Design management and BIM
Design run as a managed stage of the project rather than a separate contract with a life of its own. A model where the clashes are found before site, not on it.
The disciplines are designed by different firms and meet each other for the first time on site — at the client's expense.
The documentation has been delivered and accepted, but cannot be built from: parts of the solution simply are not there and get "resolved on site".
A model exists but nobody uses it — it lives apart from the programme, the quantities and the budget.
Changes are made as the work proceeds, and their effect on time and cost is not calculated until after it has happened.
Design brief
What is to be designed, in what scope and by when. Most of the later argument with the designer is settled here.
Information requirements (EIR, BEP)
What the model must be, at what level of detail by stage, and in what form it is handed over. Without these, every discipline models in its own way.
Discipline coordination
Architecture, structure and services brought into one federated model and checked against each other.
Clash detection
Regular checks with a record: what was found, who resolves it, by when, and what has been re-checked.
Quantities from the model
The bill is taken off the model rather than typed up by hand. When a solution changes, the re-count takes hours instead of weeks.
Optioneering
Technical solutions reviewed for cost, programme and operation. Cheaper to buy is not always cheaper on the project.
Drawings issued to the programme
Construction drawings are released in the order the site needs them, not the order that suits the design office.
- 1
Brief and requirements
We prepare the design brief and the information requirements, set the scope of disciplines and the control points.
- 2
Appointing the designers
Tender or selection, allocation of disciplines, contracts with dates tied to the overall project programme.
- 3
Coordination and checking
Federating the disciplines, clash detection, tracking comments and verifying that they were closed.
- 4
Optioneering
Alternatives compared on cost and time, with the decision recorded together with its reasoning.
- 5
Issuing documentation
Release of construction drawings controlled against the sequence the construction programme dictates.
From the model to a budget line without retyping
Quantities taken from the model feed the bill, the bill feeds the programme and the budget. A change to a design decision therefore appears in the dashboard as a shift in time and money, rather than as news from the design office.
See what it looks like- Why BIM when ordinary drawings exist?
- The drawings remain — the model does not replace them, it produces them. The difference is that in a model a contradiction between disciplines is found automatically, while in a drawing set it is found by a person who happened to open both sheets at once. On a building of moderate complexity that difference runs to hundreds of conflicts.
- How many clashes are usually found?
- On a moderately complex building the first full check typically returns hundreds of intersections, of which dozens matter. The number is not the point: each of those would otherwise have surfaced on site as stopped work, rework, or a decision taken on the spot that nobody hears about until operation.
- Do you do the design yourselves?
- We manage the design: we write the brief, select the designers, coordinate the disciplines and accept the output on the client's behalf. The design work itself is done by specialist practices holding the relevant approvals — which is what keeps acceptance independent.
- What are EIR and BEP?
- The EIR sets out what the client wants from the information and why. The BEP is the supplier's answer for how they will deliver it. Between them, these two documents separate a model that can actually be worked with from a good-looking picture that cannot be used for quantities or coordination.
We run the whole project, but any single task can be taken on its own.
Ready to take your project under control?
Tell us about the task — within 1–2 days we will prepare a team structure, a roadmap and a commercial proposal.