BIM for Interiors, Land Surveyors and Sub-contractors

There are 3 new practice papers available from the joint AIA (Australia) / Consult Australia BIM Steering Group. They are an extension to the 7 Outreach papers that were published last year:
O1 Educating Clients - What to ask for when requesting “BIM”
O2 BIM for Architects and Building Designers
O3 Engineers: What does BIM mean to my business?
O4 Possible uses of BIM for Construction
O5 Quantity Surveyors and Cost Planners: How can BIM improve my business?
O6 Facilities Managers: What benefits are there for me in engaging with a BIM process?
O7 Manufacturers and Suppliers: What can BIM do for my products?

As chair of the BIM & IPD Steering group of the Australian AIA and Consult Australia I had the pleasure to launch 23 Practice Papers back in August 2012.

National BIM Seminar by the AIA Australia

After traveling the continent for the AIA National BIM Seminar for two years in a row, I've handed over the baton to Dan Jürgens, the National BIM Manager at Cox who will start his 'tour' on Wednesday, 23 November in Perth. The AIA will run the seminar in a slightly different format this year: A networking lunch with an expert panel session.

10 Things a Client Should Know about BIM

Written by Dominik Holzer 

download as PDF

As a client on any medium to large scale construction project you would have come across the acronym BIM (standing for Building Information modelling) one way or another over the past 1-2 years. BIM is an industry buzzword that can relate to many things. It is often misunderstood or at times even deliberately misused in order to promote the goals of individual parties.

This essay provides clients with a straightforward summary of 10 things that are useful to know about BIM. In putting these points together, the author draws on extensive industry knowledge as well as exposure to some of the most prominent BIM projects that have been delivered in Australia. 

Rethinking the contractual environment for BIM in the Australian built environment industry

BROOKING PRICE HIGH COMMENDATION

AEC Connect's Dominik Holzer has recently been honoured with a High Commendation  for co-authoring  the above paper (with Ilsa Kuiper) for this year's Brooking Price entry. The Brooking Price of the Society of Construction Law Australia awards this price for the best essay submitted in their field. It is named after The Hon Robert Brooking AO QC in recognition of his Honour’s pioneering contribution to the study and practice of construction law in Australia.

BIM - 10 years on

A reflection on achievements (and misses) of BIM in the past 10 years based on  a range of highly diverse, BIM related conferences that are currently on the way in Australia.

It has now been over 10 years since BIM became officially accepted as the industry acronym to represent the breadth of investigations into object-based virtual modelling and building product models that reach out to the entire building lifecycle.

Announcing: Strategic Partnership between AEC Connect in Australia and CASE

AEC Connect will expand its services offered in Australia through close collaboration with the 20+ strong CASE team in the US and the UK. The newly formed partnership with CASE will foster AEC Connect’s  Strategic Design Technology consultancy and take advantage of CASE’s exhaustive experience in Project Consulting.

How BIM changes effort levels across the AEC industry

This is  a short overview of a recent industry study conducted by AEC Connect in order to establish the sentiment among some of Australia’s leading architecture and engineering consultants who use BIM to deliver projects on a day to day basis.

OpenBIM/Geometry Gym event at Arup in Melbourne

A snapshot of Jon's Rhino/Grasshopper to Revit conversion

buildingSmart Australia recently hosted Jon Mirtschin from Geometry Gym at Arup in Melbourne. Jon was part of an exquisite line-up of industry experts who discussed current developments in moving between parametric exploration, engineering optimisation and documentation in BIM. Find a summary in this blog entry.

Highlights of the ‘BIM in Practice’ Conference

A critical review of this recent conference in Sydney that gathered key national and international experts to  share their progress on implementing BIM on a variety of projects.

Dominik Holzer of AEC Connect appointed as Senior Lecturer at The University of Melbourne

As of early February 2013 AEC Connect’s Dominik Holzer occupies a half time position as Senior Lecturer in Digital Architectural Design at The University of Melbourne where he complements his activities as a consultant with an 'academic edge' at this highly regarded University.

As one of the leading academic institutions in Australia, The University of Melbourne provides a fertile ground for critical reflection on contemporary architectural and construction practice.

Dominik looks forward to a rich discourse with his colleagues at the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, as well as expanding his horizon through research, teaching and learning with potential partners across the entire university.

'BIM in Practice' Seminars

Blog entry: Dominik Holzer

After a successful launch of the 23 'BIM in Practice' documents back in late August, I will now embark on a 15 city tour of Australia to share detailed insights from the work undertaken by the BIM and IPD Steering Group of the Australian Institute of Architects and Consult Australia.

