EDITOR ’ S CHOICE
LEADING WITH BIM
BY WOJCIECH BROŻYNA - MD OF ALUPROF UK
Many people in the Construction Industry still believe that BIM is just a modern design tool , but BIM is much more than this . Whilst design is certainly an element of BIM , collaboration is a key element , from inception through to completion of a project , and beyond . Collaboration across the design team , particularly at the early design stages both reduces risk and maximises value . A detailed BIM design forms a ‘ single source of truth ’ which de-risks the entire construction programme .
According to MacLeamy ( 2004 ) who plotted a simple graph of project time and project effort , it can be seen that the influence on the project design is high at the early design stages , whilst project changes further down the project timeline entails more effort and cost . MacLeamy argued that completing the design earlier in the construction programme reduced risk and cost by negating design changes later in the programme . An early BIM model using high quality , virtual BIM objects assists final design sign off earlier in the construction cycle .
BIM has been with us for some years now , so it is far from a new concept , but helps us in developing new methodologies for construction , new methodologies which help us reduce carbon in construction . According to Transparency Market Research , in 2025 the Construction Industry will generate as much as 2.2 billion tons of waste annually which is about 50 % of all global solid waste . The Construction Industry has to move from this linear construction process to a circular construction process where buildings can be deconstructed and rebuilt using some or all of the same parts , or materials recycled back into buildings . A growing number of architectural practices globally are designing ‘ temporary ’ or ‘ deconstructable ’ buildings that fall into the circular construction methodology .
In the UK a recently completed project in London , the Forge , aspires to be the first commercial building constructed and operated in line with the UKGBC ’ s net zero definition and energy reduction targets . It comprises two new office buildings and a
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