architect

With the development of Building Information Modelling (BIM) is there still a need for a lead consultant on a build?

by Rob Charlton

The architect has always had the title of lead consultant, but with the development of Building Information Modelling (BIM) there is a justified argument to challenge this role. The title of lead consultant may in fact be divisive — is there still a need for such a title or role?

There is no doubt that the architect has a central role to play in the early stages of the project and is the expert in bringing all of the parts of the process together. As the project moves beyond stage C there is a need for co-ordination and technical input, and this is where the architect starts to struggle on the bigger projects.

With the adoption of BIM, the design team will have produced information digitally and included geometry. Instead of trying to co-ordinate two dimensional information, such as drawings of a three-dimensional building, a computer programme will now carry out the review and identify any issues.

The lead consultant has always had responsibility of co-ordination; however a new role has come about. The BIM co-ordinator is a specialist in the use of proprietary software and has an excellent understanding of how a building should be assembled. The ideal training for such a role is as a project architect or technologist. It is a specialist role requiring specialist skill, providing the glue which can bring a project together.

The architect will put the case forward that this task belongs to them. I would agree with the argument and that certainly some of them do have the skills. However, it is no different to the development if the role is taken on by the project manager or the construction and design manager. The

The role of the

architect can do it but with a large complex building, they often do not have the focus to do it.

On smaller projects it is easier as it is possible to be lead consultant and project manager, but on large inner city projects with complex planning issues, the reality is that the architect does not have time to carry out the role.

Co-ordination is therefore done with a light touch and, even though no architect would ever admit it, the risk is passed to the main contractor and trade. This can and does work, however it is expensive and can be adversarial. Ultimately and most importantly, it is not providing value for the client investor.

The BIM co-ordinator can also take on the role of model and data manager. This responsibility has to be established at the outset of the project development if the maximum benefit is going to be derived.

When Sir Christopher Wren designed St. Paul’s Cathedral in the 17th century there was no such thing as an architect. Wren was in fact a mathematician and back then it was the gentlemen of the time who were involved in the design of buildings. Such gentlemen would also carry out the structural engineering and provide all construction costs, as well as project manage the build.

The role of the Architect

As with any database, it is essential that the initial outputs are understood and controlled throughout, with the BIM coordinator establishing and maintaining the protocols throughout the lifecycle of the project.

As buildings have become more complex with increased systems and fabric it is no longer possible to comprehensively co-ordinate all of its elements. Two-dimensional software is available for modelling and visual co-ordination of the building geometry in a virtual environment. The three main aspects of a building’s design are brought together into a single geometry and further software has been integrated to identify issues in the model. The computer power and sophistication of this software can assist considerably in resolving issues and enable building with confidence.

Architects are still keen to retain this role as it is a further erosion of the lead consul-

Image: Dav ID Joyner, I stockphoto.com

tant’s duties. The reality is that there are new skills required to understand and operate the software. Co-ordination of buildings is now so Rob involved that it has Charlton justified a separate role. The architect can carry out the role but CEO Space Architecture needs the specialist software skills. The other main issue is that co-ordination needs to be given an appropriate priority — unfortunately the architect often has so many conflicting responsibilities that co-ordination can become a low priority.

The BIM co-ordinator or model manager can also add value to the building lifecycle beyond this. If appointed at the outset, data sets can be agreed and the information monitored throughout. The information can be used for scheduling through to costing, as built data also has yet untapped potential in operation.

While an architect may have the skills to carry this out, it is not sufficiently important to be a role in its own right — this is no different to how the role of project manager or engineer was developed for that matter.

The majority of architects work on small projects and operate as sole practitioner. On such projects they can carry out a wide range of services, however on more complex and high value projects there is a requirement for specialists in a number of fields. The architect should focus on the areas where he or she adds the most value and has unique skills. This is usually at the outset of a project resolving the conflicting challenges of briefing requirements, compliance and planning.

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Content is dead long live content

A well planned content management strategy is essential for BIM-ready organisations, writes Nick Harris from design technology supplier and consultancy CADline

If the move to model-based design is the first stage in developing a Building Information Modelling (BIM) capability, the significance of the digital components used to assemble those models cannot be overstated.

Products such as Autodesk Revit, AutoCAD Plant 3D and AutoCAD Civil 3D are orientated around the selection and arrangement of virtual components and assemblies that exhibit the properties and behaviours of their real world counterparts.

Revit uses predefined libraries of components categorised by function and association, while AutoCAD Plant 3D uses standardised specification-driven catalogues.

As such, a BIM model is only as good as the BIM component library used to create it.

