Paul Morrell - London Revit User Group

This evening I was the second presenter on the bill for the London Revit User Group. The first presenter on the bill was Chief Construction Adviser to the UK Government Mr Paul Morrell.

This is the third time I have heard Paul speak, and as expected it was a super, inspirational, presentation. Some snippets below from my scribbled notes...

• In tough economical times
  "If your business plan is 'sit tight and wait until the good times return' then you are going to fail".
• Quoting Ernest Rutherford
  "We haven't got the money... so we have to do the thinking".
• We have to build digitally first
   "...instead of building something first time in 3D with bricks"
• What is the UK government focus
  "...is not just about building the building, but managing the asset and the data you need to manage the asset".
  "Great design, but how often do I need to paint it?"
• The best will look after themselves, we care about the middle
  "The BIM Strategy is not for leading edge - good on you. It's about the middle of the field".
• Setting a realistic goal
  "When Kennedy set the goal to go to the moon, he already knew where the moon was and that they had a rocket that could go that far".
• In terms of mandating software technology,
  "there may be market leaders, but we're not trying to guess a winner. We're defining the outcome, the market will decide through innovation."
• Keeping things lean and avoiding data rot
   "As important as data drops are dropping data".
• When asked by the 'doubters' to prove the return on investment.
   "It's obvious, you may as well cost the value of  'traffic lights' or 'whether cars are good idea'".
• Asked about open data formats
  "COBie is the first step towards interoperability".
  "We want have convergence on standards without locking out innovation".

Then followed 30 minutes networking and then the National BIM Library presentation from myself and Drew from BIM Academy. I'll write these notes up later and post the presentation.

As a final point, just to say well done to Carl, Alan and David for organising the event. Completely free of charge and with 100 attendees and with 100 more on the waiting list it's a fantastic effort. Exciting times for UK BIM.