January 31, 2012

Engineering professor takes a close look at mechanical contractor use of building information modeling

PATRICIA WILLIAMS

staff writer

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is conducting a groundbreaking research project on the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) in the mechanical contracting industry in both Canada and the United States.

The goal of the research, being spearheaded by Prof. Awad Hanna of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering , is to benchmark current practices and use of BIM, document results from using this technology on projects and to gain a more comprehensive understanding of its future use.

The research is being undertaken with the support of the Mechanical Contractors Association of Canada (MCAC). The association has alerted its members to the initiative and posted a link to the survey in its newsletter.

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MCAC president Richard McKeagan said the association does not have statistics on the extent of BIM utilization in the mechanical contracting sector. Nor does the Canada BIM Council, said executive director Al Prowse.

“But my gut feeling is that it (utilization) is not widespread, aside from some larger companies,” McKeagan said.

As a result of the project, the researchers hope to obtain a better understanding of BIM trends and protocols with the aim of enabling mechanical contractors to be better prepared for changing design and construction practices.

To date, the university has received 50 responses to its survey from U.S. contractors and about 10 from Canada.

“We need to know who is using BIM and where they are using it,” said Hanna, chair of the construction engineering and management program at the university and also president of Hanna Consulting Group Inc., which is a consultant to the construction industry.

“We’d also like to measure some performance indicators,” he said.

“Some people argue that BIM will reduce change orders, re-work and frequent requests for information. We really need to know whether or not this is true.”<0x000A>Hanna, who is conducting the project with the assistance of a student at the university, said he is also anxious to gauge whether contractors are making use of technologies that have emerged as a result of BIM.

While the study was initiated in the U.S., it was expanded to include Canada as a result of Hanna’s ties with the Canadian Mechanical Contracting Education Foundation. Hann teaches a course for the foundation on improving construction labour productivity.

He hopes the BIM study will be completed by June.

In all, Hanna hopes to receive between 30 and 40 geographically “well-distributed” responses from Canadian contractors. The survey is open for another couple of weeks.

“Ultimately, we will do a parallel study for electrical contractors in Canada,” said Hanna, who has also conducted seminars for the Electrical Contractors Association of Canada.

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