UK Industry
BIM More Important in 2012?
While yesterday’s “Why BIM Will Become Even More Important in 2012″ commentary is takes a simplistic view, we cannot disagree with Mike Delacey’s viewpoint. Yes, our industry should:
- Use the right tools efficiently and effectively
- Consider the full lifecycle of the project
- Collaborate more
Thomas Lane Examines UK BIM
In this recent article on building.co.uk, Thomas Lane explicates the inner workings of Building Information Modeling (BIM), first prefacing readers with the question of “It sounds great in principle – so why isn’t BIM the norm rather than the exception?” We think that’s a great question.
Unraveling some of the challenges, he points to costly software upgrades, extensive training, and problematic questions of who is to blame for errors, as potential obstacles to full scale adoption. Surely understandable, but what many don’t perceive is that the benefits far outweigh the costs.
As a case study, Lane points to Manchester (UK) Central Library’s remodel—a project that opted to utilize BIM for the duration. Members of the Manchester City Council believe this will save money in the short term and increase the capacity to manage the building in the future. (Yes!)
Lane continues on to cite various industry members and their experiences with BIM, inquiring “How are you using BIM?” and provoking their responses to “pros” and “cons.” We think this is a solid article, providing real facts and honest perspectives. Check it out here.
UK BIM Academy
In our January trip to the UK, we met with Ryder Architecture and Northumbria University, who are joining forces to launch the UK BIM Academy. The official launch is now only days away (June 21) – we wish we were able to attend, but look forward to hearing about their great contributions to UK BIM Adoption.
SWOT Analysis: Status of IM
For the report to WRAP, the team put together an interesting analysis of the status of IM in the UK. Although the UK and US are at different points in BIM adoption, the analysis mostly hold true for the Status of IM in the US.
BIM Reduces Waste..But How?
The report on Information Modeling to WRAP, included a section on how BIM can improve resource efficiency. Although many talk about reducing waste through BIM, the report actually detailed BIM Uses by project phase, for ways to reduce waste for both building and infrastructure projects. The report also organized the BIM Uses by resource: Material; Water and Carbon/Energy.
Some of the strategies for building projects are listed below. More are available in the full report to WRAP.
| Design | Construction | Operations | |
| Material | Refinement of design to avoid material cuts | Prefabrication of components reduces construction waste | Preventive maintenance scheduling to improve service life of products and equipment |
| Water | Quantification of the performance of fixtures and fittings | Monitoring performance and analysis of impact of investments to detect issues early on | |
| Carbon/Energy | Accurate assessment of ‘passive’ design opportunities | Optimized sequence reduces unnecessary ‘moves’ and equipment | Improved management of equipment leads to improved efficiency |
Reducing Waste Through BIM
Q5 recently collaborated with AEC3, CyrilSweett and Ryder Architecture on a project for WRAP, an agency within the UK government focusing on reducing waste, developing sustainable products and using resources efficiently in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Our report focused on the way information modelling (IM) align with WRAP’s mission. Q5′s role was to give the US perspective on BIM adoption and waste reduction, an excerpt can be found here.
The overall report, coordinated by CyrilSweett, walked through:
- Current status and development of IM
- Impacts of IM on resource efficiency
- Implications of IM for WRAP’s work in the built environment
- Forward Strategy
Building the Aquatic Centre
The night before our visit to the Aquatic Centre site, Harry Townley, Business Development Director for Balfour Beatty, sketched the structure of the project for us:
The project is amazing; designed by Zaha Hadid and being built by Balfour Beatty, the project has two phases: Olympic (or temporary) mode and legacy mode. Legacy mode includes removal of most of the stands and encloses the structure in curtain wall. Both the temporary steel (white) and the permanent steel (black) are self-supporting.
The diving boards are cast-in-place concrete; because of the organic form of the boards, there were thousands of shop drawings for the rebar alone.
We’re always interested in seeing how other builders are using signage throughout their jobsite; Balfour Beatty didn’t disappoint with perspective graphics, model imagery and progress graphics throughout.
UKCG BIM Task Force
Earlier today, we met with the UKCG’s BIM Task Force to discuss BIM adoption. Before our presentation, the UKCG let us know that they had heard the platitudes and the theory; they were ready to talk about BIM uses. The discussion about how to set up on a jobsite, how to structure a department, methods for using BIM during construction was great – it reminded us of the BIMForum. The BIM Task Force meets as a small group, talking about how to make BIM real now, similar to how the BIMForum started.
They allowed us to sit in on the committee meeting, so we saw more similarities:
How do we liaison with all of the other groups, who are doing exactly the same work?
How do we educate the “BIM101-ers” while keeping the interest of advanced practitioners?
What is our structure within the UKCG?
We are looking forward to continuing the conversation with the UKCG BIM Task Force – maybe they will become BIMForum UK!
London Revit User Group
Last night, we had a great time presenting at the London Revit Users Group. It was so good to have a dialogue with actual users; most of our meetings earlier in the week were focused on strategy (or were with firms who hadn’t started implementing BIM!). David Light, a Revit Specialist at HOK, gave his thoughts on the meeting here.
Many thanks to the attendees and the organizers for such a great discussion.
City of Manchester’s BIM Pilot
Knowing that he was already in the midst of a BIM pilot project, we had been looking forward to the meeting with John Lorimer, Capital Programme Division Director for Manchester City Council. We weren’t disappointed. The conversation was full of energy and ranged from discussion of his pilot project, facilities management and a potential source of social networking.
The original construct of the Manchester City Council BIM pilot was to complete two similar projects, one using BIM and one not, and compare the results. As it turns out, the architect on the ‘non-BIM’ project decided to start using BIM, so they are in the process of reconsidering KPI for the pilot. Although it makes for an imperfect study, it is a great anecdote: architect doesn’t want to be associated with the non-BIM project, so they turn it into a BIM project!
We experienced a bit of déjà vu during the meeting – like BAA, Lorimer is very interested in facilities management and concerned about BIM for smaller projects. However, he is also very interested in construction model uses: prefabrication, model management on site, even things like renderings on the jobsite:
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