Built Environment and Future Infrastructure
Transforming the planning, delivery and management of sustainable infrastructure for future generations.
We develop advanced solutions to integrate whole-of-life, and whole of society implications into the development of new infrastructure, and improved management of infrastructure that already exists.
What is the built environment and future infrastructure?
The built environment encompasses all the ways people modify and inhabit the landscape, to live, work and play. It includes the structures created to connect people, providing critical services such as power, water, transport and telecommunications. The decisions we make today about this infrastructure will affect many generations to come, shaping our towns and cities, and our lives. Future Infrastructure will be sustainably designed and maintained.
Why is it important?
Sustainability is an essential design criterion for any new infrastructure, with a whole-of-life approach needed, from the sourcing of materials, construction, operation, maintenance and eventual decommissioning. We need detailed evaluations across multi-generational timelines to optimise the operational life and returns on investment.
The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 has brought about a fundamental shift and re-evaluation of the ways we interact with our built infrastructure and with each other. The integration of infrastructure data from diverse sources is accelerating, for example across multiple government departments.
This shift provides an opportunity to undertake virtual design and evaluation of construction to test the impacts of different scenarios on the project at hand, and on the broader environment. This extends to the operation and maintenance needs of infrastructure, and from prefabricated building components to mega projects such as new underground railway networks.
Our collaborators
- Arup
- ATC Williams
- BP
- City of Melbourne
- Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP)
- Downer
- Geoexchange
- GHD
- Golder
- Government of Victoria
- Ground Source Systems
- Hot Dry Rocks
- Intergovernmental Committee on Surveying and Mapping (ICSM)
- Land Equity International
- Melbourne Metro
- Spatial Vision
- Sustainability Victoria
- Tyre Stewardship Australia
- Victoria Police
Partner with us
What challenges do you have? Let us help you solve them.
Make an enquiry and our business development team will contact you.
Our research collaborations deliver innovative solutions to improve infrastructure productivity, energy efficiency and functionality.
We bring together four strategic focus areas to address some of society’s biggest challenges. Through better design, we will develop and maintain the sustainable infrastructure of the future.
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Modular construction and building performance
Developing prefabricated processes for fast, efficient and cost-effective construction of new buildings.
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Critical infrastructure
Enhancing the construction, operation, maintenance and protection of critical infrastructure.
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Built environment Digital Twins and simulation
Developing spatially enabled digital twin solutions to improve decision-making.
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Mega-projects, procurement and circular economy
Integrating the whole-of-life value into major construction projects to ensure the re-use and recycling of resources to maximise return and value.
Partner with us
What challenges do you have? Let us help you solve them.
Make an enquiry and our business development team will contact you.
Our research centres
Our short and long-term industry-led collaborations develop new sustainable technologies, products and services that deliver tangible outcomes for the Australian construction industry.
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Asia-Pacific Prefab Innovation Centre
This is an extension of the Asia-Pacific Research Network for Resilient Affordable Housing. It focuses on developing new low-cost, lightweight and durable prefabricated building materials and systems. The centre will become a regional R&D hub, accelerating technology uptake and providing opportunities to work with partners in a $5-trillion housing and infrastructure market.
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CAMP.H website
This centre aims to unlock the potential growth of Australia’s prefabricated building industry by creating a cooperative training system between industry and universities. It has four university and 12 industry partners collaborating on breakthrough product and process innovations for eco-friendly, prefabricated housing, with the potential to deliver employment growth and increase product and service exports.
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Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program
Through deep collaboration and new technologies of the 4th industrial age, Building 4.0 CRC will catapult the industry into an efficient, connected and customer-centric future. This will deliver better buildings at lower cost and the human capacity to lead this future industry.
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Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA)
The centre undertakes world-class research and development relating to spatial data infrastructures, spatial enablement and land administration and modernisation to provide innovative solutions to support different applications and the Sustainable Development Goals.
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Centre for Disaster Management and Public Safety (CDMPS)
Delivering world-class research and innovation to improve the whole-system response and resilience of infrastructure, institutions and communities against extreme events and critical incidents, and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Professor Abbas RajabifardProgram Leader
Built Environment and Future Infrastructure
abbas.r@unimelb.edu.au - Damon Beckwith
Business Development Manager
Built Environment and Future Infrastructure
damon.beckwith@unimelb.edu.au
Partner with us
What challenges do you have? Let us help you solve them.
Make an enquiry and our business development team will contact you.
Partner with us
We are client-focussed and collaborative – we work side-by-side with your leaders, engineers and technicians to develop solutions to your challenges.
From multi-partner research to technical training and internships, get in contact with us about:
- Emerging technologies
- Developing technology strategies
- Technical training
- Engineering customised solutions
- Creating a talent pipeline through student engagement
- Leveraging our state-of-the-art research facilities
What challenges do you have? Let us help you solve them.
Make an enquiry and our business development manager will get in contact with you.
Media enquiries
Prue Gildea, Media Advisor
M: +61 466 473 741
E: prue.gildea@unimelb.edu.au
- Community resilience depends on cultural shift
Understanding the Australian landscape and a sharper focus on values will be essential in managing the increase in extreme events caused by climate change.
- Breaking glass and breaking traditions: Innovation in the construction industry
Can recycled glass replace some of the essential elements of concrete, making it more sustainable?
- Identifying the ‘Paris-end’ of town
Good urban design can help enhance our health; new research uses ‘big data’ to explore how Australian cities compare globally.
- Harnessing digital capabilities at Fishermans Bend for sustainable urban planning
The Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA) selected by Victorian Government to design and develop ‘Digital Twin Demonstrator Project’ at landmark urban renewal precinct – Fishermans Bend.
- Fishermans Bend gets Victoria’s first digital twin
The University of Melbourne and Victorian Government will partner to develop a digital twin for Fishermans Bend.
- Preparing for our new extremes
The new global norm of extreme weather-related disasters and climate change requires a new type of disaster-resilience modelling.
- A bridge too far?
Cutting-edge technologies are contributing to the changing infrastructure and safety of Australian bridges, as well as a sustainable transport system for a growing country.
- Keeping our cities working
Making our biggest cities more efficient, affordable and accessible will raise the living standards of nearly all Australians, but it will also require some compromise.
- Building the prefab schools of the future
Prefab technology is driving the development of new classrooms in Australia that are a world away from the old “portables” you may remember.
- The future is prefabricated
Commonly used in much of Europe, prefabrication is a more environmentally sustainable and socially beneficial way to build, and it’s taking off in Australia too.
- Nanoclay can stop cladding fires spreading
Researchers have found that treating building cladding with nano-sized particles of clay can prevent cladding fires from spreading, while significantly reducing the heat and smoke from burning.