The Brazilian government has drafted in an engineering lecturer from Teesside University to help it overhaul the country’s construction industry by adopting BIM.
Dr Mohamad Kassem, from Teesside’s Technology Futures Institute, who is already helping Qatar revolutionise its building industry through a $900,000 BIM research project, was flown to Brazil to demonstrate how the technology is being implemented in European countries, including the UK, Netherlands and France.
Together with local BIM expert Professor Sergio Leusin, he is now working on a report to present to Brazilian policy makers with conclusions and recommendations for BIM implementation in the country.
The trip came following his recent appointment as EU BIM consultant to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management.
Kassem’s advice is expected to form the basis of new policy designed to overhaul the Brazilian government’s approach to major building projects, improving their predictability and safety as well as saving time and money.
Kassem, a senior lecturer at Teeside’s School of Science & Engineering, said: “Brazil is a massive economy and the country is undergoing a huge amount of construction work. Changes which result in efficiency savings, even small ones, have the potential to save the Brazilian economy billions of pounds… BIM can bring real benefits to the construction industry and there is a real momentum towards innovation in the industry and I hope my work can help improve BIM diffusion in Brazil.”
During his time in the country’s capital, Brasilia, and Sao Paulo, Kassem presented his interim findings on BIM implementation in the UK, The Netherlands, and France.
The research was carried out with Brazilian consultant Professor Sergio Leusin, who looked at how BIM is currently being implemented in Brazil. The two academics are now collaborating on a report that will recommend a future BIM strategy for Brazil.
Teesside University’s Technology Futures Institute has an international reputation in BIM. Dr Kassim and his colleague, Professor Nashwan Dawood, who runs Tesside’s Centre for Construction Research and Innovation, are currently carrying out the three-year research project in Qatar to transform it into a centre for BIM excellence in the Gulf.
The project is being funded by the Qatar Foundation and is expected to save the country billions of dollars as it pushes ahead with development plans in the run up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Teesside’s researchers, working with research partner Qatar University, have been collecting data and interviewing engineers and project managers on major projects already underway in Qatar, in an effort to identify common project problems, such as delays and poor information flows, and develop a suitable BIM approach.
As part of the project, German construction firm Hochtief-VICON will create a knowledge hub for BIM technology in the Middle East.
In an interview with Global Construction Review earlier this year, Professor Dawood outlined some of the challenges Qatar faces as it proceeds with its $80bn to $100bn infrastructure build-out.
The research team has been talking to the major BIM software vendors, who Prof Dawood hopes will adapt their systems to the culture and conditions of Qatar and the Gulf states.
“We have to remember, construction in Qatar is different in terms of the contracting strategy,” he told GCR. “The client has a different culture to Europe and the US, so vendors have to adapt their systems around these requirements. We’d really like to influence the software vendors to develop solutions that will fit the requirements of the Gulf market.”
Kassem’s advice is expected to form the basis of new policy designed to overhaul the Brazilian government’s approach to major building projects, improving their predictability and safety as well as saving time and money.
