If there are any digital sceptics in the industry, I’m sure their perception will soon change when they realise technology’s positive impact on the sector, especially in terms of BIM. With its use on the rise, what are BIM’s tangible benefits and how is it the single enabler for many modern technologies to follow?
For the construction industry, BIM is the first time that we have an agreed end-product that it is aiming to create through its delivery process. The pieces of the puzzle are finally revealing a clearer picture.
It is therefore creating (well, in most cases) an agreed goal for the first few years of construction’s process. HILTI for example, recently announced its JAIBOT, a robot aimed at replacing some of the repetitive and dangerous works conducted on site. It requires good and final plans to operate, otherwise it will not be able to drill holes properly.
Working alongside other technologies such as AI-based programme generation and optimisation, BIM can be implemented to fully grasp the complexity of the project it is planning, and provide the best course of action.
Buildots puts BIM at the centre of the site’s day to day operations. It leverages the capacity of off-the-shelf 360-degree cameras to inject as-built data into BIM models, producing a perfect view of the status of works. On top of the live model an advanced dashboard system creates the construction control centre, showing progress reports, monthly valuations, and flags any divergences from designs or programme.
Once the model becomes live, other technology vendors can tap into the model to receive real-time progress information, to trigger shipments, streamline payments, or generate better execution plans for the following week.
What is BIM’s value?
Construction companies that invest in creating workflows around BIM are well positioned to quickly leverage new products that can directly affect their bottom lines.
BIM’s value will become further recognised as the industry strides towards greater quality and traceability. Dame Judith Hackitt’s golden thread of information has been lauded as one of the most prominent methods the industry should adhere to in order to ensure best practice across the board. To align with this process, there will be a higher demand from companies to know and understand the role of visible data within an asset or project. Having a clear audit trail of what has been done, who did it and how it was installed will create this all-important golden thread of information. It will also highlight the value of data and information on a digital sphere; data that isn’t gathering dust in a filing cabinet or stowed away on a server, but essential to informing the decision-making process regarding the performance of a building.
But as well as positively impacting profit margins, BIM is enabling many businesses within the construction industry to be more environmentally conscious. As per the government’s Construction 2025 targets, many contractors and asset owners are turning to smarter and greener methodologies and processes. BIM’s enabling value plays an important role in this case, as these parties will want to be able to predict their footprint prior to construction and measure it once an asset is in use.
This is where the concept of connected data comes in. Historic data stored across multiple, disparate silos can be of use to the asset owner, yet the way in which it is held often renders the information inaccessible and inefficient, if it needs to be referenced. Neither can this data help to craft a reliable like-for-like image of how a building is performing; old data is a reference of what occurred and not necessarily a tool that confidently reports on how an asset is currently operating.
In the case of the data created using Buildots, in addition to the immediate value for the construction project team, the collected historical data of multiple projects can be combined to create even great value for the industry. A construction company could use that to benchmark its projects and activities, decide how to better plan its next projects, or focus on construction methods that are more suitable for its workflows and expertise. It creates opportunities to identify repeating issues or common bottlenecks throughout the entire company’s projects portfolio, and develop new workflows and processes to avoid those in the future.
Changing the terrain of the construction industry, BIM is an enhancer and enabler of digital processes. Here at Buildots, we expect many of the new technologies to only work on BIM-enabled projects, where it will widen the productivity gap between companies who have adopted change versus those that stayed behind.