With the government’s 2016 mandate fast approaching, many companies remain at the beginning of their BIM journey and need support to adopt BIM. At this year’s BIM Show Live, BAM joined BIM leaders, practitioners and clients to discuss the latest developments and how we would achieve this.

With the conference now behind us, what can we learn from this year’s show?

In the private sector BIM is developing its own distinct character and BAM is playing an integral role in this process


We are starting to understand how BIM will ultimately develop in the corporate sector; with all signs pointing towards each organization having their own version of BIM, with their own strategy, processes and model and data requirements. BIM leaders, and BAM clients, such as Argent and Great Portland Estates (GPE) are already developing an in-depth knowledge of what BIM means to them and what they do and don’t want from it, to achieve their goals. Few show attendees will be able to forget James Pellatt of GPE’s announcement that he “did not want COBie data as he has no use for it”. Instead he saw BIM’s main benefits as being able to manage his development and operational risk, meet development milestones and achieve the best returns. BAM has been at the forefront of helping Argent and GPE to determine their BIM strategy. We’ve been helping GPE adopt BIM during the operations phase, and several of the projects we are designing and building for Argent at their King’s Cross Central development are benefitting from us using BIM for designing and on site. This invaluable input was acknowledged by both organizations who championed our BIM approach at BIM Show Live.


BAM BIM panel at BIM Show Live
Our BIM exemplar project CONNECT110NS

We are now able to provide metrics which show BIM’s benefits across a building’s lifecycle, but there is still more to achieve


At BAM’s session on day one, we presented our BIM exemplar project CONNECT110NS, an office development in the heart of Glasgow. We used our whole life BIM approach on the project spanning the design, construction and operations phases and although the project is not yet complete, we can already report significant savings, efficiencies and benefits.  Most importantly, we are also collating a clear set of project metrics; something that has been lacking in the industry to date. These metrics enable us to compare our performance against the rest of the industry allowing us to benchmark schemes, look for areas of development and instigate a culture of continuous improvement. For example, in 2012 the government set a target of achieving 20% efficiencies through BIM. Yet, our metrics show we are already achieving savings of 25% and we believe that we can achieve savings of 35% by 2020 through zero harm, operations and maintenance, zero waste and carbon neutral activities.

Many companies are still at the start of their BIM journey but BAM can help them go further


There is still a lot to do. With the government’s 2016 mandate fast approaching, many companies remain at the beginning of their BIM journey and need support to adopt BIM. On the last day of the conference I participated in a panel on BIM specification and the supply chain, which explored how we can support them to meet the government’s 2016 mandate. We are leading the industry with our approach to assisting our supply chain, which spans training, component creation and tools such as BIM360Field that are free and enable the team to input data straight into the BIM model.

About the author

Andrew Pryke

Andrew Pryke

Managing Director - BAM Design

Andrew leads BAM Design’s architectural, structural and interior design departments, working closely with our construction and FM divisions.

He also leads the adoption, development and integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) adoption at BAM, to increase efficiencies at all stages of design, construction and FM.

Andrew joined BAM in 2012, following 25 years as director and project lead at James Stirling Michael Wilford & Associates and John McAslan and Partners. He has worked on projects such as The Lowry, Manchester, No 1 Poultry, London and The Royal Academy of Music, London.

A triathlete in his spare time, Andrew also applies his competitive spirit to working out the best design solutions for clients, integrating sustainable design, lean construction and full FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment) solutions.

“We are developing BIM as a tool for greater collaboration between design, construction and facilities management, to deliver better buildings that are easier to manage and maintain, and perform better for their users over their entire lifecycle.”

Read more articles from Andrew Pryke

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