Vox pop: How prepared are you to implement BIM on a project?

Arnab Mukherjee FCIOB, capital works programme delivery manager, Wokingham Borough Council

In terms of preparedness, I’d rate us at five or six on a scale of one to 10. We haven’t used collaborative 3D BIM with 100% electronic project and asset information, documentation and data, as described by the government, but we have used various components of it such as 3D modelling and clash detection for services.

It’s a steep learning curve for us, many council projects involve historic or listed buildings so a major data capture project will be required to model those structures in BIM. There’s also a natural tendency for public sector clients to resist change, so we need clear messages from government to make it mandatory on all projects, not just major jobs and not just as an optional extra.

Designers and contractors are more advanced in using and adopting BIM than most public sector clients and we are learning a lot from them.

This is a conflict-prone industry so a major challenge is how to bring about a change in culture to become more collaborative using BIM, and the government needs to be much clearer on what this will require.

I’ve done some work looking at the contractual information available to us related to BIM and there are several specific supplements issued by the likes of JCT, and the Construction Industry Council, which we plan to adopt rather than prepare our own bespoke BIM supplements to contracts.

Mark Beard, CEO, Beard Construction

BIM is a work in progress for medium-sized contractors like us, and their clients, and we are still coming to terms with how to maximise the benefits. The best way forward is to use the software on projects and learn from experience how it can support a programme of works. We can also learn from designers, most of which have explored BIM, carried out a few projects using it and had experience of forming alliances to implement it properly.

The industry could benefit from a common technical standard, such as the new PAS1192:2, which sets out requirements to qualify for entry into a project seeking to achieve level 2 BIM. It also outlines a clear process for pre-contract and post-contract execution planning and deliverables.

As an industry we are pretty fragmented, so anything that can encourage us to work to the same model would be a benefit and could help ensure BIM is taken up more widely. It’s just a shame that our industry doesn’t have a great track record for adopting common standards.

Laura Martin FCIOB, lifecycle manager, estates technical team, Aspire Defence Services

I can understand the concept of BIM and I’ve completed several CPDs related to it, but there are still lots of aspects that aren’t clear. Unless you have used BIM software it’s hard to understand how information from drawings translates into data attached to 3D objects in a BIM model: do you have to input it all into a spreadsheet, and at what point do you stop referring to drawings and start using the model?

For BIM to be effectively implemented it requires a truly collaborative environment which will mean a cultural U-turn for the industry. There’s currently a culture of pointing fingers when something goes wrong, but BIM requires us to get past that and say “we as a team will solve this problem”. It also requires early input from everyone involved in the design, construction and operation of a building, which is a huge step away from how things currently work with subcontractors completing their own section of work individually as the project progresses. This seems a huge ask for the industry.

It also leads to the issue of how to communicate complex information from BIM to small contractors at the lower end of the supply chain in a way they can understand. It will have to be simple and cheap to implement, perhaps using BIM software downloaded onto smart phones. It might be beneficial if companies that have used BIM hold workshops for others in industry to see how it is actually used at different stages of a project.

Nick Charlton, MD, Davis Builders

I haven’t worked under a BIM contract yet but I have been to several presentations with architects and project managers showing what it is capable of doing. Although I understand the power of BIM and the many cost and programme benefits, it’s going to be difficult to get medium-sized contractors involved unless they are willing to spend the money required. One consultant I met had spent £120,000 on upgrading their computer infrastructure to support BIM and that level of cost will be extremely prohibitive to contractors who would rather invest in apprenticeships or trying to upskill their workforce.

On large £20m-£30m contracts that amount of money is not an issue, but in a smaller market place where contracts are typically between £2m and £5m BIM is too expensive to succeed in a mass market. However, if the market continues to strengthen, the price of the technology will drop and contractors like us will invest. BIM will also be a prerequisite on public sector work, although I suspect there may have to be a grace period before firms on smaller projects are required to use it.

Chris Miles, operations director, Longcross

We don’t feel BIM is appropriate for every project right now, especially projects under £10m or repeat format type projects where you don’t require a BIM model for every building.

Architects, structural engineers and the main consulting disciplines are well up to speed with BIM, but full integration requires full supply chain buy in and there are very varying BIM skill levels among subcontractors. A large M&E contractor could deal with it but a joiner doing bespoke joinery will be reliant on workshop drawings.

When you get down to individual BIM library elements, such as a light fitting, which should have all relevant data tagged to it, the M&E contractor needs the lighting manufacturer to be working with BIM in mind and all the way from the first to the third tier of the supply chain. That’s where a big problem exists at the moment – first tier designers are fully up to speed but there’s less and less knowledge the further you go down supply chain.

The promises BIM makes can only be fulfilled if the message is felt all the way down, so every component must become a BIM element, to assist with taking off exercises, costing exercises or future maintenance exercises, which are all the positive things sold around the word BIM.

I don’t see the contractual side of BIM as a barrier to realising its full potential, we are introducing bespoke contracts that make implementation reasonably clear.

There needs to be greater transparency about whether BIM really does bring a cost benefit. There are certainly hidden cost benefits that haven’t been teased out yet – BIM allows different design options to be explored much faster, so you might be exploring different ways of building, different detailing or engineering options faster. If the right data is in the model you should be able to spin out cost parameters relevant to each alternative, making buildings quicker and cheaper to build.

Dean Ball, construction director, Lakehouse

We’re optimistic about the implementation of BIM in our business, but there are some inherent challenges. Projects using BIM are much more front-ended and require early and expedient decision making, so we’re encouraging clients to confirm sign off for a scheme at a much earlier stage in the process to ensure that models are effective and the benefits of BIM can be maximised throughout the project.

Increased system standardisation would be welcome to enable different consultants to collaborate more easily. At the same time, the industry urgently needs clear guidelines on updating shared models so that design responsibility is clearly defined among consultants when development changes or updates are needed. All this would help speed up individual projects, but also support the wider implementation and understanding of BIM across the industry.