LATEST NEWS 
May 8, 2009
OGCA Symposium
Managing cultural change poses challenge as BIM gains traction
Managing cultural change in the construction industry poses a greater challenge than any technological transformation as Building Information Modeling (BIM) gains traction, contractors were told recently.
“Building industry partners will no longer be able to be adversarial, but will have to work as true collaborators,” said Derek Smith, executive director of the London & District Construction Association and interim administrator of the Canada BIM Council.
“Silos will not work.”
Speaking at a seminar at the Ontario General Contractors Association’s 6th annual construction symposium, Smith said software training must be preceded by “or at least accompanied by” education if BIM implementation strategies are to be effective.
“Training teaches people how to do,” he said. “Education teaches people how to think. There is a far greater need for the upfront education in culture change than the technology changeover.”
Smith, whose organization is setting up the first BIM training centre housed in a local construction association in Canada, said adoption of BIM could affect five key areas in contractors’ and consultants’ offices.
These are marketing and business development, human resources, finance, information technology and operations.
“Workflow visualization plays a key role in the consulting and construction offices of the next decade,” Smith said.
“This goes hand-in-hand with a functional cross-disciplinary BIM implementation strategy.
“This strategy must account for varying sizes of projects and complexities.”
Looking down the road, Smith said the “workflow” environment will look “completely different” over the next decade than it does today.
“Working group silos will be replaced with robust room-sized video conferencing and Internet communication capabilities in order for real-time information to flow between consultants and contractors including subcontractors and suppliers,” he said.
“Although there are concerns about liability and authorship, a collaborative environment has shown in large-scale projects in the United States to reduce the perceived need for defensive documentation.”
What the latest U.S., Canada GDP numbers mean for the recovery
New gross domestic product figures for the U.S. and Canada are strong, says CanaData chief economist Alex Carrick. But what do they say about the state of economic recovery in both countries?
Government should be more flexible with stimulus project deadline, outgoing ORBA president says
Stimulus infrastructure spending would have a greater impact if government were more flexible with its March 2011 deadline for projects to be completed, says the past-president of the Ontario Road Builders’ Association.
McGuinty: We can’t take our foot off ‘public dollar gas pedal’ too quickly
The province must be careful how quickly it “takes (its) foot off the public dollar gas pedal,” Premier Dalton McGuinty told the Ontario Road Builders’ Association during the group’s annual convention in Toronto Feb. 1.
Ontario creates panel to review occupational health and safety
The creation of a provincial panel to look at occupational health and safety prevention will bring a necessary focus on Ontario workplace fatalities, says a provincial building trades official.
Canadian Construction Association summit zeroes in on industry concerns
When the Canadian Construction Association (CCA) decided to host a summit on the future of the non-residential sector, identifying key industry concerns was front and centre on the agenda.
Building energy dashboards show tenants’ resource consumption
Energy dashboards, which allow building operators and tenants to monitor and manage their resource consumption in real time via the web, offer an innovative and effective way to ensure sustainability.
Commercial building industry has undergone 'significant evolution:' BOMA
The Canadian commercial building industry has undergone a significant evolution in its efforts to make buildings perform better, says an executive with the national Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).
Industry must change its approach to operating commercial buildings: Canada Green Building Council
If Canada continues with a "business as usual" approach to managing commercial buildings, it will result in a 39 per cent increase in energy consumption, and an additional 26 megatons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere by 2030, warns the chair of the Canada Green Building Council.
'Now is the time to start moving toward BIM'
Building Information Modeling offers design professionals an unprecedented opportunity to work in a collaborative environment, particularly when stakeholders are separated by distance and location, says a building-software company executive.
