With BIM adopted on £7.5bn of projects since 2017, Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) and Okana have set out a plan for Scotland to develop a connected digital estate, making the most of the wholelife value of information management.
The plan is revealed in a detailed report produced by Okana for SFT. The report makes 10 recommendations, grouped into three themes: why, what, and how.
Why
- Implement a systems approach to policy.
- Shift digital estate investment to outcomes-based business cases and assurance.
- Further develop the benefits case to unlock and sustain investment.
What
- Maintain and scale a national digital estate centre of excellence.
- Digitalise the existing estate, not just new projects.
- Set a tiered national baseline for digital estate information.
How
- Align procurement, funding and commercial models to information outcomes and maintainability.
- Embed capability and capacity of information management within organisations.
- Enable wholelife continuity through interoperability principles.
- Evolve the Standard Information Management Plan into a flexible wholelife framework.
SFT will work with the Scottish public sector digital estate group and other stakeholders to develop a roadmap to deliver the report’s recommendations.
Driving BIM adoption
The main driver of information management in the Scottish public sector has been clear policy direction and programme requirements, in particular the £2bn Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) that requires authorities to adopt the SFT’s standard information management plan (SIMP) to secure LEIP funding.
The SIMP is Scotland’s national resource for specifying how information should be delivered and managed on public sector building projects, aligned to 19650. It has evolved over time, embracing handover, and will need to evolve again to take a wholelife approach.
The Okana report reveals that where local authorities have really embraced the SIMP on their LEIP projects, they have also deployed it on non-education projects.
An important milestone
Ryan Tennyson, associate director at the SFT, said: “Scotland’s BIM journey has reached an important milestone. The industry has shown what can be achieved when clear standards, strong leadership and collaboration come together.
“The challenge now is making sure that the information created during project construction continues to work for building owners and operators long after the building becomes operational. Better information means better decisions, better-performing assets and better value for the public sector.
“Connected digital estates offer a practical way forward, helping organisations make the most of the information they already have while creating stronger foundations for future investment.”
Melanie Robinson, strategy director at Okana, added: “Scotland has done something many countries are still working towards: it has moved digital information management from a niche technical requirement into a genuine public-sector priority.
“The next major opportunity lies in the buildings we already own, and getting information about existing assets into a form that estates teams can actually use with clear ownership, realistic resourcing and the discipline to maintain records over time.
“That is what a connected digital estate means in practice, and with the foundations already in place, it is entirely achievable.”
Scottish success stories
Okana’s report highlights some cases of successful deployment of information management. One such is Alness Academy, designed by JM Architects and delivered by Kier Construction.
The report states: “Alness Academy demonstrated how a 360-degree construction record linked to a client’s common data environment can support building operations. It allowed teams to remotely navigate the site, access tagged assets, and view up-to-date operations and maintenance information, reducing site visits, travel time, costs and carbon emissions.
“The project also highlighted the importance of adoption factors such as collaboration, reliable information, and improved training and familiarisation through easy navigation tools.”
