Back to basics: The Four Pillars – Public Leadership

This is the latest in a new series of blogs looking at the fundamentals of building information modelling and the role of the Global BIM Network.

Sometimes it can be hard to navigate through the growing amount of information available on how to implement BIM. A simple four-part framework can clarify thinking, and enable stakeholders at all stages of their BIM journey to take their next steps with confidence. 

This framework is built on four pillars:

  • public leadership;
  • communication and communities;
  • collaborative framework; and
  • capability and capacity development.

Together, these pillars describe the common strategic areas for a successful public sector led BIM programme.

In this blog we focus on the first of these pillars: public leadership. This can mean many different things in different contexts. So, we look at how stakeholders can develop this important strategic area using five action points.

ONE Define compelling drivers, a clear vision and goals. This is the foundation stone for effective and robust public sector led programmes. It defines the way forward. Examples include, Smart Construction 2025 by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Korea and Vietnam’s plan for digital transformation of its construction industry.

TWO Describe the value of BIM to the public and private sector. BIM methodologies derive greater social, economic, and environmental benefits from the built environment. In supporting UN Sustainable Development Goals and inclusive economic growth, they bring multiple benefits. These include the improved energy efficiency and resiliency of buildings and assets, and optimization of the whole-life cycle of infrastructure assets. BIM can also help reduce material waste, target carbon neutrality, and lessen costly errors. BIM initiatives also encourage the global construction sector to develop a highly skilled digital workforce.

THREE Document the general approach for moving the sector towards the defined vision and goals. There are many ways to do this. Levers and drivers may include producing a roadmap, developing a mandate, or introducing legislation. Examples include Dubai’s roadmap to create the ideal [digital] construction ecosystem, Lithuania’s BIM mandate, and Denmark’s ICT Executive Order for Digital Construction.

FOUR Identify a public sector champion to sponsor the initiative. It is important to have a public sector champion at every stage. A strategic responsible owner may be an individual, ministry, or department.

FIVE Establish an implementation team to drive the programme. The value proposition and sponsor can unlock required funding and resources. BIM programmes are being driven at multiple levels of public leadership. In the Czech Republic, for example, the Czech Agency for Standardization is highly active in driving and supporting the Czech Government’s BIM Strategy Framework.

The Global BIM Network’s Information Collection contains many examples of how strategic public leadership is enabling BIM processes and practices.

To join the Global BIM Network, email us or visit our website

 

Back to basics: Value

This is the third in a new series of blogs looking at the fundamentals of building information modelling and the role of the Global BIM Network.

Increasing numbers of people and organisations are engaging with the Global BIM Network. So, we are taking the opportunity to revisit some of the thinking underpinning the creation of the Network and how this can help you on your BIM journey. In this blog we look at how the Network delivers value in three distinct areas.

FIRSTLY: The Network delivers value directly to its members. This comes in multiple forms. Members tells us they can learn much faster about BIM processes and practices by connecting with other people and organizations with shared issues, challenges, or goals. Similarly, they are benefiting from the large amount of information signposted, organized, and made readily available on our website. Members also benefit as initiatives by increasing numbers of public sector and multi-lateral organizations build critical mass. This provides legitimacy, confidence, and a level of encouragement for others to also adopt BIM processes and practices.

SECONDLY: The Network delivers value indirectly to the public procurers, owners, suppliers, and maintainers of the built environment. It creates a multiplier effect in which successful national and regional collaborations can strengthen the call for digital solutions based on open standards.

THIRDLY: The Network delivers better outcomes and performance of the built environment for people. Over time, as momentum builds, the Global BIM Network is helping to enhance the public estate globally, supporting UN Sustainable Development Goals and inclusive economic growth.

In the long term, this will bring multiple benefits. These include improved energy efficiency and resiliency of buildings and assets, optimisation of the whole-life cycle of infrastructure assets, reduction of material waste, targeting carbon neutrality and the lessening of costly errors.

The Network’s initiatives also encourage the global construction sector to develop a highly skilled digital workforce: in turn both helping improve the image of the construction and infrastructure sector, and ensuring life-long employment opportunities for generations to come.

