CIOB protocol to provide new focus for BIM4 groups

The CIOB is to draw up a protocol outlining the key aims and attributes of the Cabinet Office-backed “BIM4” groups, in a move to clarify their roles and boost their effectiveness.

The document is being drafted at the moment, and is due to be signed by the multiple industry-run communities, which include BIM4 Infrastructure, BIM4 SMEs, BIM4 Water, and BIM4 Private Sector Clients.

Three new groups have recently been launched: BIM4 Local Government, BIM4 Surveys and BIM4 Data Centres. BIM4 Local Government is led by John Lorimer, formerly head of capital projects at Manchester City Council and a member of the government’s BIM Task Group.

CIOB policy manager Eddie Tuttle said: “We’re trying to map where people are, which groups are proving effective and which have lost their way a bit, and then come up with some ground rules.”

The protocol was discussed at an away day earlier this month, attended by members of the CIOB BIM Group, the BIM4 communities and the BIM Task Group.

John Eynon FCIOB, a member of the CIOB BIM group, added: “The idea is to pull the BIM groups into a wider coalition, and there’s also a lot of overlap between some of them. The BIM Task Group team won’t always be there, and it will then be up to the industry legacy bodies.”

Tuttle said that the BIM4 SMEs group, where the CIOB has also volunteered to take on an administration and secretariat role, was proving effective but could benefit from more reach.

Meanwhile, Tim Platts FCIOB, who chairs the group, described how it is being reformulated as a not-for-profit company, a move that will allow it to enter into contracts with commercial organisations to provide BIM training. It will also relaunch its website to facilitate e-learning.

Mace’s David Philp FCIOB, head of BIM implementation at the Cabinet Office, is due to to become a director of the new company.

Platts said: “The CIOB is contributing significantly to what the BIM Task Group now call the ‘legacy’.”