Roundtable report – civil engineering and digital solutions

Participants

Along with most engineering sectors, the civil sector – its oldest, most visible and most traditional part – is increasingly embracing digital methods and tools. For this sector, one of the most important digital tools is Building Information Management (BIM): systems that integrate the drawings of a project (generally these days in 3D CAD modelling format), whether the project be infrastructure or architecture, with the essential information about the subsystems or components specified to make up that project, in a clickable format. For example, click on a window in an architectural plan and the system will display all the specifications of that window in terms of materials, performance parameters, suppliers and so on.

BIM systems allow information to be shared by all the stakeholders in a project, can be updated as more information becomes available, and are becoming increasingly important at all project stages, from initial project planning to construction, execution, commissioning and through to management of the completed asset in operation.