Welcome to the February 2016 edition of BIM Today…
As this edition goes live, there are just two months left till the UK government commitment to the use of Level 2 BIM on all centrally-procured projects. It feels like there ought to be fireworks and fanfares on the 4th April with everyone rejoicing that BIM will be the ‘norm’. For many in the industry, it is the ‘norm’ – those early adopters are already well up the curve in BIM adoption in their projects, but some of those surveys still say we have some way to go. Only 32% of those surveyed as part of Building magazine’s annual BIM survey said that they were already using ‘Level 2’ 3D collaborative BIM. Encouragingly however, more than half of the respondents said that they did not think that the benefits of BIM were over-hyped. This is a message that many of our contributors hold dear – BIM will reduce the overall costs of construction across the UK.
John Eynon, Chair of the CIC South East Regional BIM Hub writes that: “Statistics and surveys are not necessarily accurate or reliable, but it seems that most reasonable people accept that digital ways of working will eventually be just the way we work”. He is not alone. When asked whether the UK construction industry is working to UK BIM Level 2, Hinesh Mistry, Water Global Technology Leader – BIM, at CH2M HILL comments that the answer is a clear “yes”. The adoption of the standards are growing and the required documentation and framework is in place.
Duncan Reed, Digital Construction Process Manager at Trimble Tekla believes that “this is a time for the industry to grab the opportunities that working digitally presents, collaborate and share experiences and best practice.”
Jon Frost, BIM Leader for BWB Consulting and one of the Leadership Team at BIM4SME argues that a digitally connected future is where we are all heading. He says that as “more and more people begin to realise that all this is about is the data we are producing, and not those flashy models you can spin around, I have a feeling BIM will begin to disappear in favour of something else. People will stop asking for ‘BIM models’ and just start to ask for digital information instead.”
Elsewhere in this edition, we have advice for manufacturers from Paul Surin, Vice Chairman of BIM4M2 and Justin Furness, Technical Director for the Council for Aluminium in Building – there articles are well-worth reading.
From the perspective of many of our contributors, the April deadline is just the start of the journey. The enhanced use of data that BIM can bring will see the industry realising that a Digital Built Britain is within our reach.
As ever, thanks go to all contributors to this issue, and if you would like to be involved in future editions, please get in touch.
Lisa Carnwell
Editor
lcarnwell@pbctoday.co.uk
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