Adopting BIM is a big undertaking for a small practice but has both predictable and unexpected benefits, says Kyle Buchanan
The question of when – or even whether – to adopt BIM is one that faces many small practices. Adopting BIM protocols and software can be costly, consume significant practice resource and sometimes feel like the interference of central government in that most sacred of architectural processes, ‘design representation’.
My own small practice, Archio, has recently adopted BIM, and I can confirm that the rumours are true: the interface is still relatively clunky, drawing anything that is not a rectilinear block can be pretty challenging, and because we are still in a minority of small consultancies who use BIM, we are yet to see many of the lauded benefits of efficient information exchange.
Having the right systems and processes in place early will allow us to expand quickly and efficiently when the time comes”
Despite all this I don’t regret spending the time and money on moving to BIM. For us, adopting BIM was ultimately about a willingness to embrace new technologies. We have always aspired to run our relatively young practice like a larger office, with a view that having the right systems and processes in place early will allow us to expand quickly and efficiently when the time comes. Introducing BIM was a part of this philosophy, and reflects a desire to be open to new ways of working.
For me the drag in the user interface can be forgiven because of the other benefits. On the handful of projects where we have been able to share models with other consultants the results have been transformative. There have been clear benefits in picking up clashes early on, and in creating an environment in which all the consultants are working in parallel to resolve issues. Being able to produce a door schedule straight from the model has the potential to save part-one students across the country from one of the most tedious tasks that architecture can offer.
Being able to produce a door schedule straight from the model could save part-one students across the country from one of the most tedious tasks that architecture can offer”
The future benefits of BIM remain exciting, and we hope will make the hard work at this stage worthwhile. Applications such as live costing, fully integrated energy modelling and trialling of maintenance plans have the potential to be hugely powerful in driving up quality and speed of delivery on projects.
As well as the expected advantages, there have been indirect benefits. Using Revit has led us to push clients to undertake point cloud surveys of existing buildings, which means we are working in 3D from the outset of a project. In an effort to address some of the issues around the rigidity of the Revit interface we have been exploring how we can use less traditional BIM software, like SketchUp (which has various BIM plug-ins), in the early stages to bridge the gap between the concept design and production of construction information. This exercise has itself fed into a project we are doing around micro prefabrication.
What these examples illustrate to me is that once you begin to work with one new technology you find you are more open to others, and I think it is the cumulative effect of this that has the potential to really change how we deliver buildings.
