On Tuesday 28th March hub South West hosted a Building Information Modelling (BIM) conference to bring all parties involved in our construction projects up to speed on the new regulations.

 The event at the Fenwick Hotel near Kilmarnock covered the impending legislation and featured a number of highly respected speakers from the building industry.

As of April 2017, the BIM rollout steps up a gear in Scotland for all public sector contracts above the value threshold of £4.32 million. The regulations are aimed at introducing digital technology to the construction process in an attempt to improve collaboration and data collation and exploitation.

The new regulations are expected to assist the Scottish built environment through increased efficiencies at all stages of the process, from more effective design, reduced material wastage and streamlined construction and operations.

Michael McBrearty, CEO of hub South West, said: “The rollout of BIM is going to be a time of upheaval, particularly among medium and large scale public sector contractors.

“We, and our Tier 1 partners, have significant experience in the level of detail and precision the new regulation is going to require, and we want to share this with our hub participants and supply chain before the legislation comes into force.”

Speakers included Diane Ramage of Keppie Architects covered the role of the architect under BIM and what aspects of the planning and design process will fall under the aegis of the digital revolution.

To cover the practical advantages that can be gleaned in the BIM environment, Andrew Walker of Morgan Sindall discussed how construction companies can make the most of the promised efficiencies to tighten up their supply chain from pre-Construction to handover.