BIM4Estates to develop standard requirements for universities

Rich Draper, chair of the 100+-member nima network BIM4Estates, is interviewed in a two-part article on BIMplus (part 1; part 2), and says the group is going to develop standard information requirements for universities.

In the first part of the interview, Rich talks about his career to date – including why he acquired the nickname of “the BIM Viking” – and describes some of the current challenges he is facing in his role at the University of Birmingham.

The second part of the interview goes into more detail about BIM4Estates (LinkedIn), now also the Digital Estates Special Interest Group of the Association of University Directors of Estates. He describes the challenges contractors face in working with software suppliers, particularly CAFM [computer-aided facility management] suppliers. “We feel that the CAFM market has just done its own thing and gone its own way. A big client group can provide some guidance on what is actually needed.” A 2023 BIM4Estates member survey showed that they want us to focus on BIM implementation, CDE and CAFM systems.

Rich says “we should all be progressing down a digital pathway for estate management“. With that objective in mind, he says BIM4Estates is going to work as a group to try to come up with a good approach for estates to start writing a BIM requirement, and more widely how to begin using BIM and producing digital models of their buildings.