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The BIM Academy, a collaboration between Northumbria University and Ryder Architecture, was founded four years ago to provide an international centre of excellence for BIM through research, education and consultancy. The new Virtual Project course stands alongside more traditional training in BIM-enabling tools such as Autodesk Revit and Navisworks and the academy’s consulting services on the strategic implementation of BIM.

Justine Gray, Senior Project Manager at the BIM Academy explains that the three-day course Virtual Project course can “break the cycle of a company needing experience of a BIM project to get the work, but not being able to get experience until they’ve got the work. It can also provide a dry run for newly-formed, multi-discipline teams to quickly assess their capabilities and iron out the inevitable problems that arise when a new team comes together.”

She adds: “The government has mandated that all public sector construction projects use BIM to a certain level by 2016 and, we believe other clients and contractors are starting to demand its use in line with this. Getting the best value from BIM means a complete transformation of workflow and the only way to learn this properly is to experience it.”

“The BIM Academy is a great example of training excellence within the Autodesk partner network. With the Virtual Project course, the team have seized the opportunity presented by the integration of simulation tools into Autodesk mainstream design software in a highly innovative way, offering it now as a service. Simulating a real life-like project in this manner is the best way to learn – and I’m sure it will pay divideends for all those who invest in this training,” says Kirstin Donoghue, Autodesk Program Manager EU at Connect.

Inspiration for the course stemmed from BIM Academy’s success in the Build Live Competitions, a design contest where global teams collaborating via the cloud have 48 hours to fulfil a brief with a virtual design. Working remotely with a team from Australian practice Aecom, it won overall winners in last year’s competition which involved designing a conference centre in Sydney.

Autodesk Authorised Training Centre courses and certification are designed to help software users get the best return possible on their software investment. Staff are especially trained to ensure that they not only have the technical knowledge, but also the teaching skills needed and are able to deliver their instruction in a way that best suits the students, with an emphasis on practical challenges and real-life scenarios.