黑洞社区

One of the more surprising announcements in last month鈥檚 Budget 鈥� though, it feels like, just about the only uncontroversial one 鈥� was chancellor George Osborne鈥檚 commitment to the next phase of development of 黑洞社区 Information Modelling (BIM), so-called level 3.

For those in the BIM-literate community this unexpected news somewhat stole the thunder from this spring鈥檚 other big BIM development 鈥� the long-expected moment when the government鈥檚 BIM mandate comes into effect, and it starts procuring all work using the technology. The culmination of a five-year journey which has revolutionised parts of the industry, this coming Monday 鈥� 4 April 鈥� is the date from which central government departments will have to start procuring in collaborative level 2 BIM (if they鈥檙e not already).

Mark Bew, chairman of the BIM Task Group, says the date shouldn鈥檛 feel like a big watershed, as most big government construction departments have been largely procuring using BIM for the past year, but admits that for industry it may be a wake-up call. 鈥淚t means it鈥檚 getting harder and harder and harder to work with government if you鈥檙e not familiar with the technology. The level of complexity of the ask will be variable, but every project will have this as part of the contract.鈥�

Companies can鈥檛 say they weren鈥檛 warned. But the latest evidence, revealed here by 黑洞社区, is that around half of the industry has yet to even start using BIM, let alone get proficient at it. Furthermore, the figures from the annual BIM survey conducted by NBS, show that adoption, far from accelerating, has been stagnating, with the adoption figure the same as that recorded two years ago. Most worryingly, the respondents to the survey, primarily architects, overwhelmingly say the wider industry is not up to speed on BIM: just one in 10 say the construction industry is ready to deliver on the 2016 BIM requirement; by contrast, 70% say it is not.

Alongside growing signs private clients and particularly main contractors are also starting to make BIM capability a requirement of doing business, the findings from the 1,000-strong survey raise serious questions about the future of those businesses which have not yet taken the plunge. So how badly behind is much of the industry, and what does it mean for those that haven鈥檛 yet jumped on the bandwagon?

Stagnating BIM uptake

NBS鈥檚 survey, which had just over 1,000 respondents, confirms once again the huge leap there has been in BIM usage since the government first set the 2016 mandate in 2010 鈥� at which point only around one in 10 in the industry made use of the technology. However, the figure for those currently using BIM 鈥� 54% 鈥� is the same as recorded two years ago (it fell to 48% last year), reinforcing the sense that the rapid uptake seen straight after the level 2 target was set has fizzled out.

Data in other areas is mixed, but it includes worrying signs that the technology has still a distance to mature, with two-thirds saying BIM is not sufficiently standardised, just a quarter saying they trust what they hear about BIM, and almost 60% saying BIM is just for larger organisations. Half of those that haven鈥檛 yet taken it up think it鈥檚 too expensive for them to do so, even though 55% admit they鈥檒l get left behind. Adrian Malleson, head of research at NBS, says respondents who have taken up BIM are very positive about the benefits, but doubts from non-users remain. 鈥淭here鈥檚 now a strategic acceptance of it, but when it comes to the mechanics of delivering BIM in their businesses, there鈥檚 clearly more work to do.鈥�

The worrying thing about the government mandate is it could exclude those who aren鈥檛 the biggest and don鈥檛 have the resources to train staff

Colin Harding, former CIOB president

Clearly usage of BIM will vary enormously according to size of project and sector, with some firms legitimately able to claim they will have little need to acquaint themselves with the technology in the near future 鈥� but BIM Academy director professor David Greenwood suggests others may be burying their heads in the sand. 鈥淯ltimately it depends who you work with, but if you鈥檙e a sizable contractor, then pretty soon this is going to be a real problem to you.鈥�

As an example, contractor Balfour Beatty says it has won 拢1.8bn of work in the past few years on which usage of BIM was compulsory, and which it would have missed out on without BIM expertise. Peter Trebilcock, director of BIM at the firm, says while most of this work was public sector, an increasing number of private clients and contractors are insisting on it, meaning the industry is getting close to a tipping point where it becomes standard practice. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e probably three years from that generally. But for us it鈥檚 already our default 鈥� we鈥檝e seen the benefits and we use BIM wherever possible, even when not specified by the client.鈥�

Nevertheless, Trebilcock echoes the survey findings that 鈥渓arge parts鈥� of the industry aren鈥檛 ready. 鈥淚f you can鈥檛 do BIM, you鈥檒l run the risk of excluding yourself from public and increasingly private work,鈥� he says.

