BIM for Property Development

19/06/2020

Studio Victoria

3 minutes

In previous articles we have already covered several topics like what is BIM and BIM for FM. Today, in this new article we are going to talk about BIM for Property Developers and we are going to answer the following question: what advantages does BIM offer for Property Developers?. Keep reading and find out how implementing BIM for Property Development will help you to #ONEUPYOURBUSINESS!

WHAT ADVANTAGES DOES BIM OFFER FOR PROPERTY DEVELOPERS?

If you are a Property Developer you might think that BIM, or Building Information Modelling, does not apply to your business or you do not see the point in implementing it because your business does not get involved in Government-backed projects. However, this is a very grave misconception, especially if you are always involved in Brownfield development and if you have to liaise with multiple subcontractors to deliver your projects on time and within budget.

As we have explained in other blog articles, implementing BIM for your business will change the way your business operates for you. For Property Developers, BIM offers the following advantages:

Better collaboration between all the companies involved in the project: with BIM Level 2 and Level 3 you get collaboration tools to share information and documentation with all the parties involved in the project: from Architects to Contractors, from Quantity Surveyors to Accountants and everyone else
Visualise your project from the beginning: access 3D models that represent the look of your project from the very beginning, allowing you to assess the visual impact within the existing environment
Improved scheduling and logistics: BIM adds a fourth dimension, which is time. By using your BIM application of choice you will have a deeper overview of all the timescales and schedules of your project, giving you more control over scheduling the next stages of the project with the different contractors involved
More accurate cost estimation: the data-driven models in BIM have a fifth dimension which is cost. There are a wide variety of libraries that will let you import the exact materials and components that you are using in your project, giving you full visibility of the financial elements of your project. If you change one material or component, the whole project gets updated automatically to reflect the new values and costs
Less errors: with improved collaboration and full control over the financials and schedules, your project will be much more efficient since there will be fewer errors and clashes between stages and contractors involved
Reduced risk: with the visualisations and specifications, BIM will give you the ability to identify areas of potential hazards and act quickly to mitigate or eliminate them
Plan prefabrication more efficiently: if you want to reduce costs, one way could be using off-site prefabrication of parts of your project and BIM will allow to plan what components you want to get done this way and share all the specification and documentation with the relevant manufacturer
Higher quality: all the previous points will come together and culminate in your project having a much higher quality than by managing it with traditional methods
Enhanced long-term maintenance and easier handover process to Facilities Management: if you involve the Facilities Management company from the beginning of the project, they will give you input via BIM on how best to select certain components and design certain elements so the management of the project will be more efficient and cost-effective, whilst also providing you with a faster handover process when the project is delivered

If you are in the Property Development business, you want to have maximum profitability and efficiency with the lowest possible risk, and implementing BIM for all your projects will give you those advantages. To learn more about BIM in the United Kingdom, please visit the UK BIM Framework’s website and browse through their resource library.