Education and ICTs/BIM – an update
Article Type: Editorial From: Structural Survey, Volume 30, Issue 5.
In my last editorial I discussed the use of Building Information Modelling(BIM) and its role in education. This discussion was over nine months ago and in that time things have progressed further. In this editorial I will endeavour to update you the reader on new information that has come to my attention on this subject.
In the September issue of Construction Manager from the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) a paper caught my eye. It is titled “New course aims to bring BIM to the classroom”. Naturally I thought it would be an example of how a University institution had grasped the nettle and implemented a course into a programme. However, I was very much mistaken. The paper describes how a new course aims “[…] to open children's eyes to the range of professions in the built environment (and) will be taught in secondary schools (in the UK) from September”. Students undertaking the course will gain a GCSE equivalent qualification. The course focuses on the professional and built environment career spectrum. The course will cover subjects such as: energy efficiency, sustainable procurement, setting out and facilities management. Students are also introduced to the principles of BIM and taught how to use design software.
This course is excellent news for higher education institutions I feel. If students can come to higher education with these principles engrained in them then the way we teach students at the higher education level can concentrate on more practice/project scenario-based learning.
Following on from this the ALTC (now OLT) research grant that I am working on here in Australia (previously described in the editorial of Volume 30 Issue 2)is progressing well with a framework now developed that enables higher education institutions to determine their use of BIM in their programmes against the relevant professional requirements for the AEC industry.
We are currently undertaking case study implementations with institutions across the globe, as well as in Australia and the UK. If you wish to get involved in this then please contact me for further details.
I was fortunate to be able to visit Peter Barker and colleagues at the BIM academy in the UK. As part of the buildingSMART National BIM Initiative in Australia one of the recommendations was that “[…] clients and operators should be educated on the benefits of BIM to increase the demand for BIM services”. Certainly talking with Peter at the BIM academy they are seeing this being realised. Working closely with Northumbria University (UK) students and industry are working together to spread the benefits of BIM both at the student academic and industry training levels. I think that lessons learnt from this model – and that being implemented at Penn State University in the USA – should be better documented and showcased to enable us all to spread the word of BIM benefits more widely.
The papers for this issue
This issue has five papers for publication. The first paper is authored by Sara Wilkinson from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia. Her paper is titled “Analysing sustainable retrofit potential in premium office buildings”. The paper describes how the scope for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions lies in upgrading existing stock as it makes up to 98 per cent of all stock. However, there are a number of challenges associated with this that are described in the paper. The papers findings “[…] provide an insight for policy makers and others in respect of the nature and type of adaptations typically undertaken in Premium office buildings. The paper identifies the typical attributes found in buildings undergoing adaptation and specific types of sustainable retrofit measures particularly suited to buildings with those attributes […]”.
Paper 2 in this issue is a collaboration between the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China and Nottingham Trent University in the UK. Li et al. have written a paper titled “Research on the computational model for carbon emissions in building construction stage based on BIM”. The paper describes a method for the collection of carbon sources of materials used in the construction of buildings and explores a computational model to calculate the buildings’ carbon emissions and energy consumption using a BIM. The paper describes the development of the method, and reflects on the use of the model from a described case study.
Paper 3 is a conceptual paper from Agyekum-Mensah, Knight and Coffey from Nottingham Trent University in the UK. The paper “[…] explores the role and function of project management in the achievement of sustainability in the built environment by developing a 4Es and 4Poles model of sustainability”. The proposed model is new within the project management and the built environment fields. It promotes technology as a core factor in achieving sustainable development.
Paper 4 has been submitted by Baba et al. from the University of Western England (UWE) in the UK. Their paper is titled “Insights of architects knowledge of the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) in relation to low carbon housing and delivery in the UK”. The paper reports that although UK architects are aware of the code for sustainable homes only 12 per cent perceive to have expert knowledge in it, with 35 per cent being very knowledgeable, and 53 per cent knowledgeable. What does this mean? Reading this interesting paper will describe the significance of these results.
The final paper comes from Vrellas and Karakatsanis and is a paper that describes methods of calculating the design requirements of air conditioning systems. The paper is titled “Calculation methods for a complete air conditioning study: case study of an industrial installation” and describes cooling load calculation methods, psychrometric calculations for installing a central air conditioning unit, ways of foil coil unit connection and air duct calculation methods. The paper provides the reader with help in making decisions on air conditioning for industrial buildings.
Once again all five papers show the diverse range of activities/issues that face buildings and their management. The journal is proud to continually support the efforts of industry and academia in reporting their interesting findings within the journal.
Mark Shelbourn
Further reading
CIOB (2012), “New course aims to bring BIM to the classroom”, Construction Manager (for members of the CIOB), September, available at: www.construction-manager.co.uk
