Global confusion and BIM

It has come to my attention this past twelve months that the most visible issue for the construction issue today is the consistency in process. Why are we all trying to reinvent the wheel?

For me this is a bigger issue. It's more about the culture  of how we work, how we live and how we have evolved in a particular pocket of the world. 

A few tweets this week have sparked the fact the creation of this blog. As Digital Node our aim is to support clients all over the world, but what we are seeing is a lack of acknowledgment by these clients to look outward if where their organisation reside. Out of the UK, the US, Australia. Even a disjointed approach within an individual country with offices in different states! 

How do we resolve this?

Simply impossible. I'm not saying we need to create unique offerings to each region. Rather support an organisation where they require and under what framework they require it. 

What we do need to do is start to eduacate- not only in the way BIM can support greater productivity but educate in how the Construction  industry can provide an opportunity for young people to be able to work anywhere in the world. 

BILT ANZ Summary and Review

It was a privilege to attend and be a speaker at the BILT (Buildings, infrastructure, Lifecycle, technology) event this year in my home town of Adelaide, Australia. What a wonderful experience it was to have people I've know for years at the same event and in Adelaide. I do miss the interaction of the BIM community in the UK so therefore having so many international faces here was indeed a great experience. It was my first chance to reconnect with old faces, ignite existing relationships and put the face to a name (instead of their profile pictures on Twitter! ) within the context of the ANZ BIM community.

Over three full days the content was vast, it was a good mix of speakers with a variety of knowledge and expertise. Some speakers were very good and some were ok, but we are all learning so there's always room for improvement. Maybe a few more females next time (as I can certainly help with this the majority of the Women in BIM - www.womeninBIM.net - database members are willing to speak!). Having said this I connected with many smart female community members and committee folk who I'm certainly interested in keeping in touch with! 

I found it a little disheartening to not see too many students at this event. We need ensure that education for students is also addressed and as advocates for change we should certainly allow students to attend and contribute. Maybe this means we need to ensure Universities are encouring their students to attend. Something to encourage for next year! 

I also think we need to focus our attention within the built environment in Australia on the BIM process as much as technology and many of the committee agreed. This was something I felt we could improve on. As the events focus is the entire lifecycle I do believe that speakers and even organisers must encourage clients. Having size this any mention of the word technology to a client they would head to the next exit! This was discussed in the debrief but maybe it needs to an event  totally separate from the main one... almost a BILT for clients event? Something to think about for next time! 

Finally I would encourage the organisers to creat a BILT/ RTC speaker community portal on the website or somewhere for speakers to access past presentations etc. As leaders in change and technology it would be great for us all to have access to educational resources too! Also contact details for all speakers so we can all connect and work together potentially in future! 

Having said all this I do feel it was a wonderful event and many interesting discussions were had. I would definitely recommend attendance to those who would be interested to learn and understand more in regard to the four key themes that the event represents - Buildings, Infrastructure, Lifecycle and Technology.

Well done BILT - I can safely say I was impressed. 

Until next year... or maybe the US/ Europe / Asia. :-) 

BILT ANZ - Adelaide May 2017 Day 01 Summary

I must say that I am quite impressed by the BILT ANZ event being hosted in Adelaide from today through to Saturday. I was sceptical as I have been involved in hundreds of events (both in attendance and speaking) over the years and being a local (originally form Adelaide) I was hesitant in attending but felt it would be a good opportunity to understand the changes from the RTC events to BILT. 

I can honestly say I am very impressed so far. 

This has been such a wonderful mix of speakers and informative sessions covering process, education and technologies supporting BIM. Connecting with the global BIM Community, both from the process and technical side, meeting with old friends, making new ones and then ultimately learning and understanding current conditions in industry has been hugely beneficial for me as a consultant. 

The planning, the facilities, the location and the overall orchestration of the event is brilliant and I would highly recommend attending if you have not in the past. My thoughts are to attend at least one BILT event annually either in ANZ, the US or Europe and ensure i support what is ultimately a great group of people trying to change an industry and move it toward digital methods. 

Well done to the organisers. I look forward to the next few days. 

#BILTANZ

Growing a Diverse Workforce - Why, How and What.

Many years ago (or so it seems) I was baffled by the lack of women in senior construction roles, but even more shocked by the small number of Women specifically in BIM related roles. Coupled with the fact I sat on numerous meetings, design side, contractors side, client side, as a lone entity wondering where the hell all the other women were!

 

The moment I moved into a consulting position- I found this was still a huge issue and not only in the BIM space but across all areas of the Built Environment sector and wanted to raise awareness and understand why this was happening.  

 

Following several years of growing the cause, and the support via very few individuals across industry I found that there were so few women I knew in these roles to try to grow a cause was very difficult.

 

We therefore tried to come together incrementally to support this – with people jumping in and out as they could all for the greater good.

 

I am so passionate about this that with some exciting help last year we were able to commit a full and excited team of people as the core members. We supported the creation of a database and now the way forward is to collate this information and drive growth globally to raise awareness.

 

You ask how?

 

The way in which this can be achieved is via the following:

 

1. Support from Industry- we need to raise awarness so please keep sharing our website, and database links to all the Women you know in BIM related roles.
2. Connect these women! We are in a position to now connect, although many of our members are based in the UK, the aim is to grow this incentive and push it to a global workforce.
3. Provide an opportunity to discuss our three main objectives on a deddicated platform for Women in BIM members.

 

Please support us, help us and create an opportunity for us to be able to do this.