Several factors are contributing to increased productivity in the United Kingdom's construction industry, an official with London-based Construction Products Association (CPA) told CPC/BIM earlier this month. "The movement from wet trades, such as plasters, toward dry trades such as drylining, the improvement in cladding systems, the increase offsite construction, and the movement toward timber-frame construction are all likely to have made construction more productive," CPA Economics Director Noble Francis said. More details about the U.K.'s success with construction productivity, along with recent productivity developments in Singapore and Australia, are included in this edition of CPC/BIM.

Also in this issue, concerns about integrated project delivery are documented in a new ZweigWhite survey, John Jurewicz examines the technical requirements for hosting building information models, Tammy McCuen addresses efforts to define standard information exchange requirements from the design model to the cost estimator for a project in building information modeling, Gordon Aronson stresses the importance of keeping non-critical activities from becoming a link in the current critical path, and don't forget Industry Updates.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Administration (VA) has become what is believed to be the first large owner to require that the Construction Operations Building Information Exchange standard be used for construction product submittals. The Building Software Alliance -- which was created to spearhead technical, political, and financial support for advanced digital technology in the real property industry -- recently expressed its support for the federal agency's move, noting that savings reported by firms responsible for populating data in Computerized Maintenance Management System/Computerized Asset Facility Management systems is about 80 percent. More information about requirements in the department's recently released BIM Guide is included in this edition of CPC/BIM.

Also in this issue, an attorney recently told a group of CPC/BIM webinar attendees that there are 10 questions that should be answered when committing to a building information modeling project, the Construction Financial Management Association has released its 2010 Information Technology Survey for the Construction Industry, Gordon Aronson examines using InfoMaker with P6 Schema, Steve Killius advises that careful selection of electrical infrastructure products can greatly improve productivity for electrical trades and an entire project timeline, and don't forget Industry Updates.

Autodesk, E-Builder, CertainTeed Gypsum, Maxwell Systems, and Delmar are among the companies making announcements.