Building Information Modelling (BIM): Trends, Benefits, Risks, and Challenges for the AEC Industry
Building information modelling (BIM) is one of the most promising recent developments in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. With BIM technology, an accurate virtual model of a building is digitally constructed. This model, known as a building information model, can be used for planning, design, construction, and operation of the facility. It helps architects, engineers, and constructors visualize what is to be built in a simulated environment to identify any potential design, construction, or operational issues. BIM represents a new paradigm within AEC, one that encourages the integration of the roles of all stakeholders on a project.
The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry have long sought techniques to decrease project cost, increase productivity and quality, and reduce project delivery time. Building information modeling (BIM) offers the potential to achieve these objectives. BIM simulates the construction project in a virtual environment. With BIM technology, an accurate virtual model of a building, known as a building information model, is digitally constructed. When completed, the building information model contains precise geometry and relevant data needed to support the design, procurement, fabrication, and construction activities required to realize the building. After completion, this model can be used for operations and maintenance purposes.
A building information model characterizes the geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, quantities and properties of building elements, cost estimates, material inventories, and project schedules. The model can be used to demonstrate the entire building life cycle. As a result, quantities and shared properties of materials can be readily extracted. Scopes of work can be easily isolated and defined. Systems, assemblies, and sequences can be shown in a relative scale within the entire facility or group of facilities. Construction documents such as drawings, procurement details, submittal processes, and other specifications can be easily interrelated.
BIM can be viewed as a virtual process that encompasses all aspects, disciplines, and systems of a facility within a single, virtual model, allowing all design team members (owners, architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers) to collaborate more accurately and efficiently than using traditional processes. As the model is being created, team members are constantly refining and adjusting their portions according to project specifications and design changes to ensure the model is as accurate as possible before the project physically breaks ground.
It is important to note that BIM is not just software; it is a process and software. BIM means not only using three-dimensional intelligent models but also making significant changes in the workflow and project delivery processes.
Applications of Building Information Modelling
A building information model can be used for the following purposes:
Visualization: 3D renderings can be easily generated in house with little additional effort.
Fabrication/shop drawings: It is easy to generate shop drawings for various building systems. For example, the sheet metal ductwork shop drawings can be quickly produced once the model is complete
Code reviews: Fire departments and other officials may use these models for their review of building projects.
Cost estimating: BIM software has built-in cost estimating features. Material quantities are automatically extracted and updated when any changes are made in the model.
Construction sequencing: A building information model can be effectively used to coordinate material ordering, fabrication, and delivery schedules for all building components.
Conflict, interference, and collision detection: Because building information models are created to scale in 3D space, all major systems can be instantly and automatically checked for interferences. For example, this process can verify that piping does not intersect with steel beams, ducts, or walls.
Forensic analysis: A building information model can be easily adapted to graphically illustrate potential failures, leaks, evacuation plans, and so forth.
Facilities management: Facilities management departments can use it for renovations, space planning, and maintenance operations.
Know how to become a BIM Manager.
The key benefit of a building information model is its accurate geometrical representation of the parts of a building in an integrated data environment. Other related benefits are as follows:
Faster and more effective processes: Information is more easily shared and can be value-added and reused.
Better design: Building proposals can be rigorously analysed, simulations performed quickly, and performance benchmarked, enabling improved and innovative solutions.
Controlled whole-life costs and environmental data: Environmental performance is more predictable, and lifecycle costs are better understood.
Better production quality: Documentation output is flexible and exploits automation.
Automated assembly: Digital product data can be exploited in downstream processes and used for the manufacturing and assembly of structural systems.
Better customer service: Proposals are better understood through accurate visualization.
Lifecycle data: Requirements, design, construction, and operational information can be used in facilities management.
Role of BIM in the AEC Industry: Current and Future Trends
Some of the key findings about BIM are as follows:
Architects were the heaviest users of BIM—43% used it on more than 60% of their projects—while contractors were the lightest users, with nearly half (45%) using it on less than 15% of projects and only a quarter (23%) using it on more than 60% of projects.
Eighty-two percent of BIM users believed that BIM had a very positive impact on their company’s productivity.
