Reports on the potential of BIM in the built environment

In a bid to support professionals in the built environment sector, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has released three new research reports focused on Building Information Modelling (BIM).

Alan Muse, RICS global director of Built Environment Professional Groups, says these new reports look at the development and effects of BIM across valuation and construction.

BIM has largely become a symbol in some quarters of how technology is changing and the profound impact this will have on how the sector develops into the future.

This is according to TC Chetty, RICS Country Manager for South Africa, who says the new research papers aim to share insights and experiences from various stages of the real estate life-cycle, and examine various aspects of how and where BIM technologies are employed to improve project coordination.

“BIM was originally developed by the architecture, engineering and construction sectors, but as these research papers illustrate, it also has its uses in other areas and sectors where it can influence project costs and facilitate better information flow.”

Alan Muse, RICS global director of Built Environment Professional Groups, says these new reports look at the development and effects of BIM across valuation and construction. They emphasise that a collaborative tool requires collaborative implementation in order to gain the full benefits of improved technology and standards.

Collaborative Building Information Modelling: Insights from Behavioural Economics and Incentive Theory (April 2015).

This report outlines the findings from a research project that explores the potential and pitfalls of collaboration on construction projects, and matches these with an analysis of BIM. The work investigates how BIM can improve information flows and enable collaborative working practices, particularly among suppliers in the lower tiers of the construction supply chain.

Utilisation of BIM in Construction Cost and Project Management Practice: North America, China & the UK (June 2015).

This report examines how BIM is used in the North American, Chinese and the United Kingdom (UK) construction markets, and the opportunities and challenges faced by professionals in its development.

Building Information Modelling and the Value Dimension (June 2015)

This report investigates the potential for property professionals to use BIM data. Workshops were held with property professionals in Sydney and London, along with a global online survey to identify the data types and needs of property professionals, which were then mapped out across the property lifecycle.

Chetty says as the built environment sector begins to see the value of BIM, and as it is adopted internationally, the case for international standards becomes clearer. International Construction Measurement Standards (ICMS) can support BIM standards and help provide a common direction to how BIM develops in different countries.

“RICS is currently working in a coalition of global organisations to create such overarching international standards that will harmonise cost, classification and measurement definitions in the constructions sector. This will enhance comparability, consistency and benchmarking of capital projects around the world.”

Muse says improving certainty in construction delivery is key to encouraging greater global investment in buildings and infrastructure. Collaboration and integration are the cornerstones of project performance improvement and hence improved certainty.

BIM is a tool to drive this change. International Construction Measurement Standards also aim to improve certainty through harmonising construction measurement and cost. BIM and ICMS inter-connect, because better standards improve the global application of BIM tools, he says.

In several countries around the world, governments and professional bodies are seeing the advantages of BIM.

In the UK, the government requires that collaborative 3D BIM be used for all its projects by 2016. In the US, the General Services Administration, which manages US Federal Properties, has mandated the use of BIM at the design stage of its buildings.

In Canada, non-governmental agencies such as the Canada BIM Council and others have been formed to facilitate and promote the use of BIM across the construction industry on both public and private sector projects.