CMAA, Vela Systems, Tekla, Bentley, and AIA make announcements.
It is important to ensure that the upcoming National Building Information Modeling Standard (NBIMS) benefits many people and not just a few, Kimon Onuma, president of Onuma Inc. and a participant of the team developing the new standard, told CPC/BIM. Onuma said he is uncertain how much time his company will invest in helping to develop NBIMS, "but we definitely will be reviewing it. We're going to be giving input. There have been discussions recently about the connection between the CAD standards and the BIM standards that interest us a lot. If anything, we're focusing on the simple aspect of BIM because there [are] sexy models that are very dense and detailed, and they look great on paper, and they present well, and they're very valuable, but there's a lot of value even in the simple models, so in order to get the industry going, we feel we have to get into the shallow end of the pool and get more people involved versus making it extremely complex [whereby] only a few people can do it. You can't have this kind of exclusivity that only certain people can do BIM. It has to be BIM for everybody." The next version of NBIMS is expected to be released in the third quarter.
In this edition of CPC/BIM, there is other BIM news to report, including a new document on MEP spatial coordination requirements for BIM as well as new developments involving InPro Corp., Lochinvar, and Ameri-Cad. Also in this edition, John Jurewicz probes three-dimensional printing, Doug Findley asserts that contractors often fail to realize their projects' true critical path, and Gordon Aronson examines the Enterprise Project Structure.
InPro, Lochinvar, Autodesk, Graphisoft, Ameri-Cad among the companies making news.
The new year promises to bring some advances in the management of construction projects, but at least one CPC/BIM contributor is hoping for extensive changes in 2010. Of the scheduled improvements, Tammy McCuen reports that the next version of the National Building Information Modeling Standard is expected to be unveiled in 2010's third quarter. Also, the Construction Management Association of America recently released its 2010 Construction Management Standards of Practice, the first revision to the SOP in six years. Despite these strides, CPC/BIM contributor Larry True wants additional reform in construction industry practices in the new year, calling on more owners and contractors to make good-faith attempts to settle their disputes, admit their errors, and keep lawyers and experts "out of it."
Also in the December CPC/BIM, the Design-Build Institute of America's Board of Directors releases a new mission and values statement, there is plenty of advice for construction professionals from experts participating in our exclusive webinars, John Jurewicz explores the growth of "big rooms," a federal agency approves the use of ConsensusDocs as a matter of policy, and don't forget Industry Updates.
CPC/BIM's DBIA conference coverage also examines the benefits of BIM in the design-build delivery process and the management of risk through consistent performance.
Topics address implied obligations, cost control, weather planning.