Around the Round Table

Today I took part in a BIM roundtable event at the RIBA. A number of experts from the UK construction industry attended including the government’s chief construction advisor Paul Morrell and leading voices from Laing O’Rourke, Hilson Moran and BDP. Videos of the discussions will appear on theNBS.com/BIM and other construction industry websites in the next two or three weeks.

In preparation for the event I tried to think of the top ten questions surrounding BIM and answer them. The questions I came up with were:

1. What is BIM?
2. Who owns the BIM?
3. Who will make the most money out of BIM?
4. What are the legal implications of BIM?
5. Is the UK falling behind the rest of the world on BIM?
6. How should industry help BIM adoption happen smoothly in the UK?
7. Is there a single BIM or many BIMs?
8. Is affordability an issue and how can smaller practices be persuaded that BIM is a worthwhile investment?
9. How do master specification systems fit into BIM?
10. How do cash and carbon fit into BIM?

I’ll write up what I believe the answers to the above questions are and post in the next week. If anyone would like to answer them from their point of view, please feel free to comment.

The NBS Building Information Modelling Report March 2011

The NBS Building Information Modelling Report March 2011 was published today.

This in-depth research was conducted by the NBS Market Research team to develop an understanding of BIM adoption in the UK.

In addition to the research there are also articles from:

• Richard Waterhouse - Chief Executive of RIBA Enterprises
• Robert Klaschka -Principal Director, Studio Klaschka
• Dick Barker - Director, Laing O’Rourke, Head of Model Based Measurement and Costing
• Prof Steve Lockley, Professor of Building Modelling at Northumbria University
• and myself

To join the debate on this report please visit our BIM Blog:

- http://nbsbrightsparks.wordpress.com/2011/03/29/nbs-launch-bim-research-report/

Northumbria University

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of delivering a presentation to Year 2 Architectural Technician students at Northumbria University.

Northumbria is rapidly gaining a strong reputation for its work in the field of Building Information Modelling - some useful links below:

• The Carbon Assessment Tool project - see my previous blog post.
• Article from Northumbria's Professor Steve Lockley on BIM and Eduction
  Extract: "...Educational establishments clearly have a major role to play in this transition, they should and will seed the next generation of professionals who understand BIM as a technology that supports collaborative working. However, there are barriers to change built into our Universities and Colleges, not least of which is the entrenchment of the traditional professions. In an ideal world these institutions should be microcosms of the way we desire the industry to work in the future."
• The Northumbria BIM Academy website

...and back from ecobuild

My presentation from ecobuild is now online. It can be downloaded by clicking below:

Thanks again to Martyn and Jacqui from Vectorworks for inviting me. It was good to catch up again. Also, nice to grab a beer with Nick Nisbit and chat about how we could possibly get some IFC import and export functionality into the next version of NBS. There are some really exciting opportunities to specify systems/element types in NBS and then export as IFC and then import into any CAD package. Equally, the opportunity to create an building outline in CAD, export to IFC and then import into NBS to create an outline specification is exciting too.

Some photographs from ecobuild below…

Canary Wharf on a dull March afternoon

The Millenium Dome (again) on a dull March afternoon

ExCeL London with building work in the background – with the Olympics on its way this area of London seemed to be one big construction project.

A live demonstration of building with Straw Bales – note the RIBA CPD logo in the background!

Some really nice timber frame exhibition stands

buildingSMART’s Christopher Groome delivers presentation of BIM and interoperability

When choosing a hotel room, it’s always nice to have one opposite “the birthplace of IRON MAIDEN” :)

ecobuild

I'll be presenting some of the NBS Building Information Modelling developments to date and a preview of what is to come at ecobuild on Tuesday 1st March and Wednesday 2nd March as part of the Design Technology Programme (N131).

I'm really looking forward to it and it'll be a pleasure to present alongside the following people from the construction industry.
- http://www.unlimited.com/ecobuild/

South and West Yorkshire Local Authority Training Consortium

I had the pleasure of delivering a CPD session to the South and West Yorkshire Local Authority Training Consortium on BIM yesterday evening. We discussed what BIM is, some case studies and then looked at how the data in the NBS specification model could be integrated with the data in the CAD model. (and in between there was some time for some lovely pie, chips, gravy and mushy peas :)).

There were loads of questions and some real interest on the subject. Useful links on the subject below:

• The NBS BIM research:
  http://www.thenbs.com/topics/BIM/articles/What_BIM_is_and_how_it_is_being_used.asp
  
  
• Tutorials on the different methods of linking the CAD model with NBS:
  
  https://www.thenbs.com/support/softwaresupport/knowledgeBase/KB10168spec.asp
  
  
• Paul Morrell’s BIM presentation:
  http://www.bsria.co.uk/services/design/bim/bim2010/
  
  
• A recent article I have authored on the “rapid acceleration of BIM”:
  http://www.thenbs.com/topics/BIM/articles/rapidAccelerationOfBIM.asp
  
  
• The buildingSMART/BSI publication making the case for BIM (including some good case studies):
  http://constructioncode.blogspot.com/2010/07/bsi-spells-out-case-for-bim.html
  
  
• The NBS BIM Blog:
  http://nbsbrightsparks.wordpress.com/

Thanks to Clinton to inviting me down - look forward to doing it again some time.

Tour of the Sage Gateshead

We held the final session of our current Advisory Panel at the Sage Gateshead yesterday. In addition to discussions on CAD, online specification systems and proposed enhancements to NBS and RIBAProductSelector.com, we also were fortunate enough to get a tour of the building by Peter Udall from Gateshead Council who had been project manager of the construction.

It was fascinating how:

• Gateshead was chosen for the development. After proving they could make big projects such as The Angel of the North, The Baltic and the Millenium Bridge happen they had an excellent track record. Also having land in such a prime location available overlooking the Tyne helped win the bid.
• Gateshead had three main reports, the cost consultants, the lead designers (Fosters) and the specialist acoustic designers (Arup). From the start they made it clear that the quality of the acoustics and the accessibility to the public were the number one priorities.
• In terms of the acoustics, it has been designed so well, that many international musicians rate The Sage in the top 10 or even top three venues for acoustics world-wide. Gateshead are happy they have achieved the aim of providing a truly world class venue.
• In terms of accessibility, the public can always walk through the main concourse, it's not an exclusive location. For all of the events put on by Gateshead there are always tickets for £7.50 available. 

The main music hall from the drinks reception area on level 1

Peter Udall shows 16 architects around the venue - a tough audience

The magnificent coloured glass balustrade that was fitted recently to line the concourse

Impressive reinforced concrete rolling base

The main concert hall - a world class venue

Free web seminar on NBS and CAD

Our training team are running a web seminar on NBS and CAD on Friday 18 February 1pm.

Visit our website below to sign up for it:
http://www.thenbs.com/training/onlinetraining/