The New Zealand Institute of Building and the BIMinNZ Steering Group are working with experts on a digital building information modelling (BIM) guidance project called DigiGuide.
Updating the BIM Handbook
A key outcome of the project is to review and update the current BIM Handbook (2019) to ensure it is current with the relevant international standards, considers any industry-led process changes and includes new terminology. This project is being funded by the Construction Sector Accord through its Innovation workstream.
One of the first steps in the project was to look at the value case for making the changes. Why do these updates need to happen now, what are the potential benefits of a greater digital uptake and what’s holding us back from fully embracing digital in the Aotearoa New Zealand construction sector?
Why digital first?
The built environment touches every aspect of our lives – where we live, work, learn and play, the services we need, the products we consume and the transport and communication networks that connect us.
Aotearoa is facing an infrastructure crisis – existing infrastructure is ageing, and new infrastructure must be built to sustain growing communities and to create resilient networks.
Increasingly, severe weather events directly affect our communities, reminding us about the multiple challenges we face, including the impacts of climate change and the urgency to reduce carbon emissions.
A digital first approach leads to better productivity and a more sustainable and efficient delivery of the built environment.
It is about collaboration, trust and transparency and specifically about improving the relationships between people as they work with the actual bricks and mortar. Using digital results in time saved, greater productivity, lower risk and an improved experience for project delivery.
The value case for the project was led by Andrew Field from Beca, Keri Niven from Aurecon and Greg Preston from the University of Canterbury.
Now is the time
The time is right for digital first due to the increasing frequency and severity of devastating weather events and the availability of a suite of digitally focused national and built environment strategies, roadmaps and action plans.
Work is already under way to encourage digital first. Since the early 2000s, policy and strategy has been published advocating for and, in some cases, mandating the use of BIM in construction.
In response to Rautaki Hanganga o Aotearoa – New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy 2022–2052 and in recognition of the need to increase the rate at which we are future-proofing the construction industry, the Construction Sector Accord released its Transformation Plan 2022–2025.
In this plan, specific goals are defined to uplift capability in several key digital skills areas. The sixth goal sets out the aspiration to drive increased productivity through innovation, technology and an enabling regulatory environment. It also notes BIM and a shared digital environment as priority activities.
What success looks like
We’ve seen from examples overseas such as the UK BIM project that mandates for change must go hand in hand with incentives, guidance and support to enable organisations to transform and uplift digital maturity. These deliver the capability and capacity to participate in the new delivery model.
There are examples of digital first approaches under way now in Aotearoa including the City Rail Link project in Auckland, the Auckland International Airport development and KiwiRail’s digital engineering programme. In all these projects, the use of digital allows for greater communication, productivity and health and safety outcomes.
In the Auckland International Airport project, BIM is being used to support detailed planning of construction activities. This enables the ability to rehearse vehicle movements, temporary works and building stages in a digital setting that helps maintain the safety and security of people and processes in the facility.
Different methodologies can be explored and problems can be identified and mitigated without interfering with the continued operation of the airport.
What’s new in the handbook
The New Zealand BIM Handbook has been the cornerstone of BIM adoption in Aotearoa’s construction sector since 2014. The current version was published in 2019, but in a fast-evolving environment, it needed a refresh. The work was led by Melanie Tristram from Jasmax, Glenn Jowett from Beca, Christian McCartney from Hawkins and Andrew Proctor from Fonterra, with broader industry consultation from BIM experts.
What’s changed
- Updates to make the handbook more sector inclusive and that recognise BIM adoption has advanced significantly in recent years in the horizontal infrastructure space.
- Client maturity has grown since the 2019 release and the handbook now includes a refreshed section on establishing client information requirements from organisational level requirements to specific asset information requirements.
- The construction section has been revised to make it more relevant to the current industry conditions as construction contractor and subcontractor maturity has also grown,
- Project procurement models have long been noted as crucial to unlocking the true value of BIM through a construction project and into the operational life of a new built asset. A new procurement appendix has been added that aligns some of the typical project life cycle phases with the ISO 19650-2 BIM process and some of the typical procurement pathways used in the Aotearoa construction sector.
- The model coordination appendix has been revised to capture almost 4 years of lessons since the 2019 version. This includes a more detailed model coordination matrix.
- The BIM process section has been rewritten to align to international standards, with an emphasis on simplifying the language used and making the process easier to understand.
- A detailed level of development schedule that includes buildings, power transmission and generation, rail, road and water infrastructure projects.
- Various updates to templates, including briefing documentation and the BIM execution plan template.