Getting to Grips with BIM: A Guide for Small and Medium-Sized Architecture, Engineering and Construction Firms

With the UK government‘s 2016 BIM threshold approaching, support for small organisations on interpreting, filtering and applying BIM protocols and standards is urgently required. Many small UK construction industry supply chain firms are uncertain about what Level 2 BIM involves and are unsure about taking first steps towards having BIM capability. As digitisation, increasingly impacts on work practices, Getting to Grips with BIM offers an insight into an industry in change supplemented by practical guidance on managing the transition towards more widespread and integrated use of digital tools to manage the design, construction and whole life use of buildings.

James Harty lectures at the Copenhagen School of Design & Technology. His PhD at the Robert Gordon University (2012) was entitled The Impact of Digitalisation on the Management Role of Architectural Technology . His Masters at University College Dublin (UCD) (1988) compared house typologies against urban morphologies in Dun Laoghaire, while his Bachelor project at UCD (1983) designed maritime facilities at Port Oriel. James started using CAD in 1983 and BIM in 2006. Tahar Kouider (MCIAT) is Programme Leader of Undergraduate and MSc Design Management programmes at the Robert Gordon University. He trained as an architect then obtained an MPhil from Oxford Brookes University. With 18 years of teaching and research experience, he has published internationally and contributed to the UK BIM Academic Forum and the International Congress of Architectural Technology (ICAT). Graham Paterson (MCIAT) is an ARB registered architect, chartered architectural technologist and self-builder. Initially trained in mechanical engineering, he has taught technology and product design in the UK and internationally. He is a member of the BIM4SME team tasked by Government to assist SME built environment organisations' engagement with digital technologies in advance of the 2016 BIM mandate.