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Centre for Digital Built Britain completed its five-year mission and closed its doors at the end of September 2022

This website remains as a legacy of the achievements of our five-year foundational journey towards a digital built Britain
 

The Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) teamed up for the third event “The Consultant” in a programme of high-level ‘roundtable’ discussions, which aim to further accelerate adoption of the Government’s digital strategy for the built environment especially the successful embedment of BIM across industry.

There was a wide spread of consultants in the room comprising project managers, designers, services consultants and asset managers allowing an extensive and free flowing discussion on what BIM means to the consultant communities in the built environment.

A full report of the session will be published in a forthcoming edition of the “Construction Manager” magazine however the following headline observations from the day are noted below meantime:

  • The Consultant organisations represented have different approaches to BIM: some use on all projects; others only when mandated by a project clientIt was noted that consultants are usually  the recipients of client requirements 
  • Staff BIM training is not yet delivered as a matter of course; cost of training and access to software  are an investment barrier. Those organisations using BIM routinely were willing to make an upfront outlay for the longer-term gain in efficiencies. 
  • Compared to the first two roundtables, the conversation was more biased towards graphical models in BIM and delivery of capital projects. 
  • Whereas the previous Constructor discussion highlighted BIM as a real risk mitigator, this was not highlighted by the consultant group. 
  • Procurement was a key theme of the discussion and it appeared that current procurement methods did not facilitate the best outcomes. The need for Clients to consider whole life costs and outcomes was highlighted but feedback was that the focus is currently on capital delivery. Procurement needs to be based on outcomes not just outputs. 
  • Client maturity in requesting BIM was discussed at length. Opinion was split over whether it was the Consultant’s role to challenge Client requirements 
  • It was noted that projects are not delivered effectively as a result of a failure to specify clearly and because there are gaps in the process.   
  • The cost of BIM was discussed – it was felt that core BIM does not increase costs. However, the cost of  providing   an Information Manager for the project would give rise to supplementary fees.