NBS, a subsidiary of RIBA Enterprises, has launched its annual UK BIM survey. Adrian Malleson, head of research, analysis and forecasting at NBS, explains the importance of continuing to accurately measure trends in BIM.
Back in 2011 BIM was very much a minority way of working. In 2011, 43% of respondents were unaware of BIM and only 13% were using it. At the time, there were questions about whether BIM would “catch on”, whether it was just 3D CAD, and whether BIM would really bring improvements to the design process.
Since then NBS has charted the rise in BIM adoption across the UK – the last NBS BIM report showed a majority of 54% using BIM on their projects. And for those using BIM the benefits were shown to be real – whether in cost efficiencies, client outcomes, or information coordination.
Over the years that NBS has been running the survey, BIM adoption in the UK has become globally significant. The UK design community was already an early adopter of BIM and 2016 has seen the implementation of the UK’s BIM mandate, with the UK government now requiring the use of BIM on all centrally funded projects.
Governments across the world are looking to the UK to assess the mandate’s success and so inform their own BIM strategies.
The NBS BIM report will be the first comprehensive assessment of the mandate’s success for the design community. It will also assess the likely effect emerging digital technologies will have on our industry.
NBS is seeking views from the most ardent BIM evangelist to the most hardened sceptic, as well as the indifferent and the bemused. NBS will make the report of findings freely available on theNBS.com in a few months’ time.
You can take the survey here.
