Tag Archive | BIM
June 14, 2016  

Autodesk and Trimble Sign Agreement to Increase Interoperability

AEC Customers will Gain Greater Flexibility Throughout the BIM Project Lifecycle

Autodesk and Trimble have entered into an interoperability agreement aimed at saving customers time and reducing project costs typically associated with workflow inefficiency across different suppliers’ technologies. This will benefit architects, engineers and contractors, and importantly, project owners by enabling more freedom to optimise technology workflows needed to meet the complex requirements of today’s construction projects.

Autodesk and Trimble have a shared goal of meeting the evolving needs of the building and infrastructure industries. Reliable, fluent exchange of information among multiple stakeholders and platforms is essential to this end. The Trimble and Autodesk collaboration demonstrates their ongoing commitment to support open industry standards such as Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie), and can enable current and prospective Autodesk and Trimble customers working on the same projects to work together seamlessly through optimised file compatibility across applications.

Under the terms of agreement, Autodesk and Trimble will take steps to accelerate interoperability by exchanging Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and developer tools to build and market interoperable products. This allows the two companies to improve upon existing data exchanges, as well as open up new workflows between their products. Tighter product-to-product integration can enable design and construction professionals to share models, project files and other data between select Autodesk and Trimble solutions both in the office and the field, and allow for the reuse of information during design and construction throughout all phases of the project.

“The strength of a company is best measured by its willingness to do what is right for its customers and the industry at large. This interoperability agreement, like others we’ve signed, speaks to Autodesk’s commitment to openness,” said Amar Hanspal, senior vice president, Autodesk. “This collaboration with Trimble speaks to our shared dedication to making the building process more efficient and productive for all involved.”

“This collaboration demonstrates our mutual commitment to provide design and construction professionals with a seamless experience from both Autodesk and Trimble design-build-operate solutions,” said Bryn Fosburgh, vice president at Trimble. “As a result all stakeholders across the construction lifecycle can optimise their workflow efficiency.”

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October 23, 2015  

BIM Campus is back!

spacegroup initiativeBIM Campus is a training initiative brought to you by Spacegroup. On the back of the recent highly commended Skills Developer award from Dynamo North East, BIM Campus is back!

Campus is a purpose made Building Information Modelling (BIM) training suite with pop-up sites across the UK, which aims at teaching and building usable and relevant BIM skills that are instantly transferable into the workplace that enable young people within the construction industry to make a valued contribution to their employer at a very early stage.

We are currently offering not in education, employment or training (NEET) 19-24 year olds a FREE 6 week intensive introduction to BIM training course covering all essential aspects of BIM.

Campus - Building Skills

The 2015 / 2016 dates have now been released, with the first course kicking off in Newcastle, UK next month:

Newcastle – 19th November to 20th December 2015
London – 18th January to 28th February 2016
Manchester – TBC 2016

Aside from the training provided by Autodesk certified expert Dayle Zieleniewski, BIM Campus have linked up with some of the UK’s largest and most influential AEC companies, to offer world class knowledge transfer to all students. Some of the companies currently signed up include: BIM Store, Autodesk, Leica, NBS, Faro, BIM Technologies, Space Architects, Solibri and many more.

The training is offered free of charge for all graduates ages 21-24 who are not currently in employment. Check out the list of past alumni here, including the employment opportunities which have come their way on the back of this course.

Campus NewcastleFormer trainer Peter Morton with a group of past alumni in the purpose built Newcastle campus.

If you are interested, get in contact with Campus using the following link: http://www.bimcampus.co.uk/contact-us.html 

August 26, 2015  

PAS 1192-2 in Consultation until 31st August

PAS 1192-2 and BS1192:2007 are 2 key documents in the UK’s Level 2 BIM Framework. They are currently both undergoing an update and are under consultation. This means that you get a chance to help shape the future of the industry with your suggestions. Remember, there’s no point complaining about how things work if you haven’t attempted to make them better yourself!

Two key documents at the heart of BIM Level 2, PAS 1192-2 and BS1192:2007, are being revised by BSI with the proposals available for comment until the end of August.

The PAS 1192-2 Specification for information management for the capital/delivery phase of construction projects using building information modelling is available here – and the BS1192:2007 Collaborative production of architectural, engineering and construction information – Code of practices available here.

PAS 1192-2 was originally released in 2013, while BS1192 was last updated in 2008. Both documents are being revised to update out-of-date wording and reduce conflicts between the two standards.

