Friday, 13 March 2015

Do people really understand BIM?



“But what on earth is it?” and “How can you use 5D cost modelling?”– I keep hearing this in relation to BIM to the point where I thought I would set out some points, particularly given in May-11 the UK Government called for BIM adoption on UK government construction projects > £5m and requiring collaborative 3D BIM (with all project and asset information, documentation and data being electronic) on its projects by 2016.


Building information modeling (BIM) is the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of places. Basically they are files used to support decision-making. The use of BIM is applied across the building life cycle and can support cost management, project management and even facility operation.


Now having seen this in action I guess I take away one point – it needs a strong project manager or a “BIM Manager”. BIM covers the inception through to occupation and therefore needs focus.

But why did BIM come about. Well I can’t pretend to know the precise reason but logically thinking the industry has been under pressure for a number of years to deliver exceptional projects under tight budgets and skills shortage – the industry needed to address this and through BIM virtual construction before physical can reduce uncertainty, highlight problems to be addressed and improve safety on the construction phase. BIM works to bring together all parties including sub contractors to input and ultimately will provide opportunities to pre-fabricate.


As I speak today you could slowly pass your days oblivious to BIM, particularly if you focus on private sector or smaller projects but change is coming. It was good to hear Wates Group progress towards BIM and also the iteration that BIM is essential to meeting the government’s cost saving targets. It does highlight a need for everyone to look to BIM – there is no point the architect using BIM but not the contractor.
To me it is the collaborative approach BIM provides. I often am amazed at how close-knit the construction community is and BIM simple promotes this further. It’s all very much technologic advances but there are clear benefits for all parties:

  • By using BIM it will provide a longer term view of the project, which will lead to clearer benefits or consequences of design decisions;
  • The availability of clearer information at the start up will reduce costs;
  • Widely believed that BIM reduced construction defects and therefore reduced costs;
  • BIM provides a single source of data vastly improving life cycle management of an asset;

The key things to think about right now are developing policies that address BIM, a framework will aid the future introduction. BIM is important and this should be communicated without your organisation and developed into staff training. Take the time to invest in systems and processes in advance of implementation



Feel free to contact me 0113 288 2276 or lee.a.wilkinson@uk.pwc.com if you wish to discuss this blog or
anything relevant to property and construction.

Enjoy the weekend

Lee

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