Last edited 06 Jun 2017

BIM Task Group

The UK Government Construction Strategy was published by the Cabinet office on 31 May 2011. It proposed reducing the capital and operational cost and the carbon from the construction and operation of the built environment by 20%. Central to this ambition are improvements delivered through the use of open, sharable asset information or Building Information Modelling (BIM).

The strategy stated that the '...Government will require fully collaborative 3D BIM (with all project and asset information, documentation and data being electronic) as a minimum by 2016'. This represents a minimum requirement for Level 2 BIM on all centrally-procured public projects. Level 2 is a managed 3D environment with data attached, but created in separate discipline models.

The BIM Task Group is supported by the Department for Business Innovation & Skills and the Construction Industry Council. It brings together expertise from industry, government, institutes and academia to strengthen the public sector's BIM capability and provide the information the industry needs to meet the government's BIM requirement. The BIM Task Group gives a consistent message to the supply chain, establishes best practice, creates key resources and supports exemplar BIM projects.

There are six main working parties associated with the BIM Task Group:

Training and Education: Providing a long-term strategy to address the UK's inconsistent supply of BIM awareness and skills.
COBie data set requirements: Documenting COBie 2.4 for use in the UK. NB Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) is a spreadsheet data format for the publication of a subset of building model information focused on delivering building information not geometric modelling.
Plan of Works: The Construction Industry Council (CIC) Plan of Works group communicates a collective understanding of BIM amongst the Professional Institutions.
BIM Technologies Alliance: An independent, non-product specific group facilitated by the Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) focussing on providing generic advice and support to government.
UK Contractors Group: The UKCG assists the BIM Task Group from a supply chain perspective.
Construction Products Association: Working with the BIM Task Group to ensure that product data is available for design and construction and that operational data can be fed back to manufacturers.

The BIM Task Group now also includes Government Soft Landings, established to encourage adoption of '...a mind-set and a process to align design and construction with operational asset management and purpose.'

In addition, the Construction Industry Council (CIC) was tasked with establishing a network of regional hubs to ensure up-to-date and consistent information is disseminated across the UK and allowing for local feedback to the BIM Task Group.

On 26 February 2015 Business Secretary Vince Cable launched Digital Built Britain, Level 3 Building Information Modelling - Strategic Plan, and the associated Digital Built Britain website. This represents the early strategy for defining level 3 building information modelling.

In June 2016, the creation of a UK BIM alliance was announced to lead the transition from mobilisation for BIM Level 2 to making BIM 'business as usual' for the entire industry.