BRE Academy, the BRE’s training and education arm, has launched an e-learning platform that contains a range of BIM training courses.
According to BRE the aim of the platform is to make quality education and training more accessible to time poor people and organisations needing to upskill.
Talking to BIM+, Pauline Traetto, director of the BRE Academy, explained that the courses would be appropriate for a broad range of people working in the built environment.
“Our courses are primarily aimed at CEOs, directors, architects, designers, engineers, contractors, developers… we also do a BIM for manufacturers online course,” she said.
“One of the key issues we identified in our recent skills gap survey was the need for accessible learning via the web and mobile that fits around the people rather than the training providers,” she continued. “Bre.ac represents the positive action we decided to take in response to this.”
There are three hour-long modules available on the site called: Basics of BIM; BIM: Who needs a BIM manager?; and BIM for Product Manufacturers. Alongside these short courses is a 14-hour long BIM Essentials course.
There are a range of training courses on the site
The BIM Essentials course will act as the first step on the pathway to becoming BIM certified with BRE. Those successfully completing this online course and test will be eligible to attend the two-day BIM Project Information Manager (PIM) or Task Information Manager (TIM) courses, which in turn can lead to BIM certification as an individual and/or company.
The courses have been created by global BIM experts including professor Mervyn Richards, Paul Shillcock, associate director Paul Oakley, and Dan Rossiter, senior trainer at the BRE Academy.
With four of the initial 25 courses available on the site focused on BIM it is clear that BRE has identified this as an area where more training is needed.
Traetto added: “In the recent NBS survey only 10% of industry said they were ready for the BIM Level 2 deadline and 70% said they were not ready. We clearly have a way to go and what we want to do is encourage people to take the first step with courses like BIM Essentials – making it easily accessible and affordable.”
With the courses BRE joins a number of organisations, including BIM+, to offer online BIM training. A range of free BIM CPDs, including a guide to Level 2 BIM are available for free in Construction Manager’s CPD portal.
In the recent NBS survey only 10% of industry said they were ready for the BIM Level 2 deadline and 70% said they were not ready. We clearly have a way to go and what we want to do is encourage people to take the first step with courses like BIM Essentials.– Pauline Traetto, BRE Academy
