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BIM


shifts in the way the built environment is used and to unavoidable economic and environmental factors.


Despite the photogenic ‘wow’ factor of


new-build, 80 per cent of the building stock in use in 50 years already exists today – and this may even be greater as we address profound economic and environmental sustainability issues. Further, the vast majority of a building’s cost – some 75 per cent - lies in the latter stages of its lifespan. We know that endless new-build is simply not viable – certainly the market knows this – and perhaps we are even in mourning. Yet increasing re-use and conservation of existing estate is unavoidable: neither the economic nor environmental climate can sustain itself otherwise. This will put a further burden on facilities managers to provide increased efficiency in the maintenance and improvement of existing stock. What does BIM mean for FM? What is striking is how far BIM’s potential at the FM end has been buried under the new-build focus. In fact, BIM will come into its own with the ongoing management both of new buildings but also of existing stock – it will also ultimately have applications and implications for the heritage and conservation industries, an area that is only just being touched on. By combining existing technologies – advanced surveying and geomatics techniques - a BIM model of an existing estate can be easily created from accurate laser cloud surveys and ‘tagged’ with data describing the key physical properties of each building element. The owner or facilities manager is then able to load the model with data over time and long after handover, in line with priorities, in effect creating a ‘live’ replica of an entire estate which develops as the estate itself develops, and which eliminates the need to cross-reference sources of information and duplicate tasks. Clearly, this has powerful cost-time benefits. Yet that BIM can be developed and utilised in this way is either not being fully grasped or else not being clearly communicated to clients.


More than 'shiny kit'


If there is something uncanny about the trajectory that the BIM debate has taken then it may be because we have been here before. When sustainability filled the very same pages of industry magazines that have now been usurped by BIM, a similar focus on the ‘glamour’ end of developments was apparent in an obsession with ‘flagship green-washing’ - turbines and green roofs as showcase sustainability – all, crucially, highly photogenic. Yet some of the more serious and genuinely sustainable work amounted to much more low-key interventions – including the power of sensitive facilities management and a growing emphasis on re-use. Similarly with BIM, the focus on new-build and ‘shiny kit’ may be unwittingly disguising some of its most economic, pragmatic and sustainable


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applications, which in fact lie at the end of the building life-cycle.


Industry thinking more educationally There will always be understandable resistance to embracing new ways of working, especially when these new ways have upfront implications in terms of both time and cost. This is surely not helped by presenting new technologies, albeit unwittingly, as the latest in a long line of design fads and with an emphasis on features rather than benefits. To counteract this, the industry may need to begin to think more educationally. For example, we might need to produce BIM models – and hold seminars - for the sole purpose of relaying to clients BIM’s true capabilities. It is unlikely that a designer in the early days of CAD would have felt the need to produce drawings merely to show off its rendering techniques. But precisely because BIM has advantages long after the contractor recedes, we are forced to put ourselves in the position of the client, the owner, the manager like never before. Even the earliest stages of creating a BIM demands of us that we shift our approach to what we do: from the outset, the model is devised on the basis of its intended long- term uses. This means that we need to know upfront what the client wants it for - in the long and not just the short-term. But what if the client doesn’t realise its power at the FM end? What if the client is either unaware of – or unconvinced by - the full spectrum of benefits it offers long-term?


Rail at the forefront We also have to begin to think more like researchers. As well as benefits, we cannot deny that there are also problems raised by BIM and if we want to stay ahead of the game we cannot sit back and wait for other industries to solve them. For example, there are currently blocks to fully integrating BIM models to the FM end - the software packages currently in use in FM are not those used in BIM. Aedas Building Consultancy is addressing ways in which this technological gap can be fruitfully bridged and investing heavily in research solutions


and collaboration with technology firms. And we need to keep thinking ahead – even as we may feel we are only just getting to grips with BIM. We may even see a day when sensors and alarms in the building also work in real-time within the BIM model: a digital representation of a building estate such that an FM manager has at his or her command the entire estate before them – a sort of data-rich CCTV system. This may seem like sci-fi – but do we wish to wait around while other people develop these applications? Or do we wish to be at the forefront of thinking?


These shifting roles may make us


uncomfortable. Yet by its very nature, BIM inherently encourages holistic, joined- up thinking – it breaks down the rigid categories we are used to. We know this. Yet perhaps we are not as mentally prepared for this ‘breakdown’ as we like to think. Indeed the facts and fears around data-sharing and mutual contracts may also reflect broader concerns about stepping outside assumed roles. Could it be that all in the industry have to begin to think more like a BIM model? It may be that while BIM prevents the loss of valuable data as it transits from phase to phase, the far-reaching benefits and implications of BIM are still being lost in translation. Allan Hunt is BIM lead director at Aedas Building Consultancy www.aedas.com/buildingconsultancy


Times House, Bravingtons Walk, Regent Quarter London N1 9AW. Tel: +44 (0) 7042 9961 david.hiscock@rmf.co.uk www.rmf.co.uk


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