Round table events to accelerate Digital Built Britain strategy will involve senior industry and government figures.
The Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) are teaming up for a series of high-level “round table” discussions, which aim to accelerate adoption of the government’s digital strategy for the built environment, including BIM Level 2.
Involving senior industry and government figures, the debates will be chaired by David Philp (CIOB trustee) and Terry Stocks of the CDBB BIM Level 2 delivery team. Both have been involved with the government’s BIM programme since the outset and now have roles with CDBB, the partnership between the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the University of Cambridge which aims to transform how UK construction plans, builds, maintains and operates the social and economic infrastructure.
These events will help inform the future direction of the programme and an output will be continuous professional development (CPD) material.
“To date, we have seen BIM used mainly for 3D modelling at a project level, and we want to see more focus on data – how it is gathered, structured, validated and used to inform future work,” said Stocks. “Construction is OK working with data at a project level, but we want organisations to think at portfolio level, and then business strategy level.”
“It is important that we build an information framework on top of BIM, involving smart assets and technologies, enabling a ‘national digital twin’,” said Philp. “The foundation of that will be good quality information management and structured data.”
“The Hackitt report has brought sharper focus to how the industry manages data, with Dame Judith recommending a ‘golden thread’ of information – initially providing a digital record for high-risk, high rise buildings,” Stocks added. “The Grenfell tragedy means that discussions about data now have a safety and social responsibility angle.”
Philp said industry feedback suggests built environment graduates are falling short on digital knowledge and skills, so one of the round tables will involve academia. Others will bring together clients, contractors and key supply chain members, with six planned in total.
“We will be asking universities whether their current courses will help deliver the government’s Digital Built Britain strategy,” Philp said. “We will be asking contractors about their training strategy and, beyond current use of BIM, what their digital road maps look like.”
The debates will also be covered by Construction Manager.
The round tables, which begin this autumn, will be held at the CIOB’s London office.
