Proceedings

Highlights of AUBEA 2022

The 45^th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA) 2022 Conference was successfully held from 23 to 25 November 2022, at the Penrith Kingswood Campus, Western Sydney University. The conference was hosted by the School of Engineering, Design, and Built Environment in collaboration with the Centre for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC). With the theme of “Global Challenges in a Disrupted World: Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Approaches in the Built Environment”, AUBEA 2022 explored the state of the art in research and development in the field of built environment in a post-pandemic world.

A double-blind review process was followed for all abstracts and full papers, which yielded 95 accepted papers of high quality. These papers were categorised under seven sub-themes: Construction Project Management, Digitalisation of Construction, Industrialisation of Construction, Sustainability in Built Environment, Resilience in Built Environment, Health & Safety in Construction, and Education in Built Environment. The proceedings also included papers selected for the inaugural event in the CIB Early Career Researcher Workshop Series, the CIB Doctoral School - AUBEA 2022.

The AUBEA 2022 Conference Proceedings is available for download at https://doi.org/10.26183/a6pq-mg06 and the Book of Abstracts is available for download at https://doi.org/10.26183/4h5q-h548.

The highlights of the AUBEA 2022 Conference are showcased below.

Welcome Reception

The conference commenced at the Welcome Reception on 23 November, with a Welcome to Country, and welcome speeches by Conference Chair, Professor Mike Kagioglou, Conference Co-Chair and Program Committee Chair, Professor Srinath Perera, and Conference Co-Chair Associate Professor Mary Hardie.

Welcome to  Country by Nicholas Howie, Dharug Man from the Boorooberongal Clan	Welcome speech by Conference Chair, Professor Mike Kagioglou
Welcome speech by Conference Co-Chair, Professor Srinath Perera	Welcome speech by Conference Co-Chair, Associate Professor Mary Hardie

Opening Plenary Session

The opening plenary session on 24 November included a Welcome to Western Sydney University by Professor Mike Kagioglou, Dean, School of Engineering, Design and Built Environment; an address by the President of AUBEA, Professor Monty Sutrisna, Head of School, School of Built Environment, College of Sciences, Massey University; and an address by the President of CIB, Professor Makarand (Mark) Hastak, Dernlan Family Head of Construction Engineering and Management and Professor of Civil Engineering, Purdue University.

Professor Mike Kagioglou	Professor Monty Sutrisna
Professor Mark Hastak	AUBEA Delegates
AUBEA Delegates	AUBEA Delegates

Keynote Speeches

Three prominent individuals imparted their knowledge and vision through insightful keynotes during the plenary sessions. The first keynote speaker was Davina Rooney, CEO, Green Building Council of Australia, with a presentation titled “Sustainability Trends and Future Partnerships” . The New South Wales Building Commissioner, David Chandler OAM, spoke on “The Journey from Adjunct Professor to Building Commissioner, 2015 – 2022” in the second keynote. Professor Peter Shergold AC, Chancellor, Western Sydney University, the third keynote speaker, enlightened the audience on the topic of “Rethinking Tertiary Education: The Role of IATs” .

Keynote Speaker: Davina Rooney
Keynote Speaker: David Chandler OAM
Keynote Speaker: Professor Peter Shergold AC

Sponsors

We are grateful for the generosity of our Gold Sponsor, the Australian Building Codes Board; Bronze Sponsors, AIQS, the MDPI Buildings Journal, and RMIT University; and supporters, CIOB and CQUniversity.

The Gold Sponsor presentation “Working Together: An Education Opportunity” was conducted by Professor Gabrielle Wallace, Group Manager NCC Management and Standards and Clare Wright, Group Manager NCC Education of the Australian Building Codes Board.

Gold Sponsor Presentation

CIB TG124 Net Zero Carbon Panel Discussion

A panel discussion on “Challenges and Opportunities for Net Zero Carbon Practices in the Construction Industry” was held in the ‘CIB TG124 Net Zero Carbon’ session. The panel comprised of Jorge Chapa, Head of Market Transformation at the Green Building Council of Australia; Joe Karten, Head of Sustainability and Social Impact for Built; Uli Demeneghi,  Product Manager for KPMG Origins' built environment sustainability product, Asset Impact; and A/Prof. Thayaparan Gajendran: Assistant Dean - Education, College of Engineering, Science and Environment at University of Newcastle. The panel moderator was Professor Srinath Perera.

CIB TG124 Net Zero Carbon Session

Conference Gala Dinner and Awards

The Conference Gala Dinner was held at Panthers Penrith on 24 November. Awards were presented for outstanding papers submitted to the conference. The Overall Best Paper Award is sponsored by the MDPI Buildings Journal. The Special Issue “Selected Papers from the 45th Australasian Universities Building Education Association (AUBEA 2022)” of Buildings (ISSN: 2075-5309) is live for submissions of extended papers from the authors of the conference. The authors of the best papers will be provided a full waiver for the article processing charge in the special issue. The authors of the highly commended papers will be provided a 50% fee waiver and other authors have the opportunity to get waivers on a case-by-case basis.

The list of AUBEA 2022 award winners is given below.