Seventy-nine percent of BIM users indicated that the use of BIM improved project outcomes, such as fewer requests for information (RFIs) and decreased field coordination problems.
Sixty-six percent of those surveyed believed use of BIM increased their chances of winning projects.
Two-third of users mentioned that BIM had at least a moderate impact on their external project practices.
he report predicted that the prefabrication capabilities of BIM would be widely used to reduce costs and improve the quality of work put in place. As a whole, BIM adoption was expected to expand within firms and across the AEC industry.
While summarizing 100s of projects world over the main findings of the benefits are as follows:
The use of BIM had significantly increased across all phases of design and construction during the past year.
BIM users represented all segments of the design and construction industry, and they operated throughout the globe.
The major application areas of BIM were construction document development, conceptual design support, and pre-project planning services.
At the time of the survey, most companies used BIM for 3D and 4D clash detections and for planning and visualization services.
A shortage was noted of competent building information modelers in the construction industry, and demand was expected to grow exponentially with time.
BIM Challenge: Deficit of Experts
The need for professionals and experts in the field of Building Information Modeling (BIM) is evident in today's construction industry. Despite abundant opportunities for growth, the same can only be embraced when adequate talent is sourced for relevant projects. This need for experts in the BIM sector is not just prominent in one region; it is a challenge faced by many economies across the globe.
With the outbreak of global pandemic, the need for reliable, remote collaboration solutions has become even more crucial. With teams working in various time zones and geographical locations, the need for seamless solutions has become critical.
This is where Bimtower.in comes into the picture - offering an online marketplace for hiring BIM professionals and experts from all across the globe. With an effective digital platform, it is possible to hire the best talent and also keep the progress of project transparent and time-bound.
At Bimtower.in, we provide an acumen to bridge the gaps between BIM experts and job seekers. Our platform allows architects and construction managers to acquire timely help in matters revolving around BIM, be it hiring of professionals or seeking advice on projects.
We understand the potential of BIM technology and its capabilities, and our mission is to make sure that everyone gets to benefit from it. We are devoted to bringing top-notch BIM experts to our marketplace which would in turn help project teams from all across the world to access the best BIM knowledge, guidance and expertise available.
Our marketplace provides an integrated view of projects for project managers, quality assurance and all stakeholders involved, making sure that the project remains on time and within budget. At the same time, we also make sure that remote teams are able to collaborate and share their knowledge within and across projects, paving the way for better use of BIM technology and remote collaborations.
We, at Bimtower.in, strive to become a one-stop-shop and offer an exclusive, single platform to hire BIM professionals and experts, wherever and whenever. Our offers aim to solve the BIM talent deficit and with our seamless platform, we make sure that the construction industry is able to maximize the use of BIM technology to its full capabilities.
The productivity and economic benefits of BIM to the AEC industry are widely acknowledged and increasingly well understood. Further, the technology to implement BIM is readily available and rapidly maturing. Yet BIM adoption has been much slower than anticipated. There are two main reasons, technical and managerial.
The technical reasons can be broadly classified into three categories:
The need for well-defined transactional construction process models to eliminate data interoperability issues.
The requirement that digital design data be computable, and
The need for well-developed practical strategies for the purposeful exchange and integration of meaningful information among the building information model components.
The management issues cluster around the implementation and use of BIM. Right now, there is no clear consensus on how to implement or use BIM. Unlike many other construction practices, there is no single BIM document providing instruction on its application and use. Furthermore, little progress has been made in establishing model BIM contract documents. Several software firms are cashing in on the “buzz” of BIM and have programs to address certain quantitative aspects of it, but they do not treat the process as a whole. There is a need to standardize the BIM process and to define guidelines for its implementation. Another contentious issue among the AEC industry stakeholders (i.e., owners, designers, and constructors) is who should develop and operate the building information models and how the developmental and operational costs should be distributed.
To optimize BIM performance, either companies or vendors, or both, will have to find a way to lessen the learning curve of BIM trainees. Software vendors have a larger hurdle of producing a quality product that customers will find reliable and manageable and that will meet the expectations set by the advertisements. Additionally, the industry will have to develop acceptable processes and policies that promote BIM use and govern today’s issues of ownership and risk management.
