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Fiatech Award

Posted: 3rd July 2013

BIM Task Group and Construction Industry Council receive Fiatech Award on behalf of Her Majesty’s Government (UK) and UK Construction Industry

Fiatech, an international community of leadership organisations focused on innovation in the capital projects industry, awarded H.M. Government (UK) and UK Construction Industry its highest honour, the James B. Porter, Jr. Award for Technology Leadership, at a gala in Texas, USA, in March 2013.

The award was officially presented by Chloe Smith, Minister for Political and Constitutional Reform, to Graham Watts, CIC Chief Executive, and Mark Bew and David Philp, of the BIM Task Group, who accepted it on behalf of industry, at the Government Construction Summit, which was held in London yesterday.

Jim Porter, retired chief engineer and vice president for DuPont, who was instrumental in establishing Fiatech in 2000 and regarded as the group’s most influential leader, said of the award “Her Majesty’s Government’s commitment to creating a world-leading BIM strategy is the leadership needed to move the use of fully integrated and automated project management tools to the next level of deployment. I’m convinced the leveraged impact will accelerate the rate of utilisation across the global construction industry and deliver increases in safety, cost, schedule, and quality performance.”

Leaders in the UK were gratified by the recognition. The Rt. Hon. Francis Maude MP, Minister for the Cabinet Office, said at the time, “The Government’s four-year strategy for BIM implementation will change the dynamics and behaviours of the construction supply chain, and will unlock new, more efficient ways of working. The adoption of BIM by a whole sector places the UK at the vanguard of a new digital construction era and positions the UK as a world leader in BIM.”

BIM is at the forefront of the industrial strategy document, Construction 2025, launched at the Government Construction Summit yesterday. The document sets out the improvements needed in skills training, procurement reform, technology & innovation and sustainability, to ensure that the sector is in the best possible position to take advantage of the estimated 70% growth in the global construction market, by 2025.

Chair of the CIC 2050 Group, Louise Clarke, and CIC Chariman, Jack Pringle, will sit on the new Construction Leadership Council, which has been formed to implement the Construction 2025 action plan.

Photograph courtesy of UBM Publications. Left to right: David Philp, Mark Bew, Chloe Smith MP, Graham Watts