BIM - Are you ready?

 

Construction is on the brink of a revolution – this is not the first time you’ve read this recently… but that doesn’t mean it’s not true.  The BIM era has been making its approach and is now on the brink of infiltrating mainstream methodology here in the UK.

It can be difficult to avoid the seemingly endless discussions and debates that surround the emergence of BIM as a process, but the fact that so many people are talking about this and looking at ways to realise the benefits of BIM and VDC should be a good indicator of the way things are going.

Paul Morrell

The point to note is that BIM is coming and it’s coming FAST.  Anyone fortunate enough to have received a talk by Paul Morrell on the subject will have been given a clue about the pace of BIM, in the lightening-fast powerpoint presentation that will probably have accompanied the subject.  This may prove to be one of the biggest challenges to the historically-lethargic UK construction industry, as the trend is to sit back and “see what everyone else does first”.

The fact is, there are some who have decided that things need to change before change is forced.  Last year’s report by the Innovation and Growth Team recommended BIM be mandatory on government projects over £50m.  In order to achieve real, wide scale integration and adoption this could be made broader.

At a talk this month, Paul Morrell seemed to agree as he labelled the above recommendation as “unambitious”.  Instead, we can expect a further announcement in June that outlines a plan to roll out BIM as mandatory on virtually all government projects within five years.

Surprisingly perhaps, this may come as welcome news to some UK contractors.  There are people out there who have been working on strategies and plans to lay the foundations required to make BIM & VDC real and effective parts of everyday construction methodology.

Among those who have developed BIM strategies are Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Laing O’Rourke and Skanska.  Excitingly, some of these firms have also put in place their own mandates to ensure that BIM can be not only enabled, but encouraged.

A recent presentation by David Philp (see http://vdcandme.blogspot.com/) of Balfour Beatty outlined the strength and determination of their global BIM strategy to improve construction methodology across the board.  Over a significant period of time, Balfour Beatty has developed procedures to allow BIM to become embedded into their core management processes.  This is a recognition of the business value of BIM as a process and the benefits it can bring across the life of a project.

 

A personal childhood favourite of mine, Lego, is also operating in the BIM world.  David Philp alerted me to the existence of “Lego Digital Designer”, a tool that has legitimised my newfound return to the world of plastic bricks.  This tool allows for the “virtual design and construct”, scheduling, conflict resolution and cost planning of lego models.  It may seem like silly fun, but the principles are the same and the processes are very real.

So, BIM is coming… or BIM is here?  With mandates pushing from the top down, contractors pulling from the middle in and hoards of eager schoolboys pushing from the bottom up where do you find yourself when it comes to being prepared for BIM?

The day I met the Ambassador

 

This month, I had the great pleasure to be invited to a reception at the private residence of the Ambassador of Finland.  This was to be a forum to promote and enable communication centred on innovations in construction – specifically the development and adoption of BIM in the UK.

It was very interesting to be in the company of people who were all concerned and obviously deeply interested in the emergence of BIM and the potential for improvement to current processes that it could release.

Thanks must be made to Tekla and to the Finnish Embassy for allowing and enabling this gathering to take place.  For the uninitiated, Tekla are a leading light in the development of BIM solutions globally, and a visit to their website (www.Tekla.com) is definitely worthwhile.  Specifically, their new product (Bimsight) is available for free download from their website – a fantastic tool for BIM analysis and collaboration.

Readers of previous articles will by now recognise a trend whereby I am trying to initiate and encourage discussions and thought processes that might help us all to understand and realise the potential of this concept.

Back in October, I attempted to define BIM and break down this definition to make it relevant and applicable to UK construction activities (see http://mccafferty-consultancy.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-thoughts-on-bim-by-stevie-mccafferty.html ).  At the close of this piece, I made the following comment…

“Communication and collaboration, enabled by technology and harnessed by BIM could make the ideal of the fully integrated work process a reality over the coming decade.”

Not content with this, (and struggling to get feedback) I became concerned that I was understating the importance and potential of BIM.  In a following article (http://mccafferty-consultancy.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-does-2011-hold-for-construction.html) I offered my thoughts for the future.  This time I closed with the following…

“With the potential to transform the construction industry as we know it through technology, develop our methodology to aspire to a new level of excellence and undertake a wave of exciting major projects, 2011 could represent a re-birth and renewal of construction in the UK.”

