On June 15th 2016, the first meeting of the National BIM Council (NBC) was convened. The NBC is a committee of construction clients and representatives from the industry supply chain with a shared ambition to set out a national road map for the successful implementation of the digital design, construction and operation of built assets in Ireland.
Caroline Spillane, Director General of professional body Engineers Ireland, and chair of the NBC said: “The starting point for the Council has been the review of digital strategies developed by other countries and this has led to the formation of eight key constructs for the NBC roadmap. The leadership of Government and Industry, public and private sector support, standards, procurement, skills and training have been prioritised as key components.” The research and consultation that has informed the council’s approach will be published in January 2017. The Global BIM Study covers digital adoption across 26 individual countries and highlights the impact of mandates and other key drivers.
Spillane adds “…certainly, the importance of Government as a client and leader for the adoption of digital tools and processes is a heavily weighted element of any digital strategy and the Office of Government Procurement’s (OGP) recent commencement of a Building Information Modelling (BIM) adoption strategy for the Irish public sector has been warmly welcomed.”
David O’Brien, GCCC chair and NBC board member confirmed that “the OGP strategy will set an indicative timeline for the adoption of BIM across the public capital programme and will mandate the manner in which BIM is to be adopted across the public sector. The OGP is managing the consultation process that will conclude with the submission at the end of April 2017 of an outline strategy for Government approval. The consultation process has started with the key capital spending public bodies represented on the Government Contracts Committee for Construction. Once completed, a draft strategy will be published at the end of January for comment from industry bodies including the National BIM Council.”
With regard to next steps, Stephen Hughes Head of Construction, Enterprise Ireland confirmed that “the first half of 2017 will see the NBC broaden its consultation with stakeholders across the key work packages with a view to determining the current state and future vision for digital in construction across Ireland. “
