High-tech tool changing construction
Schools like SAIT are tackling business information modelling
BIM me up, Scotty. That’s the message being heard by trade schools across North America as the construction industry goes high-tech.
Business information modelling (BIM) technology is rapidly being embraced by all stakeholder groups in the construction process, from design and construction firms to building operators. It’s radically changing the way people — from architects to project managers to contractors to trades workers — approach the construction process.
“It is 100 per cent a game changer for the (construction) industry,” says Faisal Arain, academic chair of construction project management and civil engineering technology at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary.
BIM technology is a central technology hub that draws on several different software packages that cover the entire lifestyle of a building. It allows all parties involved to create, co-ordinate, document, manage, update, modify and analyze every single aspect of design and construction in real time through a shared, central hub.
Arain compares it to the introduction of AutoCAD technology many years ago in the architectural industry.
“There was some resistance to that because it took some time to become familiar with it, but nowadays there probably isn’t an organization in the world that’s not working with AutoCAD,” he says.
BIM is a central cornerstone of a new degree program that was launched at SAIT last September, called the bachelor of science in construction project management, according to Larry Rosia, dean of the School of Construction at SAIT.
“It will transform the way buildings are designed, the way they’re planned and the way they’re managed,” Rosia says.
“It’s going to shift the paradigm by using technology to improve productivity.”
A U.S. SmartMarket report on the business value of BIM for infrastructure found that nearly half of respondents surveyed said they’re already using BIM on infrastructure projects, up from 27 per cent two years ago.
The same report found that more than half of the organizations using BIM expect to be using it for more than half of all their projects by 2014.
“Industry is changing, the world is changing, so we need to make sure our learners have these skill sets to work in that changing world,” Rosia says.
“It’s going to fill a void of project managers in the construction industry.”
Given the aging demographics of project managers, in particular, and the busy pace of construction in areas such as Western Canada, BIM will be crucial in creating the efficiencies needed to improve productivity amid a construction-sector labour shortage, he adds.
Traditionally, project managers have risen through the ranks over time, learning many of the skill sets on the job.
“Here is a way to get somebody that’s working in industry a quicker path into a management level within an organization,” Rosia says.
SAIT’s degree program is taking in 34 students this fall with a 30-student waiting list in response to industry feedback.
The industry “came to us and said there was going to be a huge need for these individuals,” Rosia says. “We sat down and mapped out the skill sets they needed with this type of credential (and) developed the program.”
It will even affect trades workers on the ground, who will have to use at least one layer of BIM technology to install, to make changes or to update projects quicker in real time. It goes beyond 3-D modelling to include a potentially unlimited number of dimensions, such as cost, time and quality.
“The beauty of this process is that it includes all components of a project, whether it’s services or the structure itself,” Arain says.
The BIM system can identify any conflicts along the way as changes are inevitably made, allowing users to identify conflicts at the conception stage before costly overruns push up the final tab for the structure — potentially millions of dollars in savings.
Canada’s construction sector is the fifth largest of its kind in the world, which increasingly competes head to head with international firms.
“It’s a huge industry,” Rosia says.
“If we can make some gains in productivity, I think that’s going to serve everyone really well.”
He hopes the project management degree, which involves students learning BIM starting in their second year, will encourage the industry to continue to embrace the technology in more of their projects.
“Our hope is that we’ll see our graduates in high demand as this technology becomes more and more mainstream in the construction sector,” Rosia says.