In the next blog in our ‘Back to Basics’ series we will look at how the Global BIM Network is helping develop a better view of BIM around the world.

Access more information on how the Global BIM Network delivers value here.

To join the Global BIM Network, email us or visit our website

Back to basics: Why the Global BIM Network?

This is the second in a new series of blogs looking at the fundamentals of building information modelling and the role of the Global BIM Network.

The Global BIM Network is connecting more widely with public sector representatives and multi-lateral organizations across the world through its numerous channels. Almost two years after its creation, we thought it time to reiterate the thinking behind the Network. What is its vision and mission? And what value is it delivering?

The vision of the Global BIM Network is a global digital built environment delivering benefits for people and places. The Network’s mission is to share its members’ digital transformation journeys towards a digital built environment that brings benefits for people, places, and societies.

Sharing is central to everything we do. Our digital platform ensures we exchange knowledge on BIM processes and practices. It also means we can enable greater collaboration – both internationally and within our own communities – and lift awareness of research, technology and good practice developments.

Through sharing knowledge, we can all avoid duplication of efforts, while common problems and gaps in knowledge – such as policy, procurement, or technical information – can also be addressed.

Network members have created a vibrant community of public and private sector practitioners championing digital ways of working to benefit the construction sector globally. The public sector and investors are fostering common standards and policies.

The Network delivers value in three distinct areas: 

•            directly to its members;

•            indirectly to the public procurers, owners, suppliers, and maintainers of the built environment; and

•            by enabling better outcomes and performance of the built environment. 

In the next blog in our ‘Back to Basics’ series we will look more deeply into these three areas in which the Network adds value.

Access more information on the Global BIM Network’s vision, mission, and value here.

To join the Global BIM Network, email us or sign up here.

Back to basics: Why BIM?

This is the first in a new series of blogs looking at the fundamentals of building information modelling and the role of the Global BIM Network.

It is almost two years since the Global BIM Network was established, and the Network continues to spread its reach and engage with more parties through multiple channels. So, now is a good time to go back to some of the basics of building information modelling (BIM). In this first blog, we ask why BIM? What are its advantages and how to tap into them?

The Global BIM Network was set up in March 2021 to connect international public sector representatives and multi-lateral organizations. It exists to advance the digitalization of the global built environment and share the resulting benefits.

There is ample proof that BIM brings many significant advantages at the global, regional, national, sub-national, and organizational levels. Importantly, these benefits span the lifecycle of infrastructure assets – from their planning, design, build and operation, to how they may be maintained, refurbished, and eventually deconstructed. These benefits can be grouped into eight main categories.

1.  Firstly: Benefits to the bottom line. There is indisputable evidence that BIM programmes can unlock considerable savings in the form of faster project delivery times, and lower ongoing maintenance and operational costs.

2. BIM enables better and more efficient use of operational energy and resources.

3. Reduced waste and fewer errors on site ensure higher standards of health and safety.

4. BIM practices and processes enable better analysis and a deeper understanding of the whole lifecycle of an asset.

5. BIM enhances data security and the efficiency of data infrastructure resources.

6. Through taking a BIM approach in the design and delivery of infrastructure assets, it is possible to generate improved social outcomes, such as better care of patients in a hospital system, or improved outcomes for society through changes to an existing education system.

7. BIM can improve the competitiveness of a sector and grow export capability.

8. Finally, BIM can help to attract much-needed digital talent to the construction sector.

The Global BIM Network brings together stakeholders from governments around the world to encourage the wider adoption of BIM. The Network’s collaboration and sharing initiatives foster a common digital language for the delivery of the world’s infrastructure, enabling BIM’s social, economic, and environmental benefits.

In the next blog in our ‘Back to Basics’ series we will look more deeply at the role of the Global BIM Network.

For more information on the benefits of BIM click here.

