BIM update with Jose Oliveira, UK BIM Director at WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff

UK Construction Online’s Matt Brown talks exclusively with Jose A. Oliveira, UK BIM Director at WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, about BIM Level 2; the journey to Level 3 and the role Building Information Modelling is playing in big infrastructure projects.

With the BIM Level 2 mandate passing in April, what’s your view on how the industry is faring with its implementation?

Based on a few comments that I have heard in the past months, it is clear that most UK companies (if not all) within our industry do not achieve the true meaning of ‘Level 2 BIM’.

I also believe that there are some gaps that were not addressed yet and need a solution. For example, COBie UK 2012 template is still using the Uniclass 1.4, when this has been replaced by the Uniclass 2015. The NBS BIM Toolkit is also not a completed task and much needs to be re-defined properly, i.e. the graphical representation of the LOD 3 and LOD 4 for the MEP equipment and device is bad and may lead to confusion.

I also noticed that there is a lack of understanding of what BIM is and many still associate BIM to purely technologies: “Are you doing BIM? Yes, I am using Revit…”

BIM is a process or concept (and is definitely not like CAD); the focus is to improve the communication and collaboration. However, I think we should add coordination, to enable an effective and harmonious relationship between these key elements. I call the 3 C’s of BIM – Communication, Collaboration and Coordination.

What’s your take on the current state of the journey to Level 3?

First of all, I would say that we need to close the ‘existing gaps’ of Level 2 BIM and only after should we switch our attention to Level 3 BIM, which is targeted for 2025.

The true aims for ‘Level 3 BIM’ remain slightly ambiguous and open to discussion. However, I noticed that some experts and influent individuals in our industry are starting to understand that the major change will happen on the contractual/procurement side. BIM is a process and the current procurement routes are not very ‘user-friendly’ for a BIM project environment.

Currently in the UK, we are already testing a new type of procurement (IPI – Integrated Project Insurance) that took some of the principles of other project delivery systems and is becoming popular in the United States (IPD – Integrated Project Delivery). However, I am not sure how well it will fit the UK industry. In an IPD project, there is no blame culture and risk-reward is shared between all project participants, undoubtedly this will imply a major cultural and management change in the industry.

Some experts also associate the Level 3 BIM to a live ‘single model’ where everyone actively works together… I personally think this is not impossible, but I must admit that there is a lot of work that must be done to achieve this.

Does the government need to firm up its intentions with regards to Level 3 implementation?

 I don’t think so – the intentions are clear, but maybe we need to understand how the government is looking at the industry.

We know what the UK government is looking to achieve in the 2025 targets (Level 3 BIM): cost reduction by 33% (construction and whole life cost), faster project delivery by 50%, reduction by 50% of greenhouse gas emissions and finally to improve our exports in this sector by 50%.

A lot of importance has been placed on the role of large infrastructure projects. What role is BIM playing in these?

I would suggest that if there a great potential to see the real BIM efficiencies in large infrastructure projects. It is well known that the biggest cost in the lifecycle of a built asset is not during the design and construction, but at operations and maintenance stage. Generally, the design and construction is around 20% of the total cost and the operations and main maintenance is the remaining 80%.

In my opinion, this is the reason why the UK government chose to mandate the BIM processes for government construction projects, as they are clearly interested in reducing the costs of their assets.

Are there any positives the construction industry can take from Brexit?

At this stage, I cannot see any direct positive outcome from the referendum result.

Presumably, the strengths of BIM – efficiency, innovation, collaboration, will be even more key to the construction industry in these uncertain economic times?

Obvious, if we look back a few years ago, we can see that BIM industry was born (and grew quickly) slightly after the famous ‘credit crunch’ financial crisis – the UK government made an enormous contribution and boost when they decided to set the targets for ‘Level 2 BIM’. BIM will definitely have potential to make a strong contribute in these uncertain times…

 

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