Salford University develops BIM guide
A free guide to Building Information Modelling and Lean construction for the industry has been compiled by Salford University's School of the Built Environment.
Five academics in the department wrote the guide for the Construction Industry Research & Information Association.
Designed for practical use by clients, designers and construction companies, the guide covers the implementation and embedding of more efficient methods into a company or project, and aims to reduce costs.
The university is working to make the construction industry aware of the benefits of BIM ahead of the Government's imminent requirement for the industry to trial it and Lean on public sector projects.
The guide also contains successful examples sourced from the authors' experience in countries where BIM and Lean is much more firmly entrenched in the sector. These examples include facilities management at Maryland General Hospital and planning techniques for the Skanska Headquarters in Finland.
Prof Lauri Koskela from the School of the Built Environment led the writing of the guide with colleagues Prof Arto Kiviniemi, Bhargav Dave and Dr Patricia Tzortzopoulos, alongside former Salford academic Robert Owen from the Queensland University of Technology.
Prof Lauri Koskela said: "This is very much a practical guide for the industry and in keeping with Salford's objectives of helping UK construction become more efficient and sustainable.
"We're very grateful to CIRIA for taking the initiative with the guide and helping us to create it and we'd urge as many people of all levels in the sector to take advantage of a significant free resource to save money and improve their businesses."
Dr Owen Jenkins, director of CIRIA, said: "The CIRIA project steering group brought together academics, Lean consultancies, client, contracting and other organisations. The resulting guides should therefore be of interest to a wide readership and lead to a greater awareness and implementation of Lean in construction."
The guide was funded by Ciria, Skanska, Sellafield, The Department for Business Innovation & Skills, The Highways Agency, Bam Nuttall and Construction Skills.
The guide can be downloaded from the CIRIA website.
