Queen´s Wharf in Australia Takes Shape with Nemetschek Group Software

One of the world’s largest construction projects relies on OPEN BIM, data driven workflows, and an integrated design approach

Munich/Brisbane, March 17, 2021 – One of the world’s most ambitious building projects is currently under construction in Australia. The impressive new district Queen´s Wharf in Brisbane is being developed using software solutions from the Nemetschek Group, a leading provider for the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry.

Brisbane is Australia’s third largest city; it grew from an initial European settlement at Queen’s Wharf in the early 1800s. This historic site is now being restored and recreated. The new district Queen´s Wharf will cover more than 12 hectares across Central Business District land, encompassing 50 new bars, cafes, and restaurants; 2,000 apartments across three residential towers; and more than 1,000 premium hotel rooms.

The Nemetschek Group brands Bluebeam, dRofus, GRAPHISOFT, and Solibri are providing software solutions for the planning, design, and construction phases, as well as the overall collaboration of the megaproject.

The project team, led by Cottee Parker Architects, works with digital collaboration to plan and coordinate the vast amounts of design data. They use Archicad for the design, dRofus for the data management, Solibri Office for model checking, and Bluebeam Revu for the comprehensive digital documentation. “This is a project of immense scale, extreme complexity and sheer innumerable levels of information,” says Quinton Cooper of Cottee Parker. “Working with a Building Information Modeling (BIM) approach allows the team to clearly organize all of the project’s key information in an easy-to-access, central place.”

The owner, Destination Brisbane Consortium, ensured the Queen's Wharf development leveraged the vendor-independent OPEN BIM approach, allowing all parties to work with the tools they prefer. Gabor Gulyas, project lead and operations manager for digital engineering at DBM Vircon, explains that “interoperability and a consistent OPEN BIM workflow are essential for this project. There is no way around it, if you keep in mind that up to 300 people are working on the design models at the same time in peak periods, coordinating over 200 different models.” DBM Vircon is responsible for the project management of the overall construction project.

Enabled by Archicad from GRAPHISOFT and following Integrated Design principles, architects and engineers were able to review and check their models in real time — understanding each other’s intentions and picking up errors before they occurred on site. For the model checking, Cottee Parker relies on Solibri Office. With this tool, design information is checked for errors before it is issued to the contractors on site, saving time and money.

With Bluebeam Revu, the project team introduced a digital, paperless workflow. Used for digital document review and verification, the solution also played a significant role in the optimization within the OPEN BIM process at Queen's Wharf. The planning and data management tool, dRofus, enabled the team to process their data and consolidate the large amounts of information coming in from multiple sources, keeping it all in one place and allowing users to easily access it when needed.

“OPEN BIM, data driven workflows, and an integrated design approach: Queen´s Wharf is clearly a role model for any modern construction project,” says Viktor Varkonyi, Chief Division Officer, Planning & Design Division, and member of the Executive Board at the Nemetschek Group. “Working very closely with the project teams, we are excited to provide the backbone for seamless collaboration across the entire construction lifecycle in this large-scale project.”

The development of the new district in Brisbane, which started construction in 2017 and is planned to be finalized in 2024, has already won two awards — the prestigious “buildingSMART International Award for Best Design” and a 6-star “Green Star Communities” rating for sustainable development.

About the Nemetschek Group

The Nemetschek Group is a pioneer for digital transformation in the AEC industry. With its intelligent software solutions, it covers the entire lifecycle of building and infrastructure projects and guides its customers into the future of digitalization. As one of the leading corporate groups worldwide, the Nemetschek Group increases quality in the building process and improves the digital workflow of all those involved in the building process. This makes it possible to design, build and manage buildings with greater efficiency, sustainability and environmental compatibility in terms of resources. The focus is on the use of open standards (OPEN BIM). The portfolio also includes digital solutions for visualization, 3D modeling and animation. The innovative products of the 15 brands of the Nemetschek Group in the four customer-oriented segments are used by approximately six million users worldwide. Founded by Prof. Georg Nemetschek in 1963, the Nemetschek Group today employs more than 3,000 experts.
Publicly listed since 1999 and quoted on the MDAX and TecDAX, according to preliminary figures, the company achieved revenue amounting to EUR 596.9 million and an EBITDA of EUR 172.3 million in 2020.