BIM & PROJECT MANAGEMENT
our client amd our supply chain that can be used at planning meetings to highlight clashes, scope gaps or for safety reviews.
Room for innovation
One of the most valuable aspects of the model has been the scope it gives us for scenario planning. It allows us to quickly model proposed approaches and test different ways of working on specifi c aspects of the scheme. Essentially it provides a platform to experiment in a safe environment, and helps to drive lean construction and avoid waste.
There have been tangible benefi ts. When we set out, the delivery schedule for the atrium was 12 months. By looking at different approaches we reduced it to six.
Likewise, part of the scheme will require us to move an existing 120m pedestrian tunnel and relocate it within the station. It consists of some 30 prefabricated sections, and moving it was originally going to be a two week programme. It will now take just 53 hours – purely by
modelling different scenarios and refi ning the process. All of which makes a huge difference when you’re asking your client to close an area of the station for a weekend rather than a fortnight.
BIM lessons learnt
One of the biggest things I’ve taken away from the scheme at New Street has been the need for BIM to be accessible. It needs to be practical for subcontractors, and not require unrealistically powerful IT hardware. We’ve found it to be key as a reporting tool, too. Conventional drawings and assessments can be fairly unclear for non- technical stakeholders. So we use BIM for the walkthrough, and that makes the whole process much more transparent and understandable.
BIM is also bringing new skills onto site. One of the big reasons we’ve been able to maximise our engagement with BIM is that we give it dedicated resource. We have a member of our team with software design experience – rather than purely a construction background – and that has been pivotal in getting the right
information from our package and project managers, and overlaying it onto the model.
Moreover, it helps us use that information intelligently. Our team has been able to export the BIM model to iPad apps, for example, and make it accessible across the site. Those skills are out there in our economy – especially with younger, digitally-savvy apprentices and graduates that have grown up with IT, and it follows logically that if BIM changes the way we build, it should also change the complexion of our teams. Having people with diverse skill sets prevents the rate of innovation surrounding our industry from outstripping what we’re doing on site, and that can only help us to maximise what we can do with the models we invest our time in building.
Paul Dalton FOR MORE INFORMATION
www.macegroup.com/projects/birmingham- new-street-refurbishment
78 | rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 14
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