This week on My Digital Life, BIM Academy director Dr Graham Kelly highlights the importance of educating clients about BIM and the benefit of an app that reads books for him.
What new built environment digital innovation that you’ve seen recently really excites you?
At BIM Academy, we been working on our Aquila platform for the past 18 months, it is an Innovate UK funded project that links plant equipment to the project work programme using 4D BIM technology, showing real-time activity to accelerate the understanding of onsite operations. It has real potential to transform the way we manage plant and equipment on site, reducing emissions in the process. It is a pleasure to be involved in something so new and game changing.
What single thing would help accelerate construction’s digital adoption?
Better education and guidance for clients. We have seen over several years that a lot of clients have struggled to implement BIM to their advantage. The ISO 19650 series and Government Soft Landings put the client at the heart of the process, but I don’t think enough has been done to translate these standards into something palatable for the majority of clients so that they can robustly define and understand what information requirements they need to specify. BIM Academy, over several years, has tailored techniques to take the complexity out of this process, stripping it back to understanding what organisations do now to manage information and operate their assets and then building this up into a series of information requirements that are bespoke to their needs, while continually educating the client along the journey.
Who do you follow on social media about BIM and digital construction – and why?
Randy Deutsch (@randydeutsch) and Hoss Zamani (@hosszamani): both are incredibly positive accounts that look to support the enhancement of our industry. To quote Teddy Roosevelt: “Complaining about a problem without posing a solution is called whining.” There is an awful lot of whining about BIM on twitter!
What was the last app you downloaded and why?
Blinkist: I try and read as much as I can, I find Blinkist is a great way of distilling the main message of a book and then I only have to read the ones that really interest me!
What’s the tech bane of your life?
Emails! How and why do we spend so much of our time answering emails? There must be a better way.
Mac or PC/iOS or Android?
PC and iOS
Do you have any smart home features or other digital gadgets?
I love a gadget. The latest addition to the Kelly family is Bruce the Robot Lawnmower: he is brilliant!
