Six Anti-BIM Myths

The UK BIM Alliance (UKBIMA) has moved to dispel common myths and misinterpretations about BIM.

In its State of the Nation Survey 2021, UKBIMA highlights the negative perceptions of BIM revealed by some of the survey respondents and responds to them.

“As a commercial manager of construction projects, I don’t deal with BIM, it’s primarily a design function tool. I only get involved in the change to design models after agreement of contract conditions.”

UKBIMA: “BIM encompasses all information produced and exchanged across project teams within an information management process. As a commercial manager, ensuring the required resources are included within appointments and contracts is critical.”

“As a developer, we are not required to use BIM by our clients and are happy to use AutoCAD to produce drawing information.”

UKBIMA: “As a developer, you stand to gain significant benefits from the creation and management of digital information that integrates across all of your systems. We actively encourage individuals and organizations to consider the internal benefits of BIM implementation before being asked to work within the process by your clients. Internal benefits could include improved standardization, efficiency gains, and improved record-keeping/regulatory compliance to name a few. AutoCAD can still be used to produce 2D drawings and work within a common data environment following the BIM process – you will however find that BIM authoring tools that generate 3D models may also generate 2D documentation much more quickly, with less staff and with increased coordination.”

“BIM is just the latest cliché item.”

UKBIMA: “BIM is not going away and is fundamental to build the foundations to support the future state National Digital Twin program. The Construction Playbook mandates the use of the UK BIM Framework for public projects. With this in mind, the private sector tends to adopt much more quickly and current industry feedback supports this.”

“I found the old way more productive.”

UKBIMA: “While persistence is key to adopting and benefitting from any new way of working, the BIM process is designed to reduce wasted work, wasted time and wasted money, not only within your organization but across the industry. If organizations are finding traditional ways of working more productive, please speak with us to identify your challenges!”

“I do not operate BIM because my practice is too small to benefit.”

UKBIMA: “This is a common misconception; the benefits are proportional and relevant to all sizes of organization. Often, small companies have the most to gain and can realize the benefits sooner by being agile, able to change faster and become more competitive for winning work.”

“House building/drylining: BIM is not required.”

UKBIMA: “The residential sector is very much accelerating its BIM implementation. Some of the ongoing initiatives in this space helping to support this charge are BIM4Housing and BIM4 Housing Associations. Creating and managing the information produced on a residential building is of utmost importance, especially when considered in the context of the Hackitt Report and the resulting Building Safety Bill.”

The negative perceptions were the most extreme responses to the question “how relevant do you feel BIM is to your role?” More than half of the 1,100-plus respondents (53%) said BIM is extremely relevant.

UKBIMA used the following definition of BIM: use of a shared digital representation of a built asset to facilitate design, construction, and operation processes to form a reliable basis for decisions.

Source: Six anti-BIM myths dispelled