BIM: Why too much information is never a bad thing

Paul Forrester, Technical Services Manager at Recticel Insulation talks about the importance of the 'I' in BIM!

Communication: arguably it’s the most important ingredient for success in any building project. With so many parties involved in delivering construction – from clients, to architects, contractors, structural engineers, planning authorities, M&E specialists, building inspectors, and more – it’s vital that the right information is delivered to the right people in the most appropriate way.

It’s something Recticel Insulation highlights when training construction professionals about the performance gap. Many completed buildings fail to deliver the energy efficiency and low environmental impact predicted by calculations at design stage. It is possible to replicate design intent - the Passivhaus standard, for example, repeatedly shows it can be achieved - but in the majority of cases it simply doesn’t happen. Various reasons have been identified, but in our opinion, communication is the key one.

After all, any project starts with the expression of an idea. How that idea is developed by the many stakeholders along the way dictates if the end user gets to enjoy a building that is practical, affordable and comfortable. Whether it is interpreting the design brief, wanting to achieve low-energy construction beyond Building Regulations, or specifying and purchasing the materials to build with, all parties need to be on a similar wavelength.

Communal conversation

Effective communication requires collaborating and sharing information efficiently, and BIM is at the forefront of this. A manufacturer such as Recticel Insulation understands the importance of helping specifiers and design professionals to obtain up-to-date, accurate technical specifications and performance characteristics for its products. Otherwise, those same professionals lack the sufficient confidence to work with us.

Offering high-quality BIM objects puts those specifications in the hands of not just the designer, but everybody who needs it. That includes the end user who, depending on the type of project, hopefully inherits a detailed model of the building that can be used to manage the building throughout its lifetime and even decommission once its purpose is served.

As our understanding of how the construction industry is adapting to this new era of communication, and where our BIM objects fit into that picture, improves, some things have come as a bit of a shock. On several occasions we have encountered architects who either author their own BIM objects, or look to use generic objects instead of those offered specifically by manufacturers.

Typically, this seems to occur on design and build contracts/projects, where the architect cannot or will not commit to a particular product specification - “or similar approved” - because they expect or know that it will be changed further down the line. The decision is therefore made to save time by limiting the amount of information that goes into the model. The model will still have to be updated at some stage, but the responsibility for that is likely to be passed around.

Data overload?

Judging by the insight from those working in the BIM industry day-to-day, architects frequently consider BIM objects to contain too much information or excessive detail, especially for the early stages of a project. But, as we have identified, there are plenty of other parties involved in the delivery of a building and some of them need different information.

As long as a BIM object contains the information that the architect needs at that particular stage, surely the rest of the information can be retained for when it becomes relevant? Otherwise, are we not at risk of BIM content providers producing multiple objects - perhaps graded for content based on the RIBA Plan of Work - which the architects and other consultants swap in and out as the job progresses? That sounds like a lot more work for everyone involved – and a lot more expense.

It also sounds counter-productive to the benefits that BIM offers. Without ‘information’, BIM is simply ‘BM’. If the goal is data-rich building models, why should we allow a common contractual arrangement to negatively affect that goal? Using generic objects reduces the quality of information, at the same time as increasing risk by decreasing certainty about specifications and performance. Uncertainty throughout a project makes it less likely that the end result will match the envisioned design.

At a time when awareness of the performance gap is growing, it is increasingly clear that the best quality buildings are delivered when all of the stakeholders are involved from the outset - or as close as possible to it. Giving everybody time to collaborate and iron out potential major issues before detailed design and construction starts reduces the likelihood of compromises – such as structural changes or substitution of different/inferior products – having to be accepted, or worked around at greater cost, later.

See Recticel Insulation Revit BIM components on bimstore.

About Recticel Insulation:Driven by a culture of innovation, technical competence and flair, Recticel is dedicated to raising the quality standard of insulation products in the UK. Based at a state-of-the-art facility in Stoke-on-Trent, the company is part of the Belgium-based International Recticel Group, one of the world’s largest producers of polyurethane products.

About bimstore: bimstore is the UK’s original BIM object library. Developed by specifiers for specifiers, we create and host high-quality manufacturer specific BIM content, making it easy to browse and download the world’s best collection of BIM components. If you need any help with BIM content creation then get in touch with the bimstore team today.