To join the Global BIM Network, email us or join here

BIM as strategic lever for city-wide digital transformation in Medellin, Colombia

Diego Giraldo has emphasized the value of teamwork in implementing BIM. Diego is BIM Manager at Empresa de Desarrollo Urbano (EDU), the Urban Development Corporation of Medellin, in Colombia. He was speaking at the Global BIM Network’s second annual General Assembly on December 1, 2022.

EDU is a public entity that implements 70 percent of the projects of the Mayor’s Office of Medellin. It works in a technical and contractual arrangement between government, community and territory using BIM and City Information Modelling (CIM) methodologies.

In his presentation, Diego shared insights into leveraging BIM as part of a wider transformation strategy for the city of Medellin. He also provided practical examples from pilot projects on how EDU is collaborating to support wider transformation in Colombia, and across Latin America.

Asked to share a key takeaway message from EDU’s work, Diego highlighted the need for teamwork. He said this is especially important for implementing BIM in a public entity. “BIM is not just about knowing how to model, and how to manage the tools and work in a digital environment. It’s also about having the capacity to work in a team.”

Diego told attendees at the Assembly that EDU carries out architectural urban design in-house. “But we outsource the entire technical package, where we contract all the technical designs, and we also conduct a bidding process for the execution and construction phases.”

Diego said EDU generates far better results from working hand in hand with contractors. “Sometimes we forget that the most essential part of BIM is working in a collaborative fashion as people aimed at the same goal.”

Commenting on leveraging BIM as part of a wider transformation strategy for the city of Medellin, Diego said that within his organization, BIM and CIM methodologies have become great allies for public projects in the city. This has been done through the integration of GIS platforms, database systems, computational operations, public space modelling strategies and three-dimensional modelling software.

EDU’s successes have encouraged other public agencies in Colombia to start adopting BIM and CIM methodologies. These include the Instituto de Desarrollo Urbano (IDU) of Bogota. Together, these agencies are now contributing to a national vision calling for all digital transformation issues in the construction sector to be addressed by 2026 for better use of available resources and greater productivity.

You can watch recordings of the Global BIM Network’s second annual General Assembly here.

‘Single Source of Truth’ essential for public sector adoption of BIM

Clear, up-to-date information, located in one place, is essential for public sector adoption and implementation of BIM. So said BIM Education Expert Lucie Svamberkova at the Global BIM Network’s second annual General Assembly. 

Lucie is a BIM Education Expert in the BIM Strategy Department at the Czech Standardization Agency, in the Czech Republic. She was speaking at the online General Assembly on December 1, 2022.  

In her presentation, she described how the Agency is dealing with the integration of BIM topics into the country’s educational system. Lucie also outlined solutions being offered to Czech industry and the public sector to build their own BIM capacity. 

At the end of the General Assembly, host Alanna Gluck asked Lucie to share a key takeaway from her presentation. Said Lucie: “I would accentuate the need of having one place where you concentrate clear, concise, up-to-date information.” 

Lucie said it can be challenging to get the right message to the right people. The Czech Standardization Agency tries to locate all information on its website, and regularly emails the top management of public contracting organizations. 

She added that a BIM Act is currently being drafted in the Czech Republic but there will not be a legal obligation for public sector procurers to use BIM until the turn of 2023/2024. This can lead to misunderstanding, with top management sometimes not sharing relevant BIM information with other people who would benefit from it right away. 

Global BIM Network Chair Adam Matthews said the public sector in many countries often struggles with having too much information. Adam said the Network’s upcoming Playbook will help address this challenge. The Playbook will create structures and models to organize ideas, and distil down the large amount of information currently available in the Network’s Information Collection.  

In her presentation, Lucie detailed how the Czech Republic is using secondary and tertiary education to scale the adoption of BIM. This includes educational training to build the interest of high school and university students in developing a career in BIM and the built environment.  

She also updated attendees on capacity-building solutions currently being offered to Czech industry and the public sector, and highlighted the need for more talented young people to work within the public sector. She also outlined the development of a BIM Education System for Public Administration and the Czech Government’s BIM Strategy Framework

For more information on the Playbook or to join the Global BIM Network, email us or visit our website.  

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