Tag: bim

NATSPEC BIM Portal

Luke Johnson

The review process for the NATSPEC National BIM Guide has been completed and it is now available for use.
Learn more about the project or download the NATSPEC National BIM Guide document set v1.0. [390 KB]
The associated NATSPEC BIM Object/Element Matrix can be downloaded separately here. [4 MB]

NATSPEC is a specification framework that is widely used here in Australia.  I received an email from Mark Cronin today that alerted me to the significant number of BIM related resources they have developed or facilited.

The main portal link is:
NATSPEC BIM Portal

On the projects page you can find links to a number of other resources, such as:
NATSPEC BIM Scheduling project
Start date: 2010 Status: Complete
NATSPEC undertook this project as an initial response to subscribers’ requests to develop a standardised Australian practice for the exchange of digital building information. The goal of the project is to recommend a consistent, systematic approach to allocating properties to BIM objects to facilitate the generation of useful schedules.
View pages about the project or download the project report.

Further information on BIM scheduling can be found at the Resources page

buildingSMART BIM survey
Start date: 2010 Status: Complete
NATSPEC hosted a survey on current patterns of use of BIM in Australia as part of the economic study commissioned by the Australian Government’s Built Environment Industry Innovation Council (BEIIC) to examine the potential for BIM to improve the productivity of the building sector. (See BEIIC BIM Economic study.)
See a summary of the survey results in Chapter 5 of the BEIIC study report . Click on link at bottom of page to download

Thanks again to Mark Cronin for the heads-up on this one!

List of BIM Resources

Luke Johnson

Check out the big list of BIM Resources at the following BIMtoField Page:

  • BIM Project Execution Planning Guide, Penn State – If you have time to read only one resource, this is the one. The Penn State team just released version 2.0 of the BIM Execution Plan in June 2010. This guide includes a complete outline of BIM implementation.
  • National institute of Building Sciences (NIBS) – Focused on gathering a number of organizations from government, professional, industry, labor and consumer interests. There are two projects that are of particular interest to the BIM community.
    • BuildingSMARTalliance – A council of the National Institute of Building Sciences and a driving force behind industry leading projects on a number of fronts.

….

Read more – BIMtoField.com

Life science building in litigation – Why?

Luke Johnson

“It boils down to this – bad habits easily translate between CAD and BIM packages – and the tools and models are only as good as the information you put into it. IT’s like saying the car made me drive home drunk, ’cause I didn’t know any other way to get home…”

The MEP CAD Engineer: Interesting article on a BIM failure:

I know I don’t need to say this again…but Revit WANTS you to put good information into it.

Challenging article at Arch | Tech

Luke Johnson

Phil Read has posted a confronting analysis of the current state of the BIM software industry.

Here are some quotes I found particularly stimulating:

“When I demonstrated Revit during sales presentations, people were very quick to raise the numerous objections:
  • 3DMax was a better tool for modeling
  • VIZ was a better tool for rendering
  • AutoCAD was a better for detailing and documentation
  • Excel was a better for creating spreadsheets and schedules
And you know what? They were right. And they still right. Compared feature to feature, Revit can’t compete with those kinds of tools.”
” Applications create silos. Exported data means that the everyone is working in separate versions of the truth;”
“…I don’t believe that Revit is capable of evolving beyond it’s designed intent as a tool to resolve coordinated documentation.”
 “Revit isn’t the center of this ecosystem of geometry and data; it seems to orbit other applications (Navis, ProjectWise, etc) that in turn attempt to integrate data across domains.”

Read the entire article:
Arch | Tech: Why Can’t We Be Friends?

Something that isn’t mentioned here is monopolization.  At times we feel that an all-in-one Design/BIM/Documentation/Presentation tool would be awesome.  But where is the competition?  If we all end up using one powerful piece of software (ie. Windows), who makes the developer accountable?

Engineering giant GHD adopts Autodesk's BIM offering

Luke Johnson

A $5 MILLION deal with Autodesk will underpin the growth plans of Australia’s GHD, one of the world’s largest engineering companies.

Building software to slash costs: an engineering giant adopts Autodesk’s BIM offering | The Australian

Key to the contract renewal was a new licensing model dubbed MultiFlex, allowing every GHD user, no matter their location, to rely on a single agreement.

…

Under the deal GHD will be able to access 25 Autodesk products, an increase from 15 applications previously.

…

Read entire article:
Building software to slash costs: an engineering giant adopts Autodesk’s BIM offering | The Australian

Building Information Modelling to boost Australia

Luke Johnson

“A study commissioned by the Australian Government’s Built Environment Industry Innovation Council has found that BIM improves the productivity of the building sector significantly.”

Building Information Modelling to boost Australia’s prosperity | Construction Contractor

“Widespread adoption of BIM will result in cleaner, healthier buildings – both new and renovated – with improvements in material consumption, energy efficiency, carbon emissions and the productivity of occupants. On average, an owner could save up to 10 per cent on the cost of their building,” Senator Carr said.

A copy of the report is available at: www.innovation.gov.au/industry

Overview of report here

Full report PDF:
Assessing the Impacts of Building Information Models

Revitdialog quote…

Luke Johnson

“It is the biggest project the firm has ever undertaken. There was very little planning with respect to file configuration; as a result, the project has now endured two model splits. We don’t want to do this again.”

(emphasis added)
From Huntington Beach, Here We Come

But isn’t that really at the heart of BIM? We push the limits, get beat up a little along the way, and then come out tougher than ever!

And…what Revit wants is for you to break up models that are huge.

2009 and Beyond | Revisiting the Report on Integrated Practice (Repost)

Luke Johnson

Check out the following page to revisit the report. You can download interviews in mp3 format to listen to at your leisure.

In essence: “One of AIA’s 2009 Integrated Practice Discussion Group’s (IPDiG) projects involves revisiting the “Report on Integrated Practice” released during the 2006 AIA National Convention in Los Angeles…”

Thanks to Eddy Krygiel at ArchTech.