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_Construction


The Crossrail BIM environment is the biggest generated for a transport infrastructure project in Europe


Team building


Building Information Modelling promises a total transformation of the construction industry, as LSBU’s Steve Pittard explains


Like all the best ideas, the principle behind Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a very simple one: to bring all the information relating to a building project together in a single place, and share it with everyone involved at every stage of the building’s lifecycle, from design through to demolition. ‘For all the computing power and sophisticated software involved, BIM isn’t rocket science,’ says Steve Pittard, senior lecturer in the School of the Built Environment and Architecture and academic lead at LSBU’s BIM Centre. ‘It’s a means of enabling all stakeholders to work collaboratively using common processes, supported by technology, in a way they’ve never been able to before.’


COUNTING DOWN TO COMPLIANCE


2011 Government launches its Construction Strategy, with an initial target to reduce overall project costs by 20%


28_South Bank | Spring 2016 BIM has its roots in the late 1980s


and early 1990s, when computer- aided design (CAD) first entered the mainstream, but it really began to gain traction following the economic downturn of 2008/09. Faced with the need to fund new infrastructure projects and maintain existing assets with limited resources, the coalition government that came to power in 2010 set out to find ways to improve efficiency and reduce waste – and in so doing, deliver significant cost savings. CAD helped to automate processes, but BIM sets out to transform the way project teams work together. In its Construction Strategy, published in 2011, the government stated that


2013 Construction 2025 sets new, more ambitious targets to reduce costs by 33% and carbon emissions by 50%


all contractors involved in public sector projects should be using BIM by 2016 (see timeline below), and set an ambitious target: to cut capital costs and the carbon footprint associated with the built environment by 20%. That goal has since been extended with a further set of targets: to reduce whole life costs by 33%, and to speed up delivery and cut emissions by 50%. BIM supports this by providing a single, common data environment, which can be shared by all disciplines – and with other stakeholders too. ‘Because BIM can essentially generate a digital prototype of the asset or building, it’s much easier for, say, patient groups to input into the design of a new hospital in a meaningful way,’ explains Steve Pittard. The model makes it easier to spot any problems at an early stage, supports testing – for example of energy performance – and provides a structured framework for handover to maintenance teams.


Culture shift It sounds like a win-win. But how ready is the construction industry to embrace this new way of working? ‘Contractors working on public sector projects have to comply, but it’s required a fundamental shift in culture and attitudes,’ says Steve Pittard, who likens the scale of the transformation to that already seen in the car industry. ‘This is an industry that’s spent years working in silos, as anyone who’s ever had building work done on their house will attest!’ Alumnus Neil Thompson of Balfour Beatty (see opposite) reckons around a third of private


2016 All contractors involved in centrally procured government projects must comply with BIM level 2, where separate disciplines can still create their own models but all project data must be shared electronically in a common environment


IMAGE / @CROSSRAIL


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