A BIM Case Study

The London Muslim Centre came to us through recommendation by Ove Arup and Partners. It was put forward primarily as good fee-earning opportunity and technical exercise for a young practice to act as contractor’s architect. Budgetry changes had caused a signficant reappraisal of the design and funding deadlines were putting pressure on the programme. In light of this the contractor wanted to consider his options in choice of consultants. Essentially, we won the job because we promised to deliver the building significantly faster than the project’s previous architect. The building which opened in June 2004 on-time and on-budget has an area of 8,500m2. Some key points about the scheme are:

• it took the team only six weeks from our appointment to start of piling on site (the previous architect had asked for 7 months), this involved taking on the scheme at mid RIBA Stage C and adding an additional floor which meant a complete reworking of the escape strategy; and
• the job was run by an average of 2 staff members throughout, compared with 4-6 in a conventionally-structured office.

The project stands as a demonstration of the benefits of using a building information model. The approach offered the following to the project:

• on-the-fly renderings for use in planning negotiations (the contractor decided to start at-risk before planning persmission was gained);
• significant improvements in the co-ordination of different works packages;
  faster more accurate information;
• fast cross-checking of quantities against subcontractors claims; and
  highly competitive fees.

We are in discussion with Constructing Excellence (the Government body with a remit to encourage innovation in the construction industry to implement the findings of the Egan Report) about attaining ‘Demonstration Project Status’ for the process.