Macro BIM and Beyond

How often do you wish you had a 3D model of your home that could connect to furniture stores and builders for your next home improvement projects? Why hasn’t the customer experience changed that much in the built environment and yet so many of our experiences in other transactions have become more convenient with digital tools and apps? Today's episode is all about the customer experience and customer journey in the built environment. I had the great pleasure of speaking to Harri Majala, who is a 2nd generation builder, 1st generation Contech CEO/Founder. Harri founded GBuilder in 2013 to solve problems he was facing in his everyday life with his own family construction company. After the first version hit the markets in early 2015 he has been developing GBuilder with the most innovative builders and developers in Europe to become the market leader in improved customer journeys throughout the building's lifecycle, from inception to demolition.

Do we need #blockchain in #construction? "No," says Daniel Hall. Not at least for automation of tasks. Erika sat down to speak to Daniel Hall - Assistant Professor of Innovative and Industrial Construction at the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering of ETH Zürich. The overarching theme of his research is to enhance governance, productivity, and innovation in construction projects through a transformation from fragmented project delivery methods to new organizational models that integrate the supply chain of the vertically and horizontally fragmented construction industry. His work finds that in order to foster more innovation in products and processes, the #AEC industry must embrace new technologies, governance strategies, and organizational models. His current research interests include Industrialized Construction, Governance of Integrated Project Delivery, Blockchain in Construction, Adoption of Systemic Innovations, Industry 4.0, and Entrepreneurship in AEC.

By now you will have heard many episodes from BeyondBIM that talk about digital twins, but what about digital threads? In this episode, Dr. Don Kinard from Lockheed Martin explains to us what the digital thread is and how it is used by Lockheed Martin. We also discuss what it means to smaller organisations wishing to embark upon the digital twin thread journey. If you don’t know who Don is he is a Senior Fellow for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Production Operations and has been with LM for 36 years. Don supports Digital Transformation as well as programs such as F-35. Prior to his current assignment, he was lead for the F-35 production rate transition program and earlier the Director of F-35 Production Engineering - responsible for Joint Strike Fighter Tooling, Planning, Manufacturing Engineering, and Aircraft Systems Testing. And if that wasn’t enough to keep him busy he is also the lead for the LM Corporate Fellow’s Manufacturing Team whose objective is to develop and share engineering, manufacturing, and sustainment technologies throughout all of the LM business units.

Many organizations are contemplating on digital twin journey perhaps wondering what the transition looks like from #BIM to #DigitalTwins. Very few know what resources and tools are available to begin designing digital twins to help close the loop of occupant feedback into building designs. We’ve all come across Autodesk Forge - but what about Dasher? Dasher has evolved and is creating that steppingstone towards a digital twins transition in Autodesk. In today’s episode, I am pleased to bring to you a discussion with Kean Walmsley on the exciting emerging technology developments and R&D projects from Autodesk Research Lab related to digital twins. Kean Walmsley is a Software Architect working on projects that integrate IoT data with BIM (sometimes called Digital Twins) via the Forge platform, as well as working on Generative Design in the AEC space. He has worked in various roles – and in various countries – during his career at Autodesk, including building and managing teams of software developers in Europe, the Americas, and Asia/Pacific. Kean engages regularly with Autodesk’s developer and computational design communities, providing technical content and insights into technology evolution.

How often do we hear about the problem of interoperability discussed ad nauseam? And how often do we feel as though a discussion on the solution is missing, we’ve all heard about IFC’s and Semantic Web. But what about connection profiles? In today’s episode, we are pleased to bring to you a discussion with Anto Budiardjo on the potential solution to the interoperability conundrum and keeping the digital threads and fabrics of the digital twin in constant connection and integration. Anto is a veteran in the connected building space. Since 1989, he has led the development and promotion of building connectivity and integration technologies. His first product, the CdC Engine, first installed in 1991, was deployed widely in the UK and Europe through integrators and OEMs. The so-called “Engine” was the first PC-based integration platform and graphical UI for buildings. Today, Anto is focused on a new venture to bring system integration into the Internet era with an online integration and collaboration platform called Padi.io. Core to his current work is the advocacy of Connection Profiles, an integration mechanism created by Padi, and now being adopted as an open mechanism by Digital Twin communities including the Digital Twin Consortium, as a key integration tool. This tool really could be a stepping stone for integration for building twins and beyond.

Today’s episode is a discussion about the evolution of BIM and the transition towards digital twins. Erika Pärn had the pleasure of speaking to none other than David Philp. Listeners in the UK will have come across David as a prominent lead figure in the UK BIM mandate. David was seconded in the UK Cabinet Office in 2011 as Head of BIM Implementation and has been a key contributor to the UK public sector BIM mandate and continues to support through his role as Impact Director at the Construction Innovation Hub. He was also seconded into the Scottish Future Trust (SFT) as Chair of the Scottish BIM Delivery Group. With over 25 years in the industry, David is a Chartered Construction Manager by background and Global (BIM) Consultancy Director for AECOM. His work with BIM has a global reach from UK, Hong-Kong, Singapore, Australia, and the Baltics. As always we discuss all things digital but most importantly what the penultimate motivation is for policy and government with these transitions. Because of David’s experience in the policy realm since the start of it all with the BIM Task Group, Erika thought it was best to get his perspective on the evolution of BIM and discuss where we may be heading.

Macro BIM and Beyond by Dr Erika Pärn

Today’s episode is a deeper look into Construction 4.0 from an academics perspective. Erika Pärn wanted to dig deeper and find out if Construction 4.0 is just another consultant catchphrase or is there more to this transition. Erika had the pleasure of speaking to Professor Paul Chan he joined her to share his thoughts on the debates around construction 4.0 and making sense of the changing markets in construction. If you don’t know who Paul is, Paul Chan is a Professor of Design and Construction Management at the Faculty of Architecture and The Built Environment in TU Delft in the Netherlands. Paul has developed a track record in studying how people cope with organizational, social, and technological change. He is currently Principal Investigator of ‘Stepping Out’, a five-year research program that examines transdisciplinary learning for addressing multiple sustainable transitions, funded by the Dutch funding agency. He is Editor-in-Chief of Construction Management and Economics, and a committee member of the ARCOM. He has authored/co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed journal and conference articles. He also co-authored Constructing Futures (2010), a book on leadership and futures thinking in the construction industry.

Today you have the pleasure of hearing from all of the authors of a recently published book, entitled: Four Futures, One Choice. Four Futures One Choice is an e-book, written in laymens terms by researchers from the Centre for Digital Built Britain in Cambridge. This book presents four future scenarios for what the construction sector of 2040 could look like, depending on the choices we make today. It provides a future lens enabling us to view, with clarity and detail, four scenarios of what Britain could look like in 2040, depending upon the decisions that are made now, in these unprecedented times.

Today’s episode is another look into the state of BIM in 2021 and beyond, from an academics perspective. Erika had the pleasure of getting Professor David Greenwood to join her and share his thoughts and projections on the ever-changing landscape of construction management. David Greenwood is Professor of Construction Management in the Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University in the UK. David is a prominent academic and has authored over 150 publications, authored and co-authored several textbooks. He is perhaps best known as the previous Chair of the Association of Researchers in Construction Management (better known as ARCOM) and as the co-founder and director of the well-known BIM Academy. With his experience of over twenty years in consulting, training, and lecturing we thought we would hear his projections and thoughts on the state of BIM and emerging technologies such as blockchain.