The federal US system, with its 50 different state legislatures, has left a clear imprint on BIM, believes Autodesk vice-president Phil Bernstein: “There is no central government mechanism, no Paul Morrell or Mark Bew. But some of the earliest ideas emerged from the GSA [General Services Administation] – a federal government body that had a lot of interesting ideas about technical standards.”
The GSA provides coordination to federal government, including on the procurement and management of government offices, Bernstein explains. “But since the credit crunch the GSA has been largely de-funded, so it’s not building anything. So you get private sector initiatives, such as the American Institute of Architecture’s protocols, and standards from the construction associations. And you get states such as Maryland or Wisconsin, generating their own standards.
He adds that universities have also been active in publishing standards for clients, for instance the Penn State BIM standard has been widely adopted beyond the campus.
Another US client cited as a BIM leader is California-based private healthcare provider Sutter Healthcare. “They started IPD [Integrated Project Delivery], and developing contracts that really embrace collaboration to give contractors an incentive to collaborate,” says Jennifer Whyte, professor at the University of Reading. However, the IPD approach – often manifested in a “Big Room” for co-located, profit-and-loss sharing contractors and consultants, appears to have been stopped in its tracks by the downturn.
But what to UK ears sounds like a confusing picture has not held the sector back: BIM adoption is at about 70% in the US.
“There’s been a lot of entrepreneurial activity and discontinuous efforts to write standards. But we are deep into the adoption curve here. There’s no argument about whether it’s worth it. BIM is already working,” says Bernstein.