What is the Real World Opinion of BIM?
Construction 2015 strategy. The joint strategy from Government and Industry for the future of the UK Construction Industry is targeting lower costs, faster delivery, lower emissions and improvements in exports to position the UK at the forefront of international construction. This framework forms the basis of the government’s BIM hypothesis:
“Government as a client can drive significant improvements in cost, value and carbon performance through the use of open shareable asset information.”
We asked some architects what is the real world opinion of BIM?
Matthew Williams, Director, HGP Architects
At HGP Architects, our first piece of BIM software was brought in 18 years ago; we started using archiCAD back then. BIM is just a term really for building information modelling bringing a database of essential information together, we have used it ever since. Since then we have purchased over 60 licences, 30 archiCAD and 30 Revit licences. I believe we are one of the most advanced in that area and often you hear Architects saying, they are BIM friendly.
Joe Fallon, Director, Joe Fallon Architecture & Design
As a director of a small architectural practice employing 5 Architects, 3 Architectural Technologists based in Dundrum, Dublin 14, we are slow to embrace BIM into our company. The main issues would be that we work with a close network of consultant engineers and QS‘s who have not adopted the system, and hence we cannot interact with their software. Also it is not linked to tendering for government contracts in Ireland. For a small practice, it is a big commitment financially to train up staff, and purchase software when it is not a necessity, albeit we are impressed with its capability. The majority of our peers would have a level of knowledge of BIM from a CPD event.
Michael Doherty, Director, Doherty Architects
At Doherty Architects, we started out on our BIM journey back in 2007. We took the plunge and at the time abandoned our 2D CAD software so that we could fully immerse ourselves in BIM. While ‘Statutory’ BIM means compliance with the PAS 1192 standards, we have always worked on the basis that the benefits of BIM can and should be tailored to suit all scales of project. What is clear from our experience, is that BIM is and will always be a journey. Our BIM processes have developed as standards have been published and our knowledge of software has increased. As software has developed with computing power, so too have our opportunities to take advantage of new features.
BIM as ‘What You Model Is What You Get’ will continue to place more and more emphasis on building performance, functionality and aiding the processes for delivery, all with increased real-time feedback. At last, BIM means we are in the territory of Computer Aided Design (rather than Computer Aided Drawing) and our designs are better for it. BIM is here, but here is an evolving place.
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