If BIM is the answer, what is the question?

If BIM is the answer, what is the question? Maybe the question has changed over the last 45 years. When I started in BIM – it was called Computer-aided architectural design then – BIM was developed as an answer to pressing social needs. The three BIM systems in the late seventies were targeted at social housing, hospitals and telephone exchanges.

The computers and the screens were big and expensive, but they were critically important to each enterprise. RUCAPS evolved from being the Riyadh University Computer Aided Production System into being the ‘Really Useful’ Computer Aided Production System. In turned from delivering the biggest building in the world - to being suitable for any building type anywhere, as long as it had a degree of repetition. During the 1980’s RUCAPS evolved into Sonata and eventually into Reflex, the applications become increasingly generic. The applications ceased to be relevant to the partners and directors and were judged solely at the management level in terms of efficiency and accuracy. But the 1990’s saw the arrival of the PC. Suddenly the computing power was slashed to the point where only the simplest of wordprocessing and draughting applications could be used. Now not even management was interested, as these were tools that paid for themselves by saving the floor-space required for an operative with a drawing board, layout table and plan-chest, instead, needing only a small desk. Since the turn of the century, PCs and Macs have become sufficiently powerful that BIM could start regained a place alongside CAD and spreadsheets. In the last decade, thinking has shifted from BIM to IM – Information Management, and there has been some action to implement the implications. It has now regained the attention of management because rethinking processes raises challenges about accuracy and efficiency.

But the questions that are getting executive/ board level attention are H&S, fire and net-zero. Twenty years ago, buildingSMART extended the IFC schema with the addition of a set of properties to describe risk associated to any individual building element or space. Ten years ago, COBie anticipated the association of risk to one or two building elements or spaces. In 2018 the authors of PAS1192 part 6 took a considered view of risk and allowed risk to be associate to three elements – physical, activity and location. Working with net-zero initiatives in housing, I have also come to consider opportunities, such as building flexibility and energy upgrades, as the other side of the risk coin.

This thinking has been accelerated by the need to consider ‘Golden Threads’. Since Dame Judith Hackitt revived the phrase, there has been much speculation and much too much marketing around the phrase. So, what makes a Golden Thread? What makes it ‘thread-like? The answer is that it is not made of snap-shots, inspections, sign-offs or re-surveys. It is thread-like in its continuity over time, and interconnection at any moment in time. It is not made of opinions, guesses, assumptions or presumptions. It is made of uncorrupted proof – the phrase originally comes from legal principals. And what makes it golden? Because it is not made accidently, casually, separately nor indeed ’unadvisedly or lightly’, it is valued. But how many ‘Golden Threads’ are there. Are there many, because there are many corporate, safety, environment and social risk and many opportunities that need to be managed? Or is it that there must be just one single source of truth, which allows us to meet our information needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own information needs?

That still leaves the challenge of relevance. What information is expected? This can only be answered by identifying the risks and opportunities and then relating them to the associated spatial, physical and process entities that create the risk or opportunity and those that mitigate it. If information is sparse these may be whole zones, systems and packages. If there is detail available these may be spaces, equipment and tasks. But the description of each must be backed up by evidence. Evidence may be documentation, it may be the contact details of responsible parties.

The risks and opportunities, the entities and the evidence must be held digitally and accessibly.

The urgent question is the management of risk and opportunity, and (B)IM is the answer.

For more detail, see “Risk, asset and information management” https:// www.ukbimalliance.org/wp-content/ uploads/2022/02/Information-Risk-andBuilt-Asset-Management-1.pdf

The need for Standards in digital construction

In the construction industry, the term ‘standards’ typically refers to published documents that define the common specifications, methods, and procedures that are to be used and contribute to producing effective collaborative processes and deliverables for all projects. The reason that standards are vital to the construction industry is that the sector has significant problems that can be solved when applying a system or structure. For example, the traditional process often deals with uncoordinated drawings and numerous hours layering drawings or the fact that the construction managers didn’t receive the latest design changes.

Digitalization is transforming the industry and includes several technologies such as pre-fabrication, advanced building materials, 3D printing, autonomous construction, augmented reality, wireless monitoring, cloud and real time collaboration and Building Information Modelling, BIM. In this new digital world, we need to collaborate and communicate in a structured manner to control the digital flow of information and outcomes. The construction process is a complex ecosystem; without a system and a structured approach delays and errors occur, with a major impact on project time and budget.

“Standards” can be Professional codes, Corporate technical specifications, Sponsored Standards, National standards, Regional standards and the international ISO Standards. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an independent body responsible to produce voluntary international standards.

During the last 10 years, National BIM standards have been developed in the United Kingdom due to the relevant mandate for adopting BIM in public works. The UK BIM standards refer to the BIM Maturity and implementation and consist of many