Do You Use BIM Part-Time?
I have listened for the past two years how various types of organisations, large & small, have stated their commitment to BIM.
I appreciate before I make this next statement that I am going to stimulate lots of comments.
I do NOT know of any organisation that works all its jobs around BIM Protocols. The most structured set of protocols is set out by the UK Government Mandate (PAS 1192-2 2013).
And before anyone starts the debate, please read the list below:
All jobs to adhere to PAS 1192-2 2013, not some of them.
- All jobs to have naming conventions against the files.
- All jobs to have approval processes that are in line with PAS 1192-2 2013.
- All jobs to have 3D models created.
- All jobs to have clash detection.
- All jobs to run across a CDE.
- All jobs to provide a full audit trail of all actions and transactions.
- All jobs to store their files and documents in a secure and undeletable area.
- CDE to provide a platform that all can share files, that they are authorized to see.
- CDE to provide means of viewing files and importantly 3D IFC Models.
I believe not even the very large primary contractors do it all, all of the time?
Anyway, back to my title ‘Part Time BIM’ and my questions to everyone is?
If you are of these companies that runs BIM when it is mandated, how do you measure the benefits or costs when running two methods of working?
How can your people become expert in BIM when it is not a process that they work to on a daily basis?
Have you worked out the true costs of putting your best people on the larger BIM projects but running a different system to complete all your other jobs?
- Have you measured the benefit of sharing good data over a shared CDE which allows you to work closer with your suppliers?
- If you are one of the companies that works on someone else’s CDE, how does your staff become experts in BIM processes when they only do data drops when it is mandated. Should you also be asking yourself, what about my supply chain, am I working in the most efficient manor?
- To all the clients out there, what savings are you missing when you do not have your own CDE to manage all this valuable data that you are handed at the end of a job?
- To all the architects, how many jobs are you missing out on because you are waiting on the client to mandate this as a BIM job? BIM is seen as a big saver to the client on all sizes of jobs. I see it as a great sales feature, “We work all jobs in BIM” but I do understand that many see it as an extra cost!
I sincerely hope I have not insulted any organisation as this is not my intention.
My intention is to try and show what a big change is coming about and this change must be across your company not at project level. This Change is not just between client and primary contractor but right across the industry and lastly this change includes the client’s full involvement at all stages.
We all must work together.
We at Sherlayer see our part is providing a CDE solution that is as simple to use as Dropbox, Box, Google OneDrive etc. but including: File Naming Conventions, Approval Processes, 3D IFC Federated Models, Cobie Data, File Security and Full Audit trails at very little extra cost. (PAS 1192-2 2013)
I hope you all will come back with your thoughts and possibly show me how wrong I am.
Regards, James Howard.
Managing Director at Sherwood Systems (Sherlayer CDE for BIM Made Simple)
8 年Hi Richard I would to have a chat sometime. We have developed a solution for the CDE solution for SME sector of the market but find that this market sector is very slow to change and when they do it seams to be forced apon them. The end result is they run a BIM project in the same way that they have ran all there other projects and it ends up a complete mess. It then leaves them with a very bad taste in their mouths in regards to BIM. Regards james
Partner at Ryder
8 年Dear James, We established BIM Academy for precisely this sea change that you refer to. Within Ryder we are what I personally call BIM enabled and all of our projects are worked upon within a BIM workflow. The problems we encounter are that industry partners and clients all need to be on the same page if we are all to utilise CDE / A360 C4R etc. We believe that time will come and the UK mandate was designed to enable this eventuality. I head up our office in Hong Kong where the market is largely resistant to BIM as there is no one mandating its application as a basic workflow (3D) let alone PAS 1192 compliant. Singapore are the only local government who have mandated. If you would like to discuss further please let me know. We are always looking for like minded people and organisations who see the future as we do. Kind regards Richard Dorkin
BIM & digital information management specialist
8 年Good post. We aligned our standard processes with PAS1192 a while ago specifically to avoid two methods of working....BIM & non BIM. I created project & family templates embedded with the required parameters etc. What this allows us to do is work to a level everyday commensurate with Level 2 on every project. We don't see Level 2 BIM to PAS as something over extra with regards to fees. This means should the trigger get pulled for Level 2 during Stage 3 for example (has happened on several projects) we don't need to worry about the impact on our deliverables. The info is already there, we just don't output it if its not needed. Every project is run through either an external CDE hosted by one of the design team or by ourselves using a simple FTP with added checks & balances for validation etc. We always issue a Navisworks model alongside our native 3D data. On non BIM projects we still use what we term a digital coordination plan (essentially a much abridged BEP) to allow the team to come together & establish the basic means of collaboration. The benefit of one method of working is better efficiency & the creation within our organisation of what we call the 'single source of truth'- one place for all the information organised in accordance with BS1192:2007 with regard to document naming & folders etc coupled with an complete awareness of PAS requirements as its all embedded with how we work each day.