for $SU(2)$ gauge theory the ratio of crossover temperature to pion mass $T_c/m_{\pi} \approx 0.4$ at $\mu=0$ is significantly smaller than in real QCD.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, RevTeX; v2: new data on larger lattices added, results updated; published versio

Lifelong Learning Pathways: Addressing Participation and Diversity in Higher Education

Tertiary education plays a major role in meeting the economic, social and cultural wellbeing of both individuals and the workforce of the future (OECD, 2011). Increasing participation in tertiary education is vital for the future of all Australians with the emphasis on the provision of increased participation critical. (Gillard, 2012; Bradley, Noonan, Nugent and Scales, 2008). This project reviewed higher education pathways models in the built environment discipline (construction management, quantity surveying, estimating, project management) to ascertain their capacity to improve diversity in the student cohort. This project included three significant objectives: to analyse the efficiency of existing examples of lifelong learning/pathways models in the built environment discipline in improving diversity of student cohort to develop schema to discern and identify elements of these models that contribute to best practice in creating opportunities for student diversity To isolate and disseminate the determinants of best practice pathways models for future use by the built environment discipline and other disciplines. Dissemination of project findings across both the built environment sector and the wider higher education audience was an important objective. The project helped to bring together a network of interested educators in built environment disciplines that were enthusiastic to implement changed practice in relation to pathways models. Industry and accreditation bodies engagement overwhelmed the project leaders, and provided further dissemination and discussion about the opportunities for innovation in built environment pathways