We have discussed the use of BIM in publicly funded projects before. The government, and the devolved Welsh and Scottish parliaments, mandate the use of BIM in all projects. While local authorities and bodies like the NHS and Social housing providers have been less absolute about the use of BIM in their work it is becoming the norm where public money is being spent. One of the aims of publicly funded bodies is to utilise local businesses in local projects, which means that the smaller practice will be moving into areas where experience with BIM is an advantage if not a necessity. We will look at this more fully in a future blog.

All the reasons to use BIM including improved collaboration, communication and interaction apply to both large and smaller practices. This is particularly important as, increasingly, smaller practices, by which we mean those with 10 or fewer employees, are engaged in local projects where the liaison between the different parties working on the project is key. In these situations, BIM can help simply as a means of maintaining a clear overview of the project’s status.

BIM is now affecting all stages of the property cycle. For example, the building materials supplier Weinerberger, who have a considerable stake in the Social Housing sector, have recently promoted the use of BIM to create information files comprising all the relevant COBie data for the property in the Local Authority Building and Maintenance magazine. According to the article, Using BIM will enable the understanding of a property’s maintenance and lifecycle requirements allowing for a quick review of the inventory without the need for costly site audits. Making use of this data through utilising the BIM process will also aid Facilities Management, meaning that the Facilities Manager and their contractors can apply better proactive control.

One of the possible objections to a small practice’s implementation of BIM is the lack of resources that can be diverted from routine work. Driving Vision have a process specifically designed to assist the small practice, ensuring that you have the most appropriate technology, software and storage to enable you to work within the BIM process, and guiding you through the implementation from a practical project based standpoint. Get in touch to learn more about how Driving Vision can support your BIM implementation, and for a demonstration of our process.

Implementing BIM can be daunting, but Driving Vision is here to help you at the pace you are comfortable with. Get started by getting in touch now