Atkins has won a four-year contract to provide BIM technical services to HS2 Ltd, the company behind Britain’s new north-south rail link.
The contract will include professional support covering the planning and delivery of a range of activities, including providing BIM training, education and assessment tools for the supply chain, and working to help drive long-term efficiency and durability into asset management.
Last year, HS2 Ltd published the findings of a study undertaken by Mace looking at BIM readiness within the supply chain. In general, it revealed inconsistency in the way firms approached up-skilling and need to improve benchmarking against client expectations.
It found that while Tier 1 supply chain organisations were the most evolved, many firms in Tiers 2 and 3 were still operating at Levels 0‐1.
The study also included an “execution plan” detailing the next steps to raise the supply chain’s ability to work in BIM, including the creation of an “HS2 digital campus for supply chain orientation, upskilling and new entrants”, and setting up an e-learning portal.
Since publication of the survey’s results in October 2015, work has been underway with the government’s BIM Task Group to build digital skills and know-how across thousands of suppliers to the UK’s design, construction and civil engineering industries.
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Mark Roberts, director of Atkins, said: “Adoption of BIM will revolutionise programmes like High Speed 2, materially improving delivery efficiency and success, and embedding an approach that looks beyond design and construction into the requirements and benefits for the whole operational life of the railway.
“We are delighted to have been chosen to work alongside our HS2 and supply chain colleagues to implement a BIM approach that we believe will be ground breaking, deliver great success and ultimately help support the UK’s economic prosperity.”
Jon Kerbey, HS2 director of BIM, said: “I am very pleased that Atkins are on board to help us achieve our vision of delivering a world-class implementation of BIM. HS2 is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe and a fantastic opportunity to embed BIM right from day one, delivering real value to the project – and to the industry as a whole.”
The HS2 Hybrid Bill for Phase One of the project, between London and the West Midlands, passed its second reading in the House of Commons in April 2014.
The government will set out how to take forward HS2 Phase Two later in 2015.
Adoption of BIM will revolutionise programmes like High Speed 2, materially improving delivery efficiency and success, and embedding an approach that looks beyond design and construction into the requirements and benefits for the whole operational life of the railway.– Mark Roberts, Atkins
