Rhubarb Rhubarb: Vision of the Future Yorkshire [Home, Work & Play]
Rhubarb Rhubarb is back!
The evening of the 15th November marked, what we hope will become, the beginning of a new run of the entertaining and thought-provoking Rhubarb Rhubarb events. With most of the industry preoccupied with surviving the next few years, we felt that the event was the perfect time to ponder what Yorkshire could be like over the next twenty years. And the speakers [Rob Hindle http://www.whplimited.co.uk, Rob Cullen www.integreatplus.com, Tristram Hope www.cic.org.uk, Karl Redmond www.constructionsectornetwork.org ] certainly delivered a feast of interesting visions for the future of Yorkshire and its built environment. We must also thank DLA Piper [www.DLApiper.com/uk ] for hosting the event at their Leeds offices.
So what will the Yorkshire of the future look like?
Thankfully, Flat caps and breath taking scenery are set to stay, according to our speakers. Our towns and cities must work around this important resource [the scenery] to preserve it for future generations. Our cities should seamlessly be integrated into their surrounding landscape, bringing the countryside into the city - according to the vision of Tristan Hope.
Rob Hindle hoped to preserve Yorkshire’s other natural assets of good beer, its rich history, beautiful women and most of all… sheep.
We then moved onto the slightly more pressing topic of supporting the rapidly growing population of the region. How can we provide future generations with clean power, transport and sufficient food to enjoy the quality of life that we currently enjoy? Tristan was confident that Yorkshire had the skills and expertise to design and deliver these breakthroughs and this viewpoint was echoed by Karl Redmond. The passion that our speakers exuded for Yorkshire reminded me of the region’s rich tradition of design and manufacture. With the plethora of top Universities in the region we certainly have the knowledge to continue this tradition. But how do we create an environment that can nurture talented individuals, allowing the region to benefit from their innovations, and preventing the high-levels of ‘brain drain’ we are currently experience? Maybe I was swayed by the presentations that I watched, but Yorkshire is a fantastic place to live, work and play - who wouldn’t want to stay? After all the progress that has been made in developing the region, it’s a shame that Yorkshire struggles to recognise, support and reward the innovation that is occurring. As was suggested later on in the evening, we need to be support our innovators and entrepreneurs, to ensure that there is a demand for the products designed and made in Yorkshire, not just in London or even California.
Rob Cullen focussed on the future of architecture within the region, looking at the innovations and themes that will become commonplace in the industry over the next twenty years. Retrofit seems to be a key part of this future but it was talk of BIM [Building Information Modelling] that caught the audience’s attention. This prompted an engaging discussion at the end of the evening, with many questions about the technology that is beginning to revolutionise the construction industry.
So what is BIM? What is the best BIM platform? How is the construction industry undertaking this reskilling and who is going to foot the bill?
Building Information Modelling (BIM) isn’t new, but it’s finally beginning to come of age and people are starting to sit up and take notice. It’s not just a beefed up version of a 3D CAD program - (SketchUp for example). Some experts argue that you can’t even think of it as a single software package. BIM is an entirely new way for the construction industry to work, underpinned by a suite of software advances. It places collaboration at its heart, creating a more streamlined workflow between designers, contractors and clients that can increase productivity and reduce wastage.
A BIM model [which could be a 3D Model or equally a database] becomes a hub that allows a project team to share information on all aspects of the build. A steel beam built in BIM model, for example, will have all its structural calculations attached to it, plus information about its cost, carbon footprint and manufacturer. Associating this level of detail with a computer model can allow quantity surveyors to generate a cost for the project and environmental consultants to calculate the energy consumption over its lifespan, among other things. In fact, BIM can offer the biggest benefit to the end user of the buildings where a Facilities Information Model can help save energy, diagnose problems and simplify the maintenance procedures. It allows the vast amount of knowledge collated by the design team to be passed over to the client with ease, allowing them to benefit long after the keys have been handed over.
With the Government expecting Level 2 BIM [where BIM is used collaboratively between a number of parties] on its projects by 2016 and large clients beginning to expect its use; is the industry ready to make the transition?
As mentioned previously, BIM isn’t just a software package that will work straight out of the box. It means fundamentally changing the way that buildings are designed, costed, detailed and constructed. It requires investment in training for all team members, plus time to familiarise themselves with the BIM’s capabilities. The large architectural practices, engineering firms and contractors have already begun to make this investment and finding out the many ways that they can benefit. But it is the SME’s who will find it hardest to make those first steps towards adopting BIM. Karl Redmond argued that as they are the ones that do the bulk of work in the sector, the industry will miss out if they’re not up to speed. There’s a danger of a two tier construction industry emerging if this isn’t addressed with SMEs slowly finding that they aren’t competitive. It has been said that adopting BIM can see an average return on this investment of 1633%. It can offer a 7% reduction in project durations and overall savings of 10% on projects. It is clear that those that can afford to make the transition will begin to see the rewards and, hopefully, the work that the Construction Sector Network and Leeds Metropolitan University’s thinkBIM program [www.thinkBIM.org ] will begin to address this disparity.
It’s hard to dispute the benefits that BIM will offer the construction industry. Increased collaboration between all the professions can only be a good thing for the built environment and the quality of the region’s buildings. Clients and users will benefit from the cost savings and usability improvements but we can’t forget that BIM is still just one tool that can be used to develop the design of a building. It’s still in its infancy compared to hand drawing that is thousands of years old. We may not have found the techniques required maximise its potential yet. It is important not to let the computer constrain our ideas and dictate how a building will be designed. I hope that those that have been quick to adopt BIM won’t use their power to dictate how buildings are designed. I don’t think our cities deserve the identikit style of architecture that this could lead to. We need to balance the speed that we up-skill the industry with a need to develop best practices for working with BIM.
How do we translate those initial sketches that give a building its life, soul and identity into a BIM model that will generate those cost and programme savings?
Alan MacDonald
Useful Resources:
The next ThinkBIM conference is on Wednesday 14th December. More details can be found at www.thinkBIM.org
Integreat Plus BIM Presentation
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