Construct IT Autumn 2006 Members' Meeting in conjunction with IAI/buildingSMART

Summary

The Autumn 2006 Members' Meeting was held in conjunction with IAI/buildingSMART, 15th & 16th November in Manchester.

Day 1
The focus of the first day of the meeting was on a facilitated workshop concerned with Building Regulations Part L and in particular on what compliance means for the industry. Stuart Holt (Property Tectonics) kicked the session off by providing an overview of the changes to the Building Regulations 2000 along with their implications. This was followed by demonstrating compliance with the Design & Construction Standards and the requirements of carbon dioxide emission rates for new buildings (Part L1A and L2A) relating to the conservation of fuel and power in buildings. The impact on the design and construction processes was then discussed. Finally, Stuart presented the main changes to Part L2B associated with Existing Buildings other than Dwellings and in particular consequential improvements and guidance on thermal elements. Nick Nisbit (AEC/IAI/building) followed this with an international perspective by presenting the future of virtual construction and regulation checking. He began by discussing the various relationships in the whole life cycle of a construction project, BIMs (building information model), etc. and where the codes aspect of all this fits in. This was followed by presenting some of the regulatory work happening internationally such as automated building codes compliance checking in Singapore and also making this a reality in the US, designing for health & safety in construction and performance based regulations checking in the UK, planning regulations process facilitated through the integration of BIM and GIS in Norway and the UK BSRIA and IAI UK chapter joint working party investigating and demonstrating the role that IFC building models can play in the preparation of data for use by SBEM (Simple Building Evaluation Method). Finally, Paul Carey (Zero Energy Design Ltd.) gave a technology perspective in terms of the technological requirement and issues/implications for compliance, the current design tools for Part L1 and L2 and future developments such as integrated modelling building simulation and complete building design and environmental analysis tools.

Day 2
The 2nd day of the meeting began with Nick Nisbit (AEC/IAI/building) providing an update on what is happening in the US in terms of their National BIM Standard initiative and discussing how the UK may build on this. He discussed the initial standard to define the scope which aims to improve the performance of facilities over their full life-cycle by fostering a common, standard and integrated life-cycle information model for the AEC & FM industry, key business processes, business rules and implementation guidance covering early stage design, technical submissions and code-compliance.

Next, a panel session focused on how we make interoperability more effective. The panel consisted of leading energy analysis software vendors - EDSL, TAS and Bentley Systems - and was chaired by an industry representative - Miles Walker (HOK International Ltd.). Miles opened the session with a short video on climate change and followed this with an industry perspective, discussing HOK's commitment to the IAI/buildingSMART and the recent live demonstration of buildingSMART at the HOK Board of Directors meeting in San Francisco, April 2006. Sue Pavey (EDSL), Brendan McFarlane (DDS) and Volker Thein (Bentley Systems) then each focused on demonstrating interoperability in how can we get models into their systems for analysis, what do users have to include in their models and what level of detail do the models need to be, and how can we get effective results out during the design process.

Following lunch Andy Hamilton (University of Salford) discussed a step towards an alternative approach to planning consultation which aims to demonstrate the use of interactive three-dimensional (3D) virtual reality visualisations, allowing viewers to experience highly complex information without the need for training. He began with a brief introduction to several of the projects that have applied the approach/technology such as IntelCities (EU project to help achieve the EU policy goal of the knowledge society), Waterloo (creation of the world's first virtual environment of the Waterloo battlefield as it was in 1815), VEPS (urban scale data integration in conjunction with the Environment Agency) and Museum of Welsh Life (cultural heritage documentation and renovation). He then discussed the associated 3D digital technologies along with their integration which include 3D laser scanner and GPS, VR projection system, 3D printer, video conferencing, image generation, etc. This was followed with a presentation on the Building Data Integration System that was developed in the EU IntelCities project and the application scenarios proposed to illustrate the objectives of the work. Finally, Andy presented the current research focused on addressing the challenge of how to share and integrate the urban planning datasets which are heterogeneous, cross-domain and cross-organisation through the development of Web-Based Information Service Framework prototypes and a software development methodology.

Andrew Sullivan (Industrial Interfaces Ltd.) presented the benefits of intuitive 3D Thematic Mapping in the area of site risk management. Andrew began by discussing how the failure to present a clear mental model of the building in any built environment will result in disorientation and confusion. He raised the issue that currently most building users do not have a clear, informed mental model of the built environment because they cannot read 2D plans and in the area of pre-emergency planning & response, reliance on the 2D plan format undermines spatial awareness, wastes critical time and often provides a false sense of preparedness. Emphasis was placed on how the dependence on the 2D format greatly reduces operational efficiency while increasing the threat to property, the public and emergency services personnel. In addition, trying to conceive of another situation where vital, high value assets and the people who interact with them are put at risk through the application of an inappropriate, unregulated technology. Finally, he demonstrated how he is working closely with the emergency services, industry and the insurance sector in redressing this situation through the development of intuitive 3D Thematic Mapping systems.

The meeting concluded with a debate session in which Christopher Groome (IAI/buildingSMART) proposed that a statutory requirement to provide data within a BIM is the only means by which the adoption of BIM by industry can be driven forward. This session led to a number of discussions around such issues as the recent changes in the building regulations and health & safety as drivers, the need to take a step change approach due to the complexities, volumes, etc. of information, stripping down the complex and large volumes of information such that it is fit for purpose, slowness of industry take-up, BIM being perceived as a blue-sky academic exercise, shifting the BIM effort from a technical to a more 'business' process focus along with the role of government and the German automotive industry trying to enforce subcontractors to deliver building design information in IFC format.