黑洞社区

锘縏he government hopes to trial 鈥渘o fault鈥� project insurance on BIM projects in an effort to allay industry fears about liability risk on the technology.

Chief construction adviser Paul Morrell told the National Federation of Builders鈥� annual conference last Thursday that the government hopes the insurance scheme will be used on a 鈥減athfinder鈥� Ministry of Justice BIM programme next year.

Industry sources told 黑洞社区 that fears about liability on BIM schemes that go wrong could impede widespread industry adoption of BIM.

Richard Bailey, managing director of Bam Construct, said: 鈥淭here鈥檚 still a lot of unease about who owns [the BIM model] and risk allocation and proportion of liability.

鈥淸I鈥檓 pleased Paul Morrell is] trying to get ahead so that it doesn鈥檛 become an issue and a reason not to use BIM.鈥�

It is understood two insurance brokers, Griffiths & Armour and Tysers, are working to bring insurers on board.

A source close to Morrell said that under the proposed system, construction companies will together pay upfront towards a 鈥渟ignificant鈥� project excess in return for 鈥渘o fault鈥� cover, where the insurer picks up the cost if part of a project goes wrong.

But the source claimed the scheme would work out cheaper for firms than existing cover, as it would remove the 鈥渢ime and money wasted by firms passing on risk on projects鈥�.

Morrell also revealed at the event that he will lead a review of the government鈥檚 use of frameworks to report 鈥渂y Easter鈥�, with a view to breaking up 鈥渨eak鈥� frameworks.

Morrell said: 鈥淲e want to get rid of weak frameworks, where work is bundled up with no effort towards economies of scale.鈥�

He also revealed that he had been involved in battles with the Treasury over the publication of the government鈥檚 forward pipeline of public projects.