I have no doubt that the future of construction is a BIM enabled one, whether it be for design, analysis, estimation, manufacture, collaboration, workflow management, facilities management, financial planning, any other activity or all of these together.

It was a pleasure to be able to hear Paul Morrell OBE give a talk at the same evening, outlining some of his thoughts and points for wider discussion and consideration.  Furthermore, I find myself encouraged by the general tone of the presentation in that it reaffirms my own beliefs.

Near the opening of Paul Morrell’s presentation, a dramatic and definite statement was made…

“BIM is coming… soon”.

Little else really needs to be added to this for those who can appreciate BIM and how it can be leveraged to give rise to collaborative and integrated workflow processes for construction.

This month, we are expecting a report based on a current trial of BIM in government projects that is expected to recommend that BIM be used for future government projects.  The best estimate is that this mandate could take place over a five year timescale.  Obviously, there is a huge amount of work, investment and learning to be done by individuals, businesses and the industry as a whole before such a global change could be fully adopted.  A minimum one-year adoption period could be expected to allow this to take place.

Among the many good and thought provoking points raised by Paul Morrell (along with some of his slides) were the following, as things to be addressed by BIM…

 

The “silo problem” refers to the all-to-common problem of different teams and stakeholders being separated by virtual “walls” or barriers – contractual or organisational.  This leads to poor communication and increased risk of waste through non-collaboration.

 

 Reducing the number and value of “change orders”.  Better planning, integration and collaboration can lead to improved efficiencies for project delivery.  Fewer errors, alterations and reduced rework can all be a product of an integrated project method.

 

Readers of my most recent article (http://mccafferty-consultancy.blogspot.com/2011/02/bim-takes-on-environment.html) may have given some thought to my notional ideas around the environmental benefits of BIM (although I had hoped for more of a discussion, given the grant-centred proposal contained in the piece).  Again, the issue of waste and carbon reduction was highlighted during the keynote presentation… 

“If cash is king, then carbon must be queen” – Paul Morrell.

In my earlier piece, I questioned whether there was merit in the thought of government grants towards BIM development and investment for UK companies.  The following slide from Paul Morrell’s presentation gives us some idea…

 

Unfortunately, this is the sad reality of today’s situation.  In fact, it seems that the government is likely to undergo a period of “negative asset building”, in that overall assets will be reduced and downsized rather than added to with new large-scale builds.

It is often the case that great innovations and progress in methodology can be achieved during times of financial hardship and austerity.   

On different occasions recently, I have read articles containing statements suggesting that non-adopters of BIM are likely to be those who are left behind on the as the construction industry moves into a new era of process management.

“BIM is coming… soon”

BIM takes on the Environment

According to the Office for National Statistics, there are 109,410 companies registered and operating in the combined Building Construction and Civil Engineering sectors in the UK as of 2010.  Of this total, 6,490 are located in Scotland.

There are a large number of companies over and above these totals, registered as operating in specialist construction activities.

The UK building and construction industries use and consume the most energy of all sectors as well as producing the most CO₂ emissions.  In addition to this, these industries create the most waste.

 

DEFRA studies report that the amount of waste generated by the construction industry and ending up in landfill has seen a rise from an estimated 70 million tonnes in 2000 to approximately 100 million tonnes in 2004 – compared to around 28 million tones resulting from general domestic waste collections.

Separate from general material wastage, a vast amount of energy is used in the life of many construction projects.  This can be in manufacturing of synthetic materials, processing or extraction of raw materials, transportation and site execution.  Plant-heavy projects will require a considerable amount of energy in the form of fuel for machinery and equipment.  Each of these elements has a direct environmental impact, as natural resources are consumed and pollution is generated.

As is often the case, it is likely that it is a smaller number of companies that are responsible for generating a larger proportion of the waste – many of the companies registered in the construction and engineering sectors will not be directly involved in the actual build processes.

Government studies suggest that in 2008, the total environmental cost of land fill waste was £211 million, and that steps to manage resources more efficiently could result in annual savings of £6.4 billion to the UK economy.

BIM and better use of IPD promotes more efficient working, minimises waste and enables better time management through improved planning and delivery of projects.

Projects that make better use of materials and reduce the amount of errors & rework, generate less waste.

 

 Projects that complete in better timescales or more efficiently require fewer resources to run (fuel use for plant, running costs of offices, etc).

Overall, this reduces the effective "carbon footprint" of each project, and reduces the burden on limited landfill facilities.