This is potentially more of a problem for smaller businesses, which lack the capital and personnel resources to invest in skilling up for this new challenge. Former Chartered Institute of 黑洞社区 president Colin Harding says: 鈥淭he worrying thing about the government mandate is it could exclude those consultants and contractors who aren鈥檛 the biggest and don鈥檛 have the resources to train staff. We don鈥檛 want medium and small firms excluded from work just because this mandate has been forced through.鈥�

In some ways it鈥檚 strange more firms haven鈥檛 made the leap, given the positive testimony of those already converted. NBS鈥檚 survey finds most BIM users reporting better co-ordination of construction documents, improved visualisation, cost efficiencies and better client outcomes overall. Fewer than one in 20 say they wish they hadn鈥檛 made the switch. James Pellatt, head of projects at London developer GPE, which has pioneered the use of BIM, says he is starting to see huge benefits in procurement negotiations and his contractors are seeing myriad construction benefits. 鈥淎t Rathbone Place [a mixed-use scheme in central London] Lendlease鈥檚 managers on site can immediately see the benefits 鈥� there鈥檚 very little doubt or confusion about who鈥檚 doing what and when. The debates about construction co-ordination just don鈥檛 happen.鈥�

Task Group chair Bew cautions reading too much into the survey findings, and suggests that a figure of half the industry being BIM proficient should not be seen as unexpected. 鈥淚t鈥檚 what I鈥檇 expect to be seeing at this point. I expect the rest of the industry to trickle over in the years to come.鈥� The man who as chief construction adviser told the government to set the BIM deadline, Paul Morrell, is likewise very positive about progress (see page 26): 鈥淕iven how difficult all change is 鈥� particularly in the construction industry 鈥� I think a 50% adoption rate is an astonishingly high level of engagement.

鈥淚t is no great surprise to see the figures 鈥榝lat-lining鈥� as it is a vast industry, operating in many different markets, and the pressures for change will also differ. For projects of scale, however, the reality is that BIM is simply becoming the new way of doing of business.鈥�

What鈥檚 the hold up?

Nevertheless, why aren鈥檛 more firms on board already? The first issue might be the lack of a strong client 鈥減ull鈥�, despite the existence of the mandate. The government鈥檚 decision to use collaborative 3D BIM from April 2016 only actually applies to work from certain big-spending central government departments. So, with less public sector work around, the need for firms to adapt themselves to suit government work is further diminished. In addition, the evidence from the NBS is of confusion over the mandate itself 鈥� four in every 10 say they don鈥檛 know what they have to do to meet the mandate, and only three-quarters believe it will be implemented at all. Bew isn鈥檛 perturbed. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not an industry well-known for innovation and improvement, we鈥檝e had 3 million people to communicate this change to, and we鈥檝e all had to go through a sequence of events to get there. Both government and the industry have had to work spectacularly hard to get where they are today 鈥� we shouldn鈥檛 look for ultimate perfection from day one.鈥�

