The a. Proctor group, recognised worldwide for its extensive portfolio of technically advanced thermal, acoustic and membrane products for the construction industry, has launched a new range of performance specifications and bim content covering systems and components for floors, walls and roofs.
In the report Construction 2025, the UK government in partnership with the industry set out its vision and strategy for shaping the future of the UK construction industry.
Key headline targets included 33% lower costs, 50% faster delivery, 50% lower emissions and 50% improvement in exports. Whilst BIM is not the single solution it can contribute significantly towards each of these primary objectives.
BIM is able to provide the industry with better design, through more efficient ways of collaborating on projects, resolving difficult design details earlier in the process.
The use of BIM also reduces risk enabling the right products to be introduced into the model early in the process, with manufacturers and contractors involved before arriving on site and only then identifying the need for re-design. In this way buildings can be designed for constructability, on time and on budget, reducing the requirement for re-work.
BIM Level 2 was the government initiative with the goal of using BIM as the standard for delivering projects by 2016. Whilst still some way to go the industry has set out on the journey and there is no turning back the train. This is furthered by the move towards BIM Level 3 which is an even more collaborative way of working and designing focused on smart cities and buildings, and more open formats for models.
The UK BIM Alliance target of BIM as business as usual by 2020 could be a key determiner with those who are not on board by then finding it difficult to win contracts.
Where now for manufacturers? An essential part of BIM is a rich data source which is built into the models for any given project. A huge amount of the data that is captured during design and construction is manufacturers product data.
It is vital that manufacturers can provide their product data in the structured format of COBie Data which is the key handover format for BIM Level 2 in the UK so that it can readily be absorbed into the project process.
A dilemma for manufacturers is how to choose between BIM Objects and BIM Data. Which is right or do we need both? The A. Proctor Group worked with BIM Strategy in developing the best approach to suit their product range.
John Adams of BIM Strategy explains: “If something is very specialist like a piece of furniture then BIM Objects very much play a part in the decision. If it’s something that is totally embedded, never seen, and doesn’t have a big impact on the design process, then data matters more.
“The A.Proctor Group range of products straddle both because although not a classic maintainable asset, the use of their products in the design process improves the thermal and acoustic properties of the design. One of the challenges we faced was that it was hard to get onto some projects where it had been designed too fully to make the switch to where the layers were within the structure of the building.
“There was a reluctance to redesign because it takes time and adds cost. On that basis, we decided to develop a series of models which are now available live from the A. Proctor Group website.”
With regard to BIM Data, the work on a consistent approach to product data templates is still ongoing with the UK BIM Alliance, CEN Standards and ISO all working on it. Asset owners, architects, contractors and facilities managers may all have a different requirement from the data so producing a universal template will take time.
In the meantime, the following organisations already have a number of templates prepared which may work for manufacturers seeking a method of bringing their information together in a suitable format.
NBS BIM Toolkit, CIBSE and the BRE Templater tool are worth exploring or consult your industry trade body or BIM4M2 for further guidance.
