Sydney Opera House: How Technology is Conserving a Concrete Masterpiece

The technology we have found most beneficial is the Business Information Modeling (BIM) system which helps us develop robust, logical and repeatable systems for inspecting, conserving and managing the Opera House building and the wider precinct. It allows us to create a digital model of the Opera House building and precinct so that our team of builders, engineers and architects can plan, design, construct, and manage any change to the building before construction begins.

An example where this technology has been successfully applied is in the monitoring of nearly 1 million tiles that cover the Opera House’s famous white shells. Every five years, skilled inspection engineers abseil the Opera House to “tap test” each tile which is fixed to precast concrete “tile lids” checking for any sign of deterioration by the audible sound of tapping and their appearance. To augment this manual testing, we have been using drones to capture high resolution and thermographic photography of the shells to enable us to identify deterioration or changes on a more frequent basis. The images are imported into the BIM system to create a historical record of the outside surface of the building at high resolution. Long-term, the goal is to use this information to develop machine learning algorithms to pin-point deterioration in the tiles and shell structure. This will be particularly valuable in regular monitoring of the ageing tiles and concrete.

• Using technology to manage upgrades or construction at the Opera House has allowed us to overcome the duplication of information across staff and projects. It has given us more confidence as it has provided us with clearer project deliverables. BIM effectively creates a ‘single source of truth’ where all information from 3D geometry, drawings, data sheets, and schedules are all derived from a single model. Overall, the use of technology has supported our role as custodians to ensure this building can continue to be a world-class performing arts centre and tourist destination for years to come.

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