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Balfour Beatty is using building information modelling on its first housing masterplan project 鈥� a 拢200m, 1,000-home project in Sheerwater, Woking, in Surrey. 

Balfour Beatty鈥檚 regional business Mansell secured the scheme 鈥� as well as a 30-year deal to maintain the properties once complete 鈥� last month, under joint venture New Vision Homes with partner Pinnacle PSG.

The Sheerwater scheme is thought to be one of the UK鈥檚 first major BIM housing schemes. BIM is more commonly used on commercial or public schemes.

Balfour Beatty鈥檚 design director Peter Trebilock said the firm鈥檚 use of BIM on the project would help the firm achieve savings through off-site manufacture, logistics planning, phasing of the works and more efficient management of the homes once completed.

Balfour Beatty has been steadily increasing its use of BIM in the UK in recent years and is now using it on 80 projects and several bids.

Trebilock also confirmed the contractor has challenged its supply chain firms to adopt BIM within 12 months or face potentially losing work.

Balfour Beatty will factor subcontractors鈥� BIM expertise into its selection criteria from 2014.

Trebilock said: 鈥淓verything else being equal, the firm with BIM expertise will have so much more the advantage.鈥�

The contractor will also be one of the first firms to deploy remote BIM tools on its sites, after beginning trials of 鈥榝ield BIM鈥� on three projects 鈥� its tallest tower project, 拢110m 43-storey Providence Tower in London鈥檚 Docklands, parts of 拢460m Heathrow Terminal Two and a school project.

Field BIM tools allow workers to access project data remotely on sites using mobile devices, while also allowing them to input data and monitor construction progress.

Balfour Beatty鈥檚 BIM director for major projects Tom Loader said 15 iPads would be issued to the construction team on Providence Tower (pictured), for use by construction managers, project managers and people fitting elements of the project.

The project data will update each time an iPad is returned to the site office.

Costain is using similar technology on its 拢400m revamp of London Bridge station.

Trebilcock said Balfour鈥檚 use of BIM was starting to translate into tangible savings. He said the firm has identified 拢10m of savings on Heathrow Terminal Two, which were partly attributable to using BIM during the design process to work out the best value method of construction.