Aston University

Aston University is a public research university situated in Birmingham city centre.

Aston University

Image credit: Aston University

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Client

Aston University

Location

Birmingham, UK

Services

Learning and Development

Sector

Education

2 min read

Aston first began as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School in 1895, evolving into the UK’s first College of Advanced Technology in 1956, subsequently receiving its Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth II in 1966.

Today Aston is host to 13,000 students from over 130 counties and is known for its world-class teaching and research in business and technology.

BIM Academy was appointed by Aston University School of Engineering and Applied Science to develop and deliver a training course on digital engineering for academic staff.

This unique and innovative opportunity for collaboration between academia and industry, supported knowledge sharing and new skills development in the area of digital engineering, that will be passed on to the future generation of engineering students.

This engaging and collaborative multidisciplinary course was developed to enable Aston University to prepare professionals working in the built environment for future experiences when working with BIM, by demonstrating the real value of BIM through the application of a virtual project scenario.

For the teaching staff within this School of the University, we designed and delivered a virtual project which we shared through a series of workshops. We carried out demonstrations for ‘hands on’ BIM processes and software tools for design, construction and operation phases of a built asset.

The course was specifically tailored to allow the team to experience BIM in a real-time collaborative environment, enabling them to explore the BIM process and software tools with few of the risks or costs which the uninitiated could encounter on a real project.

The virtual project also addressed BIM standards, processes and digital construction technologies. It was critical the team understand the basic concepts, links between data and technologies, and the benefits that can be seen during design, construction and operations from the application of BIM.