BIMSafe NZ Newsletter - BIMSafe NZ: Safety through Technology

Welcome to the official first newsletter of the BIMSafe NZ Project!

BIMSafe NZ March News 2022


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BIMSafe NZ Update March 2020

Welcome to the official first newsletter of the BIMSafe NZ Project!

Some of you are current recipients of the Canterbury Safety Charter newsletter and we thought the BIMSafe NZ project would be of interest to you. It is an industry initiative and something the Canterbury Safety Charter is proud to be involved in alongside our project collaborators, partners, and supporters.

BIMSafe NZ is on a mission to improve construction industry health and safety outcomes through the visualisation and collaboration powers of Building Information Modelling (BIM). We aim to change industry behaviour in the way risks are identified, managed, and communicated throughout a facility’s lifecycle.

We warmly invite you to take this journey with us and please feel free to share this with anyone you think may benefit from this work.

Quarterly we will update you on the project and case studies so you can stay abreast of what is happening.

Below we have outlined some information about what the project is all about and why it is set to be a gamechanger for the industry.

Regards,

Paul Duggan
BIMSafe NZ Project Lead

About the BIMSafe NZ Project

BIMSafe NZ is a three-year, $1.7m collaboration between the building industry and government and aims to reduce accident and injury rates in New Zealand through greater understanding, communication, and mitigation of risk.

The BIMSafe NZ project is being delivered by the Canterbury Safety Charter’s Professional Services Working Group (PSWG) and the University of Canterbury’s Building Innovation Partnership (BIP).

What is BIM?

BIM is a three-dimensional computer model of a construction project, in a similar way that Google Maps is a digital representation of roads and places.

The BIM model can be utilised for all components of the design process and enables architects, engineers, contractors, and workers to assess and mitigate safety risks in the computer model before, during and after the construction process. It can be used to design, plan, and simulate an entire construction process right through to maintenance and decommissioning.

Harnessing this technology, BIMSafe NZ is developing ‘Best Practice Guidelines’ to encourage all industry stakeholders to increase health and safety information within BIM models, improve design mitigation of risk, and enable greater worker access.

The draft guidelines will be trialled during construction of the new ACC building in Dunedin, and the results will be published and communicated to the industry.

Industry guidance and involvement

The BIMSafe NZ Advisory Group comprises individuals with a passion for improving safety outcomes through innovation and technology. They provide guidance and support to the project management team.

The overall success of the project relies on industry input and uptake.

Designers, architects, contractors, and sub-contractors, engaging via this common platform have an exciting opportunity to bring about meaningful industry change.

Learn more about the project…

ACC Building, Dunedin

Project Case Study

The Case Study Project is the new ACC Building in Dunedin, designed by Warren and Mahoney for Ngai-Tahu Property and the ACC Investment Fund.

Read more…

BUILD Magazine, STUFF and more…

Recent Media Coverage

We have received some fantastic coverage on the project to date.

Read more…

Latest findings – review of International BIM and H&S Innovations

Below Professor Robert Amor from the University of Auckland and member of the BIMSafe Advisory Group, summaries recent analysis of international research papers on BIM and Health and Safety. This reserach has identified key areas of development for New Zealand.

To start off his PhD at the University of Canterbury, international student Zhe Zhang has undertaken a comprehensive review for BIMSafe of the research literature applying Building Information Modelling (BIM) to Health and Safety.

Thanks to his sterling efforts in identifying and scanning 537 academic papers we have a report summarising what is known worldwide in the areas of: safety in design; site construction health and safety management; safety during procurement processes; whole lifecycle H&S management; and safety during construction.

A summary of what stood out in each of the areas follows. Continue reading…

Meet our newest BIMSafe Advisory Group members

We warmly welcome Chloe Smith from Fulton Hogan and Ray Blumrick from CPB Contractors onto our BIMSafe Advisory Group team.

Both bring a wealth of experience and we look forward to their input on the Project. Learn a little more about them below.

Chloe Smith – Fulton Hogan

Chloe is the National Manager – IP, Innovation & Digital Engineering at Fulton Hogan. Chloe brings 10 years of experience in the construction industry in the fields of project management, innovation, intellectual property, and digital engineering.

Below Chloe outlines the benefits of the project and the positive impact she thinks it will have on the construction sector.

Ray Blumrick – CPB Construction

Ray is the National Digital Engineering Manager at CPB construction. He has more than 20 years in vertical construction and infrastructure, holding positions as project manager, construction manager, operations manager and technical sales specialist. His experience covers a wide depth of domains spanning aviation, commercial, residential, transport, industrial and hospitality construction sectors. He is a member of the NZIOB.

Organisational Profile: BuildBIM

BuildBIM is a BIM consultancy business with offices in New Zealand and Chile. Below, Paul Duggan chats with Managing Director, Peter McMenamin, and Director of Digital Engineering, Kevin Hughes, about BIM technology, their involvement in the BIMSafe NZ Project and its importance to the industry’s future.

Question 1: Why BIM?

Peter: Our main objective for the construction industry is to resolve problems, be it constructability, clash detection, health and safety, logistics or any other part where prior planning is beneficial. BIM technology gives us the ability to facilitate this process very efficiently, and to effectively bridge the gap between stakeholders. This gap or silos could be geographical or cultural. This is especially true for those that work off site and those onsite. The other factor is that the technology is genuinely fun to work with, being on the cutting edge of technological application, and being able to be leveraged for greater value is an exciting place to work.

Kevin: BIM is a great enabler. It facilitates better design, construction, and efficiency outcomes. A BIM model is much more relatable than a 2-d plan and does not rely on imagination to generate the full picture. BIM use is a prime example of how to work smarter not harder to solve problems. There is a definite fun factor in seeing models come to life and seeing the transition from what is in a designer’s head to what gets built. The BIM model facilitates the connection between these two extremes and allows changes to be considered by the whole team. Continue reading…