{"id":17162,"date":"2021-10-01T12:55:03","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T12:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/?p=17162"},"modified":"2021-10-01T12:55:03","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T12:55:03","slug":"bridging-the-bim-knowledge-gap-saice-webinar-stimulates-innovation-in-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/bridging-the-bim-knowledge-gap-saice-webinar-stimulates-innovation-in-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"BRIDGING THE BIM KNOWLEDGE GAP: SAICE WEBINAR STIMULATES INNOVATION IN CONSTRUCTION"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 October 2021: <\/em>Modern-day construction design and management tools hold much potential to drive an innovative construction industry in South Africa. However, a gap in knowledge and industry expertise has the potential to slow down progress. In light of this, the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) recently hosted its second, free CPD-accredited webinar about Building Information Modelling (BIM) in partnership with Baker Baynes.<\/p>\n

Facilitated by SAICE\u2019s Nthabeleng Lentsoane, the webinar was titled Bridging the Gap: BIM knowledge & Industry Expertise<\/em>. The session highlighted new career paths that technology has created as well as bridging this gap and helping the civil industry embrace technology.<\/p>\n

The informative webinar kicked off with an opening by Vishaal Lutchman, SAICE CEO, who explained how BIM careers offer opportunities for our youth. \u201cYouth make up the majority of our people in Africa, and they are increasingly tech-savvy with a great ability to learn with technology \u2013 and to collaborate through technology.\u201d He said that young people\u2019s ability to learn by discovery positions them well to fill the jobs created by BIM workflows and or similar technologies, which is only the tip of the iceberg of new technologies to come. \u00a0\u201cWeaving technology, learning and innovation presents a significant opportunity, especially to youth, to address entrepreneurship, niche service offering, efficiency, and cost competitiveness as we progress towards building our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

BIM is defined as \u201ca highly collaborative process that allows architects, engineers, developers, contractors, manufacturers, and other construction professionals to plan, design, and construct a structure or building within a 3D modelling environment\u201d. It has enabled architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals to efficiently capture, design, construct, and model the as-built environment. However, the civil industry has stagnated in its processes, resulting in a gap between academic knowledge and innovative infrastructure delivery and technology adoption.<\/p>\n

Shuaib Yunos \u2013 BIM Technical Specialist: Civil Infrastructure & Mining for Baker Baynes \u2013 presented on how BIM skills, combined with civil engineering expertise, form a window to new opportunities, and can steer the South African civil engineering industry towards achieving the perfect symbiosis between innovation and academia, leading towards futurism. \u201cBIM affords us innovative ways to overcome challenges frequently experienced in the project lifecycle. With all these benefits, there are many countries which have mandated its use \u2013 and BIM is sure to revolutionise the way work in South Africa.\u201d He said that while there is no legislation yet mandating the use of BIM in SA, this may change and in the meantime, \u201cBIM is here to stay\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage you to be proactive rather than reactive, and embrace the change as well as the new solutions available to solve recurring problems in the construction sector. Applying BIM processes and technologies today will set you up to be awarded bigger projects in the future, and give you a competitive edge which will see your business thrive,\u201d said Yunos.<\/p>\n

Jani Viljoen, Director of Professional Services for Baker Baynes presented on the use of BIM for improved information management. \u201cImproved digital information management has shown to improve team member collaboration as well as reduce reliance on paper documents,\u201d she said. Considering the often chaotic construction project lifecycle, improved information management stands to offer massive benefits to project delivery on even the simplest projects. \u201cThis shows that BIM has value before one even considers the full scope of its capabilities \u2013 its inherent benefits for information management make BIM worthwhile. But where does one begin their BIM journey?\u201d asked Viljoen.<\/p>\n

She said it starts with assessing your current business processes, and ensuring that your BIM implementation is focused on optimising these processes. \u201cEveryone\u2019s BIM journey is going to look different, start in a different area, and may need to achieve different outcomes. My advice is to start by making the most of technology you have access to, and focus on addressing organisational issues,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n

The two-hour webinar succeeded in communicating the value and potential of BIM, with practical and easy to understand advice on implementation thanks to the presenters from Baker Baynes. Those interested in watching the session on-demand can do so on the SAICE Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Contact details: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Nthabeleng Lentsoane<\/p>\n

SAICE Head of Marketing & PR<\/p>\n

Email: nthabeleng@saice.org.za\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

About SAICE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) is a learned society and voluntary organisation that acts as a catalyst for innovation and good practice in the development of the civil engineering profession. SAICE has a membership base in excess of 15 000 Civil Engineering professionals, and is involved in the development of policies, standards, structures, and systems that impact infrastructure at national and international levels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 October 2021: Modern-day construction design and management tools hold much potential to drive an innovative construction industry in South Africa. However, a gap in knowledge and industry expertise has the potential to slow down progress. In light of this, the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) recently hosted its second, free CPD-accredited webinar about Building Information Modelling (BIM) in partnership with Baker Baynes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17097,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","category-saice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17164,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17162\/revisions\/17164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swmcommunications.co.za\/press-office\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}