Opinion

NBS BIM Toolkit revealed

With the Government’s deadline for the use of Level 2 BIM on centrally-funded projects rapidly approaching, those involved in the design and delivery of infrastructure projects find themselves at the ‘sharp end’ of the Building Information Modelling revolution.

Dr Stephen Hamil

As the Level 2 package nears completion, we have moved the NBS BIM Toolkit out of its Beta phase to give a clear signal that it is now fully operational and ready for use on projects. Since its launch in April 2015, more than 3,000 projects have been created using the Toolkit and we’re now expecting that number to grow rapidly, particularly amongst those working on infrastructure projects. 

Following the brief from Innovate UK and the BIM Task Group, we have created an easy-to-use and free tool that helps clients and managers of infrastructure and built assets comprehensively define information requirements to ensure their needs are met and better project outcomes are guaranteed.

"The development and improvement of the BIM Toolkit is an on-going process. It has the potential to transform procurement of buildings and infrastructure by defining who is doing what and when at each stage of projects."

By combining a standardised and digitally-enable classification system with a level–of-definition reference library and digital plan of work tool, the Toolkit enables design and construction teams to assemble a team with clearly assigned roles and responsibilities to work collaboratively on their Level 2 BIM projects.

User testing and feedback has been absolutely crucial to the development of the Toolkit. In July 2015, a major series of improvements was made, including updates to the Uniclass 2015 tables and updates to the Level of Information (LOI) and Level of Detail (LOD) templates for construction objects. These now number almost 6,000 spanning the systems and products that concern disciplines ranging from architecture, engineering, building services to landscape design.

Other new features added included the ability to define specific Employer’s Information Requirements (EIRs) at each stage of a project and refer these back to the original ‘plain language questions’. We also incorporated the single most requested change, the ability to invite other members of the project team to access the project on the BIM Toolkit. 

The development and improvement of the BIM Toolkit is an on-going process. It has the potential to transform procurement of buildings and infrastructure by defining who is doing what and when at each stage of projects.

Dr Stephen Hamil is director of design & innovation at RIBA Enterprises

If you would like to contact Antony Oliver about this, or any other story, please email antony.oliver@infrastructure-intelligence.com.