This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017.
In the latest of our blog series looking at Building Information Modelling (BIM) Constructive looks at how BIM competency is measured.
In all construction projects the employer looks for industry standards and certainty with regard to the competence of its design team. When incorporating a new innovation into a project, such as BIM, how is competency in the new innovation measured and how does an employer find reassurance that the team selected can deliver to the level required?
The Construction Industry Council (CIC) launched its first standard form BIM Protocol earlier this year. The CIC protocol introduced the role of Information Manager. Also commonly termed the BIM Manager, this role is critical to the successful implementation of a BIM project. Principal responsibilities of the Information Manager include managing the processes and procedures for information exchange and general implementation of the protocol. The Information Manager’s role may be adopted by the lead designer or by any other member of the design team. Increasingly this is becoming a stand-alone role and in fact BIM management practices are springing up to address the need for this crucial role. The CIC has produced a scope of services to form part of the appointment of the Information Manager. This document is a helpful step toward reaching an industry standard for this new role. The employer will also need to look carefully at the knowledge of relevant working processes and, more importantly, the industry experience of the BIM management teams tendering for the works.
Whilst there are some standards already in place relating to BIM, notably British Standard PAS 1192-2, which deals with information sharing on BIM projects (compliance with which will be mandatory on all public sector jobs from 2016), there is very little by way of standards for individual model designers. The shift in technology brought about by using BIM will require a shift in drafting of best practice clauses, requiring consultants to exercise the reasonable skill, care and diligence to be expected of a properly qualified and competent BIM consultant. How such competency is to be measured is still unclear.
Following their annual BIM survey this year, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) discovered that the current lack of standards is a perceived barrier to BIM uptake. In response, RICS are now looking at introducing a BIM accreditation to assist in delivering consistency. This development will be of vital assistance to employers when selecting their BIM design and management team by providing an industry recognised qualification and standard.
Previous blogs in our BIM series can be found here:
