David Philp, chair of Scotland’s new BIM Delivery Group, has outlined the priorities under the first of its five “horizon” work stages, including a survey Scotland’s public sector client community.
He also stressed that while Scotland’s Level 2 BIM would rest on the same PAS 1192:2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 [forthcoming] suite of documents as the rest of the UK, it might take on a Scottish flavour with specific guidance tools, for instance on whole life costing.
“The BSI documents form the core, but the guidance around it and how you configure it might be different for the Scottish marketplace,” he said. “We will create guidance for Scotland based on what’s needed by the Scottish procurer to complement the BS documents.”
The new guidance could be linked to other aspects of the Scottish Futures Trust’s efficiency agenda, such as on capturing data on whole life costing into BIM data models, or it could respond to other needs, such as integrating geospatial information.
Philp told BIM+ that the first “horizon” work stage would include clarifying the scope and wording of Scotland’s 2017 BIM mandate, drawing up a BIM implementation plan for the country, and defining Level 2 BIM in Scotland.
There will also be a formal launch of the strategy, the Delivery Group and a new Scottish BIM Industry Forum, scheduled for October in Edinburgh.
An initial project will be an online survey of Scotland’s public sector client and procurement teams to determine where its needs and priorities lie.
“It will ask, are they at Level 1 or 2 already, what data are they using, what are their data requirements, for building projects and linear [road, rail and utilities] projects, how are they buying information and how are they using it,” Philp said.
In other moves, Philp said that he was also establishing dialogue with Scottish members of the existing BIM4 groups, creating a “Scottish community of practice”.
And he had met with representatives of the oil and gas sectors, discussing their experience of project lifecycle management.
Asked whether the Scottish industry had a lower level of BIM adoption than that of England due to the mandate taking effect a year later, in 2017, Philp said that “a lot of the [Scottish] supply chain is very mature. There seemed to be a real tipping point last year, around BIM Show Live.
“But I think it’s fair to say that the government mandate has helped accelerate the journey. And once we get the strategy out, it will help create that pull for Scotland. There’s a real appetite for Scotland to accelerate its journey.”
He also highlighted the work of NHS Scotland, which is currently embarking on its first Level 2 BIM pilot projects. “They’ve already delivered a suite of Level 2 documents, EIR documentation, and launched Level 2 training courses.”
It’s fair to say that the government mandate has helped accelerate the journey. And once we get the strategy out, it will help create that pull for Scotland. There’s a real appetite for Scotland to accelerate its journey.– David Philp
