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Managing information better • NM Group has just earned verification from BSI for working at BIM level 2, but according to Gary Ross, Head of Digital Transformation, it is just the start of a journey for the multi- disciplined national contractor By James Brockett that "if I can't make BIM work there, I can't do it anywhere." "BIM is nothing without the data to back it up. If you have unstructured or missing data, you end up having to create data to meet a deliverable, and then you are facing an uphill struggle," says Ross. "Data should be an auto- matic outcome of what you are doing. A lot of construction firms have spent a long time in the dark ages when it comes to IT and struc- tured data collation, and most companies I've seen around the world haven't got nearly enough data that is structured." Culture change key While technological barriers have also previously held back BIM back – with different versions of software which were as incompat- ible as VHS and Betamax – Ross feels that this has now been largely addressed and cultural fac- tors are more important. "To become level 2 you have to perform to a standard set of pro- cedures, and there's a structure around the way you transfer work between different people. Every- one's role is laid out, with their actions and the approvals process, and it formalises the whole thing – there are no corners that are able to be cut. To me, it's always been complete common sense, but get- ting an industry that is used to cutting corners to do it properly, remains a major task for most businesses. "If you've been used to doing things in an old way, or a shortcut way, then when you price up a project, you price in those short- cuts. So it is a bold move to say – no, let's do it properly – even if it takes a little bit longer and costs us a bit more in man hours. There can be a push back on that , because it's a big culture change. But the outcome is better, because 6 WET NEWS AUGUST 2018 | wwtonline.co.uk INTERVIEW T he benefits of Building Infor- mation Modelling (BIM) have long been acknowl- edged: using technology-enabled processes to give everybody involved in a project 'one version of the truth' that can be shared and perfected before construction work starts, results in a smoother, quicker, construction process with less scope for mistakes, disagree- ments or delays. Despite this, the water industry and its contractors have been rela- tively slow to embrace the promise of BIM. Few companies have yet proved themselves BIM-capable by earning BSI accreditation at level 2 – the standard which covers all the key processes that take place between the start of capital expenditure on a project and pro- ject handover. Having been a keen advocate for digital engineering most of his career, Gary Ross, NM Group's head of digital transformation, is better placed than most to talk about the benefits and challenges of implementing BIM. He was involved with the government's initial efforts to promote BIM in the mid-1990s, and has chaired regional groups of companies on the subject; he has worked for a major supplier of BIM software, and as a consultant to many con- struction and engineering compa- nies and customers. He joined NM Group in 2016, and has just helped the company achieve BSI verifica- tion for working at BIM level 2. So why has the industry found implementing BIM such a strug- gle? Ross says that there are three things that are central to making BIM work - having the right data, the right processes and the right culture. He says that when he accepted the job at NM Group he was impressed by both the culture and the systems in place for gath- ering and retaining data – and felt

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