Small and medium-sized firms could find themselves unintentionally ‘frozen out’ from competing for tens of billions of pounds of central government contracts within months, according to the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA).
A recent ECA survey, carried out with industry partners, shows that over half of contractors (54 per cent) with a turnover of less than £1m are ‘not ready at all’ for Building Information Modelling (BIM), while three in ten firms (30pc) with earnings between £1 million and £20 million were in the same position.
Yet the picture for larger building services contractors is very different: with the government deadline for the mandatory use of ‘BIM Level 2’ in all Whitehall-procured contracts looming, 11pc of the largest firms (turnover over £20 million) say they are not at all ready for BIM, with the majority either fully ready, or nearly fully ready. The survey also found that:
– Only one in three contractors (34pc) with turnover below £1m have a ‘BIM champion’, compared to almost three-quarters of firms (72pc) with turnover above £20m.
– eight out of ten firms (80pc) with turnover below £1m do not have a ‘BIM planning group’, compared to just one in three larger contractors (36pc), with turnover above £20m.
– Only a quarter of small firms said there is enough ‘practically useful and publicly available’ information on BIM, compared to over half of larger companies (54pc).
– Almost seven in ten of all respondents (69pc) said they do not have a suitable BIM management process in place yet.
ECA Director of Business Services Paul Reeve said: “Our survey shows that the majority of building services SMEs are not ready for BIM and could find themselves effectively frozen out from central government contracts. The ECA has developed a four-point action plan to help building services firms prepare for BIM Level 2, and we will be working with our industry partners to drive this plan forward.”
The ECA’s four-point plans are:
– A ‘BIM readiness checklist’ will be released shortly, to help firms identify the necessary steps to ensure they are prepared for BIM Level 2.
– A ‘BIM jargon buster’ will also be made freely available, to help firms navigate through the maze of BIM terminology and acronyms and work out what BIM means.
– Case studies will be developed to broaden the understanding of what it takes to engage with a BIM project.
– Finally, the ECA will work with partners over a range of awareness, training and deployment issues, including efforts to develop a common approach towards the use of ‘BIM objects’.
The ECA reports that its sector-wide ‘BIM readiness’ survey was backed by partners and supporters across building services. They included the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), BSRIA, the Building and Engineering Services Association (B&ES) and SELECT.
The association adds that the full results of the survey, which attracted hundreds of responses from contractors, consultants and others associated with the sector, will be released later this year.
