The construction industry has been warned it still faces Building Information Modelling (BIM) challenges amidst calls for additional support to help the sector in its shift to digital construction.
The European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC) has issued the warning in its latest manifesto, declaring that whilst BIM has been responsible for improving productivity and competitiveness, there remain difficulties.
Kjetil Tonning, Vice President of FIEC and president of its Technical Commission, said: “BIM is transforming construction and the industry needs to lead the effort to encourage widespread uptake across the entire value chain.
“With this background, FIEC has launched its manifesto, to highlight the potential of BIM in terms of facilitating the implementation of EU policy.
“One of the key impacts of BIM is that it both facilitates and relies on closer collaboration across the entire value chain, on a scale not seen in the industry until now.
“Such collaboration between the various sectors and people involved in a construction project will be impossible without open and free access to all the essential data stored in a Building Information Model.”
The manifesto document, ‘Making BIM a Global Success’, outlines the challenges which prevent companies across all sectors from adopting BIM.
In particular it sets out why more needs to be done to help SMEs keep pace with changing technologies and prevent them from being left behind due to inappropriate software, lack of knowledge or financing problems.
The FIEC has called on policymakers and public sector clients to play their part by ensuring that SMEs receive the support they need to become BIM compliant.
Adam Davis is a Partner with Palmers who specialises in helping clients understand the ramifications of business information modelling. He commented: “Although BIM has been widely adopted by many companies operating in the construction and engineering sectors, as the FIEC points out, many smaller businesses run the risk of being left behind if they not provided with the necessary support to adopt BIM.”
For information on how, BIM will impact on project delivery and help with compliance and contractual issues relating to BIM, please contact us.