NEWS
granted temporary membership as International Observer, a status created only a few months ago. TRA will formally become a member of AREA at the next General Assembly meeting in spring 2017 in Amsterdam.
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REA has announced that the Thai Refrigeration Association has been
users to create or upload Product Data Templates (PDTs) corresponding to real-world products with a full set of industry-recognised parameters ready to be filled in. The model can then be imported directly into BIM platforms without disrupting the rest of the design.
TRA representatives met AREA vice president international affairs Marco Buoni and secretary general Olivier Janin at this year’s Chillventa exhibition. The meeting highlighted a mutual interest for cooperation, notably on the matters of competence and skills. TRA filed its application a few weeks later. As International Observer, TRA will be able to join all the activities and working bodies of AREA, thereby gaining early and privileged knowledge on future developments. TRA will also benefit from the network provided by the 23 national associations present in AREA and the association’s image in Europe and worldwide.
Other interested international refrigeration and air conditioning contractors’ associations are invited to contact the AREA secretariat.
CIBSE (Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers) has launched BIMHawk, a website and software plug-in which enables the creation of standard parameters for use in BIM objects, at its annual Conference.
The software has been developed by NG Bailey’s design and BIM development manager, Paul Marsland, and enables authorised
The new plug-in has many potential uses, the primary one being the ability for clients to acquire structured data in a predictable format that is used from start to finish by the design and delivery teams. This removes the need to create new models from scratch for every element of a design, or edit generic or existing models that are not compatible and do not use the same parameters.
Contractors, consultants and commissioning engineers will also be able to use BIMHawk to compare products on a like-for-like basis, making the process of specifying much faster and more simple, and saving the client money.
BIMHawk also uses PDTs created to an extremely high industry consensus standard, requiring three stages of review by chartered engineers and a peer review process, with the parameters specified also being signed off by relevant trade bodies and other stakeholders. This strengthens the overall BIM adoption process, and greatly increases the supply chain’s ability to work together to the same standard. CIBSE digital engineering consultant, Carl Collins, said: “This is a really exciting step up in terms of what we are able to do with BIM and makes it far more accessible for stakeholders across the supply chain.
“BIM is supposed to make the whole construction process better, faster and cheaper, but until now models have suffered from big flaws around compatibility and interoperability between BIM modelling platforms. BIMHawk fixes those problems, and allows us to quickly import accurate and consistent parameters that can be used with confidence that the data is robust and standard across the industry.”
CIBSE president John Field said: “The first day of the Conference has been a fantastic demonstration of the practical difference engineers can make to solving problems in our world and the launch of BIMHawk is just another way we are making the industry more effective.
“Engineers make the modern world work and we are at the forefront of many major issues such as climate change and energy security. Events like this enable us to meet, discuss and collaborate to find better ways to meet those challenges.” Carl will be demonstrating
BIMHawk and providing a background talk on BIM Level 2 at a series of roadshows around the country during this year and next. Visit the http://CIBSE launches new BIM innovation at conferencewebsite for more information at
www.cibse.org/ training-events/bim-roadshow
According to the findings of a new survey by the ECA (Electrical Contractors’ Association), more than eight in 10 electrical and building services engineering firms say turnover increased or stayed the same during the third quarter.
The results cover the three months from July to September, the period almost immediately following the vote for the UK to leave the European Union. The responses indicate that, overall, there was only a modest pre- and post-referendum impact on the sector.
Businesses of almost all sizes had a favourable third quarter, with small contracting firms, medium-sized enterprises and large organisations all reporting an improvement on the previous three month period. However, micro businesses with turnover below £200,000 had a slight downturn in Q3. Looking ahead to the final quarter of 2016, the outlook is also positive overall, although business expectations are down, with 31 per cent of firms expecting a rise in turnover in Q4 (a fall of 11 per cent from expectations in our previous survey for Q3 this year). ECA ceo Steve Bratt said: “This ECA survey shows that electrical and building services firms remain broadly confident about their economic prospects, but we should remember that our sector feels any positive or negative effects later than many others in the supply chain. “In addition, the survey shows that the expectation for business is down for the final quarter of the year, and members are already reporting increasing prices of key materials and equipment. This means that 2017 may present even more challenges to profit margins.”
The Building Engineering Business Survey, which is held in association with Scolmore, was sent out to ECA members in early October this year. The response rate was the highest in five years.
10 December 2016
www.acr-news.com
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