Different stakeholders use the ‘Information’ in Building Information Modeling (BIM) for different purposes and last weeks panel discussion hosted by Consult Australia was a good opportunity to hear frank discussions from different stakeholders about how and why they use BIM. The panel discussion at the ‘BIM for Asset Owners’ event was chaired by Partner & 5D Quantity Surveyor, David Mitchell, and included; Bob Baird (Executive Director at Department of Defence), Paul Nunn (Senior BIM Consultant at CSI Global) and Brett Taylor (Director at Bornhorst and Ward).

What I got from this is that from an asset owner’s perspective, the focus isn’t necessarily on the model itself but the information that is contained within the model.

Bob Baird, Executive Director of CFPC, Capital Facilities Branch, Infrastructure Division, Department of Defence has been an advocate of integrating BIM into Department of Defence Assets and sees a real benefit in managing data they require for Facilities Management (FM) from a building model.

Defence runs 25,000 separate assets and we’re probably the largest land owner in Australia and it’s all about information. I find when we talk BIM the focus is on the M for Model but the real focus should be on the I part, for information, with the M to be Management.

But what information do owners require?

Is it something that consultants have an understanding of when they start their design? Brett Taylor, Director, Bornhorst & Ward has been a key driver in their companies implementation of BIM and moving their company to the use of REVIT as their authoring tool for all projects and has been using BIM to collaborate with other disciplines.

We do have good information from when we work with QS’s or shop detailers that we deal with directly when we go out and talk to them and found out what their requirements are so we pump that into the model.ö

He sees there is room for improvement in understanding what Asset owners, the end users of the building, would want from a Model.

We’ve got some good ideas from what we’ve found but overall it could be better I suppose, to understand up front.

But do owners themselves know what data they want to be able to manage from a model?

Paul Nunn, Senior BIM Consultant, Construction, CSI Global Services says that although owners may not know what they require from a model at the beginning of a process that if a builder is using a model for construction the majority of the information will already be contained within it.

The reality is that if we get the bulk of the information that a consultant would normally put into a model, with the schedules and specifications, if that’s included in the model that’s already 10 times more data than the client ever needs. Actually the builder needs a lot more information than the client ever will.

Who can you trust and where can you look for answers?

Bob Baird found that there isn’t an owners’ manual or a place to look that provides the answers on how to prescribe what asset owners should be asking from their consultants but some direction can be provided from NATSPEC, BUILDING SMART and the UK Government who have mandated the use of BIM on projects by 2016.

When Bob was asked which consultants he could work with and trust to work with on the implementation of BIM he said that I think we can trust the vast majority of people that we’ve spoken to.

BIM, as the old adage goes, is not a destination but a journey, and one that should reduce risk and cost, and the best way to start the journey is to talk to others with BIM experience, talk to your consultants and push to use BIM on your next project. The real risk lies in standing still and not embracing Building Information Modeling.

Release of the McGraw Hill SmartMarket Report on the ôBusiness Value of BIM in Australia and New Zealandö calls for greater BIM education and for Australian and New Zealand advocates to demand better content and shared data (p. 6)

In late 2013, McGraw Hill conducted 435 online surveys with Architects, Engineers, Contractors, Consultants and Building Owners from across Australia and New Zealand’s construction industry.

The Australia and New Zealand Business Value of BIM SmartMarket Report released today analyses the full range of data received and, in relation to BIM adoption, the levels of experience and collaboration, expected and estimated return on investment and likely future importance and adoption rates of BIM in five years in Australia and New Zealand.

On reading the report and listening to the speakers at today’s Consult Australia Technology Symposium, it is clear that greater sharing of models and data will provide the best incentive to improve the BIM and engage all project team members to return the benefits.

What the client wants:

Over two thirds of respondents reported that working with team members who have BIM expertise improves project outcomes and increases quality (P11).

What we are seeing on the ground is a need to shift the thinking from mandatory BIM implementation (ie. UK model) to best practice design and construction.

The ANZ SmartMarket Report data also suggests that building owners within both the public and private sectors are likely to have the greatest influence on BIM adoption (P7).

Clients will always expect better design and properly coordinated delivery of the project – on time and within budget. BIM is a tool that assists in delivering what the client wants. The technology facilitates the improvement in best practice. The project team should apply BIM because it makes business sense to do so. It generates savings through efficiencies like the development and implementation of any new technology or process should.

What the designer wants:

Canada reports that 89% of contractors æalways or often’ receive models from designers (P6). When it comes to expectations in receiving models from designers in Australia and New Zealand, just 9% hold this view. We rank at the lowest end, well below all other regions. In comparison to the US (44%), South Korea (50%), Brazil (50%) and UK (29%) our real BIM adoption rate falls far short of what we think is happening in relation to BIM take up and real project collaboration.

