5D BIM Immersion and Competition

10 February 2017, AUSTRALIA – Central Innovation attended the 5D Building Information Modelling (BIM) Immersion and Competition organised by the University of Melbourne. This time, the annual event was run in association with the National University of Singapore and Deakin University, and included students from the three Universities.

The event strengthens research collaboration between the Universities; plus provides an avenue for the participants to understand, use and explore 4D and 5D BIM concepts and processes.

This is achieved through 3 days of intensive BIM education and training which explores BIM theories and concepts, BIM processes, tools, and software. During this part of the event, Central Innovation conducted two training sessions: Daniel Olivera took students through the BIM Authoring tool ARCHICAD; while Mark Horrocks showed students how Solibri can be used to check BIM models for clashes and model accuracy.

Event organiser, Dr Ajibade, University of Melbourne Senior Lecturer in Quantify Surveying and construction Economics says that “the event assists students – our next generation of construction professionals – to better understand 5D BIM concepts and scenarios, as well as deepen their understanding of how model-based processes can transform project procurement process and increase efficiency”.

Now in it’s third year, Dr Ajibade believes that ‘The knowledge and experience developed from the competition has motivated the students to become advocates of BIM adoption in their organisation after graduating.”

The final two days of the event were competition-based, and saw 6 teams of 4 prepare a 20-minute presentation describing their 5D workflows and output as well as presented a 4D Schedule and Simulation video. Students highlighted the challenges and benefits of model-based processes in construction cost estimation and scheduling as well as the role of model coordination. They were also judged on their suggestions regarding the possible changes in cost management and scheduling practices that could result from the uptake of digital technology and the barriers to BIM adoption.

Event participants say that the event showed that the major benefit of the event is their increased understanding of and ability to use model-based processes.