7 March 2016

The widespread adoption of BIM (Building Information Modelling) Level 2 is set to transform the construction industry, said Costain’s David Owens at a recent meeting of Construct IT for Business, an industry-led forum.

David, Costain Design & BIM Manager, spoke in his capacity as adviser to Highways England on BIM. His talk about the recent history of BIM in highways and the next steps was delivered as the industry is about to take a major step towards full collaborative working.

By April this year the UK Government Construction Strategy will require the use of BIM Level 2 by all Government departments on all projects, regardless of size. As a result, the Government hopes to achieve lower costs, faster delivery, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a narrowing in the trade gap for construction products and materials. As a member of the Government Construction Board that devised the strategy, Highways England has agreed to deliver BIM on its projects by 2016. Its BIM vision is to ‘make informed decisions and achieve excellence in delivery with visible benefits’.

Moving from Level 1 BIM to Level 2 will see all parties moving to the use of 3D CAD models and the sharing of information between different disciplines. It will be a significant move for the industry, David told delegates.

“Level 1 was 2D and 3D CAD with dumb lines and annotations. But at Level 2 objects know what they are. Level 3 is yet to be defined but we know it will include integrated and online object sharing.”

As one of the companies at the forefront of BIM, Costain has several early-adopter Highways England BIM Level 2 projects underway including the A556 Knutsford to Bowdon and the A160/A180 Port of Immingham improvement schemes.

“We’ve already seen progress such as the development of a IAN 184 CAD/BIM standard, a BIM change programme, and communications and training,” said David. “Next steps will include adding BIM requirements to all relevant tenders, the introduction of BIM KPIs, and the roll-out of a standard set of BIM documents.

“Going from Level 1 to Level 2 will be like moving from analogue to digital - it’s the transformation of an industry.”

 

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