Overall Best Paper Chengyang Liu, Rebecca Yang and Kaige Wang “Community-focused Renewable Energy Transition with Virtual Power Plant in an Australian City – A Case Study”	Overall Highly Commended Paper Mohammadreza Khanarmuei, Keivan Bamdad and Srinath Perera “Climate Change Impact on Cooling and Heating Demand of Buildings in Penrith”
Best Paper in the theme Construction Project Management Rita Peihua Zhang, Yen Pham, Jan Hayes and Nader Naderpajouh “Building Wiser: Fostering Excellence in Procurement Risk Governance”	Highly Commended Paper in the theme Construction Project Management George Denny-Smith and Martin Loosemore “What’s in a Job? Indigenous Construction Workers’ Employment Preferences”
Best Paper in the theme Digitalisation of Construction Thomas Goessler and Yamuna Kaluarachchi “Smart Adaptive Homes and Their Potential to Improve Space Efficiency and Personalisation”	Highly Commended Paper in the theme Industrialisation of Construction Not awarded
Best Paper in the theme Industrialisation of Construction Buddhini Ginigaddara, Marcus Jefferies and William Sher “Realising United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through Offsite Construction”	Highly Commended Paper in the theme Industrialisation of Construction Not awarded
Best Paper in the theme Sustainability in Built Environment Gihan Anuradha Tennakoon, Raufdeen Rameezdeen and Nicholas Chileshe “Towards Sustainable Consumption: Enhancing the Use of Reprocessed Construction Materials within the Australian Construction Industry”	Highly Commended Paper in the theme Sustainability in Built Environment Thao Thi Phuong Bui, Niluka Domingo, Suzanne Wilkinson and Casimir MacGregor “Challenges to Zero Carbon Refurbishment of Existing Buildings in New Zealand: An Exploratory Study”
Best Paper in the theme Resilience in Built Environment Mistreselasie S. Abate, Ana Catarina Jorge Evangelista and Vivian W.Y. Tam “Comparative Response Spectrum Analysis on 15 Storey Reinforced Concrete Buildings Having Shear Walls with and without Openings as per EN1998-1 Seismic Code”	Highly Commended Paper in the theme Resilience in Built Environment Sarvin Elahi, Penny Allan and James Melsom “Resilience of Post-Resource Landscapes”
Best Paper in the theme Health and Safety in Construction Imriyas Kamardeen, Abid Hasan and Anthony Mills “Modelling Stressor Interconnectivities and Mental Wellbeing Among Construction Workers”	Highly Commended Paper in the theme Health and Safety in Construction Not awarded
Best Paper in the theme Education in Built Environment Amir Ghanbaripour, Roksana Jahan Tumpa, Riza Yosia Sunindijo, Weiwei Zhang, Parinaz Yousefian, Ranka Novak Camozzi, Carol Hon, Nima Talebian, Tingting Liu, Mina Hemmati “Retention over Attraction: A Review of Factors Affecting Women’s Experiences in the Australian Construction Industry”	Highly Commended Paper in the theme Education in Built Environment Fida Hussain Siddiqui, Amir Abdekhodaee and Muhammad Jamaluddin Thaheem “Taxonomy of Digital Skills Needed in the Construction Industry: A Literature Review”
Winners of the Overall Best Paper Award sponsored by the MDPI Buildings Journal	Winner of the Overall Highly Commended Paper Award

Launch of the CIB Doctoral School

The inaugural event in the CIB Future Leaders Workshop Series, the CIB Doctoral School - AUBEA 2022 was held during the conference. Professor Srinath Perera, Chair of the CIB Future Leaders Network launched the CIB Doctoral School with an opening address explaining the aim of the doctoral school and its relevance to the ECR community. Participants were selected competitively based on their submitted expressions of interest, with the requirement that the first author of each paper must be a PhD student and the student must present work from their PhD research. The Doctoral School achieved the aim to gather PhD students in building and construction for an exchange of knowledge with senior academics in the discipline. 13 papers were presented during three sessions and the Best Doctoral Student Paper Award and the Most Engaging Presentation Award were selected by the expert panel of senior researchers at the conclusion of the sessions.

Launch of the CIB Doctoral School@ AUBEA 2022
Best Doctoral Student Paper in the CIB Doctoral School Nicola Thounaojam, Ganesh Devkar and Boeing Laishram “Sustainability-Enabling Field in Mega Transport Projects: Insights from Two Cases in India”	Most Engaging Presentation in the CIB Doctoral School Francis Hubbard and Regan Potangaroa Identifying the Validity of Success Indicators in the ‘Build Back Better’ Approach
Expert Panel at the CIB Doctoral School	Winner of the Best Doctoral Student Paper in the CIB Doctoral School

Closing Plenary Session and Site Visit

The closing plenary session included summaries of the ideas discussed within the themes by the eight Theme Leaders, Dr Ali Al-Ashwal, Dr Wei Zhou, Dr Md Kamrul Hassan, Associate Professor Sepani Senaratne, Dr Robert Osei-Kyei, Dr Sameera Wijesiri Pathirana, Dr Brendan Kirkland, and Associate Professor Yingbin Feng. The vote of thanks was proposed by Associate Professor Mary Hardie, Conference Co-Chair. The hosts of the 46^th AUBEA conference, the School of Built Environment, Massey University, led by Professor Monty Sutrisna, announced that AUBEA 2023 will be held from 26 – 28 November at Auckland, New Zealand. Finally, the conference delegates visited the site of the new Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport under construction at Badgery's Creek.

Presentation for AUBEA Delegates at the Western Sydney International Airport Experience Centre	AUBEA Delegates at the Western Sydney International Airport Site Visit

Acknowledgements

We thank all authors for disseminating the outputs of their research through this conference. We extend our gratitude towards the scientific committee, reviewers, and theme leaders for their timely support in selecting and refining the conference papers. We also thank the session chairs for their assistance in conducting the paper presentation sessions and the expert panel at the AUBEA 2022 Doctoral School for providing valuable feedback for the participating doctoral researchers.

Our heartfelt appreciation goes out to the conference organising committee and specifically for the c4SMC researchers for their significant efforts over many months to successfully bring together this conference. Finally, we thank all delegates for their valuable participation to make AUBEA 2022 a success.

All photos of the conference are available here and the playlist of video recordings is available here .