A SCOTTISH university has cemented its position at the forefront of construction technology and research with the opening of the country’s first centre of expertise in Building Information Modelling (BIM).
Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) already has a strong reputation for innovative research, with the last Research Assessment Exercise ranking it in the top 20 universities in the UK for its research in the built and natural environment.
The university is also leading the way in research on sustainable urban environments and building design as well as in the field of waste management and recycling.
The implementation of BIM promotes collaborative working and offers significant opportunities for increased efficiencies in the way construction projects are designed, delivered and operated.
The drive to this kind of modelling has been stimulated by the UK Government’s construction strategy which mandates that from 2016, Level 2 BIM is implemented on all public sector contracts.
To support the strategic development of the centre and ensure that the university stays at the forefront of BIM, the university has appointed two visiting professors.
David Philip has been seconded on a part-time basis from his role as global head of BIM at MACE to the Cabinet Office as the UK Government’s head of BIM implementation.
As part of this role he sits within the UK BIM task group which is co-ordinating the UK BIM processes and protocols as well as EU and local authority adoption. He brings a wide range of experience and in depth knowledge on the implementation and development of BIM, its protocols and opportunities and will play an important role in the centre’s research and delivery of support for industry.
“BIM is not so much about the technology or process but is instead more about changing the way we work together to help realise better outcomes at all stages of the asset life cycle and liberate maximum value for all parties,” he said.
The second appointment is Professor Chimay Anumba who is an expert on construction informatics who, with colleagues at Pennsylvania State University, has produced the world’s first BIM project execution planning guide and the BIM ‘owners guide’.
The head of the department of architectural engineering at Pennsylvania State, he is a former chair of the European Group for Intelligent Computing in Engineering and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The GCU centre of expertise will aim to facilitate the construction industry’s uptake of Level 2 and additionally, accelerate the progression to Level 3, a fully-integrated and collaborative process for project life cycle information management. The centre has a target of being at the very forefront of supporting the industry by providing tailor-made CPD courses at introductory, medium and advanced levels, consultancy on aspects of BIM process planning and implementation, as well as high-level research.
