Dive Brief:

• Robert Sargent, the building information modeling (BIM) expert in the British architectural firm Stride Treglown, asserts that BIM is nothing less than the DNA of a project, the fundamentals of the structure for its lifespan.
• One definite advantage in bringing BIM into the construction process is that it lets a contractor deliver a complete and detailed operator's manual to the building owner that will make maintenance easier and possible cheaper down the road.
• The challenge for the industry is to get reluctant firms and individuals to adopt BIM  ass the tool that prevents information from getting lost on its way from one group to another during design and construction.

Brief Insight:

A basic business reason for using BIM is that General Services Administration projects require it, as will British government projects by 2016. A better reason, however, is that the power of modeling a building as the process unfolds will achieve more coordination and cooperation than traditional ways of sharing information and trying to capture and distribute it all.