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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
 

 

Why should the construction and infrastructure sectors adopt BIM? 

CDBB, BSI and the UK BIM Alliance work together as the UK BIM Framework to demonstrate why and how to adopt secure, resilient information management for the built environment. This is supported by the UK government, which believes that BIM plays a major role to help improve cost, value and carbon performance in the built environment. 

Adopting BIM across the construction industry can dramatically improve delivery and performance, while providing a consistent approach that fosters collaboration and innovation. Large organisations are already using BIM on their projects, so the challenge is to help SMEs embrace the shift by easing their digital transformation. Raising awareness of the benefits of BIM, which are available to all stakeholders in the building process, is the way forward. 

The main benefits of BIM are: 

  • Efficiency through the lifecycle of a building or infrastructure – this is achieved by enabling consistency, optimising time management and strategic decision-making.  
  • Increased productivity, which accelerates delivery. 
  • Eliminating risks and assisting health and safety planning – this leads to a safer approach and fewer mistakes through seamless sharing of information, coming from a verified source and used consistently. 
  • Improved prediction and reduction of the whole lifecycle costs. 
  • Support for the whole supply chain to manage data, reducing wasted effort and cost in capturing unwanted information. 
  • Value – BIM technologies help to make smart decisions about built assets’ lifecycle.  
  • Better stakeholder engagement - models and virtual reality applications can deliver insights about assets, reducing delays and wasted design effort. 
  • Alignment with government’s policy priorities and objectives, which are outlined in the following publications:  
    * Data for the Public Good - assessing national infrastructure looking at resilience, new technologies, decarbonisation and positive societal outcomes;  
    ** Transforming Infrastructure Performance – improving the delivery and performance of infrastructure and boost industry productivity;  
    *** The Hackitt Review – analysing building regulations and fire safety focusing on reliable data to ensure safety, interoperability and the consistency of values across housing projects. 

To find out more about BIM’s benefits and its impact on a built asset from planning to operation, please read the BIM Benefits Measurement Methodology developed by PwC and the BIM Report on Evaluating Tools for Maturity and Benefits Measurement, commissioned by CDBB as part of the Construction Innovation Hub and in partnership with the UK BIM Alliance, and developed by the University of Northumbria at Newcastle (UNN).