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The BIM Focus Panel we held in London earlier this year, sponsored by Vectorworks, raised some interesting questions, going beyond the usual cheerleading stuff you often come across at conferences. It provided a few answers as well!

The session was sparked off by David Philp, Head of BIM at Mace and leading member of the BIM Task Group. David also finds time to advise 30 different working groups on BIM and attend conferences and sessions like our BIM Panel - for which we were most grateful. When I catch up with David next I will ask him to discuss the above phrase, "BIM is a verb", which he used in his intro. Perhaps, he said, it has something to do with the way we should now look at BIM - not merely as the 3D design or construction model, but principally as an outcome.

BIM, David argued, is not just a single set of assets, but very much a life process. As we increasingly access information everywhere, BIM becomes an indexation process, with links to other databases; geospatial, environmental, and so on. Connecting all of the data together gives us the opportunity to understand buildings better, and because of that, start to make better decisions.

David compared the construction industry to other industries such as manufacturing and retail, where they had already taken this on board - and suggested that procurement and component manufacturing had largely automated their processes, something that would increasingly become a viable proposition for construction. This was all in line with the Government's intentions to save 20% in capital costs for public sector construction projects, improve building sustainability, and to make our assets work better, last longer and perform more efficiently.

David emphasised that BIM isn't about giving assets more value, but rather about what it enables you to do with those assets. His most important message concerned how people should approach BIM Level 1 and Level 2, where Level 1 is basically about setting out the work practices and methods that will be used on the road up to Levels, 2, 3 and 4! Do level 1 properly, he said, before you move on to Level 2.

SOFT LANDINGS
BIM Levels are not hard and fast divisions, though. Companies move at the pace they are able to, and the way they reach it is immaterial to the fact that they are moving in the right direction. Throughout the process it is imperative, according to the Government, that consideration is given to the transition from the manufacturing phase to the occupation of buildings. They call this 'soft landings', where accumulation of data and the development of the project from the outset should always keep in mind the seamless handover and ongoing operating efficiency of the building.

Hence the use of non-graphical COBie data as a vehicle for sharing project information with all other project data users, putting it all in a Common Data Environment that we all understand, and compiling structured data in a usable form. It's not just one way data either, explained David, as post occupancy information can be used for rule-based design, something achieved in a case study that David brought up on the Ministry of Justice project. It sparked a lively discussion on the panel and will be covered in more detail in next issues final instalment!

DELIVERABLES VERSUS RECEIVABLES
The discussion continued with Paul Beaty-Pownall of BPR architects confirming some of David's points, in particular the BIM recognition levels of clients outside of the CAD environment, and how this affects the reception of BIM deliverables. Paul remarked that his clients in universities and general education have heard of BIM and are beginning to ask questions about it - but when asked how they want their Fabrication Model information they don't understand why you are asking that. They have existing systems for running timetables, and how they generally maintain the buildings.

Empowering FM, though, is a long way away, Paul said, as the adoption of BIM data is a massive barrier that needs to be tackled earlier on in the project. David concurred and asked whether the industry has to start teaching people struggling with structured data how to use big datasets.

This should help them to handle Data validation and verification and give them a proper appreciation of the connection between CAPEX and OPEX - the costs associated with building the project and running it. If you can then show this as a visual lifecycle model to FM companies, then they could give their operatives better instructions.

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