by Brianna Crandall — April 29, 2016 — BSI, the U.K.-based business standards company, recently released an update of the building information modeling (BIM) requirements in the United Kingdom, and launched a BIM Level 2 Web site.
According to BIM Task Group Chairman Mark Bew MBE, the successful delivery of the U.K. Government Construction Strategy (GCS) Level 2 BIM objectives represents “an internationally unparalleled achievement on the journey towards the digitalization of the built environment sector.”
Published by the Cabinet Office on May 31, 2011, the GCS — as well as the Low Carbon Construction Innovation & Growth Team: Final Report by Paul Morrell — outlined the key target of reducing the cost of government construction projects by 15%-20%.
Critical to reaching these targets ahead of the April 4, 2016, deadline was that all central government departments achieved the milestone and now require tendering suppliers to demonstrate collaborative 3D Level 2 BIM maturity through defined and compliant information and data on projects.
With government departments now committed to achieving BIM maturity — the outcome of the BIM Task Group’s four-year collaboration with industry, government client departments, private sector, institutions and academia — BIM is driving greater value at home and significant growth opportunities overseas, through improved delivery and operation of built assets, says BSI.
Achievement of the mandate has allowed the BIM Task Group, together with the Government Construction Board and the Client BIM Delivery Group, to reaffirm its unwavering commitment to encouraging, supporting and enabling full BIM adoption across the industry.
This has been supported in the recent U.K. budget, which announced the development of the next generation of digital standards for the construction sector — Level 3 BIM — under the Digital Built Britain program.
The £15 million investment over three years is designed to maintain the U.K.’s global leadership in the use of this technology and will save owners of built assets billions of pounds per year in unnecessary costs as well as setting the infrastructure for the Smart Built economy, says BSI.
New BIM Web site
Reflecting the industry’s ongoing transition from mobilization for Level 2 BIM to creating “business as usual,” the BIM Task Group also unveiled a new BIM Level 2 Web site on April 4.
Hosted and developed by BSI, the site will continue to evolve from launch, providing a common and clear point of reference for BIM documentation, standards and guidance created in partnership with the BIM Task Group. These documents will continue to be available free of charge in order to encourage all businesses, however large or small, to take part.
Bew commented:
To look at how far we have come in four short years is to understand how far we can and need to go in the next four and beyond. BIM will become a required U.K. standard across the entire built environment, and our message to all stakeholders is: join us and grasp this incredible opportunity to reduce cost and waste while driving productivity and competitiveness. We have, at Level 2, improved the industry. Level 3 BIM and the realization of Digital Built Britain will create a new industry to service the challenges of the future.
For more information visit the Level 2 BIM or BIM Task Group Web site.
