New Zealand BIM Handbook launched

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A tool to help increase the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) by New Zealand’s construction industry was released recently.

The New Zealand BIM Handbook was launched by the Building and Construction Productivity Partnership at the Auckland Infrastructure and Procurement Forum attended by construction industry leaders.

BIM is the digital representation of the complete physical and functional characteristics of a built asset — everything from bridges to buildings. It involves creating a model with real life attributes within a computer and sharing that information to optimise the design, construction and operation of that asset.

The BIM Handbook was commissioned by the Productivity Partnership and produced by the BIM Acceleration Committee, a voluntary industry and government body, with extensive industry input and the support of BRANZ.

“We believe BIM is a potential game changer in terms of lifting the performance of New Zealand’s building and construction sector,” Productivity Partnership manager Chris Kane says.

“Overseas experience shows that using BIM on construction projects can result in significant productivity gains. BIM puts everyone in the project team on the same page — or screen — delivering major benefits through better collaboration and co-ordination.”

The handbook follows the normal progression of a project from pre-design through to operation, promoting the ability of BIM to add value over the whole life of a building.

“Greater use of BIM helps reduce construction costs as well as ongoing maintenance costs,” Productivity Partnership construction systems workstream leader and BIM Acceleration Committee chair Andrew Reding says.

“This handbook is intended to be a hands-on resource to support people to use BIM and capture its benefits. We expect that it will be helpful right across the industry, including clients, architects, designers, quantity surveyors, engineers and construction companies.”

The handbook aims to:

As a result of industry feedback, the BIM Handbook is structured into nine separate documents — a main document and eight appendices — to provide easy access to key information.

“We know that users will want to print out specific sections of the handbook so we’ve packaged the information to respond to that need,” Mr Reding says.

“For instance, we’ve provided templates for BIM briefing and planning documents and examples for people to follow. We’ll continue to refine and expand the contents of the handbook, based on people’s experience using it.”

It is intended that the BIM Handbook be used in conjunction with New Zealand Construction Industry Council Design Documentation Guidelines.
For more information visit www.buildingvalue.co.nz/BIM-in-NZ.

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