IM4Power appoints chair
IM4Power, a newly-formed information management group for the electricity transmission and distribution sector has appointed its first chair: Scott Pritchard, lead digital information manager at SSEN Transmission.
Established in late 2024 (see Utility Week news) IM4Power promotes information management best practice as new power infrastructure is created. The group includes practitioners from SSEN Transmission, National Grid and SP Energy Networks. It is modelled on an existing group, BIM4Water, and includes Jamie Mills, chair of the BIM4Water Water Data Taskforce, and global BIM manager at Xylem. Like BIM4Water, IM4Power is part of the wider information management network of nima (formerly the UK BIM Alliance). IM4Power will be assessing the Information Management Initiative (IMI), a change programme led by the Construction Leadership Council and supported by nima, which aims to transform IM practices across all sectors, including the transmission industry.
Speaking on behalf of SSEN Transmission, National Grid & SP Energy Networks, Scott Pritchard, lead digital information manager at SSEN Transmission, said:
“As part of the government’s Clean Power 2030 target, we have to deliver unprecedented amounts of infrastructure quickly. That requires a huge amount of information to be exchanged in a consistent manner across a multitude of parties.
“It means designing and constructing digital assets in a consistent manner, across multiple sites, and across all our networks – and to do so in a way that gears up for effective management of those assets in the future. The IM4Power group is a crucial means of helping to achieve this.
“To help the power industry at the start of its BIM / IM journey, we need a mechanism to share knowledge to help us all get up the curve faster than we could individually.”
Next steps
In its next steps, IM4Power will define targets for the next 12 months, elect a vice chair, and work to develop a five-year roadmap for IM4Power by the end of the year. The transmission operators (TOs) will also get together ahead of the next meeting to discuss setting up a space for document storage.
The creation of IM4Power follows commitments by the TOs to improve collaboration and efficiency in the interests of hitting net-zero targets at the Infrastructure Delivery Forum, the inaugural conference for which was held in Glasgow in September.
Utility Week and global technology company Autodesk supported the TOs in delivering the event. IM4Power aims to emulate the benefits for the water sector of creation of information management best practice networks.
Hassan Helmy, business development and sustainability lead at Autodesk (also a nima patron and sponsor of the IMI), said:
“Innovation doesn’t need to happen in a vacuum; instead, best practices from other sectors can address the unique challenges of energy infrastructure teams. To meet Clean Power 2030 and net-zero targets, adopting a ‘data-first approach’ and leveraging digitalisation is essential. This is crucial for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and broader sustainability objectives. Digital technology plays a pivotal role in advancing these goals, enabling a more sustainable future.”
By establishing common naming standards and protocols for information exchange, the BIM4Water network has streamlined design and construction processes for infrastructure and the built environment.
In the context of power system decarbonisation and unprecedented investment in transmission infrastructure, the TOs have said it is imperative they learn from these examples.
They hope the initiative will make it easier for their many common supply chain and delivery partners to work with them, easing constraints on supply chain capacity.
