“Out of Chaos Comes Investment”

But is that really the way to embark on your BIM journey? It apparently was the case for Heathrow Airport – according to Andy Rhoades – head of service protection for Heathrow.

As you may know, Heathrow’s footprint is the size of central London, running at 99.1% capacity – servicing 75 million passengers a year. But did you know that there are 45,000 manholes on 62,000 services – probably not. Nor did those at Heathrow prior to the events of 1994. During this year, a tunnel that was under construction beneath the central area collapsed – grinding the airport to a near halt and a cessation of the Piccadilly line providing a link to the airport. Today, services cannot go live until they have been mapped and recorded in the airport’s two databases for document management and asset management. “Joining data delivers business value” – states Rhoades.

So, “Where Are You Now?” – Not only a Justin Bieber song, but a valuable and relevant question in regard to your processes and ability to participate in the BIM process. Just like Bieber storms the UK and US music industry, BIM is doing the same in construction. OK, so no more references to the child star turned Grammy winner. But instead, back to the question, where are YOU with BIM?

In order to stitch together this piece – are you going to wait for ‘chaos’ before investing? Will you be on the side-lines watching your competitors win bids for BIM work whilst you sharpen your pencil and polish the scale ruler? Or will you take the lead – will you act now before chaos has indeed crept in?

For the QS, there are tools such as Causeway BIMMeasure (click the link) to assist in the process – and fear not ‘ye laggards’ this is really a simple tool to use!

Think on!