Read the full article here on BIM+

Information delivery – AIM maintenance

June 5, 2014  

Using Dynamo to create a facade on an existing Revit structure

Check out this awesome playlist by Andrzej Samsonowicz, showing you how to “Panelise Existing Revit data with Dynamo” Thanks to Zach Kron for the heads up. There are also a large amount of ‘beginner’ tutorials on the Dynamo BIM website which are a great place to start.

June 1, 2014  

Adopting BIM – An Architect’s Perspective

Elrond Burrell presents a series of lectures, presented at London South Bank University, 07th May 2014.

Topic’s covered:
The Wider Context of BIM including UK Government Policy
Architype’s journey into BIM
Using BIM for Passivhaus Design

May 26, 2014  

COBie for Designers, Contractors and Owners

Bill East, who you may know from his various work with COBie in the USA has created a new series of videos; COBie for Designers, COBie for Contractors and COBie for Owners. You may have seen his previous YouTube videos titled ‘COBie College‘ which were a great introduction to understanding COBie. Thanks to @BondBryanBIM on Twitter for the heads up to the following videos:

COBie for Designers

COBie for Contractors

COBie for Owners

April 1, 2014  

PAS1192:3 now available to download

January 27, 2014  

Copy / Monitor in Revit – Example

Here is a short video briefly demonstrating how the Copy / Monitor function works in Revit 2014. It is a very useful tool to use for multi disciplined projects where worksharing is enabled.

Copy / Monitor allows users to link in other Revit models into their project, and monitor them for any changes which are made to the model, ensuring the latest changes are reflected in their own project.

In this example, I have monitored the grid lines, and for demo purposes, moved a grid line to show how this effects the model that the file is linked in to.

January 7, 2014  

BIM Diary – The story so far

bimdiarytwitter

BIM Diary is now into it’s 3rd year of activity online, sharing BIM events from all over the world. I have been independently running this calendar free of charge since May 2012 and will continue to do so while I feel it is still useful to the community. As a neutral and completely unbiased platform, I am more than happy to add events from individuals, companies, resellers, communities and software vendors – The only criteria is that the event is related to BIM or future technologies in the AEC sector.

Although this calendar is solely updated and maintained by myself – I wouldn’t be able to keep it running without the help from the BIM community.

Users either contact me via email or Twitter (as above) to add their event to the calendar. By simply Tweeting to @BIMDiary with information will allow me to add the event to the diary – I do not have time to keep track of, and hunt down all these events, so the community participation is essential to keep the diary running – Thanks to everyone who inform me of events which aren’t necessarily of any direct benefit to themselves! This is certainly not an ego project or a way to push more traffic to my blog – I have allowed websites such as BIM Crunch, BIM4SMEs and many BIM blogs to embed the calendar on their websites – The more people who benefit from this calendar, the more worthwhile the time spent maintaining it becomes!

It’s always nice to get feedback as above which reassures me that the calendar is useful to the community. @BIMDiary Twitter account has also racked up more than 1000 followers in this short period of time! This ensures that every time an event is added – at least 1000 people are made aware of this.

If you want your event added to the diary don’t hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to add and advertise it as soon as I get the time to do so.  A special thanks goes out to the #ukBIMcrew and especially Shaun Farrell & Matt Mccarter who have been the top contributors to the diary over this period.

You can find BIM Diary here on BIMopedia (under BIM Diary) or directly via www.BIMDiary.com

December 10, 2013  

I’m an Information Manager and proud of it…..

I’m about to put my neck out on the line here I think…but I’m going to because I am passionate about what I do and will continue to be as long as there is room in the industry for me to do so….

So with no further ado…

I’m an Information MANAGER and proud of it…..

There I said it. No shame. I am an Information Manager; I am responsible for Information Management – nothing wrong with that is there? Well, you wouldn’t think so but currently there seems to be dispute over whether Information Manager is even a job title in the context of BIM.

I would argue it is – and here is why….

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a standards fan. Not a sentence goes by with me talking BIM that probably doesn’t make reference to some standard or other. I am quite a black and white person; I like consistency and order to the madness that surrounds me and as such as far as I am concerned, as an industry we can only align and work against the standards and publications that are available. So, why is there confusion over the validity of information Manager as a job title?

If we look at the PAS1192-2:2013 and the CIC BIM Protocol there seems to be a couple of different terms and definitions that make it become a bit blurred. Both of the aforementioned documents make reference to an Information Manager. Now regardless of whether this is an error or not, for me it is ‘current’ guidance.

The CIC BIM Protocol makes reference to (but not limited to) the following;

1.     Information Manager

The Protocol requires the Employer to appoint a party to undertake the Information Management Role. This is expected to form part of a wider set of duties under an existing appointment and is likely to be performed either by the Design Lead or the Project Lead, which could be a consultant or contractor at different stages of the project. In some circumstances the Employer may appoint a stand alone Information Manager.

