Those in the building community who are delivering smarter, more creative and sustainable buildings, utilising the latest BIM (Building Information Modelling) technology are being given more time to gain industry recognition for their talent and expertise, following the deadline extension for the 2017 RICS BIM4SME Awards, which are free to enter.
The decision to extend the deadline to enter the annual RICS BIM4SME Awards, from 26 May to 7 August, comes after the RICS was inundated with nominations for its annual RICS Awards, which take place throughout April–June in each UK region, from projects that have successfully used BIM to enhance their scheme.
"Our annual awards celebrate inspirational initiatives in each UK region’s land, property and construction sectors," said Carolyn Robins, RICS Awards Manager.
"This year, we were overwhelmed to see that each regional ceremony attracted a significant number of nominations from projects that had used BIM to deliver a more unique and sustainable scheme. So, with this in mind, we wanted to give these projects the opportunity to enter the BIM4SME Awards for free and be in with a chance of having their BIM talent recognised and rewarded."
The RICS — in collaboration with BIM4SME — established the RICS BIM4SME Awards three years ago in a bid to recognise the SMEs at the forefront of delivering successful BIM projects and initiatives, whilst promoting best practice and the importance of SMEs to the adoption of BIM.
"The RICS BIM4SME Awards are still relatively new to the industry, so it’s our hope that extending the deadline will give us more time to raise awareness of the awards and the categories to enter at leading industry events too, such as the annual RICS BIM Conference in London on 6 June," she added.
There are 10 categories to enter:
- Best use of BIM for Construction Sequencing
- Best use of BIM for use of Embedded Data
- Best use of BIM for Health & Safety
- Best use of BIM for Costing and Material Take-off
- Best Embedment of BIM into Contracts
- Best Virtual Reality BIM
- Best use of BIM for Sustainability
- Best use of BIM to enhance Model Coordination
- Best BIM project for Subcontractor Engagement
- Best overall BIM Project.
The 2017 RICS BIM4SME Awards will be announced at a ceremony on 12 September in London.
"The construction sector is growing in confidence in delivering BIM and the number of built projects we’re seeing utilise BIM is rising," added Alan Muse FRICS, RICS Director of Built Environment Professional Groups.
"As hardware, software and cloud applications herald greater capability to handle increasing amounts of raw data and information, use of BIM will become even more pronounced than it is in current projects. With this in mind, we’re looking forward to recognising and promoting the firms that are already ahead of the game, and driving the BIM agenda amongst their peers."
