The chief advantage of BIM is that it allows a greater degree of
collaboration among designers; mechanical, electrical and plumbing contractors;
and building owners. Most of BIM’s potential benefits come from members of the
construction team sharing the same building model - or different views of the
same model, said Robert Middlebrooks, industry
programs manager for Autodesk during the recent annual Mechanical Contractors
Association of America convention held in Palm Desert, CA.
“BIM (building information modeling) is a
process change, not just a design tool,” said Robert Middlebrooks, industry
programs manager for Autodesk during the recent annual Mechanical Contractors
Association of America convention held in Palm Desert, CA.
BIM refers to a repository of all
information generated, maintained and shared by building team members on a
project. The chief advantage of BIM is that it allows a greater degree of
collaboration among designers; mechanical, electrical and plumbing contractors;
and building owners. Most of BIM’s potential benefits come from members of the
construction team sharing the same building model - or different views of the
same model, Middlebrooks said.
“We’re all playing in the same
sandbox,” he told MCAA members. “I know many of you are frustrated with design
professionals; you have trouble getting designs from them. We’ve got to get
away from that. We’d have fewer problems if we share more information. These
are new ways to do that.”
BIM offers design engineers and
contractors much more than computer-aided design programs, he said. Among other
BIM benefits are the abilities: to create, visualize and document a building
design; to predict performance, appearance and cost; and to deliver the project
faster as well as more economically and environmentally
feasible.
“BIM is a digital design tool to start with and then provides documentation,”
Middlebrooks said. “CAD is the other way around.”
According to Middlebrooks, BIM’s origins can be traced to 2004 when the
Construction Users Round Table published a white paper that encouraged
collaboration among building team members to increase productivity. Among the
goals highlighted were: owner leadership, where building owners become more
involved in the construction process; an integrated project structure; open
information sharing, where team members trust each other; and virtual building
models.