Last month Construction Manager and BIM+ set out to identify the most influential, interesting and informative BIM tweeters – and it will come as little surprise to those active in discussing BIM to see @ThePhilpster top of the table.
David Philp FCIOB, as he is known outside the Twittersphere, received by far the most nominations from peer tweeters, and was also unanimously picked for the (digital) trophy by the BIM+ team, assisted by construction and social media expert Paul Wilkinson (@EEPaul).
“It’s hardly surprising that the Philpster tops the list,” said Wilkinson. “The BIM Task Group is leading the UK BIM drive, and David is its most prominent spokesperson on Twitter. Other members of the task group are on Twitter, but are not as vocal – perhaps trusting David to convey key messages on their behalf.
“David actively engages with other Twitter users – social media is about people having conversations, not just broadcasting. As well as BIM chat, I’ve enjoyed Twitter exchanges with him about antique cameras and Ivor Cutler [eccentric Scottish poet, singer and songwriter], among other subjects,” he continued.
The hunt for the UK’s most influential tweeters received more than 500 nominations through the hashtag #BIMTwitter50, which have been combined with social media influence scores from rating site Klout, our own views and insight from Wilkinson to compile the final list.
Following Philp is @StephenHamilNBS, the NBS’s director of design and innovation. Leading the creation of the BIM Toolkit, Hamil was prominent at time of nominations. NBS – part of RIBA Enterprises – is also significant: @StefanMordueNBS, its business solutions consultant, is in the list at number 35.
Several other companies have multiple tweeters in the list. Autodesk has Lee Mullin (@leeroyb) at number 11, James Austin (@virtuarch) at 22 and Rachael Atkinson (@rach_bb) at 25.
“The listing includes people with connections to particular organisations, like Autodesk or NBS, for example. However, not all sport their employer’s name in their Twitter handle or in their Twitter profile,” commented Wilkinson.
Top tweeter: David Philp
Turner & Townsend has five employees in the list: new recruit Tom Oulton (@itsBIMupNorth) leads the way at number 9, with Shaun Farrell (@ShaunF1969) at 12, Dave Monswhite (@noscalerule) at 24, Peter Morton (@BIMatron ) at 33 and George Mokhtar (@GeorgeMokhtar) at 37. Their prominence suggests the global consultancy is keen to show its commitment to the BIM community.
But there are few main contractors in evidence. Seventh-placed Neil Thompson (@Neil_BIM), a principal BIM integrator at Balfour Beatty, and 20th-placed Kath Fontana, are the only representatives of contractors in the top 50.
Although many contractors, such as Kier, Skanksa, Mace and Laing O’Rourke have heavily invested in BIM, they are not communicating this on Twitter: accounts run by the contractors’ in-house PR and communications teams seem more comfortable tweeting about contract wins, HR and sustainability.
By contrast, architects feature strongly, among them Bond Byran (@bondbryanBIM), which received the third most nominations, and sustainability guru Elrond Burrell (14), an associate at Architype. DMA Architects, Studio Klaschka and NBBJ are also on the list.
Universities had a strong showing, from tweeters such as the University of Illinois’s Randy Deutsch, University of Westminster’s Rob Garvey, the Leeds Beckett team (@thinkBIM), and Malachy Mathews of Dublin’s Institute of Technology.
There was also a distinct international flavour, reflecting BIM’s global uptake, from Spanish BIM consultancy Avatar BIM; Australia-based BIM researcher Bilal Succar; Seattle-based architect Sean David Burke; Brian Skripac of Astorino, a design-and-build contractor in Pittsburgh; and New York BIM consultancy Case.
The top 50 is a reflection of who is taking part in the BIM “conversation”, although this might not translate into BIM implementation. Nevertheless, we hope this list is a useful a guide to anyone interested in picking up more intelligence.
Thank you to everyone who nominated a fellow tweeter or our own Twitter handle, @CMBIMPLUS. Although we received a fair number of nominations, to be unbiased we excluded ourselves form the final list.
The full #BIMtwitter50
1. @ThePhilpster David Philp, BIM Task Group
2. @StephenHamilNBS Stephen Hamil, NBS
3. @bondbryanBIM Bond Bryan Architects
4. @CaseyRutland Casey Rutland, Arup
5. @oatfedgoat Matt Mccarter, TopCon
6. @becdecicco Rebecca De Cicco, Digital Node,
7. @Neil_BIM Neil Thompson, Balfour Beatty
8. @djhreed67 Duncan Reed, Tekla
9. @itsBIMupNorth Tom Oulton, Turner & Townsend
10. @NigelPDavies Nigel Davies, Evolve Consultancy
11. @leeroyb Lee Mullin, Autodesk
12. @ShaunF1969 Shaun Farrell, Turner & Townsend
13. @TheB1M Fred Mills, The B1M
14. @ElrondBurrell Elrond Burrell, Architype
15. @BIMcrunch BIMcrunch.com
16. @EEPaul Paul Wilkinson, pwcom.co.uk
17. @randydeutsch Randy Deutsch, University of Illinois
18. @Rob_Garvey Rob Garvey, University of Westminster
19. @qbimgest David Barco Moreno, Avatar BIM consultancy
20. @kathf48 Kath Fontana, BAM FM
21. @StewartGH1970 Graham H Stewart, Ramboll
22. @virtuarch James Austin, Autodesk
23. @BrianSkripac Brian Skripac, Astorino, Pittsburgh
24. @noscalerule David Monswhite, Turner & Townsend
25. @rach_bb Rachael Atkinson, Autodesk
26. @Revitspace Adam Ward, bimtechnologies.com
27. @sarahrocklaw Sarah Rock, RPC
28. @allisterlewis Allister Lewis, Hampshire County Council
29. @classofyourown Alison Watson, Class of Your Own
30. @studioklaschka Robert Klaschka, Studio Klaschka
31. @BenPMalone Ben Malone, BIM Technologies
32. @avatarbim Avatar BIM Consultancy, Spain
33. @BIMatron Peter Morton, Turner & Townsend
34. @Bsuccar Bilal Succar, bimexcellence.com, Australia
35. @StefanMordueNBS Stefan Mordue, NBS
36. @cubicle_Craig Craig Sewell, Cubicle Centre
37. @GeorgeMokhtar George Mokhtar, Turner & Townsend
38. @kantrellk Pete Foster, Premier Interlink
39. @case_inc CASE, New York BIM consultancy
40. @martynday Martyn Day, journalist, develop3d.com
41. @soluismd Martin McDonnell, Soluis.com
42. @thinkBIM Think BIM, Leeds Beckett University
43. @BIM4M2 BIM 4 Manufacturers
44. @SuButcher Su Butcher, JustPractising.com
45. @BIMgcs BIM Task Group
46. @SGThompsonBIM Steve Thompson, BIM4M2 and Tata Steel
47. @malachymathews Malachy Matthews, Dublin Institute of Technlogy
48. @ChrisHallamLaw Chris Hallam, Pinsent Mason
49. @DMA_Architects DMA Architects
50. @seandburke Sean David Burke, NBBJ
David actively engages with other Twitter users – social media is about people having conversations, not just broadcasting. As well as BIM chat, I’ve enjoyed Twitter exchanges with him about antique cameras and Ivor Cutler [eccentric Scottish poet, singer and songwriter], among other subjects.– Paul Wilkinson
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Turner and Townsend have 5 employees in there now :)