More bam from your BIM!

• Building company introduces and extends its use of BIM to streamline processes and save
• Expected material cost savings of up to 15 % through integrated information control 

Carbon Dynamic designs and manufactures highly energy-efficient timber modular buildings using locally sourced, sustainable materials. It first approached Resource Efficient Scotland for assistance in 2015, to lower its carbon footprint and resource use business grew. Management was also keen to investigate the viability of implementing building information modelling (BIM) for projects; creating and managing information across the project life cycle. It was calculated that using BIM could save Carbon Dynamic up to 10 % in one year alone, based on 2015 cost projections.

The company used this recommendation to successfully apply for funding of € 21 400 from the Resource Efficient Scotland Waste Prevention Implementation Fund to implement the model. After launching BIM and running the process for a year, Carbon Dynamic sought further support in maximising its potential, specifically in seeking to increase its ‘BIM maturity level’ (how deeply it is applied to projects and integrated into the company’s internal systems).

Indeed, BIM has the potential to integrate all project information into a single online collaborative project model, covering all stages from pre-construction through to post-construction, also helping to analyse where potential efficiency gains can be made to existing internal systems and processes.

Key benefits

Employing a BIM system and achieving a high level of 'maturity', integrating internal systems and processes, helped Carbon Dynamic to improve overall management of contract specifications, budgets and designs as well. It is estimated that using automated scheduling from BIM, for example, can save the company 15 % on its material costs (compared to the baseline pre-BIM implementation).