16
COMMENT
DRAWING ON EXPERIENCE Schematic BIM drawing; every project is a learning opportunity to sharpen workfl ows
and Revizto, make that coordination traceable and accountable in a way that simply wasn’t possible before. Every open question has an owner, a due date, and a clear resolution trail. Perhaps most importantly, when a design team sits in a room together with the model up on screen, everyone is looking at the same thing. There’s one single source of truth, and it belongs to everyone. There’s none of the misinterpretation that congested two-dimensional drawings of old have perhaps created. The ability to isolate systems, colour code, and present purpose- built visuals, whether to a fellow engineer or a client with no technical background, translates engineering complexity into something that is far easier to understand. There’s another side to BIM’s strategic value that doesn’t always get the spotlight it deserves: the way it helps organisations build and hold onto institutional knowledge. Every project is a learning opportunity – workfl ows get sharper, lessons get captured, and that hard won experience can be shared consistently across teams rather than siloed with individuals. Over time, BIM becomes something of a living record of how your business thinks and works, so that each new project starts from a stronger foundation than the last. And that can of course help to level out the variations in experience levels and familiarity with technology that exist in most workplaces, including architecture, engineering and construction fi rms. If everyone’s using BIM, that gives the opportunity for senior team members to pass on experience and junior staff to help familiarise their colleagues with newer ways of working. Each generation fi lls the other’s gap. Despite all of this, BIM has not yet delivered its full promise, certainly in the UK. The fundamental problem is that BIM is sometimes layered on top of existing processes instead of replacing them. In practice, Revit and other similar software available is most commonly used for modelling and drafting with the two- dimensional drawing remaining the main output for many teams.
WWW.ARCHITECTSDATAFILE.CO.UK
Over time, BIM becomes something of a living record of how your business thinks and works, so each new project starts from a stronger foundation than the last
And then there’s the issue of the variations in, for example, naming conventions and workfl ows, which can vary considerably from one organisation and one discipline to the next. Since automation depends on a degree of consistency, this represents an ongoing challenge. That said, the pace of change refl ects the complexity of what’s being asked of the industry. The direction of travel, however, is clear. BIM is no longer a three-dimensional modelling exercise. The 4D dimension connects the model to scheduling; 5D to cost planning, where quantities of length, area, and volume drawn directly from modelled objects can generate a cost plan automatically. The 6D layer adds sustainability data, with embodied carbon values attached to individual elements so that the full carbon footprint of a building can be calculated as a direct output of the model. The 7D dimension extends into facilities management, enabling predictive maintenance by tracking warranty periods and expected lifespans of individual components, and allowing energy simulations to be run in the model before any operational decisions are made on site. And AI is beginning to take on the most repetitive modelling tasks, annotation and tagging too. What’s clear is that fi rms that are building their business strategies around BIM now, and who are treating it as a data platform rather than a drawing production tool, will be much better placed in a competitive marketplace.
Miklos Magyar is digital design manager at chapmanbdsp ADF JUNE 2026
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