The Rise of BIM

The Building Information Modelling Working Party Strategy Paper was released by the Department for Business on the 20th June 2011 and outlines the Government’s strategy for capability in BIM to be a requirement for the procurement and delivery of all future public buildings by 2016.

BIM has increasingly although to varying extents been used by the construction industry for a number of years but the advent of the Government strategy will no doubt hasten its adoption as a more standard way of working across the board. However, the current lack of understanding and agreement as to what BIM actually is and how it should be used makes investing in the required technology and training a risk, but if companies don’t will they get left behind?

Paul Morrell the Government’s Chief Construction Advisor has suggested that small businesses do not need to panic (BIM Webinar June 2011); he has however also stated that companies should “adopt BIM or get betamaxed” (NBS BIM Roundtable Discussion May 2011). Hmmm which is it Mr Morrell?

Perhaps both; the analogy has been made with change-over from hand drawing to CAD in the 1980s/90s. There was both resistance and enthusiasm, whilst some companies were unwilling to adapt and were left behind, conversely there remain (admittedly usually small) companies who have doggedly stuck to hand drawing and have managed to survive. Most companies however adopted CAD, trained up their staff and moved with the times; albeit at varying speeds and using a variety of software. The adoption of the BIM process and technology will no doubt be similar, and perhaps we need to have faith that the industry will continue to use companies for their professional expertise not just their technical capacity.

BIM after all is not simply sophisticated technology, but a method of working, a collaborative process between all members of a project team. Suitable technology is required to enable effective implementation, but BIM is not only defined by drawing files; but by the way the people responsible for those drawing files choose to integrate them and use them.

The power of BIM is undoubtedly phenomenal, at its ultimate it is a single information laden database of all the elements required for a project through its entire lifecycle. At its heart is usually a 3D model which coordinates and visualises all these elements and enables outputs of different dimensions – 2d drawings, 3D visualisations, phase sequencing, cost estimates, carbon impact analysis, management plans – all of which can essentially be simultaneously produced or amended, vastly reducing the time and cost risk of late design changes, conflicts on site or simply producing specifications.

A fully integrated BIM though does raise legal, contractual and insurance issues. Who owns the actual BIM database, who is responsible for what and how can fair usage of data be assured? Some of these issues can be addressed with slight modifications to current collaborative NEC and JCT contracts that employ a shared approach to risk. As with any project the key is to ensure an accurate brief at the outset. Clients as well as suppliers need to be educated in what to expect from the BIM process with the brief reflecting the requirements and outputs for each stage from each consultant.

BIM is here and although it may be constantly reiterated that it is a process and not a tool, tools are required to implement it. Possibly though it may not strictly be necessary to rapidly invest in expensive hardware and software updates; with appropriate protocols and techniques in place, the more commonly used applications could be utilised to BIM standards, for smaller projects at least. However, as with the transfer to CAD, the uptake to dedicated BIM software is inevitable – the decision then becomes which one……