ANALYSIS & COMMENT
Ken Gillespie p22 / open mike p.22 / inbox p25 / David Higgins
Building information modelling could be applied
money on every government project within five
are using it and many don't even know it exists
looks at seven key ways BIM will affect you an
week, chief construction adviser Paul
Morrell said that in fivd years time,
Last practically every singlefgovernment
construction project will be built using 3D
building information modelling (BIM). We
already knew that it was likely to become
mandatory for projects over E50m, but
Morrell wants it extended down to much
smaller jobs. BIM will therefore ripple
through the supply chain right down to SME
minnows. But what is BIM? Rather than
ina Igining a software package, it's better to
think of it as a new way to use existing
software to build up a detailed 3D model of a
project with common sets of data that
everyone working on it can see. If used
correctly, it should save time and money by
preventing clashes between different sets of
designs. It should also give facilities
managers more information about how to
maintain the building once complete. Yet
many in the industry are understandably
concerned about the costs and what, in
practice, the roll out wil mean for them.
How much will BIM cost?
As BIM is a new way of working rather than a
software package, the bulk of the costs are
interviewe
likely to come from tr4m'
design and marketing
Construct, says tba,
with BIM sofWa
around £10,000". *b.
will need to be somee
transition to BIM. On p
staff member say [a] BIMcQ'o On
which will allow the model
contractor," he says. Overa
E700,000 this year preparing- Of,
114-4111V
70 employees, and they will hayeAritcontraik
to invest millions more up to 4118-AL1 11 r,1
It's almost impossible to estimate how man
people will need training and to Whatextent-,",_
says Richard Brinley, group director
membership and professional groups at
RIBA, but it will be everyone involved in
design, development, and the later operãtôfl
of the building. New architecture and
engineering graduates are trained to use BIM
from day one, but others are in "varying
stages of training," says 'Brinley. "It's fair to
say that there's very few people using BIM
fully". A survey by RIBA of 400 people from
across the industry last September and
October found that:re-lily 13% were using BIM,
and 43% were unaWare of the method.
 How much could BIM save?
The system's advocates think that the
industry will notice a difference in months,
not years. Rachel Done, deputy director at the
ITICC'oritractor's Group, thinks that within
weeks users will see "earlier establishment of
re.14LPcau-''r' ate costs for projects" and "better
xch'atige of higher quality information
eenall parties:. A trial project run in
0:41- _Costairl's £30m PalaceXchange
dçd:development in Enfield, north
El.;
showed good returns but not double
I
when it's a PFI building". However,
contractors have so far had one of the lowest
rates of BIM uptake in the sector: a McGraw
Hill report published last year found that
just 11% were frequent users, compared with
60% of the rest of the supply chain. Done
_
says this is to do with the differing roles
within the supply chain: "Consultants have
the option of choosing which software
systems carry out their primary design,
[whereas] contractors are not frequently in

charge of which design system is used."

g1tI!centage ,savings. The project spent
,£-I.00.0"tli a consultant to implement BIM
plusi24--_waaks of training and £6,000 on
educing subcontractors Capita Symonds
estilipatesithat £500,000 was saved, under 2%
--=.*.0-Ira:Vction costs, as a result of not
1444iiitte do remedial works, and it claims
I,'
,a04,11,44anmon,ths,
I
Does it work for refurbishment?
The jury's out. David Mathieson, head of
public sector at Turner & Townsend, argues
that with some refit work the costs of
surveying the building would be too high to
justify using the system. "On a fit out or refit

of work were saved job, the cost of getting it on the system might
1.461.10:*c4 aline saved preparing be very high,' he said, adding that this
a oriqslie: lighter work was typical of most government
I.= accommodation projects. "I don't think a
.:
I

' ..../...7"
i
LIháw buildings operate? blanket mandate would be appropriate."
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It
:Because-
. 1 W.
re0,1yoy collates all the However, Philp disagrees. "There are really no
---... -- if 11 i, II ogpv nthe supply chain has jobs that you wouldn't do it on," he says,
-----%-%- -- ,i 1 I wad. .gthis_Should make it much adding that it is even cost effective to build a
,-- - , i I iI i.
, asrar ,:Hit
: 4,-14t
o kfailities manager to service it BIM model of a building using laser
r
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te
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,

fitO -?.tlits,buil 1Y011 can treat a building in

-'4,V:.'--'wi,fe
t Et,, ''.a caror aeroplane [by
aMOTs needed] rather
e around waiting for
wcis4-ays Joe Martin, a member of
.,.-
$ lionp. A,somplete model of the
g.MI 9 klvil-, 0,1",-0., even started allows
--iftfull erf aja1ysis of how it will
,e construction starts, says
ctor of technical services at
'-,---,
fifir'QSs?
th eSS work for QSs ha the
al _sense, because it can
ate Of4sks, such as taking
pe u4''.;-gliedules off drawings. But
tantill Still be essential
.
to check
,
egf-W5tgi.lanues Martin. If you want your
e'I,TstriiPkils to come out of it [BIM] you're
ofAsizi-31.ded someone intelligent to interpret
fi"4 ritriMerS to make sure they make
,'-',h4aYs. However, preliminary results
OLICS survey into BIM show that most
on 't really know what [13.1M] is
WJiat does it mean for contractors?
says that BIM helps prevent the design
<9.4f Constantly changing, meaning that
better understanding throughout the
te's
ly chain It may disproportionately
eliefit bigger contractors, like Balfour
Beatty, as Ail") says: "The big savings are
scanning, which can then be used to improve
energy efficiency and carbon output - even if
no actual building work takes place. Morrell
has said BIM won't apply to projects where it
won't save money, but when asked what
these might be, he said he was "struggling to
think of obvious examples".
What does it mean for architects?
The impact on how architects work will be
"dramatic", according to Brinley. "It will
completely change the way you start off the
design process. There will be much more up
front work to be done building the model and
testing it works." This will save money and
time in the long run because the actual
process of construction will then be far
easier. Architects will have to work much
more closely with the entire design team,
including facilities managers, to create the
BIM model before construction. Brinley
hopes that this won't stifle imaginative
design - in fact, it could do the opposite:
"Because you can test things early on, clients
and contractors will take risks because you
prove it will work beforehand," he argues.
www.building.co,uk/bim
DIM IS THE FUTURE OF DESIGN, WE CANT
L.) AFFORD TO IGNORE IT