BIM - Where am I again?

BIM at a Crossroads – Five challenges we rapidly need to overcome.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been around conceptually since the early 1970’s, but it was not until 1986, with a series of papers by Robert Aish exploring the integration between this nascent technology and construction, that BIM moved from the conceptual to the actual.  We are fast coming up on three decades since that initial exploration, and yet construction, the second largest industry, with the potential to significantly influence the cost of infrastructure and address the climate agenda is far behind other industries such as automotive and aeronautical which have not just integrated technology but truly leveraged it. 

Here are five challenges that BIM can begin to address.

Jobs Without People & People Without Jobs

With the departure of the boomer generation from the AEC industry, fewer people joining the industry, and the slowing of the birth rate in many countries, we face a challenge in that the growing global infrastructure backlog is unachievable without a skilled and scalable labour force. Using BIM-enabled technologies, we can efficiently reduce required labour by utilizing computational design tools.  We can also use BIM in a much broader sense to train a work force in diminishing industries (for example, the energy sector) and those unskilled in the design and construction industry, and industry that once remained in the realm of architects and engineers. However, now we can bring in industrial designers, mathematicians, etc.  to address the shortfall.  Using BIM will also allow us to develop teams that with clear distinction can work “on” or “for” a project.

End of Paper & the Rise of Data

We have effectively reached “peak paper” in our industry.  Paper has been the primary deliverable in construction for several millennia.  Going back to Chuck Eastman’s vision in 1974, BIM was never intended to be used to create 2D drawings. Yet all the problems BIM faces right now can be traced to trying to use it within archaic methodologies instead of exploring how architects and engineers can create significant amounts of metadata.  Through the Internet of Things we can fashion digital conduits to create data for both production and consumption, which requires a huge shift away from traditionally structured architectural and engineering practices and away from the limited dependency on BIM to deliver 2D content using 3D environments.  This begs a question – who owns the BIM?  The movement away from documents (copyright) to data (shared) means that owners who are focused on asset management beyond construction should begin to explore the hosting of BIM-enabled data for their architects, engineers and contractors to work on.  We have to get over the notion of ownership, intellectual property rights, and copyright if we have a hope of moving the BIM agenda to its next level of evolution.

Efficient and Effective Design & Construction in Post COP21 Agreement

We have to stop thinking about the cost of construction as purely the first cost – Capital.  We now need to link the first and second cost – Maintenance and Operations.  The industry accepts that over a 20-year life of a building it is conceivable to spend 4-5 times the first cost on the second cost.  Yet owners are fixated on the first cost.  How can BIM address this? Many BIM software vendors have add-on packages that explore and optimize the energy footprint of a conceptual building design.  In Canada the NECB 2011 has three routes to energy performance – BIM can be used to explore them all.  By simple export of even delimited text files, programs like Excel can crunch the numbers towards the goals to which we have committed.

Mass Customization vs. Mass Production

If we move away from a document-centric deliverable towards a BIM enabled data-centric model, then we can begin to explore integration with CNC and other computerized manufacturing.  By using BIM, we can explore direct integration of data vs documents by exporting the BIM to the site (F2 = File-to-Field) or to production and then to the site (F3 = File-to-Fabrication-to-Field).  With the ascendency of 3D printing we can introduce the concept of mass customization into our industry.  Previous wet trades can now leverage this technology to mass produce materials for more efficient installation.

End the Race to the Bottom: Lowest Cost vs. Least Cost

The procurement method preferred by many owners (in particular public sector clients) is the traditional race to the bottom – lowest cost through the archaic “Design-Bid-Build” or “Soanian” model[1].  BIM is misplaced in this environment and is at risk of fostering more disintegration in our industry, making many suspicious of BIM.  Rather we should be exploring more modern methods where we can transform the industry to be one with the least cost (best value proposition over time) vs. the lowest cost (least value proposition at the time)   This means BIM needs to be at the very DNA of both design and construction companies as a language where shared values result in the creation of high performance teams that build trust and respect into their respective project charters to encourage aspirational goals vs. just having contracted goals.  

Let’s move beyond BIM 1.0 to BIM 2.0 where we use this technology to improve the design, procurement, assembly and operations of our infrastructure in a leveraged manner.  Not satisfied with the current state of design and construction, the AECOO community should apply management practices that move beyond where we are today by using BIM as the core technology. Furthermore, by using Integrated Project Delivery as the core framework, we can then apply collaborative LEAN approaches to slingshot the process and meet the challenges of cost both in procurement and the environment. Through BIM we can be better.

[1] Sir John Soane (1753-1837) father of design-bid-build and the separation of design from construction