BIM MANAGER

BIM is gaining more and more relevance every year for a broad range of stakeholders in the construction, design manufacture and operation of as-built assets.

The role of BIM manager is to implement all the procedures in BIM and Digital Construction during the design, construction, and handover of a project. A BIM manager leads and supports the use of digital technology to create BIMs in the AEC sector.
Building Information Modeling is the process of the generation and management of physical and functional information of a facility. It revolves around creating a digital representation of a particular facility’s physical and functional characteristics.

The most sophisticated BIMs now incorporate:

• 3D (visual) – project visualization
• 4D (time) – planning and scheduling construction activities
• 5D (cost) – estimating budget and tracking costs
• 6D (operation) – operation and facility maintenance from construction to completion
• 7D (sustainability) – estimating and reducing energy consumption
• 8D (safety) – drawing emergency plans and preventing safety issues.

A BIM manager is a civil engineer who implements all the procedures in BIM and Digital Construction during the design, construction, and handover of a project. 

A BIM manager leads and supports the use of digital technology to create BIMs in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) sector. This may sound a bit vague, but the manager can have a wide variety of responsibilities, depending on who they are working for.

Being a BIM manager is interesting precisely because of all the responsibilities that come with the job. The various responsibilities may make the job more difficult, but they also make it more exciting and fun. You get to work with a lot of people, making sure you create a collaborative, efficient, and effective workplace.

To become a BIM manager, you need to arm yourself with the following qualifications:

• An HNC (Higher National Diploma) or HND (Higher National Certificate) in a subject related to construction, such as civil engineering.
• Experience in an AEC role (many employers are looking for at least 5 years’ experience).
• Familiarity with the modelling process in BIM.
• Excellent IT skills.
• Great verbal and written communication skills.
• Extensive knowledge of quality and document management processes.

Having a BIM manager oversee construction projects leads to a lot of very important benefits. They include:

• Better coordination and collaboration.
• Better time management and fewer delays.
• Reduced costs and higher ROI.
• Increased productivity and faster delivery.
• Reduced risk of information losses, which especially tend to occur when a new team takes over a project.
• Improved maintenance and effective prevention of costly reparation.
• Reduced energy consumption and better management of natural resources
• Enhanced stability and safety.

WHAT DOES A GOOD OFFICE BIM MANGER DO?

A standard Office BIM manager does the usual things, for example;

• Supervise technical teams and provide project support as necessary
• Assist Project Directors on technical delivery
• Development/Management of the BIM standards, protocols and templates
• Liaison and consulting across IT teams, systems administrators, clients and contractors
• BIM training and compliance for junior members of the team

but what a does a "good" Office BIM manager do?
 

A good BIM manager understands BIM.

• Treats the model as a real world representation rather than a 2D representation
• Leverages BIM models as a communication tool both between those working in a model, and the recipients of the output of that model
• Recognises BIM models are created by a team of people working together, not individuals performing tasks

A good BIM manager structures a team to leverage BIM.

• Ensures no-one works in a silo
• Sets team roles based on responsibility, not tasks
• Forces people to take ownership; make them responsible for complete, not partial, work.
  (e.g. the person responsible for modelling walls is also responsible for wall tagging, wall details and wall schedules)

A good BIM manager is realistic about the capabilities of their workforce.

• Doesn't expect people employed for their expertise and skill in building to also be experts at using particular software
  (The reality is architects, engineers and construction professionals will never be fully proficient at the software they use).
• Tailors work practices to the abilities of those who do the actual work
  (Don't put someone in charge of facades if they struggle with simple tasks like wall creation)
• Doesn't try and get designers to use particular software if it makes their primary task - designing, less efficient
  (Getting designers to provide hand drawn sketches to those modelling is usually more efficient than getting designers to model properly)
• Doesn't think "more training" is the only solution

A good BIM manager recognises one size doesn't fit all.

• Retains flexible workflows so unusual situations can be accommodated and innovative work practices are not stifled
• Doesn't enforce "universal standards"
  (an approach that is fundamentally flawed; it is not possible to predict every possible permutation of what needs to be done on every project)
• Supports different work practices for individual projects based on complexity of the project and ability of staff working on it

A good BIM manager involves themselves in real projects.

• Maintains skills and intimate knowledge of how the office operates by actively engaging in projects
• Is involved in setting up every project in the office
• Periodically audits projects
• Steps in when required to assist, and uses it as an opportunity for training others
• But NEVER works full time on a single project

A good BIM manager doesn't merely react to specific requests, they question those requests.

• Assesses a request against the real world outcome it is trying to achieve
• Offers solutions that are workflow and work method based, not just technical solutions
• Gauges how long a request takes against the value of the result
• If appropriate suggests alternatives that achieve the same outcome
• Averts tasks that are done for no reason other than "that's the way it is always done"

A good BIM manager is proactive.

• Uses the opportunity of introducing new software functionality to improve approaches to problem solving and service delivery
• Provides fearless advice, but accepts their view may not always be adopted
• Listens to others. (as they might just have better ideas)
• Involves themselves in industry wide BIM issues

BIM MANAGER TASKS

BIM FILE MANAGEMENT

BIM FOLDER MANAGEMENT

BIM PLATFORM MANAGEMENT

BIM COLLABORATION MANAGEMENT

BIM TECHNICAL SUPPORT

BIM TRAINING

MAKE COLLABORATION BETWEEN DISCIPLINE

BIM SETUP FILE

BIM CLASH DETECTION

BIM DATA ANALYSIS

BIM STANDARD FOR COMPANY

BIM EXECUTION PLAN

BIM MANUAL FOR COMPANY

BIM IT SUPPORT

BIM PROGRAMMING MANAGEMENT