An organisation called Nima (formerly the UK BIM Alliance) and the Construction Leadership Council (CLC) have launched their Information Management Initiative (IMI).
They hope that their IMI will transform the construction industry by helping to build capabilities in applying emerging technologies.
They have produced a ‘route-map’ to 2030 and are inviting organisations to sign up to some core principles. The goal is to set out a framework and resources to support organisations in applying role-specific rules, standards and guidance.
The UK BIM Alliance was established in 2016 to champion implementation of building information modelling in the UK. It changed its name in 2022 to Nima, the Greek word for thread (as in golden thread), because its scope had extended beyond BIM to all uses of information management technology. [See previous report here.]
Nima and the CLC have sought to refresh existing guidance, including the UK BIM Framework, and want to encourage organisations to improve their management of information and data. The IMI vision is described as: To enable the digital integration of data and information across the whole lifecycle of the built and managed environment, enhancing collaboration, efficiency, safety and sustainability to meet the evolving needs of society, business, and the environment.
CLC co-chair Richard Robinson, whose day job is president of AtkinsRéalis UK & Ireland, said: “Effective management of trusted, quality information across the whole life of built and managed assets is a key foundation for growth, supporting a safe, healthy and sustainable environment where people, businesses and civil society can thrive.
“Today’s launch of the Information Management Initiative, IMI, is just the latest step in a process the CLC started a year ago. Going forward, it will also require support from across the sector to bring about the changes in information management needed to become a more digitally-enabled industry.”
The CLC has been reviewing the information management ‘mandate’ for the past year. This formed part of the Infrastructure & Projects Authority’s Transforming Infrastructure Performance Roadmap to 2030, which was published in September 2021. A revised mandate was also one of the recommendations of the CLC’s Creating a Productive environment for UK Construction report (September 2023).
A CLC task group led by Nima chair Anne Kemp (also AtkinsRéalis technical director has been working to integrate f the original BIM mandate with the current IM mandate. She said: “The aim is to ensure the new approach – the IMI – is relevant and achievable across the whole of the built and managed environment both now and in the future. The aim is not to hinder, but to help, making things clearer and less ambiguous.”
Her task group has been consulting to gather ideas and feedback surrounding the approach, scope, presentation and implementation plan. A summary of the IMI approach is available from the Nima website.
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