Currently, there is little information on how to realise and monitor benefits from implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM) across the life-cycle of a built environment asset, either buildings or infrastructure. The BIM Value tool developed by Australia's Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) provides you with a free, no-strings attached, step-by-step guide to identify and realise benefits from implementing BIM.

About

This tool provides an approach for built environment practitioners seeking to implement BIM across the life-cycle of built environment assets and wanting to understand how BIM will deliver value to their businesses and projects. You will not need to provide any personal or project information and can use it for different phases of the asset's life-cycle from planning to decommission. This BIM Value tool will help you identify those benefits that are most important to you, how to achieve them and how to measure your progress towards those goals.

By clicking on "get started" on the Home page you will be taken through six steps:

  1. First you'll be asked which stakeholder group (client/owner, designer, contractor, sub-contractor, fabricator, surveyor, asset manager or supplier) you belong to.
  2. Then you will be asked what phase of the project life-cycle you are interested in.
  3. Based on these selections a set of benefits that can be achieved will be presented for you to select those that are most important to you.
  4. Then you can select enablers appropriate to your project.
  5. From this new information the tool will then ask you to select metrics that are practical for your project.
  6. Finally, you will have a checklist and information to go on and develop your own BIM benefit realisation strategy.

Additional Features

  • General information about BIM useful for first time BIM users or BIM-curious
  • Dictionaries that illustrate: how benefits can be achieved, what the benefits are and the enabling tools and processes required to achieve them
  • A suite of indicators that can serve to monitor progress towards with examples of how they have been used to measure benefits from BIM
  • Real-world examples that showcase how these benefits can be achieved.

The content is based on academic and industry research and has been developed in close consultation with industry, government and research organisations across Australia and internationally. This ensures that it is relevant to a range of stakeholders. This tool is detailed in the book Delivering Value with BIM - A Whole-of-life Approach by Adriana Sanchez, Keith Hampson and Simon Vaux published by Routledge.

This tool and the book are direct outcomes from the Australian Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre (SBEnrc) Project 2.34 Driving Whole-of-life Efficiencies through BIM and Procurement. This was possible thanks to the support of SBEnrc's Core and Project Partners. Core partners: Aurecon, Curtin University, John Holland, Government of Western Australia, Griffith University, New South Wales and Maritime Services, Queensland Government and Swinburne University of Technology. Project Partner: Construction Skills Queensland. This tool was also created in partnership with NATSPEC.

SBEnrc has the mission of producing world-class research based on a collaborative and strategic approach. SBEnrc and its predecessor the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Construction Innovation have been carrying out cutting-edge research about BIM and how to maximise its benefits for over a decade. This research includes both technical and strategic aspects of BIM implementation. Technical aspects include BIM guidelines, case studies, and tools. Strategic aspects include procurement and contracts, skills development and national strategies. SBEnrc has also leveraged its international network to produce research that is relevant not only to Australia but to the global community as well.

NATSPEC is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to improve the construction quality and productivity of the built environment through leadership of information. This organisation has been delivering information to the Australian industry for over 40 years, including a number of comprehensive construction specification systems which have been endorsed by how to buy without a doctor prescription both government and professional bodies. In more recent years, NATSPEC has positioned itself as a provider of information that aims to help implement BIM in the construction industry. This effort has also been largely based on a close collaboration model with other organisations such as the SBEnrc, the Australasian Procurement and Construction Council (APCC) and the Australian Construction Industry Forum (ACIF).