The Fall 2010 BIMForum will be held in Atlanta, GA on October 14 and15. The theme of this meeting is the “Evidence on BIM: High performance Hype Meets Reality.”   The BIMForum recognizes that Owners and others in the building industry are struggling to determine if using BIM improves performance on a capital project. Therefore, this meeting will focus on whether real-world evidence substantiates the claims the BIM leads to higher performance in design, construction, operation and maintenance. Presentation topics will include:

• Does BIM actually lead to higher performing Buildings?
• Can the Evidence Based Design process be applied to BIM?
• How do Owner’s evaluate BIM practitioners and make decision about using BIM?
• What post-occupancy evidence exists that demonstrates that BIM buildings perform as projected?

The BIMForum has grown into THE  industry-leading user’s group focused on the application of virtual design and construction for the AEC industry. It includes more than 1,800 members from the most advanced firms across the commercial construction Industry.

To register for the meeting click here.

Kansas City BIMForum (c) AGC of Kansas 2010

The recent BIMForum, held in Kansas City Misourri on June 14-15,  focused on the allingment of building information modeling processes with Lean constuction principles. There were 18 presentations and approximately 300 people in attendance over the 2-day event. The event also featured tours of local consrtuction sites that have relied heavily on the use of BIM, two courses from AGC’s BIM curriculum as well as breakout sessions dedicated to BIM use in horizontal and civil construction projects. (more…)

The Evidence on BIM: High Performance Hype Meets Reality

The BIMForum recognizes that Owners and others in the building industry are struggling to determine if using BIM improves performance on a capital project.  Therefore, the October BIMForum meeting wants to focus on whether real-world evidence substantiates the claims that BIM leads to higher performance in design, construction, operation, maintenance, or use of the completed building. In order to close the gap between theory and reality, presentations need to be able to demonstrate through specific metrics that there are measurable improvements when compared to legacy processes, such as improvements in meeting budgets and schedules or in enhancing building performance related to energy efficiency, sustainability, occupant comfort and productivity, or environmental impacts.

If you have such experiences, we are very much interested in hearing from you.  For more information and instructions on how to submit, Click here.

BIM image of JE Dunn Headquarters, Kansas City, MO

The Summer, 2010 BIMForum will be held on June 15-18 in Kansas City, Missouri, and will focus on BIM-enabled Lean Construction including the primary principles involved in Lean design and construction and how building information modeling (BIM) can best be integrated into Lean construction practices. Anyone interested in learning more about BIM or developing the knowledge and competency needed to successfully implement BIM in your organization is encouraged to attend.

The BIMForum has grown into THE  industry-leading user’s group focused on the application of virtual design and construction for the AEC industry. It includes more than 1,800 members from the most advanced firms across the commercial construction Industry.

Click here for the agenda
Click here for the program summary
To register click here
BIMForum Tours – registration is closed. Tours will depart from in front of the Marriott Downtown starting at 1pm.

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The participating software vendors on the Technology sub forum have been engaged in ongoing discussions as a group as to what we should be focusing on and how we can best serve the BIMForum Member community.  As the large majority of BIMForum members are also our customers, we have been hearing loud and clear about the challenges that many users face in exchanging project data between various BIM Authoring, Collaboration,   4D, Cost Estimating, Clearance Checking and related software titles.  We really think that we need to continue to reach out to our user community and help work through some of these interoperability challenges.   As this whole discussion of interoperability between BIM software tools can easily get swept up into some boundless “boil the ocean” challenges,  we software vendors really want to work with our members to identify a couple of key areas of data interoperability that we can focus on.   We also want to focus the  discussion on the business drivers. (more…)

At the BIMForum meeting in Kansas City, the Horizontal Subforum will be holding its inaugural session with a series of presentation that  highlight ways that  Virtual Design and Construction is being used on Highway and Civil construction projects.  Below is a tentative agenda: (more…)

The BIMForum, and the buildingSMART alliance, are jointly sponsoring an Academic Workshop to be held on Tuesday December 7, through Thursday December 9, 2010 in Washington DC during the NIBS-Ecobuild America Conference. The main objective of this Academic Workshop is to gather representatives of different academic programs and industry to discuss the core educational principles for technology-based collaboration in the AECO and to identify directives guiding the incorporation of these principles into college curriculum.

Researchers, academicians and practitioners in the AECO industry are invited to submit short papers (no more than 8 pages) and/or presentations describing best practices, experiences and challenges incorporating BIM in creating educational opportunities.

Submissions are due May 21, 2010. For more information click here.

Find out the differences between the ConsensusDOCS 300 Tri-party Agreement and the AIA “transitional” and “singlepurpose entity” forms, including roles and responsibilities, structure and management, and costs and compensation. The panel will peel back the legalese and present in layman’s terms what these forms really mean to you and your project.

The  panel of experts will provide not only an introduction to IPD, but will also discuss the key principles necessary for a successful IPD construction project. They will explore and expose the best and worst of the concepts embodied in the current standard form contracts on the market.

Date: May 27, 2010 from 11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET.
Register: click here.
More information: click here.

If you have questions that you would like the speakers to address during the webinar please contact Carrie Ciliberto.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

• Standards for Construction Ready Design Models – Christof Spieler, Morris Architects
• Current State of MEP Modeling for Engineers – Mark Mergenschroer, TME Inc
• Design to Fabrication: Curtain Wall Case Study – Ken Sanders & Shawn Gehle, Gensler
• Engineering to Installation: Concrete – William Klorman, Klorman Construction
• Introduction to CNC Machines – Lyle Menke, Peddinghaus Corp.
• BIM to CNC: Steel – Chris Fischer, Schuff Steel
• BIM to CNC: Ductwork – David Mettler & Don Gardner, Tri-City Mechanical

Friday, January 15, 2010

• Permitting & Plan Review with BIM – Carl Roberts, Ballard Spahr; Bob Wible, Fiatech; Ron Loback, Avolve Software; Dan Owens, Clark County, NV; Nole Walkingshaw & Orion Goff, Salt Lake City
• Emerging Technologies for Facilities Management – Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber, Nan Li, & Hamid Hajian, University of Southern California
• Owners’ Use of BIM after Construction – Birgitta Foster, Sandia National Laboratories
• Developments on BIM Claims and Insurance – Gregg Bundschuh, Ames & Gough
• Utilizing BIM for OSHPD projects – Claire Stein, McCarthy Building Companies, Inc

The Specialty Contractor’s Subforum of the BIMForum has created the MEP Spatial Coordination Team Requirements for Building Information Modeling. This document provides guidance to companies and individuals involved in 3D MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, and Fire Protection) spatial coordination. Its aim is to help the MEP spatial coordination process using 3D and BIM technology and to assist in developing team structures, definition of roles and responsibilities, recommendations for technical and IT considerations, social structure, and accountability.  Download the document.