Everyone invented it - BIM in Switzerland (Part 2)

In the second part of our interview, Birgitta Schock, architect and specialist for BIM and Lean Solutions, who is also a member of the advisory board of Bauen digital Schweiz| buildingSMART Switzerland and sia, explains the current and future impact of BIM on the collaboration between the respective project partners and the supply industry.

How does the cooperation between the individual trades change in a project that is planned and implemented with BIM? 

Birgitta Schock: First of all, it is very important that all parties involved in a BIM-controlled construction project can rely on each other absolutely. In order to ensure this, so-called BIM roles have developed in recent years. For example there are BIM managers, coordinators or designers. In principle, these roles serve to differentiate between traditional project planning and digital planning. Such division of authority is currently correct, but it should only be a temporary solution until BIM has become a matter of course and every company can deal with it professionally and routinely.

What role do the individual segments play in BIM, such as the planning of door systems and technology, and how are manufacturers being involved?

Many planners and architects are still very traditional when it comes to this issue. To stay with the door example: Although a door is planned, the locking system, cylinders and fittings to be used are of secondary importance. This way of thinking is changing dramatically. Finally, all sides benefit from the advances in the industrial production of prefabricated manufacturer systems in modular design, just as ASSA ABLOY (Schweiz) AG can offer with its locking system solutions. Another stumbling block in this context is the "collision of norms". Many standards and building regulations prevent different trades from being systematically interlinked. It would be better to allow for synergetic development and to be far-sighted in doing so.

A provocative proposition, "If you don't bim, you're out" - How do you this? How will digitalisation continue to evolve in the construction industry?

I believe that parallel models will establish themselves with equal rights. BIM is important and it will be very commonplace in the future. The market is big enough for many forms of building with numerous facets. In the future, BIM will mean that after a construction project has been completed, we will be able to see very transparently which resources were used and in what quantity, and what lessons and optimisation potential we can learn from it. Personally, I find the question of what happens in a post-digital era, when digital is the new normal, much more interesting. Given global challenges such as overpopulation and security of supply, I am convinced that construction planning must now network interdisciplinarily with other industries and sectors, to develop and implement solutions for a world of the future.