In 2015, we founded MelBIM, a not-for-profit group consisting of Building Information Modelling (BIM)-focused industry professionals and academics based in Melbourne, Australia. MelBIM sought to bring together the built environment community of Victoria, to share and exchange thoughts and knowledge relating to technology and innovation across the AEC+FM industry, with a particular focus on BIM.

After 39 events with more than 150 industry presentations across approximately 9 years, I decided to step down from the MelBIM committee. Having helped start MelBIM as a founding committee member, it has been an interesting and rewarding journey where I was pleased to watch the community outgrow our venues and requiring us to seek more sponsors and bigger venues for the 400+ attendees. I wish the MelBIM committee and the community all the best for the future and want to thank them for an interesting journey! I also want to thank the Office of Projects Victoria (DTF) who recognized the importance and value of our MelBIM community and used our MelBIM events to update the industry about their Victorian Digital Asset Strategy (VDAS) and later officially launched VDAS at one of our MelBIM events. This was a personal highlight for me, as it showed how MelBIM was able to bring academia, industry and government together to drive digital innovation forward. A big thank you also to RMIT University, who supported the event over the years – and to all of the countless sponsors that supported the different events by paying for the catering.