The transition from CAD to BIM
Building Information Modelling (BIM) solutions has been in the market for more than a decade but the transition to BIM has been taking longer than expected. Experts say this is probably because of the lack of knowledge in the market about what BIM really is. Lorraine Bangera writes
Let’s get one thing straight, BIM is not something to get done with and checked off. It’s a process. Peter Gertler, Consulting Director at Autodesk, explains it well when he says it’s like the accounts department in an organisation that is carried out through the whole lifecycle of a company. BIM solutions can be used from the conception of the building, all the way through construction and operations to the demolition. Basically BIM is a management system that helps you design, build, and operate a project.
Director of Infrastructure Owners at Bentley Systems Europe B.V, Chris Palfreyman, says that it’s a process by which an organisation could enrich information through a particular lifecycle of an asset. “So instead of drafting a design and trying to recreate it, we progressively increase the value of the information as we go through the process.”
In a typical process before BIM was introduced, preliminary designs would be shared through paper. As the designs were handed over to the next stage, the person in charge would have to interpret it, which was time-consuming. Palfreyman says that it wasn’t a good handover between the various stages of a project. “BIM eliminates all those handover issues, making it easier to transfer information from one person to the other.”
It increases efficiency, reduces mistakes, and gives the person who comes in much later in the process better information.
Currently the common technology used is AutoCAD, which has been used since the 1980s. Professor Alex Albani, Associate Professor of Architecture at American University of Dubai, says: “When CAD was introduced, it brought about some efficiency. It was faster to use AutoCAD and you could share information in a much more articulate way.” At the time the transition from paper to AutoCAD was rather smooth, but now the transition from AutoCAD to BIM (which was introduced in 1998), is taking a lot of time. The transition is necessary as even though CAD brought higher efficiency, it is still rather “abstract,” whereas BIM is “integrated.”
He says: “I constantly remind my students that this period will go down in history as the time the transition from CAD to BIM took place. We are still going through the transition and not everybody is on board yet.”
The professor calls BIM a powerful tool. He says the process is exemplarily efficient. For example when you make a change on the system, this change is automatically carried through without any manual effort. In CAD on the other hand, if someone updates a window, they have to make changes manually on every window that is cross-referenced.
Even though BIM is used extensively in the UK and the US, it hasn’t been picked up as much in the Middle East. Marek Suchocki, Infrastructure Sales Development at Autodesk, says: “This region is beginning its journey with BIM in terms of knowledge and understanding, so there is a lot of talk about it.”
Gertler says that there are signs that BIM is being adopted gradually in this region. He says: “It is being used extensively in the engineering and design community but the construction business owners are slower to adopt because it will significantly change their organisation.”
He calls this region unique, observing the sheer magnitude of the projects delivered here along with the “aggressive” schedules under which they have to be completed. “BIM is definitely a solution to meet these challenges.”
“The transition is possible”, says Palfreyman. “People here are willing and well prepared to learn from other parts of the world.”
Though the diversity in this region does pose a challenge to enable the use of BIM solutions widely. He says that the market here is extremely diverse, people who handle the projects come from all over the world. They come from different cultures, different backgrounds, and different levels of experience. “So you have a sort of melting pot of skills, disciplines, and cultures.”
Suchocki also agrees that diversity could be a barrier. He explains: “The diversified workforce come from Europe, US and Asia. They work as professional consultants, in managerial positions and in the workforce. Compared to western countries where the education levels among professionals are similar, here it is quite different. Here there is a cultural imbalance, which is not a problem but it is different. So you can’t just transfer what is done in the UK here.”
Palfreyman says that this barrier must be spotted earlier on, and dealt with immediately. He says that the most effective way to solve this problem would be putting in place training programmes and knowledge transfer programmes, so that everyone gets up to the same level.
He adds: “You could also make a person experienced in using BIM work with someone who has less experience.”
Apart from the diversity of the workforce in the Middle East, another point to consider would be how new the market really is compared to the UK and the US, where construction has been ongoing for centuries. Gertler admits that the UK and the US are probably the more mature markets in terms of the use of BIM solutions. However, he says that these markets have their own issues of dealing with aging infrastructure and legacies. Whereas in the Middle East, there is no burden of dealing with a 100 year old legacy. In fact, he says that the rate of adoption is much faster in this region compared to the West as there a lot more emerging companies here.
Mature markets like the US and the UK have passed BIM mandates that seem to help in accelerating the adoption of BIM solutions. But experts don’t believe that mandating BIM solutions in this region is the right approach.
Palfreyman says, that there are examples of countries where governments have imposed BIM, and there are examples where governments have recommended BIM as best practice. The reaction to mandating and recommending are very different depending on the experience the region has with BIM. “For example,” he says. “In an organisation, if a management team makes BIM a mandate without telling the company what it’s all about—it is going to meet with resistance.”
“We should consider the people first, the process second and then the technology that makes the process possible. Where we sit now, is probably too early to say which approach is right. But what I can say is doing something is better than doing nothing for sure.”
Regardless of government regulation, the demand for BIM solutions in the Middle East is definitely growing. Prof. Albani says that this growth is more prominent amongst construction companies than architects. “The benefits in terms of efficiency and cost are key reasons.”
“Eventually everyone will have to work in the BIM format, especially now after the UAE mandate as well as some other countries mandating BIM policies like the UK.” The mandate in the UAE was announced last year by the Dubai Municipality. The mandate enforces the use of BIM for architectural and MEP works for all buildings 40 stories or higher, facilities or buildings that are 300,000 sqft or larger, all hospitals, universities and other similar specialised buildings, and all buildings that are being delivered by or through an international party.
Prof. Albani says: “In the UAE, the mandate is for everybody, everyone involved in building a building.”
Though BIM is talked about in the region and is gaining popularity at a rapid pace, one of the main problems that needs to be addressed is the lack of knowledge about what BIM really is. Adrian Jarvis, General Manager at FSI, says: “BIM is misunderstood to be just one piece of technology. It is actually a collaboration between various technologies through a project’s lifecycle.”
He says that the key issue faced in this region is the awareness level of the professionals. “People say they are going to ‘BIM-ify’ your building without actually explaining the benefits or the process of BIM. So even though there is a lot of talk about BIM, there is no real understanding of what it entails.”
Palfreyman says that the biggest barrier is not working out what BIM means to you. “If you don’t consider the process before you plan to implement BIM, what you probably would do is create your own barrier.”
He says that first they should understand what BIM really is and then how it applies to them. “This is like taking the crawl, walk, run approach. Everyone needs to crawl before they can walk and eventually run.
“In regards to BIM, I think it is understanding the process before going out and buying it. The intelligent technology choices would come out of understanding the process.”