According to the report, over two thirds of Architects and Engineers are requesting ômore 3D Building Product manufacturer-specific contentö (P6). With the ground swell of take up amongst Architects and Engineers, the report highlights the need for this group particularly to demand content that is searchable and that can be indexed.

When working closely with designers across a range of large and small project, our 5DQS team at Mitchell Brandtman find that the greatest benefit to everyone is reliable data that can be revisioned quickly and accurately as the design develops. The technology allows for this. What is critical to the process is the understanding of the power of this data across the consultancy team and that everyone is aware of its usefulness up and down the chain of supply. Inevitable data anomalies are then able to be identified and rectified collectively and quickly.

What the Contractor wants

According to McGraw Hill’s report, Australian and New Zealand contractors are more likely to focus on whole of project team benefits through improved BIM processes (P21). Contractors rated more highly (in comparison to architects and engineers), better data integration, functionality and interoperability of the software as the factors most likely to increase the BIM benefits for users.

Contractors in Australia and New Zealand also seem to be leading the way in their plans to invest/upgrade IT infrastructure expressing high to very high importance for BIM (P42). More than half of the contractors who responded also plan to invest in developing collaborative BIM processes which McGraw Hill reports is outpacing the average of all other global regions.

What is also evident from the statistics overall is the role of the Contractors. The data supports the view that this group is most likely to be the key drivers of BIM adoption in Australia and New Zealand in the next few years given their calls for greater functionality of the software and more clearly defined deliverables to support BIM (P21).

In our experience when working with Contractors, particularly on large scale commercial and public sector projects, they are focused on IPD (Integrated Project Delivery) and VDC (Virtual Design and Construction) as the means to successfully deliver a project on time and on budget. IPD provides contractors with a softer way to contract. VDC allows contractors to rehearse the build which reduces waste and delivers a leaner project more likely to be on time and within budget.

Contractors want to derisk the project through accurate and fast, updatable documentation. All parties participating in BIM achieve this. Efficiency should be the driver for increased adoption and this is only going to come from greater sharing of project successes, knowledge sharing of work-arounds and software developments and full collaboration across the project team from preliminary design through construction and post construction.

Trades Take Up Fast

Contractors are reporting high proficiency use amongst Mechanical/Sheet Metal/Plumber trade contractors in Australia and New Zealand (P12). It is most likely that these trades can more readily see the immediate financial benefits and process improvements, particularly where they are moving to greater prefabrication (P14).

Given that on a typical building project trades make up approximately 83% of construction costs it is expected that BIM will most likely bring about the most immediate savings and benefits to the subcontractors. This is certainly what we are seeing on our 5D projects.

Engaging Non-Users

When we look more closely at the non-users responses more than two thirds believe that their competitors are using BIM but over 40% of them feel that it is at a low implementation level, of less than 15% of projects (P46). The report points specifically to this being more commonly thought within companies working domestically only.

By contrast, all large Contractors (revenues of $250million+) perceive that their competitors are using BIM and half of those believe it is at a high implementation level.

The top benefit that would influence take up for both non-user Contractors and Architects/Engineers is more accurate construction documents followed closely by improved communication (P47). What is surprising is that amongst the early BIM adopters these are both generally considered as immediate and achievable deliverables when implementing BIM across the project team.

It’s always about industry best practice

The report makes a strong case for greater education amongst domestically focused and small companies in Australia and New Zealand yet to adopt BIM or who are still at a very low level of implementation.

Whilst the strength of the advocacy of BIM in Australia and the number of organisations collaborating and conversing on how to improve it is essential, developing sound business strategy at the individual level to improve ROI is imperative. This can be achieved through better design and model data management and is likely to have a greater impact on adoption rates and encourage best industry practice. Historically this has always remained the greatest incentive for adoption of any new process or technology.

Whilst the industry debates the need for a national standard, what may serve us better is focusing on standardising the elements that can report the ROI coming out of better design and model integration of 4D and 5D.

We also need industry wide education on the best practice benefits of project collaboration along the supply chain. We know early decisions have a high ability to influence time and costs. We need to look beyond the issues of where we should be on the BIM journey and focus efforts on who can influence best practice at the early stages of design. This may create far greater success in leveraging BIM’s benefits throughout the design, construction and post construction phases for those in the project team who choose to adopt.

I recently attended the first BrisBIM event of 2014 along with a full house of 180 other people.

