The launch of BIM Academy

Last night I attended the launch of the BIM Academy www.bimacademy.ac.uk. There were a number of speakers including Lord O’Neil,  chairman of the Nuclear Industries Association and Bill East, Senior Research Civil Engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

It was also particularly interesting to hear James Brown, Head of Model Development and Specification at ASDA speak. Largely through Wallmart's lead, Asda now insist on the use of BIM on all of their jobs and are building up a digital asset record of their 500 buildings in the UK. The use of BIM through the design stages has cut 12 week processes down to 6 week processes and has allowed them achieve fee reduction.

Discussions and questions also took place on public sector work. In particular, the aim of creating effiencies so that the tax payer gets better value from the £38billion that is spent each year on government owned buildings.

It was great to see ex-NBS R&D team members Professor Steve Lockley and Dr Jane Matthews from Northumbria playing a big part in the event. It was also encouraging to hear Helen Whitfield RIBA Enterprises Exec-Director talk to the delegates on how NBS and BIM Academy hope to work together more closely over the coming months.

"Looking to the future, our relationship is set to grow. RIBA Enterprises and NBS will be working with the BIM Academy on a number of key industry initiatives which we hope will bear considerable benefits in the advancement of BIM adoption in the UK",

Helen Whitfield, Exec-Director RIBA Enterprises