nima – formerly the UK BIM Alliance – wants to help UK businesses deliver a strong return on their investments by accelerating digital transformation in 2024, says Paul Wilkinson
The pace of digital transformation across large swathes of UK government and industry has accelerated significantly in recent years.
While the architecture, engineering, construction and operation (AECO) sector has historically been among the least digitised sectors, it has made great strides since the turn of the century.
I have seen this at first hand. When I joined a software-as-a-service collaboration technology start-up in 2000, few organisations were comfortable with their information being managed “in the cloud”. Selling this proposition to AECO businesses was especially challenging.
In an often adversarial, contractual and litigious industry, many people just shared the bare minimum of information, preferred paper, and were distrustful of electronic systems.
However, as broadband connections became faster, more reliable and secure, and as, from 2007 onwards, we increasingly had access to powerful smartphones and tablets, many professionals relaxed their cautious approaches and began to actively embrace information technology.
From BIM to IM
The early 21st century has also seen increasingly wider adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM). The UK government set out a BIM vision in 2010 and mandated BIM adoption by April 2016 across construction projects procured by central government departments.
UK BIM processes were subsequently detailed in prototype documents that evolved to become the international ISO 19650 standards, published in 2018.
The UK BIM Alliance, established in 2016 to help make BIM “business as usual”, also took a key role – with the British Standards Institution and the Centre for Digital Built Britain – in establishing the UK BIM Framework.
Regularly updated, and endorsed by the UK government’s Construction Playbook and the Transforming Infrastructure Performance Roadmap to 2030, this continues to provide
free online guidance and resources to industry.
Today, however, BIM is just part of a growing information management challenge. Terms such as artificial intelligence (including ChatGPT), machine learning, the Internet of Things, interoperability, digital twins, drones, robotics, open data, smart buildings and the golden thread are all now part of our expanding technological lexicon.
And the UK BIM Alliance changed its name to nima in 2022 partly because it wanted to help industry in the practical application of these wider information management (IM) opportunities.
Hybrid working has accelerated digital transformation
The Covid-19 pandemic has also had an impact. It forced many organisations to rethink where, when, how and through what devices and applications people could perform their work.
While some businesses have since encouraged a return to the office, others have a more hybrid approach or now work 100% virtually.
This is true for nima. For example, our most recent event was a virtual conference.
We worked with an events technology provider to create an online environment that included a main stage, networking spaces, breakout rooms and a virtual exhibition hall.
Over 1,200 people pre-registered for the 2 November event, and over 900 unique visitors attended during the day. All content from the day was recorded and is now available online to anyone.
Due to this success and demand, nima is already planning its next virtual conference in April 2024, which will look at maximising the value of data for better whole-life outcomes.
A key theme of the November event was building safety – nima’s audience peaked during Dame Judith Hackitt’s keynote.
Ongoing implementation of the Building Safety Act to enable the golden thread will continue to be a key industry challenge in 2024. A nima working group is consulting on the way forward for effective, but pragmatic, fire safety information management.
Reinforcing data-centric approaches
nima will continue to push more data-centric approaches to information management to help the AECO sector become safer, as well as more efficient and productive.
There have been discussions about a new industry information management mandate (superseding that contained in the TIP Roadmap to 2030). nima is aiming to ensure this encourages adoption and convergence to standardised and practical approaches that support wider digital transformation of the sector.
It will be supported in this ongoing transformation by its industry patrons, by its growing network of professional and trade association affiliates, by its ambassadors, and by the numerous other volunteers active in communities such as BIM4Water, BIM4Estates,
BIM4Housing and BIM4Legal.
With the AECO industry teetering on the edge of recession, delivering a strong return on investments in digital working will be key in 2024. Such investments will also have a longer-term impact on planet, people and prosperity, helping fulfil the original 2010 BIM vision of delivering “significant improvements in cost, value and carbon performance through the use of open shareable asset information”.
Paul Wilkinson
Vice-chair
nima
