EXPERT TALKS series is an initiative from the BUILD UP portal. In the form of face-to-face interviews, experts from all around Europe and covering the field of Energy Efficiency in buildings from different perspectives share their views, experience and expertise with BUILD UP audience. The interviews address relevant topics linked to the Topic of the Month.
This edition of BUILD UP Expert Talks hosts Myriam Olivier, PhD in civil engineering, Mission head at ASTUS-construction, France.
She has worked in the domains of Energy Efficiency and Building Information Management and Modelling for several years and has coordinated and worked in a number of international research projects, including the recently completed H2020 BIMplement project.
Outcomes and learnings from this late project are discussed in this interview, focusing on the evolution and potentials of the implementation of Digital Technologies in the building sector.
Myriam Olivier discusses here the main goals of the BIMplement project. This project aims at improving the quality of the construction works and the overall energy efficiency of buildings.
The reduction of the "performance gap", she explains, is tackled not only relating to operation behaviour and deviances but to defaults on the construction process and quality of details: e.g. thermal bridges or airtightness barrier junctions – and BIM process applied at the construction site can contribute to achieving better "as-intended-in-design" quality.
She addresses lessons learned from this project, where different approaches were tested, according to the BIM "maturity level" of the stakeholders involved.
A qualification matrix was developed for cases and contractors with BIM experience where digital model elements are linked to on-site construction competencies needed.
The importance of a coherent and coordinated classification of elements and components of a BIM model was confirmed in the process and was mainly developed by the Dutch and Lithuanian partners of the project considering in particular the fields of ventilation and airtightness.
A second approach was intended for low BIM maturity context, with applied training modules aiming to present the potentials and interest of enlarging the BIM process from design and management to reach blue-collar construction teams and on-site tasks.
Ms. Olivier insists on the untapped potential in this area where cross-level cross-trade communication, 3D visualisation and the availability of enriched information digital documents can positively impact the construction process, regardless of the projects' size.
Finally, besides addressing BIM potentialities and existing barriers to access to all its benefits, in the interview, Ms. Olivier also highlights the field of wooden structures.
Digitalisation has allowed in this sub-sector substantial efficiency gains in a process that started decades ago with the use of specialised 3D software and automated machinery.
While other conventional construction systems can learn from those process and experience, the potential convergence of wooden construction technologies towards BIM standards would help the overall progress on the building sector.