The Scope of Services for the Role of Information Management will need to be defined in the Appointment of the party undertaking the Information Management Role. Details of the scope of services of the Information Manager have been prepared by the CIC. There are two versions: a detailed version compatible with the CIC scope of services, and another simpler version suitable for incorporation with any appointment, these are published separately on the BIM Task Group website, www:bimtaskgroup.org.

1.1.4 Information Management Role means a role in connection with the Project which includes, inter alia, the establishment and management of the processes, protocols and procedures set out in the Information Requirements.

1.1.5 Information Manager means the person appointed, initially by the Employer, to perform the Information Management Role. 


The PAS1192-2:2013 makes reference to (but not limited to) the following;

NOTE 2 Employers are strongly advised to assign the role of project delivery manager to one or more individuals as early as possible to develop these requirements. Under the CIC BIM Protocol (2013) the employer is obliged to appoint a party to undertake the role of Information Manager.

NOTE 3 On projects led with the CIC BIM Protocol (2013), a key role is the information manager. The information manager has a role in facilitating the management of the federated model and the production of project outputs. The information manager is also responsible for managing the operation, standards and culture of the common data
environment.

Of further note in the PAS1192-2:2013 is the table referencing the information exchanges in respect of Information Management:

– Enable reliable information exchange through a common data environment
– Maintain and receive information into the Information Model
– Enable integration and coordination of information within the Information Model
– Configure information for Project Outputs
– Populate the information exchange format for the Information Model
– Accept/ reject information exchanges within the common data environment
– No design responsibility or right to issue instructions

Of course, let’s not also forget the CIC Outline Scope of Services for the Role of Information Management that combined with both the PAS1192-2:2013 and the CIC BIM Protocol pretty much reads like my job description…

So what does this mean? Well to me it means that, yes the role of Information Management could be facilitated by the Lead Designer or the Contractor, but what if it’s not? Perhaps either of those parties doesn’t have the skill set, or even the desire to do so? That’s where I come in. A 3rd party stand alone Information Manager, responsible for Information Management as defined in the aforementioned standards.

What if Information Management is your only role? Surely by its very nature it is your job and therefore Information Manager is your job title?

I appreciate that as more and more people increase understanding, awareness and adoption of BIM that the role of Information Management may well fall within existing commissions of those traditionally responsible for project delivery, but at this time BIM can feel very complicated and the additional undertaking of information management can be a daunting task.

To steal a quote; “BIM requires sophisticated and dedicated management” – I am a very strong believer in this. Having come from an architectural practice that has been though the journey of adopting BIM (having been personally responsible for the delivery of said implementation), there is an abundance of information and understanding that is required. Its’ easy to forget as I have said before, that when you are trailblazing to not remember there are many others that are not in the same place as you just yet.

If I’m honest, I do hope that the Information Management role is picked up in time by the design team in the traditional sense, because then it means that BIM will of succeeded; It will be embedded in the day to day job of those in industry and Information Management will just be something we do.

I’m not out to take away the role the Information Management from a Lead Designer, a Contractor or anyone else but until such time as the aforementioned wish to take up the role as an addition to a commission I will be here, promoting awareness, better process, and (I hope) ultimately facilitating better buildings.

To reiterate what I stated at the start of this post;

I’m an Information MANAGER and proud of it….

PS. Also I’m not sure my boss will be keen on changing all our business cards to reflect a new job title so if we can all just agree please that would be great :)

November 18, 2013  

Find the position of real world coordinates

Are you looking to find the eastings and northings points for a specific location in the UK?

Here is a good way to roughly check the coordinated location of a Revit project in the UK. The website UK Grid Reference Finder is an excellent website to use to cross check that your model is situated in roughly the correct coordinate system. You can search either by location, Eastings and Northings points or longitude and latitude.

find coordinates

This tool should be used with consideration as it will not give you a completely accurate reading, but can be used to double check the coordinates of others models when you are having issues with models aligning through shared coordinates.

November 14, 2013  

Naviswork Switchback with Revit

Trying to find those saved viewpoints from Navisworks in your Revit model?

Navisworks switchback is an excellent and very simple tool to use, to find referring views from Navisworks in your Revit project.

When making issue reports / clash views it is sometimes difficult to find the same referring view in your Revit project – Navisworks Switchback makes this seamless. Below is a short video showing how it works.

If you are using someone elses model you may find that you may need an additional step of locating the Revit model as the original file is being referenced from the authors server – Simply browse for your local version of the Revit model.

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