RICS releases reports on building information modelling

© khunaspix – 123RF.com

BIM has largely become a symbol in some quarters of how technology is changing and the profound impact this will have on how the sector develops into the future.

"The new research papers aim to share insights and experiences from various stages of the real estate life-cycle and examine various aspects of how and where BIM technologies are employed to improve project coordination. BIM was originally developed by the architecture, engineering and construction sectors but as these research papers illustrate, it also has its uses in other areas and sectors where it can influence project costs and facilitate better information flow," says T.C. Chetty, RICS country manager for South Africa.

Effects of BIM

"These new reports look at the development and effects of BIM across valuation and construction. They emphasise that a collaborative tool requires collaborative implementation in order to gain the full benefits of improved technology and standards," says Alan Muse, RICS global director of Built Environment Professional Groups.

The three BIM reports include:

• Collaborative Building Modelling: Insights from Behavioural Economics and Incentive Theory (April 2015).
  
• Utilisation of BIM in Construction Cost and Project Management Practice: North America, China & the K (June 2015).
  
• Building Information Modelling and the Value Dimension (June 2015).

"As the built environment sector begins to see the value of BIM and as it is adopted internationally the case for international standards becomes clearer. International construction measurement standards (ICMS) can support BIM standards and help provide a common direction to how BIM develops in different countries," says Chetty.

"RICS is currently working in a coalition of global organisations to create such overarching international standards that will harmonise cost, classification and measurement definitions in the constructions sector. This will enhance comparability, consistency and benchmarking of capital projects around the world."

Improving certainty

Adds Muse: "Improving certainty in construction delivery is key to encouraging greater global investment in buildings and infrastructure. Collaboration and integration are the cornerstones of project performance improvement and hence improved certainty. BIM is a tool to drive this change. ICMS also aim to improve certainty through harmonising construction measurement and cost. BIM and ICMS inter-connect, because better standards improve the global application of BIM tools."

In several countries around the world, governments and professional bodies are seeing the advantages of BIM. In the UK, the government requires that collaborative 3D BIM be used for all its projects by 2016. In the US, the General Services Administration - which manages US Federal Properties - has mandated the use of BIM at the design stage of its buildings.

In Canada non-governmental agencies such as the Canada BIM Council and others have been formed to facilitate and promote the use of BIM across the construction industry on both public and private sector projects.