The appeal of BrisBIM lies in the people that attend and the networking opportunities it presents. A wide range of people attend, from Builders, Architects, Engineers, Quantity Surveyors and Technology consultants – it’s rife with interesting BIM conversations. Presenters generally speak openly about their experiences and projects which means there is some good insights especially when hearing from contractors.

Two presentations that I found of particular interest were:

4D Workflows and What’s Missing

Peter Ayre from Lend Lease explained they are making good progress with 4D (tying time and schedules to models) by using Navisworks and linking this back into P6. His experience was that whilst there are a lot of people claiming that they do 4D well, we are yet to see it being used to it’s full potential.

The Road to BIM: The John Holland Story so Far

Donald Cameron (pictured below) and Andrew Mattiske from John Holland also gave a talk that caught my attention. They spoke of the sophisticated system that they utilise on some of their builds where they can scan data from installed materials and are able to produce accurate as built models. Of particular interest to me was their ability to generate progress reports from the model and their inclusion of this data in their progress claims.

One point I continually take away from BrisBIM is how important collaboration is in order to get the most out of our building models. Recently Jennifer MacDonald, currently a lecturer at UTS, wrote a great article on our Blog focusing on collaboration from a research v’s education v’s industry viewpoint (she was a structural engineer for 10 years in the UK as well as Australia and is now a lecturer at UTS), and how important collaboration really is if we are to take BIM and design to the next level. Take a read.

Similarly, below is an exert that I like from Donald Cameron and Andrew Mattiske’s presentation that places collaboration as a cornerstone of positioning the Australian AEC industry in good stead against the threat of global competition:

“From an AEC industry perspective – we’re all in this together. We’re a manufacturing industry to some extent, similarly we’re going to be more and more exposed to the global trends, much the same way that the internet has affected news media. I certainly see that this technological age as having an impact in much the same way that we can design a building here to be made overseas, there’s obviously the competition and threat that the same thing can happen here. And we’ve got to be ready for it. And I see the best way for us being ready is by being integrated and working more collaboratively.”

I would love to hear your feedback on how you and your business are collaborating to get the most out of BIM. Please leave a comment in the box below.

If you’re in Brisbane for the next event on Wednesday 16th April 2014 be sure to come along. See you there!

In the fifth and final installment of David’s BIM Day Out presentation David answers a few questions about classification systems, green design and costs, accurate 3D model geometry and why you must always model the way that the project is constructed.

youtu.be/eq9WkCgytEM

For more information on BIM visit our BIM Advocacy pages by clicking here.

Also, view all parts of this video series by clicking on these links:

• Part 1: What Skills does a 5D QS need?
• Part 2: What is a 5D QS’s methodology?
• Part 3: Contracting & Applying the Methodology
• Part 4: What does BIM mean for Costs?

Be notified the very moment any new videos are posted by subscribing to our YouTube channel:

To understand who owns the savings that come about from Building Information Modeling you need to understand when a contract is formed and where the money is.

David Mitchell, Partner & 5D Quantity Surveyor at Mitchell Brandtman, explains what BIM means for costs in Part 4 of his BIM Day Out presentation. Watch the short video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUQVfTd4Vj0

Also take a look at the other Parts in this video series: Part 1: ‘What Skills does a 5D QS need?‘, Part 2: ‘What is a 5D QS’s Methodology?‘ and Part 3: ‘Contracting & Applying the Methodology‘.

As well as our other BIM Cost article: “BIM Cost Benefits: Who Owns the Savings?”

This series of videos is from BIM Day Out where they have more great BIM presentations over at BIMtv. You may also be interested in BIMCrunch.com’s article “BIM Cost Benefits – Who Owns the Savings?”.

In Part 3 of David’s BIM Day Out presentation Partner and 5D Quantity Surveyor David Mitchell talks BIM Execution Plans, Contracting, and Applying the 5D QS Methodology https://youtu.be/hD3_voybM_U

This short video follows on from ‘What Skills does a 5D QS need?‘ (Part 1) and ‘What is a 5D QS’s Methodology?‘ (Part 2).

This talk is from BIM Day Out in Perth where they have more great BIM presentations over at BIMtv.

Partner and 5D Quantity Surveyor, David MitchellBIM Day Out event in Perth on “5D’s of Digital Design, Documentation and Delivery”.

In Part 2 David covers off on the 5D QS methodology. https://youtu.be/9seMRePr6jw

Click here to check out Part 1 – “What Skills does a 5D QS need?” and you can also view more great BIM video’s and presentations at the BIM Day Out’s website.

