MEDIA RELEASE: BIM TECHNOLOGY PAVES THE WAY FOR GREATER INDUSTRY COLLABORATION



BIM TECHNOLOGY PAVES THE WAY FOR GREATER INDUSTRY COLLABORATION
- Inaugural BIM Mobile Apps Competition draws creative solutions for construction site management
- Multi-disciplinary category in the BIM Competition opens up for international participation
 
Singapore, 31 July 2013 – The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has organised a new competition to encourage more innovative ideas on mobile applications to help building professionals and owners collaborate better with Building Information Modelling (BIM). 
 
2.            The inaugural BIM Mobile Apps Competition was held over two months with eight teams submitting written proposals, six of whom continued to develop their ideas into prototypes.
 
3.            The winning team from Woh Hup (Private) Limited created a live communication platform between the BIM engineer, site engineer and precaster, to update and retrieve information related to precast components anywhere and anytime. This helps to reduce costly project delays, as all parties can easily track information on the detailing of precast components, construction sequences, production scheduling and quantities of components used. 
 
4.            Another mobile application developed by multi-disciplinary design firm ONG&ONG Pte Ltd was designed specifically for BIM managers to better manage BIM projects as it enables them to resume their day to day activities on-the-go. Some functions include location based project search and updating, as well as integration to the BIM authoring software Autodesk Revit.
 
5.            Furthermore, students from the BCA Academy developed a mobile application to provide contractors with the information required to make informed and timely decisions, to ensure that there are adequate materials at every stage of the construction. For instance, once the materials are delivered to site and used for construction, the site manager can check the components on the checklist, and synchronise the information through cloud technology, to keep others updated.
 
6.            This is also the first year BCA has opened its annual BIM competition for international participation. Entries from 37 teams were submitted, out of which 8 were from overseas like Korea and the United Kingdom.
 
7.            The competition required teams to design and develop a new mixed development comprising a convention and exhibition centre and commercial shopping area at the existing Singapore Expo using BIM. Besides designing to meet the local building regulations, the teams would also have to use BIM creatively to ensure the development is buildable and incorporates environmentally-friendly design technologies to meet a minimum green building standard, within 48 hours.
 
8.            Team Vertical, the winner of the Education (Architecture) category, decided to push the limits of BIM by creating new experimental forms supported by scientific analyses. The team, which consisted of undergraduate and alumni students from the National University of Singapore, Singapore Polytechnic and BCA Academy had used BIM to understand how the geometry of the building affects its performance in different ways.
 
9.            For example, through simulations of different BIM models, they designed a roof made up of a series of curves, allowing wind to be channelled into the common spaces beneath at regular intervals. Its natural curvature also allowed structural members to be reduced, improving aesthetics as well as cost-effectiveness. Their key to winning was having all members, even those from as far as Hong Kong and China, utilise open collaborative workflows.
 
10.         “We are encouraged to receive overwhelming response from Singapore and overseas for both BIM competitions. BCA has identified BIM as a game changer for the built environment sector due to its potential in integrating the construction value chain for process and productivity improvements. We will continue to promote BIM through such competitions in our schools and the industry,” said Dr John Keung, CEO of BCA.
 
11.         Competition entries will be on display at the Singapore Expo Max Atria this week. Winners of both competitions also received their prizes from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam at the opening ceremony of the Singapore Construction Productivity Week today.


Attachment:

perspective illustration of the new singapore expo proposed by team vertical.jpg

media release - bim technology paves the way for greater industry collaboration.pdf

factsheets for scpw opening ceremony.pdf

welcome address_bca chairman_scpw.pdf