BIM enables teams to have a more coordinated approach to the construction of a building. From the design phase right the way through to the handover stage, contractors are able to communicate through an individual technology process. This means that decisions can be made quicker, fewer mistakes are made due to lost data in communication trails and improvements can often be discovered along the way.

BIM is a data led process that allows it to be digitally dynamic. What this means is, that if a contractor wants to explore a change of material or layout of one component, the impact can then be seen across the rest of the building. This is far quicker than having to refer back to original architectural drawings and then exploring the knock on impact with different contractors individually.

In commercial and industrial building construction, there are usually a number of stakeholders involved, each eager to visualise the end result. BIM facilitates this easily through the planning stages, helping to keep parties engaged in the process and enabling any concerns to be easily addressed before work starts onsite.

Nobody wants to arrive onsite to realise that the site isn’t ready for them, it is expensive and unnecessary. As BIM facilitates dynamic data, it means that clashes can be detected between different trades and sub contractors, helping to streamline work scheduling and avoid ‘dead’ time on site. This in turn, will help to save costs as efficiencies are driven through the project so that all parties can benefit.

Construction is one of the most dangerous industries to work in within the UK- There were 40 fatal injuries in 2019/20 with 61,000 non-fatal injuries reported on average each year (Health and Safety Executive November 2020).

BIM will flag areas and construction stages with high risk, which in conjunction with strict adherence to health & safety policies helps to minimise the number of health & safety incidents.

With BIM you can have sight on the whole project, and as data is entered per commodity, it allows users to see where budgets might overrun ahead of time, and make adjustments accordingly. This is in stark contrast to before BIM, where budgets notoriously ran over in the last stretch, as the knock on impact of decisions caught up with reality.

The construction Industry is driven to lowering it’s carbon footprint, however the plant, materials and processes involved can often make this difficult.  BIM helps to reduce wastage; for example in plumbing and electrical entire plans can be drawn up in advance to minimise materials and resources onsite. In addition new greener technologies can be introduced and the impact of them measured. This benefits not only the live construction project but it also provides data for future builds.