As BIM becomes more widely adopted and embedded, certain types of business will immediately realise certain benefits that can be achieved for specific tasks – such as design, clash detection and project planning.  One of the challenges will be to raise awareness of further potential to other members in the project chain.

BIM goes much beyond design and planning, and can be carried through to delivery – being utilized by the contractors on site.  Site activities can be better planned and deliveries programmed more efficiently.  Works can be set out by using the information contained in the building model originally generated, allowing the contractor to work from the checked and verified plans, containing all the latest required information updated by each project stakeholder involved.

Errors can be minimized, resulting in fewer delays, less re-work and therefore less waste and material usage.  Projects can be delivered within improved timescales, avoiding the costs of maintaining the project.  More efficient use of materials and less waste going off site represent economic and environmental benefits achievable.

Unlike design or project management type companies, construction contractors might require more “convincing” of the benefits of BIM who might me initially more put off by the apparent “cost” to adopt (despite previous data reported – see earlier blog entry “My thoughts on BIM”).

One idea that might merit some discussion could be the introduction of a “BIM investment grant”.  This could be a sum of money (e.g. £5,000) made available from government budget (I know!), per qualifying company towards investment in "BIM-approved technology".  This investment could be software, hardware or training.  The grant could be redeemed against an approved list of BIM suppliers that could include the likes of Autodesk Revit, Tekla Structures, Trimble LM80, etc.

This could be enough of an incentive for mainstream contractors to justify new investment and trigger a new thought process.  The initial investment would provide the trigger and means for development of better work processes aimed towards the BIM concept in general.

Going back to the opening statistics, from the total 109,410 registered companies, say 75% of these are engaged in “actual construction” of some form and 50% of these qualify for the grant.  This would mean a potential grant pool requirement of around £205 million – possibly spread over 3 or 4 years.  Assuming this level of uptake over 4 years, the annual cost could be £51,250,000.  The equivalent amount of landfill waste from construction would only need to reduce by 25% in order to meet or offset this investment based on the estimated costs associated and outlined above.

More importantly, a crucial environmental issue will be tackled at the same time.  Improved project delivery would also allow the UK construction industry to raise its reputation for producing higher quality projects in better timescales with fewer issues.

Head in “The Cloud”

At the risk of developing a bit of a theme in these blog posts, 2011 is starting with some thoughts that continue from previous entries focussed on advancing technologies influence on the delivery of construction projects.

There is still a degree of pessimism surrounding the short-term future of construction in Scotland, so it is the elusive “silver lining” that is being sought in these thoughts for developing methodologies.

As stated previously, the emergence and uptake of BIM (Building Information Modelling) is an inevitable result of the need to improve processes and refine practices.  This is the technology with major potential to revolutionise the way that construction projects are managed and delivered.  The BIM methodology is focussed on the system of IPD (Integrated Project Delivery). 

 

This fits nicely with the ideals of McCafferty Consultancy Ltd.  Visitors to our website may notice the tag line that states simply “information…consultation…e-services”.  This is expanded in the statement found on the welcome page:

“…excellence can be achieved through innovation and progressive thinking - and while it is often said that knowledge is power, I believe that shared knowledge can be even greater.”

IPD is not a new idea, but the way in which technology and communications capability has developed in recent years has made the reality of true integration more accessible and achievable.

Greater collaboration and sharing of information is possible today, with the opportunity for stakeholders and various parties concerned with different stages of a construction project to join forces and develop and discuss seamlessly and comprehensively.

Projects that are BIM-based can readily benefit from this type of collaboration, allowing the entire building team to work together on a “master plan” in real time.

“Cloud computing” is one of the topics that is currently en-vogue, which is encouraging from a BIM focussed perspective.  The concept of processing data and ideas in a dynamic, non-location specific manner fits in nicely with the potential that can be achieved through BIM and IPD.

By developing a system where a master plan is centralised, a hybrid-cloud model could be established that allows architects, contractors, clients, engineers, fabricators, specialists, etc. to develop their own “areas” according to their specific needs.  At the same time, they have the ability to fully collaborate in real time by coordinating with the central plan.

This model would allow for greater competition between a larger number of specialists, without risking the integrity of the overall project; therefore improving the possibilities for improved financial performance.  Complex ideas could be developed in parallel with each other rapidly and inexpensively, allowing parties to react to, amend or approve issues efficiently and effectively.