Dive Brief:
- Six contractors — including Balfour Beatty, Skanska UK and BAM (Construct UK and Ireland) — are the first to win recognition under the new BIM Kitemark developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI), according to Construction Enquirer.
- The Kitemark is associated with PAS 1192-2, which is the BSI’s specification "for the capital/delivery phase of construction projects using building information modelling."
- The Kitemark represents excellence in BIM delivery, as well as in design, construction, supply chain management and customer service.
Dive Insight:
In April, the U.K. enacted its mandate that all construction companies doing business with the government be compliant with Level 2 BIM. However, the BIM mandate doesn’t actually require any modeling. The level only requires that architects, contractors and suppliers be able to exchange project data through common file formats like Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) or Industry Foundation Class (IFC).
Although the industry had about five years to prepare, a 2016 Royal Institute of British Architects’ National Building Specification (NBS) BIM survey conducted in the run-up to implementation found that only 54% of firms had adopted BIM.
Russia has also jumped into BIM with a high level of enthusiasm. Russia will require contractors working on government-funded projects to use BIM beginning in 2019; however, since May, the government has been issuing contracts that reference BIM. It is widely believed that Russia will take the U.K.’s lead, however, and first require only data exchange in its mandate.
However, Russia is not stopping at an internal BIM revolution. Officials are so sure of the potential of Russian dominance in the field that they have plans in the works to export their BIM expertise to other countries. The plan will be carried out by the private sector, but the government is supportive of the effort.