How full is your BIM? (Part 2)

The urgent need to clearly define BIM ‘Scope of Services’

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

The dangers of a ‘Full BIM’ scope

I was recently approached by a lawyer during an industry function where I presented the (amongst others) four documents discussing ‘Legal and Procurement’ aspects of BIM. The lawyer was pleased to see that the construction industry is now increasingly considering the legal aspects of BIM.  “We are currently having a lot on our plate”, he said “…lots of disputes between consultants, contractors and clients who collaborate on projects using BIM; there seem to be large discrepancies between the clients’ expectations and what ultimately gets delivered by the consultants and contractors – More work for us lawyers!”.

‘BIM in Practice’ - A great start!

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

Over the past 3-4 months one of my main occupations as partner at AEC Connect has been to support the Australian Institute of Architects and Consult Australia in their efforts to publish their first collection of Practice Papers about BIM. Chairing their BIM and IPD Steering Group is a challenging yet rewarding task.

BIM MEP Aus Forum 2012 - Review

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

The BIM-MEP Aus guys are at it again! For the third year in a row now, the BIM group within the BIM group within the organisation of the Association of Mechanical Subcontractors in Australia (AMCA) is hosting their national forum in Melbourne.

How full is your BIM? (Part 1)

Or: How the ambiguous definition of BIM deliverables keeps holding us back!

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

Preamble

Ambiguous interpretation of deliverables is one of the main hindering factors for progress in the uptake of innovative technology and the adoption of BIM in the construction industry. I have been debating the dangers of ill-defined services and in particular the notion of ‘Full BIM’ for a while now across the industry. The feedback I receive about my ‘Full BIM’ criticism reflects on the struggle our industry  is going through: Collaborating parties too often experience a mismatch between their initial expectations and the benefits they ultimately receive when requesting BIM. Others have commented on the ‘hype factor’ when inflated expectations about BIM don’t match up in practice. The point I’m making is slightly different though:  I argue that there exists a lack of differentiation of what constitutes BIM among those offering it as part of their services as well as those requesting it as part of their deliverables.

Revit Technology Conference (RTC), Australia 2012

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

This year's Australian RTC was held in the coastal town of Woollongong (NSW) with a 400+ strong crowd of Revit users and affiliates. Over the past year's the RTC has established itself as the primary user forum of computational design tools in Australia (and it is on the to follow this path with its US and European offshoots as well). Its strength is derived from the mix of hands-on user feedback related to Revit and associated tools, plus an increasing focus on strategic BIM implementation and the use of innovative technology in practice. I presented my paper on the Seven deadly sins of BIM on behalf of AEC Connect  during the 'Principals' Stream' on day one of the three day conference.

Still us and them?

The curious persistence of the 'Design vs. Technology' paradigm

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

The organisers of the 2012 National Conference of the Australian Institute of Architects need to be commended for their excellent effort in setting up a fantastic event in Brisbane. It has been a while since Queensland last hosted the AIA annual conference and by the feedback I got from those present, people were delighted with the result. A strong Queensland focus was noticeable overall as part of the introductions to the speakers as well as in considerations of the speakers themselves.

Review of the GSA and Penn State guides on BIM for FM/Owners

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

In early BIM days architects, engineers and manufacturers (hence those authoring BIMs) were the main parties of interest when it came to BIM literature, followed by contractors who would learn about BIM's advantages for coordination and site related work. This is changing and two recent U.S. publications illustrate that the focus surrounding BIM is currently moving towards exploring advantages for Owner / Operators in general, and Facility Management FM in particular: The General Services Administration (GSA) 'BIM Guide for Facility Management' and the Penn State 'BIM Planning Guide for FacilityOwners'

buildingSmart National BIM Roadmap - Workshops

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

Dominik Holzer from AEC Connect has been invited to attend an industry leadership workshop by buildingSmart Australia. They have recently secured funding from the (Australian) Commonwealth to analyse means to propagate the use of BIM across the building sector in Australia. The funds were given to buildingSmart with the aim to identify tasks, priorities and actions for the development of a National BIM implementation plan.

Meeting the Vasari developers

Blog entry by: Dominik Holzer

A large number of architecture and engineering firms currently undergo a major change in their tool infrastructure. BIM software is continuously gaining ground on traditional CAD tools as means for documentation. BIM software developers are not satisfied with limiting their tools to the documentation aspect of design and they aim at introducing options for conceptual modeling within their suite of software.  A prime example these developments is the approach Autodesk has taken for offering tools that assist their clients in early environmental checks. With several (partly complementary) products on the market, the frontrunner in that niche seemed to have been Ecotect  (acquired by ADSK in mid 2008).  When considering the lack of development after its purchase, ADSK rather seemed interested in extracting some of its features than retaining it as a standalone product. A strong indicator for this to be true is the current development of Vasari that is slowly making its way out of the Autodesk Labs.