Irish Construction Industry Comes Together to Implement Change

By Ralph Montague, BArch MRIAI

Architect, Managing Partner ArcDox, Chairman RIAI Practice Committee for BIM, CITA BIM Group Coordinator

2012 CITA BIM Workshop Series To Register and participate in this series of events, Please click here You can also follow the discussion and activities of the CITA BIM Group on LinkedIn Click Here

BIM (Building Information Modelling) is having a dramatic impact on construction worldwide, contributing to reduced cost of construction and improvements in building quality and energy performance. Established in August 2010, the CITA BIM Group has become “the meetings place” for the discussion and development of BIM in Ireland, and already has official representation from a number of the main contractors and the following organisations:

· Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI)	· Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI)
· Construction Industry Federation (CIF)	· Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland (AECI)
· Engineers Ireland	· Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers Ireland (CIBSE)
· Chartered Institute of Building Ireland (CIOB)	· Chartered Institute of Architectural Technologists (CIAT)
· Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors (ICES)	· Office of Public Works (OPW)

In conjunction with these organisations, CITA (Construction IT Alliance) is planning to host a series of industry-wide discussion workshops in 2012, which aims to facilitate a high level discussion amongst the key stakeholders, addressing the immediate issues and obstacles to the adoption and implementation of BIM in Ireland. These are issues, that each organisation has to deal with anyway, and it makes far more sense that the stakeholders work together, to share the research workload and financial burden, to develop some joined-up thinking on the subject, rather than trying to do this independently and in isolation.

The workshop series aims to pull together as many construction stakeholder organisations as possible, so that the outcome of these discussions are widely recognised by industry, to fast-track some joined-up thinking of the subject, and unlock the potential of BIM. The adoption of BIM worldwide presents an enormous opportunity for the Irish Construction Industry, to become “world-class” in this process, and attract international business for professional and construction services. The UK government announcement that BIM will become mandatory on public project by 2016, presents an immediate opportunity for Irish “BIM-capable” designers and contractors to provide services to the UK and other international markets. The Irish Construction Industry is much smaller than the UK, but more agile, able to change and adopt very quickly, if the industry can work together.

BIM is changing the way construction projects are planned, constructed and maintained, and it would be in the interest of the executive and steering committees of all key stakeholder organisations in the construction industry, to participate in this series of workshops.

Specifically the workshops are designed to:

· Raise the level of understanding and fast-track the general adoption of BIM in Ireland.

· Disseminate best practice and the application of BIM in a variety of direct and indirect construction related work processes

· Facilitate a consistent and coordinated message back to industry in how to best to implement BIM in Ireland.

Proposed Format:

There will be 10 workshops in 2012 (click here for topics and dates). The proposed format for the 2-hour workshops, will include a keynote presentation from an “industry expert” on each particular subject, some round table discussions on a number of key points, and a short report back from each table. The presentation and outcomes will be recorded by CITA, and given back to each participating stakeholders, as information that can be circulated back to their members.

Below is the suggested series of topics that have been formulated by the CITA BIM Group. These will be developed over the coming weeks. It is important that each participating organisation sends the right people to attend these events, to represent the views of their organisation, ensuring that we get the high level of discussion that is required to implement real change our industry.

Proposed Topics will include:

· Setting Aligned Policy for Use of BIM: A Top Down Strategy (Government, Institutions, Companies, Projects)

· Social, Cultural, Process Change Management, required for BIM Implementation

· Legal/Contractual Implications in Use of BIM in Construction

· Achieving Adoption of Industry Agreed Technical Standards and Protocols for BIM

· Implication and Opportunities of BIM for Constructors

· Insurance and Financial Products that Support Integrated Working through BIM

· Addressing the Education, up-skilling and “tooling” requirements for BIM

· Leveraging BIM for a Sustainable Low Carbon Future

· Developing a National Building Materials & Products BIM Library

· Leveraging BIM for Pre-fabrication and Off-Site Construction

CPD POINTS 20 hours CPD will apply for attendance at the CITA BIM Workshop Series next year (2 CPD points per workshop). To Register and participate in this series of events, Please click here You can also follow the discussion and activities of the CITA BIM Group on LinkedIn Click Here

BIM WORKSHOP SERIES ATTENDANCE COSTS Attendance at 10 Workshops for a Company of  1- 9 Employees Costs €250 plus VAT (3 delegates included in this rate each month) Attendance at 1 Workshop for a Company of 1 - 9 Employees Costs €25 plus VAT per month (3 delegates included in this rate each month) If you have any queries please contact Suzanne Purcell, General Manager, CITA Limited, spurcell@cita.ie 086-047 4869