UK helps US with BIM adoption

The UK’s approach to BIM has served as an inspiration to the association tasked with driving BIM adoption in the US.

Last week Washington DC-based National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) convened a roundtable focused on the industry’s digital transformation at which Adam Matthews, head of international at the Centre for Digital Built Britain, spoke about the UK’s approach to BIM, which “is seen as a model for what can be done here”, according to NIBS.

Matthews said: “We started off looking at how we can drive savings. This was not a programme just for the sake of technology.”

He highlighted the government’s 2025 targets of saving 33% lower costs through a reduction in the initial cost of construction and the whole life cost of built assets and 50% faster delivery.

Attending the roundtable were representatives from the US public sector, including the Department of State, the Army Corps of Engineers, the General Services Administration and the Federal Highway Administration, along with private sector, including Google, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Autodesk, Bentley and WSP.

“Let’s start working on our common challenges and opportunities,” said Lakisha A Woods, president and CEO of NIBS. “We seek your time and your talent to help us develop shared standards and processes to improve the built environment and help Build Back Better.”

While NIBS has created a US National BIM Standard, it primarily has been developed through volunteer efforts with valuable content, but little coordination toward a comprehensive standard.

To address this, NIBS is leading the creation of a national BIM programme. The goal is a solution at a national scale to enable digital process standards that will streamline business, accelerate the effectiveness of the supply chain, provide predictable processes, improve project outcomes, drive efficiency and foster innovation.

Image: 153323639 © Jacek Wojnarowski | Dreamstime.com