Progress Made

RLB Digital, RLB and Moda, have developed a Social Value Digital Platform that won the 2024 Building Digital Excellence Award. This innovative solution measures, predicts, and reports social value across construction projects. Using Microsoft Power Platform and Power BI, it provides comprehensive data management and customisable reporting aligned with various social value frameworks.

The platform offers significant time and cost savings, improved decision-making, and enhanced stakeholder engagement. It’s designed to be scalable and adaptable across the construction industry, supporting sustainability goals and promoting responsible development practices.

The Building Awards Judges commented: "the winner is using technology to achieve better outcomes in areas where the industry has never succeeded before like social value."

In 1999 RLB was instrumental in putting in place the first Project Bank Account (PBA) on a project with the Ministry of Defence. The procurement being adopted embraced collaboration and the set up of the team required a new approach to payment. We pushed the boundaries of normal practice and the Cabinet Office subsequently changed government payment policy for construction. While they recognise that PBAs are not always suitable, they now advise that they should be used unless there are compelling reasons not to. In 2008 our work on model PBAs won the CIOB International Innovation & Research Award.

In 2015 we realised that there was space for pushing the boundaries once again. We worked with our client Dudley College on their Advance II project. This was the first project delivered using the Integrated Project Insurance (IPI) model. This collaborative approach sees an alliance of contractor, specialist contractors and consultants design and construct. The project is backed by a unique IPI policy. RLB provided independent financial facilitation and risk assurance for the project.

In 2020 we were instrumental in the launch of the Construction Innovation Hub’s Value Toolkit. The toolkit aims “to drive better social, environmental and economic outcomes through value-based decision-making”. The toolkit was developed in partnership with over 200 experts from across industry and Government to help redefine value and how to measure it.

The Sydney Opera House is possibly one of the most world renowned and innovative buildings of the last century. RLB has been involved in the project from its first design and construction through subsequent operational modernisation through to the current day. Innovations included the pioneering use of CAD, water cooled air conditioning and the first concrete roof with two way curves. More recent sustainability achievements include reducing emissions for the building by 26% and the award of a GBCA 6 Star Green Star rating. When UNESCO added the Opera House to its World Heritage List, they described it as "an indisputable masterpiece of human creativity”.

Recently RLB donated some historical project documents to the Opera House including a Bill of Provisional Quantities from 1958 and a Cost Planning Manual from 1969. These documents offer insight into the painstaking planning and execution of RLB’s skilled cost management team that transformed Jørn Utzon’s vision into one of the world’s most recognisable landmarks. We are proud to have partnered with the Opera House to bring their imagination to life for the benefit of the community of Sydney and its countless visitors.