1. pwcom.co.uk
CIMCIG BIM conference – April 2012
BIM: an overview
Paul Wilkinson
BA PHD DipPR(CAM) MCIPR
director, pwcom.co.uk Ltd

2. • who am I?
• what is BIM?
• why is it important now?
• what's happening now?
• what can we deliver with BIM?
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3. Who am I?
• B2B PR since 1987
– in-house: Halcrow,
Tarmac, BIW
– consultancy clients include:
4Projects, AEngD, BIW,
CodeBook, Unit4, Sypro
• writer, technology consultant
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4. Traditional AEC collaboration (c. 1990s)
Specs
Drawings
Minutes
Programmes
Cost plans
etc
Email
Courier
Post
Fax
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5. Online AEC collaboration (c. 2000s)
Online file management

Single central repository

Fewer interoperability issues

Less paper

Latest information

Complete project record

Full information audit trail

Greater re-use of information
But ...

nearly all still 2D

email often used instead
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6. IT rarely on Government construction agenda
2002 first time ICT seen as a cross-cutting issue
(Accelerating Change)
2008 House of Commons Business & Enterprise
Cttee: Construction Matters (but IT doesn't)
… Despite strong push from industry, eg:

Constructing Excellence

Construction Commitments

National Platform for the Built Environment
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7. BIM is not CAD
“CAD helps people to draw. BIM helps people to
construct.” (Richard Saxon, Ecobuild, February 2009)
“BIM is not CAD. BIM was never meant to be CAD.
CAD is a replacement for pen and paper, a
documentation tool. By comparison, BIM programs
are design applications in which the
documentation flows from and is a derivative of the
process, from schematic design to construction to
facility management.” (Pete Zyskowski, Cadalyst)
“Drawing is Dead – Long Live Modelling” (CPIC)
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8. BIM is not ...
BIM is not

… new

… just an IT issue... or just software

… 3D

… something designers do

… just about project delivery

… a short-lived fad

… irrelevant to small projects

… “the silver bullet” or “Holy Grail”

… optional?
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9. What is BIM?
Building Information Modelling is digital representation of
physical and functional characteristics of a facility
creating a shared knowledge resource for information
about it forming a reliable basis for decisions during its
life cycle, from earliest conception to demolition.
(definition: CPIC)
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10. What is BIM?

Building Information Modelling

Building Information Model

Building Information Management
Hence BIM(M)
(definitions courtesy: Dave Jellings, SmartBIM Solutions)
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11. What is BIM?
Building Information Modelling is
… a business process for generating and leveraging
building data to design, construct and operate the
building during its lifecycle.
(NB: not just buildings, infrastructure, etc too)
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12. What is BIM?
A Building Information Model is
... the output of the business process resulting in a digital
prototype, a virtual computer model of a project which
holds selected structured data about the asset (design,
quantity, time, cost, as-built, etc).
3D + time (4D) + cost (5D) + .... (nD)
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13. What is BIM?
Building Information Management is
... the organisation and control of the business process
using the digital prototype to effect the sharing of
information over the entire lifecycle of an asset.
(NB: whole life approach)
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14. Why is BIM important now?
2009
“... I need no
persuading [of] the
enormous potential that
lies in more intelligent
use of ICT...”
“... on my agenda … to
encourage the take-up
of existing and future
ICT tools...”
(ExtranetEvolution, December 2009)
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15. Why is BIM important now?
Nov 2010
Spring 2011
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16. Why is BIM important now?
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www.bimtaskgroup.org/

17. Why is BIM important now?
2016
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18. Why is BIM important now?
2016
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19. 19

20. COBie UK 2012 (revised 5 April 2012)
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21. 21

22. 22

23. Not just technology. People and process too
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24. Not just technology. People and process too
Spring 2011
Spring 2012
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25. Not just technology. People and process too
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26. 26

27. OPEN BIM

launched March 2012

collaborative design, realisation and operation of
buildings based on open standards and workflows

founding partners

buildingSMART International (bSI)

vendors (eg: Tekla, Nemetschek, Graphisoft);

backed in UK by Constructing Excellence

using the open buildingSMART Data Model, IFCs

Poor interoperability cost US AEC industry $15.8bn
per annum (NIST, 2004) – mainly borne by owners!
27 www.graphisoft.com/openbim/

28. BIM libraries
(some offering IFC objects)
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29. What can we deliver with BIM?
UK Government aspiration:
“... reducing capital cost and the carbon
burden from the construction and operation of the
built environment by 20% ...
… the adoption of … technologies, process and
collaborative behaviours that will unlock new
more efficient ways of working at all stages of
the project life-cycle.”
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30. What can we deliver with BIM?
Higher quality, more reliable design information

greater client certainty/predictability (time, cost,
quality) earlier

better visualisation

better multi-disciplinary collaboration

quicker, more consistent and easier coordination of
design documentation

earlier, accurate, complete procurement data
('smart' BoQs); elimination of waste and rework

better construction and project management ('build it
once virtually, then build it for real')

better 'as-built', whole-life information for O&M
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31. What can we deliver with BIM?
Fully computable, reliable information

no checking or re-keying of data

automated compliance checking (Singapore)
“The end-to-end stream of BIM data will help
unify the industry's supply chains, freeing
construction from its craft origins, transforming it
into a modern, sophisticated branch of the
manufacturing industry.”
Ray Crotty (2011) The Impact of Building Information Modelling
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32. Beware “BIM-wash”
Avoid inflated or deceptive claims of using or
delivering BIM services or products, eg:

BIM competency (individual, team, organisation) as
designers or contractors

BIM knowledge among IT implementation or
consultants and/or trainers

functionality/interoperability in BIM software

speed/capacity of hardware/comms used for BIM

quality of BIM library objects

BIM capabilities/needs as owner/operator
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33. The four levels of “BIM-wash”
confusion – inexperience – exaggeration – illusion
Bilal Succar (2011) Understanding BIM-wash
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34. Q&A
Thank you
Contact: Paul Wilkinson
Website: www.pwcom.co.uk
Tech blog: www.extranetevolution.com
PR blog: www.blog.pwcom.co.uk
Email: paul.wilkinson@pwcom.co.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 8858 1104
mob: 07788 445920
Twitter: @EEPaul
http://www.google.com/profiles/paul.wilkinson19
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