Since the 4th April 2016 all public sector construction contracts with a value of over £10m must be Level 2 BIM-compliant. This has been mandated by the UK Government and it’s not going away!
Moreover, many large private sector organisations are expecting their supply chains to be ‘BIM-ready’.
Yet only a handful of contractors were approved and verified ahead of 4th April deadline, leading to fears that we will end up with a two-tier arrangement between those that are BIM-compliant, and those that aren’t.
And those that haven’t engaged with BIM are in danger of shooting themselves in the foot - losing their competitive edge and ruling themselves out of some major contracts. The majority of these are smaller companies, labouring under the misconception that BIM is only for the bigger players.
As Alan Muse, Director of Built Environment at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) points out: “BIM isn’t just for the big firms, smaller companies also stand to reap the rewards”.
So it’s quite alarming that over 50% of small and medium-sized companies canvassed by RICS did not even have plans to prepare for BIM.
Clearly it’s not too late to take advantage of the opportunities that BIM will offer. However, those that do will need to ensure they have access to tools that will enable them to participate productively and profitably to stay ahead of their competitors.
Alan Muse explains: “Technology in general will drive the future skills agenda, and BIM is at the heart of this trend. For smaller companies, it’s becoming increasingly hard to improve efficiency and gain a competitive edge through investment in people alone. Not least, this is because ongoing skills shortages, which RICS reported on earlier this year, so investment in technical skills such as BIM provide an opportunity to differentiate your business offering.”
Causeway BIM Measure is the market leading 'quantity take-off' tool, fully scalable for use by both large and small main contractors. BIM Measure unlocks the potential of the BIM process, enabling quick and easy quantification from BIMs, as well as 2D and 3D drawings and models.
Automated scheduling and automation of measurement rules is combined with seamless integration to Causeway Estimating, providing typical time-savings of over 50% compared to traditional take-off methods.