Fortunately the leading BIM products are version control, relevancy and currency all drawings needs detailed information about all delivered with a library of well-defined become content management consider- the manufacturer and specification of indicomponents or specifications that allow the ations. There are a number of commercially vidual components. new adopter to start to become productive available content management solutions. An organisation involved in public projwithout too much additional effort. Then there is the question of intent: What ects will need to know about Construction

However, for building design products is the purpose of creating the BIM model Operations Building Information Exchange especially, these vendor-supplied libraries and where is the information derived from (COBie), the schema that can be used for quickly become limiting and the increas- it destined to be employed? delivering facilities information often ingly proficient user will want to extend the A workflow that does not require collab- directly from a BIM model. libraries to use less generic, more special- oration with other BIM capable organisa- I will not go into detail about COBie here ised components. tions has different requirements of its BIM but will point out that to create a BIM

All mainstream BIM design products component library than one that partici- model that contains the information will allow fast modification of existing pates in a fully realised BIM enabled sup- required to create a COBie dataset, content components or the creation of entirely new ply chain. For example, an architect spe- must populated with COBie data. ones as a project requires, often without cialising in domestic projects whose pri- The BIM Task Group, the collection of leaving the design environment and with mary deliverables are visualisations pro- working parties that are supporting and an emphasis on upholding productivity. vided to the client and 2D drawings deliv- helping deliver the objectives of the UK However, this ability to modify a BIM ered to the builder, will optimise its com- government’s Construction Strategy particcomponent library, potentially without ponents for producing that information in ularly around BIM, has a wealth of inforrestriction, presents a new set of challeng- that format and will probably only need to mation on its website, including a template es. What if one user modifies a component comply with a basic standard. repository aimed primarily at manufacturthat is used by the rest of the organisation Conversely a building services engineer ers wishing to create BIM content that supto the detriment of the organisation as a engaged in a centrally procured govern- ports COBie data delivery. whole? How would you know if that modi- ment project will be required to deliver fication has been made? How do you stop very specific datasets from the BIM model, Source content multiple users creating the same compo- which means the component library will Why waste effort on creating BIM content nent or share components used in other need to conform to some very specific when someone else can do it? As an projects? industry standards. Autodesk partner that implements design

Content management is not a solutions to both the connew activity for a design organisation using CAD but the importance and relevance of ‘‘ It is important to understand that for struction and manufacturing industries we have been working hard to help manublock or symbol libraries was many, their library represents intellectual facturers understand the often diminished where the deliverable was a physical or property with as much value as the BIM value of delivering BIMready information to their electronic document, formatted project information derived from it clients. to be consumed by the human We have been able to demeye. This aspect of planning BIM ’’ onstrate that designers will specify products from supadoption will have many associated consid- This variation in relevance for the same pliers that provide BIM-ready components erations. Where will you store your core digital building component can be quanti- because of the availability of information content library? A network location acces- fied by the concept of ‘Level of and the commitment to the cause those sible to all makes sense but what about Development’ (LOD). At its simplest, LOD suppliers deliver. It is certainly worth askthose consumers of the content that use in a product like Revit can apply to the dis- ing suppliers if they are BIM ready or visit laptops and sometimes work away from the play of the geometry at different scales one of the dedicated content providers. network? depending on how the output is formatted. The NBS National BIM Library,

Who should be able to create content? Ductwork design in Revit MEP produc- (nationalBIMlibrary.com) and BIMStore Should it just be those who have been ing documentation at a scale of 1:100 will (bimstore.co.uk), are two leading commertrained? But won’t that slow the users down only need a coarse representation of the run cial online providers of content in the UK if they have to find a content author when with little detail around the flanges, fixings which have an increasingly rich library of they need something new? and hangers. With detailed documentation, content. Autodesk has its own content

How about restricting the submission of where the views are produced at a scale of exchange called Autodesk Seek. new or amended components to nominated 1:5, it is preferable to show the joints in a Our advice is to understand what is your librarians who can check their quality and much finer detail which does include the organisation’s ultimate BIM deliverable in add them to the organisational library? flange thickness and fixing bolts. Therefore the short and long term and plan your conThis tends to be the approach that many the same digital component within a BIM tent management strategy accordingly. organisations take when they start using model needs to support varying levels of Get a feel for what content is provided Revit and is sufficiently robust to satisfy detail depending on its application. with new BIM products; identify where to minimum data control requirements. LOD, a term used by American Institute, store content libraries and who will be

However, a whole new set of responsibili- takes this concept further by considering responsible for maintaining it. ties need to be added to someone’s busy what specific information is attached at It is important to understand that for workload and as more projects produce a each level of development. The information many, their library represents intellectual BIM deliverable that workload becomes attached to conceptual models is mainly property with as much value as the BIM more significant. concerned with geometry and materials, project information derived from it.

Furthermore, as components are refined, where as a model used to create working ■ cadline.co.uk