What is BIM?

BIM could lift productivity by up to 9% in the building sector, reduce construction costs and produce an economic benefit to the nation's economy of five billion dollars by 2025.

But what is BIM? BIM stands for Building Information Modelling. While there are different definitions for different applications the industry agreed definition is:

a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. BIM is a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life-cycle; defined as existing from earliest conception to demolition.

While hard to visualise BIM is a virtual representation of the project that anyone working on it can access. The program also has the ability to see into the future. BIM can programmed to generate how the job will look and operate. Future problems can be fixed now before they are even encountered.

BIM is already being used in Australia on highways, tunnels and hospital builds. Although use isn't widespread, it is slowly increasing. This short video explains BIM and also looks at its functions including augmented reality and RFID smart tags used on machinery.

Augmented reality is one of the most interesting capabilities of the software. Augmented reality already exists on smartphones but it will be interesting to see its use increase in the construction industry.

The biggest user of BIM in Australia is the energy industry which has been using 3-D modelling and computer mapping for decades. One energy company has even developed smart tags that have the ability to tell a user about the component it is tagged on. The tag can literally give information on how to be assembled or even repaired.

The future of BIM is the ability for the program to talk amongst itself using smart tags. A component could realise when it's broken, self-order and have repair parts delivered.

In the meantime, hire staff from foundU and know they can communicate with each other and look after themselves.

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