In one years’ time anybody involved with a government construction project in the UK will be obliged to use Building Information Modelling (BIM) for the BIM 2016 mandate. At the moment the policy is only applicable to publicly procured projects, the policy is expected to run over to the private sector meaning BIM is likely to become a prerequisite for most medium to large construction and engineering projects in the UK over the next couple of years.

What is BIM?

If you are unfamiliar with the term “BIM” it stands for “Building Information Modelling” which is a detailed digital model of a building. This model can then go on to be used to inform and communicate project decisions within the dedicated team working on the project. Overall, BIM makes it a lot easier to achieve project and business goals which is why it is becoming increasingly popular in the engineering, construction, infrastructure and utilities sectors.

To find out more about BIM watch the following video below produced by Autodesk Building Solutions.

How will this affect small businesses?

The 2014 NBS National BIM Report shows that BIM is used by 35% of small firms with up to five employees, while 61% of businesses with more than five employees are twice as likely to be using BIM for their projects.

Large firms have been able to adapt to BIM a lot quicker due to dedicated IT staff being able to help towards the transition to BIM and more resources to prevent disruptions to any ongoing work. On the other hand, small firms have had less financial incentive and help to undertake the change. However, if you or your firm still hasn’t made the change there is no need to worry as now is the perfect time to transition to BIM in time for 2016.

If you have any further questions you can speak to one of our sales staff at Benchmarq to find out more about the BIM 2016 mandate, any help you may need such as training, software purchases and more.

How to adopt BIM before 2016

Transitioning fully and correctly to BIM isn’t just about buying the right software it’s also about change management. To get the most out of BIM it is important for employees to be trained up to deliver projects thoroughly and successfully. The American IT company HP have also stated that it’s important to have someone in the firm that takes responsibility for the BIM 2016 adoption, so your first step would be identifying a leader who has technical experience with BIM. Staff training should then begin as soon as possible to make sure there isn’t a gap between training and the application of BIM.

If you’re interested in buying the Autodesk Building Design Suite, we have a special offer going on at the moment.

More information on the different levels of BIM and our BIM modelling services.

If your company requires training to get up to speed with BIM or software such as Revit please go to: http://www.bmarqtraining.co.uk/

There are plenty more resources on the BIM 2016 mandate which can be found here:

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/pdf/october_augi_advertorial_tcm_245_1819279.pdf

http://www.thenbs.com/topics/bim/articles/top10bimquestions.asp