Be sure to sign up to the Mitchell Brandtman YouTube channel by clicking the red button below to be notified when Part 3, “Contracting & Applying the Methodology”, is released:

Partner and 5D Quantity Surveyor, David MitchellBIM Day Out event in Perth on “5D’s of Digital Design, Documentation and Delivery”.

In Part 1 David covers off on the skills that a 5D QS needs to not only create cost certainty but to also help deliver a successful project.http://youtu.be/ir3ybJt5rRs&w=512&h=308

David also contributed an article to BIMCrunch titled “5D BIM: What Skills does a 5D QS need?” which you can read here. You can also view more great BIM video’s and presentations at the BIM Day Out’s website.

Be sure to sign up to the Mitchell Brandtman Blog (by entering your email address in the box on the right hand side) and be notified as soon as the next part of the presentation is released, titled “What is a 5D QS’s Methodology?”.

For more information please feel free to email David direct.

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Late last month I attended ‘The Reveal’ – an announcement of the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct Design Competition. Mitchell Brandtman formed part of the Nikken Sekkei team, led by internationally renowned Architects Nikken Sekkei. Our team’s design scheme progressed into stage 2 of the competition in June this year, shortlisting us with only two other firms out of a total of 75 submissions from around the world.

We knew we had proposed a bold scheme – actually ‘bold and arresting’ in the organiser’s words – and that it would push traditional boundaries and thinking. It was strikingly different yet playful and inclusive. Very Gold Coast, we thought. And I must say that personally, it was some of the most unique and challenging cost planning that I have done in my career!

Here’s what the Jury had to say:

“Nikken Sekkei’s striking design reflected the æweb of water’ which defines both the Gold Coast and surrounds the cultural precinct site.

The web is incorporated, both dramatically and subtly, into the submission’s landscape and built forms. Most spectacularly, a grand æwater stage’, with dimensions of 195.9m x 195.9m, celebrates the founding year of the Gold Coast in 1959.

These twin references, of the city’s founding date and the ubiquitous presence of water û shimmering, flowing, falling û celebrate the site’s location and its coastal character.

Centrally located, the water stage links three landscape zones; nature park to the north, water front to the north east, and the civic field to the south west. A series of smaller landscapes are created as sub-divisions of these three primary zones, such as a rain forest, grass land, water garden and indigenous garden.Dual approaches from a Chevron Island green bridge deliver visitors either to ground-level or the elevated water stage.The five senses of sight, sound, touch, smell and taste are engaged across the site.

The water stage doubles as a multi-purpose performance venue and promenade, offering arresting views of the city skyline and hinterland. Depth of water is cleverly controlled, ranging from only a few centimetres deep to dry, providing opportunities for small and large performance spaces to emerge. It also mirrors a typical æQueenslander’ roof, offering protective shade to the central amphitheatre below.

Both the New Arts Museum, in the form of small, separated pods, and the Living Arts Centre are also partially nestled below the water stage.

In the Living Arts Centre the existing building is retained and enhanced, with two theatres connected by a shared stage accommodating up to 1800 people. At night, its wrapped fly tower, protruding through the water stage becomes a digital screen for outdoor cinema or illumination.

An holistic approach is taken to precinct programming, with the whole site treated as a museum. The covered amphitheatre provides opportunities for mixed programming, with potential for audience viewing both under and on top of the Water Stage”

Unfortunately our team’s scheme did not take out the top prize on the night however was held in high regard by the Jury and competition organisers. We are proud of the concept and how far our team got in the competition. It’s just such a shame that we all won’t be able to see this concept come to lifeà

Congratulations to the ARM Architecture team for their winning design.

For more information on the Gold Coast Cultural Precinct visit the website here: www.goldcoastculturalprecinct.info or feel free to email myself directly.

The BrisBIM End of Year Gathering took place last week at QUT’s ‘The Cube’ – a very fitting location that features one of the world’s largest digital interactive learning and display spaces – part science lab, part digital engagement.

Mitchell Brandtman’s 5D team went along and joined a host of 12 presenters talking for only 2 minutes about projects they had successfully completed. Perhaps “SpeedBIM” should have been theme of the evening?

Besides from the great results achieved on projects all around Australia a highlight came from Tom de Plater of Peddle Thorp Architects who talked about Autodesk’s ‘123D Catch’ software which is a free App that allows you to generate models from pictures using your phone or tablet.

If you’re wondering what’s going on in the pictures below that’s Associate & 5D Quantity Surveyor Matt Hemming checking this new software out – on himself!

Now to test it on something with cleaner geometry! https://youtu.be/OxsmnDKO7D0

We hope to see you at the next BrisBIM event on the 19th Feb 2014 – Put that date in your diary. See you there!