One of the off-putting factors for companies may have been the way inexperienced government clients have so far gone about tendering projects using BIM. Departments have to set their expectations of how the technology is used on projects with Employers鈥� Information Requirements (EIRs). On one of the first pilot schemes, Cookham Wood, the Ministry of Justice asked for BIM data on nearly all the 鈥淏IM objects鈥� that made up the building 鈥� ultimately generating about 750,000 lines of data, according to Bew, when a maximum of 1,000-2,000 is all that鈥檚 necessary to run a building. 鈥淥ne of the problems we鈥檝e seen is that clients aren鈥檛 clear what they鈥檙e asking for when working in BIM,鈥� says the BIM Academy鈥檚 professor Greenwood. 鈥淐onsultants are drafting EIRs for them and throwing the kitchen sink at it. It鈥檚 causing main contractors some difficulties as they鈥檙e getting too much information at the wrong time.鈥�

Both government and the industry have had to work spectacularly hard to get where they are today 鈥� we shouldn鈥檛 look for perfection from day one

Mark Bew, chairman of the BIM Task Group

Bew, however, maintains this problem has now been solved: 鈥淲e鈥檝e all learnt from that, and it taught us really valuable things. There鈥檚 now an understanding across government we have to be very clear about minimising information requirements,鈥� he says.

Bew has little sympathy for the argument that small firms can鈥檛 afford the investment in software or training to upgrade to a BIM-enabled world 鈥� he says a five-year run-in should have meant that any firm could have incorporated it into its natural business improvement cycle, taking up BIM software when existing CAD software leases required renewing. It is never quite that straightforward in the real world, however, with firms that didn鈥檛 have the money to invest in BIM during the recession now likely to be lacking the time to do so. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e running a business there鈥檚 never an easy time to adopt BIM. When you鈥檝e got the time you鈥檝e not got the money, and when you鈥檝e got the money you probably haven鈥檛 got the time,鈥� admits NBS鈥檚 Malleson.

Certainly NBS鈥檚 surveys show good intentions aren鈥檛 necessarily enough. This year鈥檚 survey finds 95% of respondents saying they鈥檒l be using BIM in three years鈥� time. But looking back three years to the 2013 survey, 91% of respondents said the same thing 鈥� but only 54% are. 鈥淭here鈥檚 clearly a gap between what people intend to do and what they actually do,鈥� says Malleson.

A continuing difficulty for those using BIM is in realising the benefits of improved collaboration that proponents of the technology have promised it will deliver. The NBS finds evidence of collaboration, but still only just over half of those using it are sharing their BIM models with people outside of their organisation 鈥� disappointing because this is, in essence, the point of creating a BIM model. Just 37% use a BIM model from the very start to the very end of a project. Collaboration remains difficult because looking over the shoulders of the architects and engineers are the claims consultants and commercial managers whose job is to protect construction firms鈥� contractual position. Hence the common practice, encouraged by the wording of officially endorsed advice in the CIC鈥檚 BIM Protocol, of companies submitting BIM models with the caveat it is 鈥渇or information only鈥�, and cannot be relied on. 鈥淚t鈥檚 fair to say there is an issue about the reliance you can put on information as it gets passed from one team to another,鈥� says Greenwood. Harding adds: 鈥淭he last 50 years have shown you鈥檙e not going to get collaboration or partnership without full-process integration, because people have to protect their legal position. You can鈥檛 expect some whizz-bang system will force people to integrate.鈥�

Balfour Beatty鈥檚 Trebilcock agrees this is a problem and says he has heard 鈥渉orror stories鈥� of architects鈥� behaviour 鈥� but insists it is part of the learning process. 鈥淭here is a distrust of BIM models sometimes, some designers put caveats on them. But the best know that this is how they work,鈥� he says.

In fact, the data seems to indicate there鈥檚 a 鈥渉ardcore鈥� of businesses that aren鈥檛 convinced BIM will be beneficial: 27% of those that haven鈥檛 taken it up say they would rather not adopt it, and only a third of the non-users think their clients will increasingly insist on it in the future. Harding says: 鈥淚t鈥檒l take years until you can say the industry is BIM facilitated.鈥�

Whether Harding鈥檚 pessimism or Bew鈥檚 optimism is the more accurate is an academic question. But for the really small firms deciding whether or not to invest the significant time and energy into becoming BIM enabled, the decision could ultimately be a life or death one.