How BIM Academy applies the new UK BIM Framework Guidance

by Melanie Robinson | October 9, 2020 |  3 min read

How BIM Academy applies the new UK BIM Framework Guidance
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A new suite of guidance documents to support the international BIM standard ISO 19650-2 the delivery phase of assets and ISO 19650-3 the operational phase was released last month through the UK BIM Framework.

The UK BIM Framework is a collective of BSICentre for Digital Build Britain and the UK BIM Alliance and sets out the approach for implementing BIM in the UK using the framework for managing information provided by the ISO 19650 series.

This new guidance has been developed to offer easy-to-access, structured content to help industry professionals find their way around the use of BIM and how to implement it across each stage of an asset’s lifecycle.

The aim of the guidance is to allow us to understand more easily the requirements of the ISO 19650 series and follow it correctly.

As practitioners, it’s our role to offer support to our clients in their understanding of digital construction processes and protocols, which is why when such new guidance documents are released we jump on them pretty quickly to uncover what’s new.

The latest iteration of the suite offers new core guidance about information requirements. It explains the important connects around information management and the requirements placed within OIR, AIR and EIR documentation. Explanations about the principles of creation of these key documents with some examples for production and communication of ideas from a client or client representatives’ perspective.

It also offers new core guidance around level of information need, and explains the new aggregated term for defining quantity, quality and granularity of information requirements including providing the right levels of request to ensure the correct information is delivered. Plus there’s new guidance on information delivery planning and openBIM that allow different stakeholders to share their data with any BIM compatible software using open workflows.

This is the most significant overhaul since the initial guidance documents were first published in 2019. The suite has been updated to look at some of the more detailed sections of the ISO 19650 standards and offer these in more digestible chunks, in the form of six guidance parts, which underpin the standard guidance documents.

Part A: The information management function and resources
Part B: Open data, buildingSMART and COBie
Part C: Facilitating the CDE
Part D: Developing information requirements
Part E: Tendering and appointments
Part F: Information delivery planning

In addition to the documents, the UK BIM Framework has provided additional supporting information, including a video outlining what information requirements are and what their role is, and a comprehensive proof of concept on how an information requirements database could be structured.

Although they are rather high level and contain an exceptional amount of detail, they are easy to follow.

As BIM Strategists, at BIM Academy it is our role to guide clients through the standards and protocols needed when delivering a BIM-led project. We go into detail of these standards so that the client doesn’t need to be as deeply involved.

We have already started using the guidance to support clients as they embark on their digital journeys. For example, on one of our live projects on a gold mine in Greece for Hellas Gold, we have developed and tailored an information management process map using the principles, elements, and relationships promoted by the document suite.

This has enabled us to not only create a bespoke process unique to the client and their assets, but also grounds the process map in a unified, industry-generated ontology.

As an industry we are evolving fast, but for many they are only scratching the surface of BIM and digital construction, this type of guidance is essential to encourage greater digital adoption and master new technologies.

If you would like to know more, please contact [email protected].