TECHNOLOGY24 ATSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER2011My guess is that there are basically threekinds of reader on this subject. Firstly: the enthusiast; who maybe knows alot about the subject having devoured everyarticle and attended conferences not tomention regularly turning out projects withfully integrated building models carrying allthe data from which drawings,specifications, O&M manuals, projectexecution plans and (lifetime) postoccupancy analysis are derived. Secondly: the disinterested; being perhapsconvinced it is a passing fad that won'taffect them particularly as their stock-in-trade might be relatively small and simpleprojects.Thirdly: the scared.What I want to try and do in this short pieceis reassure the third, maybe convince thesecond and remind the first 'why'.What BIM is and isn't aboutHard though it might be I want you toforget 3D graphics for now. Looking at itfrom this graphical viewpoint is the mostintuitive starting point particularly for thevisually literate such as ArchitecturalTechnology professionals and architects butit risks missing (not getting to) the realpoint. BIM isn't about drawings - they aresomething you produce from it - and itespecially isn't about façade and interiorrenderings and visualisations which can alsobe derived, and undoubtedly to great effect. BIM is about the intelligent interactions ofdata that enables these things so that forexample the information that might createthe interior rendering for a walk-through totantalise a client can be used to help planescape strategy from the building and helpconstruct life saving simulations. This ismaybe an extreme example (and frankly notactually that readily available in proprietaryform yet) which has probably scared thethird group even more, but it is chosen tohelp make the point. BIM isn't necessarily about buying softwarewith 'BIM' on the box and it doesn't haveto be about a single building model in oneplace either but is about having all the dataavailable and interoperable in/from anychosen place. What the system vendors havemostly done is package, software that inmany instances has been around for a longtime before the coining of the 'BIM'acronym, such as to make it easier to use tocreate what has become labelled a 'BIMenvironment'. I'm not one of those whotherefore calls it 'all old hat' however andI'm quite happy to consider it as 'new' indue deference to the enormous amount ofenabling work and development work (andinvestment) undertaken to make it moreuser intuitive and friendly and moreIn May the Government's Construction Strategy set out a firmcommitment to requiring the use of Building Information Modelling(BIM) on all its assets by 2016. Keith Snook HonMCIAT explains whatBIM is and, more importantly what it isn't. What BIM really is...and isn't. Hard though it might be Iwant you to forget 3Dgraphics for now. BIM isn't necessarily aboutbuying software with 'BIM'on the box and it doesn'thave to be about a singlebuilding model

25powerful in what it can do - well done thevendors, keep it up. What about the 'other M'?I imagine the enthusiast, the well read onthe subject, has mused from what they haveread so far, 'this author is the kind thatconstantly refers to BIMM rather than BIM'(where the other M stands for 'andManagement'). The disinterested probablyisn't reading this anyway but if they arewould be thinking; 'isn't 'BIM' enough, whydo we need another M?' and the 'scared' aregetting more scared and wishing they hadn'tstarted reading at all. I frankly have a bit of a problem with theacronym in its entirety. Firstly it isn't justabout 'buildings' unless we accept that we'build' roads, bridges railways etc. so'building' has to be the irregular verb - tobuild which is not how most peopleunderstand it in 'BIM'. 'Information' is thereally important bit albeit that we also often,and erroneously, interchange it with theterm 'data' once we get into the computingenvironment. If I'm allowed only one M then themanagement of the information is actuallywhere the big win is. In terms of ultimatelyimproving the product (of construction) thebest advice here has been pretty constantsince long before the coining of 'BIM' andwhere one way of managing it is into formsthat can create the third dimension in ourgraphics and to which data sets to createother information can attach: which thenequals a Model. However I happen to thinkthe extended acronym looks ugly and rarelyuse it and, rather like the way most peoplemispronounce 'Southampton' and'Northampton' by using the 'h' twice (forthe 'th' and for 'ha') I tend to just let the one'M' mean either/both.So it is time to start to try to reassure thescared. I have no aptitude at all for learningsoftware applications and one of the thingsthat surprises me about many BIMenthusiasts is that they have the capacity tolearn the software and 'drive' it mostexpertly but with much less grasp of why orto what end. So, having said that it is notabout drawings per se, here follows a quote Ihave used for near enough 30 years. A littleover 100 years ago Edwin Lutyens said 'Aworking drawing is a letter to a buildertelling precisely what to build and not apicture to charm (the client)' - my bracketsas it applies to 'charming' anyone withdrafting finesse and artistic/architecturalmerit (not to be scoffed at but just not thepoint). Remembering what lies behind this100 year old wisdom still provides thebiggest wins and what the scared mustunderstand is that the BIM dimension is theicing on the cake not the cake itself. The list of things at the beginning that Isuggested that the enthusiast was perhapsregularly doing was actually planted to scarethe self proclaimed enthusiast not thealready scared. To perhaps put a bit ofdoubt in the minds of those who say 'I'mdoing BIM' simply because they haveshelled out for the software and can createnice images. Sorry, if it stops there it is jollyimpressive 3D but not BIM just because itsays BIM on your software box/start upscreen and you can twirl the result like DrWho's Tardis. If it goes a bit further (as it invariably wouldusing the software) so that 'objects'graphically created relate intelligently toeach other (ie a column knows it has toremain attached to a floor if dimensions arechanged) .it is still 3D not BIM. If someof the object attributes (some specificationfor example) have been attached then youare getting there. However the disinterested and/or scaredwith a full set of integrated and coordinateddrawings (CAD or manual) with noinformation missing in terms of attributeslike position, orientation, shape, size,components, fixings, proximities andcomposition, and backed up by fullyreferenced and comprehensive spec-ifications is arguably closer to BIM idealsand probably, with a bit of softwaretraining, more likely to make the jump toreal BIM.BIM for the whole life of buildingsWhen did you ever see a job where all thedrawings, specifications and bills wereperfect - ie absolutely complete, com-prehensive and accurate? Real BIM starts todemand this and shines a light on where itisn't, so with all of this information tomanage I'm afraid it is inevitable thatcomputers have to be involved; and thedisinterested and scared will have to join ineventually. Also my example of the exemplary'traditional' set of production informationitself doesn't start to service the extendedbenefits of BIM such as taking the data (callit 'the Model' if you must) and using itintelligently for project execution purposes,and into the whole life of the building (tobe trendy you have to call it 'asset' now) foroperations and maintenance.So I hope I have at least in part reassuredthe scared, sparked a bit of interest in thedisinterested and given room for new ideasto the enthusiasts.'A working drawing is aletter to a builder tellingprecisely what to build andnot a picture to charm'.Edwin LutyensTECHNOLOGYBIM isn't aboutdrawings - theyare something youproduce from it -and it especiallyisn't about façadeand interiorrenderings andvisualisations ATSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER2011