committee

Chris Needham

TBH
Principal - Digital Technology

Chris is an AEC industry leader in Digital Advisory, having worked in numerous and varied roles and locations in his 20-something-year career.
He’s an advocate for better communication through sticking with plain language, ‘data-savviness’ and value literacy in support of great outcomes within an ever-changing environment.

Melanie Tristram

Jasmax
Principal - Digital Delivery Lead

Melanie Tristram is a Principal at Jasmax. A pioneer and knowledge-leader in BIM technology and processes, Melanie leads the Digital Delivery Team providing BIM Management and BIM Advisory services to Jasmax clients including Te Whatu Ora, Ministry of Education, Precinct Properties, AUT and University of Auckland.

Melanie is a key contributor to the 2023 NZCIC Design Guidelines and the recent Digital Guidance Suite incorporating the New Zealand BIM Handbook. She is a passionate advocate for best practice application of digital technologies and regularly speaks at international industry events, most recently the 2023 Women in BIM Conference in Sydney and Smart Cities Digital Twin Summit in Auckland.

With BIM Management becoming a prerequisite on large and complex projects to ensure all design disciplines work under shared protocols, the benefits of BIM include risk mitigation, accurate cost estimation, improved design co-ordination, and facility and space management post-completion.

Adam Sheather

Bad Monkeys
Program Manager

Our team focuses end to end solutions to provide autonomation, workflows, and systems development for projects & organisations to increase productivity, eliminate risk and develop of complex construction solutions for our Design, Construction & Operate clients. Our key focuses are Digital Engineering, Data Engineering and Software Engineering from focused on the AEC space. From billion dollar large infrastructure BIM management to facility management Autodesk forge solutions to computational or data-driven design Autonomation offers a unique global perspective to provide advanced solutions to everyday problems. As a member of bad monkeys, Autonomation can connect you to a global team of professional businesses operation across the globe no matter where you are.

Clay Hickling

GHD
Committee Member

Clay Hickling has been working with GHD for over a decade as an architectural and civil designer/documenter. GHD, being a multidiscipline Architecture and Engineering firm adopted Revit quite sometime ago. Clay is part of an internal development team coordinating the implementation of all the Revit flavours thru the various parts of the GHD business, his focus being Architecture. This entails training, development and technical support. Recently Clay was involved in the startup of a BIM user group called BrisBIM. With the motto of working smarter and not harder Clay enjoys sharing knowledge with others and enjoys the meeting people in the RTC community. Outside of this environment Clay spends as much time as he can on the golf course and riding the bike.

Christopher Rossetto

Hansen Yuncken
VDC Manager

Seeking better ways to execute design and delivery through the use of technology, Chris has over 10 years experience working as a BIM Manager in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, New Zealand and Australia. With a background in architecture, Chris has worked with globally renowned architects OMA and Grimshaw, and has recently transitioned into a construction focus with Hansen Yuncken who are leaders in the adoption of Virtual Design & Construction (VDC) technology. Learning through his support of complex delivery projects including Melbourne Metro Tunnel, Auckland City Rail Link, Marvel Stadium and Brisbane’s Neville Bonner Bridge, Chris has led strategic approaches to BIM execution, task automation, complex geometry, coordination and data management with a focus on time-saving. Chris’ primary motivation for promoting technology is helping others to work smart, reduce stress, enhance productivity, and achieve work-life balance in the AEC industry.

Connor Davy

Grimshaw Architects
Project BIM Manager

Primarily working in the delivery of complex aviation and transport projects for Grimshaw’s Melbourne studio, Connor is a highly regarded specialist in Revit Content library strategy and delivery. Since joining the studio in 2021, Connor has guided the development of Grimshaw’s global Revit library and standards.

Prior to this, Connor worked for IGS BIM Solutions where he delivered Revit content libraries for use by architecture and MEP firms worldwide and contributed to the Australasia Health Facility Guidelines (AusHFG) initiative as a BIM consultant

Wesley Benn

DBEI
Executive Chairman

A post-Sydney, post-New York, post-post Digital Nomad, Wesley is the founder and Global Chairman of the Digital Built Environment Institute. As a long-term user and advocate of BIM (starting with ArchiCAD in 1996), Wesley has been speaking and teaching in the field since starting to play with a pre-release version of Revit.

Wesley has worked directly with Autodesk on Revit development and implementation, built content for manufacturers and end-users, and has implemented multiple BIM tools into well over 300 practices throughout South-East Asia and beyond.

He has spoken around the world on technology, facilities management and process change; he founded (and chaired for 5 years) the Revit User Group, Sydney; and is now focused on broad issues of sustainability and innovation for the AECO industry globally.