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Staying up-to-date with Building Information Modelling (BIM)

News Team

A forthcoming seminar on BIM – its growing importance in today’s manufacturing industry and the wider business world – features key speakers from a number of sectors.

BIM – a digital representation of a building, or piece of infrastructure – can ultimately contain information of the construction’s whole lifecycle, from conception to demolition. This knowledge can be shared between clients; construction teams and facilities managers and can include data on costs, carbon, and maintenance schedules.

Working effectively with BIM is a key ongoing issue for engineers in the building services, construction and manufacturing industries. In 2011 the Government announced that collaborative 3D building information modelling would be required on all major government projects by 2016. Data attached to the model, such as information on costs and health and safety, will therefore be available to all. Before this happens, standards have to be developed to allow data exchange and legal issues on copyright and responsibilities to be ironed out.

At the Institution of Mechanical Engineers conference at One Birdcage Walk on 7 November – entitled Manufacturing with BIM: Ensuring cost-effective integration– delegates will understand how many companies are already benefiting from developing their products into BIM objects. An update from the Construction Industry Council will explore the Government’s performance plans as other speakers discuss the challenges faced in data exchange and safeguarding projects from cyber security risks.

Case studies from, among others, Crossrail and Anglian Water; as well as perspectives from service engineers, architects, contractors, security experts and BIM technology developers; will illustrate the latest thinking and future implementation.

The @one Alliance, on behalf of Anglian Water, is a frontier performer in the water industry; using innovative thinking to deliver low carbon, low cost, fit-for-purpose capital solutions. Lindsey Taylor, Product-Based Delivery Manager, and Mark Hedges, CAD Manager, will talk about Integrating Standard Products and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) at the conference.

Their presentation will chart how, over the past five years, and through the use of off-site manufacturing, standard product solutions and PLM, the @one Alliance has reduced on-site construction time by up to 90%; overall costs by 45%; and embodied carbon by up to 50%.

Illustrating more about the journey the Alliance has taken to integrate its product-based delivery and PLM strategies, Lindsey and Mark will explain real case studies that have delivered tangible benefits; and reveal the company’s aspirations for the future.

The real issues of data exchange and interoperability within BIM – such as when your supply chain uses different systems – are addressed by Rob Jackson, Associate, Bond Bryan Architects. The practice has used its BIM authoring tool for almost 20 years and, most recently, has invested heavily in understanding the facts and challenges around reliable data exchange.

David Philp, Head of BIM Implementation at the Cabinet Office, will discuss the value BIM provides through the asset lifecycle and the vision of a BIM-enabled future.

Andy Sneyd, President Elect of the Building and Engineering Services Association (B&ES), will explain how BIM is driving Health & Safety while improving client value and contractor quality of earnings.

Crossrail's Malcolm Taylor will explain the impact BIM has had on the project, particularly on operation and maintenance.

Hugh Boyes from the IET will address the cyber security concerns surrounding BIM and how to mitigate them.

For more information and to register for the conference:

www.imeche.org/events/S1766
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