[First Published on March 2017, see on LinkedIn>>]

Since the Government decided to implement BIM in public works, architects and construction companies started taking BIM more seriously in UK: cutting the cost of about 20% is not a negligible goal. Focusing on that target, big firms began bringing BIM, whatever the project – public or not – in their process.

However, the actual debate can be easily misleading: if you are not a big firm or if you are not interested in public work, you could be persuaded that BIM is not your business. Why investing in software and training so leaving your comfort zone and approaching the unknown?

There are few publications answering those questions (see bibliography at the end of this article) but probably the most pioneering book on that matter is “BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design” by @Francois Levy. Levy puts together ethics (the need of sustainable design) and pragmatism (how to keep control on the project without adding weight to the process and, as consequence, without increasing the costs). Let’s take that as starting point.

Talking about sustainability we could consider a double meaning: environmental impact and economic sustainability.

The environmental impact also includes multiplies values and it’s not just about saving energy and zero carbon policies. Environment is also urban landscape (the building in its context) and interiors (the people in the building and their wellbeing). On the other side, economic sustainability means cost control of both the building (construction cost) and the process (design costs). Managing this complexity requires efficiency.

Including all these meanings “sustainability” can be easily translated with “quality” as multidimensional factor of architecture and BIM is a tool to achieve that quality. In other words, BIM is the way to find the balance between quality of the architecture and cost control via efficiency of the process and that’s the reason why at Hampson Williams we started implementing BIM a couple of years ago.

Now we are ready for the next step: moving forward in renewing our processes.

Bibliography

1. BIM in Small Practices: Illustrated Case Studies, Robert Klaschka
2. Getting to Grips with BIM: A Guide for Small and Medium-Sized Architecture, Engineering and Construction Firms, Graham Paterson, James Harty, Tahar Kouider
3. BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design, Francois Levy