Digital Built Britain strategy to keep UK ahead in global “BIM arms race”

Failure to embrace digital technology and BIM level 3 will leave UK at risk from global competiveness.

Antony Oliver
02 March 2015

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Digital Built Britain strategy

The transformation of the design, development and maintenance of social and economic infrastructure using information technology was given a boost this week with publication of the government’s new Digital Built Britain strategy.

Business Secretary Vince Cable launched the strategy which is designed to help industry take the next step towards embracing digital technologies such as Building Information Modelling across the infrastructure supply chain. 

“The Information Economy is transforming the way we live and work. It is crucial to our success on the global stage and to facing the challenges of urbanisation and globalisation that we grasp the opportunity that Digital Built Britain presents." Vince Cable, business secretary.

The new Digital Built Britain strategy builds on the standards and savings delivered by the so-called Building Information Modelling (BIM) Level 2 initiative to drive the basic use of technology and data into the construction industry. The strategy sets out the next steps in the use of digital technology to improve infrastructure delivery and management.

“We have seen the global reaction to our Level 2 BIM programme’s successful delivery and significant cost savings which have greatly assisted the construction costs savings of £840M in 2013/4, with several major EU nations including France and Germany announcing similar BIM programmes,” says Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills in his foreword to the strategy.

“If we want to retain our strength in this economy we cannot stand by,” he adds. “The Information Economy is transforming the way we live and work. It is crucial to our success on the global stage and to facing the challenges of urbanisation and globalisation that we grasp the opportunity that Digital Built Britain presents.”

In 2011 the Government Construction Strategy mandated the use of Level 2 BIM on all public sector projects by 2016. The aim was to accelerate development of industry skills, standards and tools to reduce the cost of infrastructure.

The use of BIM Level 2 has been driven and trialled on projects Crossrail, the 2012 Olympics, Cookham Wood Prison plus others to refine the approach, deliver standards, methods and tools and demonstrate learning and that savings can be made through the use of BIM.

"If we are to remain at the forefront of this market and make the best possible opportunities for growth and jobs for the future we must continue to challenge the existing models and invest in our shared digital future.” Sir David Higgins and Mark Bew.

With work to bring the UK supply chain up to level 2 standard of BIM implementation – and to meet the 2016 mandate for all public projects to embrace the use of BIM level 2 – the new strategy defines a route toward the next level 3 programme and the cross industry partnerships needed to achieve it.

“The UK has the potential to lead one of the defining developments of the 21st century, which will enable the country to capture not only all of the inherent value in our built assets, but also the data to create a digital and smart city economy to transform the lives of all,” says Sir David Higgins, co-chair of the Construction Leadership Council and Mark Bew, chairman of the UK BIM Task Group in their introduction,

“This strategy represents the outcomes and recommendations for the next stage of the Building Information Modelling journey,” they add. 

“We have enjoyed dramatic success in the UK with the Level 2 programme, taking a significant part in the recorded savings of £840M this year for construction spend and much international profile. If we are to remain at the forefront of this market and make the best possible opportunities for growth and jobs for the future we must continue to challenge the existing models and invest in our shared digital future.”

The goal of the strategy is to make “fully computerized construction the norm and ensure that the benefits of these technologies are felt across the UK”. The next step is to sell this UK expertise and across the world and “seize a share of the $15trillion global construction market forecast by 2025” says the strategy.

The strategy promises a new round of investment in technology and skills to continue the UK’s drive towards embracing BIM. The funding will be used for a series of key measures including:

• The creation of a set of new, international ‘Open Data’ standards which would pave the way for easy sharing of data across the entire market
• The establishment of a new contractual framework for projects which have been procured with BIM to ensure consistency, avoid confusion and encourage, open, collaborative working.
• The creation of a cultural environment which is co-operative, seeks to learn and share
• Training the public sector client in the use of BIM techniques such as, data requirements, operational methods and contractual processes
• Driving domestic and international growth and jobs in technology and construction

The risk of failing to act is great, warns the strategy, 

“The pressure on finite resources, the need to generate more capacity and provide more services for less money, the need to facilitate dramatically better use of our current and future built assets and the need to retain our pole position on the global stage - all of these mean we simply cannot afford to fall back in the BIM arms race,” it says.