Along with many other areas of the digital world, Virtual Reality (VR) has developed in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. With improved quality and affordability, it is now realistic for practices of any size to utilise VR in their day to day interactions with clients and project partners.

In early 2017 AEC Magazine reported that Gensler, one of the world’s largest design and architecture firms was adopting VR throughout the design process. Their design director Hao Ko commented on the advantages that the ability to “walk through” a design. “More often than not, I’ll go to my own projects and I’ll be like, ‘Wow! That’s a lot bigger than I expected.’”

In January this year the Chartered Institute of Building’s BIM+ portal suggested that VR could be the crucial driver to the wider adoption of BIM levels 2 and beyond. Despite government insistence on BIM’s use on public projects, there is evidence that some clients are still not requiring it, and contractors and specialist engineers are not offering it during the tendering process. Hao’s assertion above that VR helps clients get a “feel” for a building in a way that 2D or even 3D drawings on a screen will never do is only part of its benefit.

The ability to check for constructability issues, both at the whole building level and when examining very small sections of the project can result in savings of cost and time on site. “Walking through” the service ducts of a building to iron out routing problems and placement of air conditioning in hotel rooms for maximum effectiveness and minimum intrusion for instance.

Placing a building in its environment and being able to visualise it in context has always been a problem when talking to clients and planners. With up to thirty percent of self-build projects denied planning permission initially on the grounds of incompatibility with the locality, the use of VR would enable stakeholders to understand the architect’s vision and appreciate the effect of the new structure on its surroundings.

Steve Martin Technical Director of the Electrical Contractors Association advocates for the use of VR by specialist engineers. “The price of VR technology has dropped significantly recently. If … the benefits become more widely known, we might see the technology become more accessible and affordable to companies throughout the construction supply chain.” Driving Vision’s long experience in the world of VR is being brought to BIM. Our work with clients of all sizes and disciplines is demonstrating that VR is a viable, valuable tool in bringing project partners together and enabling design work to be both quicker and more cost effective. Get in touch to book a demonstration of our Virtual Reality capabilities and learn about our support for BIM processes.

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