CIC’s Oxford BIM Hub springs into life…

The Oxford BIM Hub held its inaugural meeting recently at the Ridge & Partners offices in Woodstock, with over sixty attendees from all corners of the local construction industry coming together to learn more about the aims and aspirations of the hub. Guest speakers John Eynon and Steve Race took to the floor to conduct presentations about the Regional BIM Hubs, the CIC and the BIM Task Group, which set the scene for the group discussions. Attendees were encouraged to frame their conversations around six key questions, which in turn inspired some engaging and lively debate highlighting a diverse range of topics:

Question 1: Is BIM being pushed or pulled in Oxfordshire?
Sample Responses: “Pushed on larger projects” and “Slow investment which then stops due to little demand directly from clients”.

Question 2: Who is perceived to be leading the way in ‘BIM’ – Architects, Engineers, Project Managers, Quantity Surveyors, Building Surveyors, Contractors or Clients?
Sample Responses: “Larger projects/contractors/smaller consultants” and “Contractors are the ones in a position to lead and to gain from the intelligence contained within the model. The architects have been early adopters for the use of the model as a design development tool”.

Question 3: What are the benefits and drawbacks of adopting the BIM workflow?
Sample Responses: “Benefit = Collaboration and de risk of projects / reduce waste and rework / coordination” and “Drawback = Lack of common level and liability / can slow down the working process / growing pains”.

Question 4: What could the Oxford BIM Hub offer you?
Sample Responses: “Case studies with show and tell” and “Costs of BIM implementation, payback, especially for smaller projects and consultants”.

Question 5: What BIM knowledge or expertise would you like to obtain from the hub members?
Sample Responses: “To hear from other hub members how they made the process work” and “More interactive, show actual models and what they do on screen”.

Question 6: Are there specific topics you would like to see covered in future seminars/discussions/workshops/guides?
Sample Responses: “Procurement and BIM” and “Working between client design team and contractor”.

Looking forward, the Oxford BIM Hub is now using this information to establish topics and formats for future events, as well as what will be made available via the Oxford BIM Hub website (click here…). The Oxford BIM Hub will shortly be publishing the PowerPoint presentations from our inaugural meeting on the website but in the meantime and as recommended by our guest speakers, please refer to the UK Government’s BIM Task Group website (click here…) for an extensive list of current BIM resources.