Written by Charlie Olpin

GBuilder Business Development Director

We are on the verge of the fourth industrial revolution, and the lines between the physical and digital spheres are getting blurred. We are facing the future of smart cities, smart energy and transportation; an infrastructure that is connected as a whole. 

Building Information Models (BIM) have been used in architecture, engineering and construction for decades. The added value that the BIM brings has already been recognized across the board. Using BIM, architects, engineers, and construction professionals all work using the same 3D environment. This makes the process of planning and constructing buildings smoother and more efficient. The goal is to take this 3D environment much further.  

To use the BIM outside the worksite and design environment, we need to have all the information at hand. And we need to use the BIM across the silos more effectively. To bring more value to all the stakeholders, the BIM must also include the finishing related details like fixtures, surfaces, decoration and furniture. We want to invite the tile provider and the store that is selling the sofa to the party as well. 

The amount of information that is needed for all of this to work is quite high. The Digital Twin, a virtual replicant of a building that is created and maintained by utilizing 3D BIM data models, needs to be close to perfect to serve its purpose: to help occupiers, owners, and other stakeholders to manage and monitor the space. Getting all the information under the same umbrella is not an easy task, and the value of this information is not yet fully understood.  

We need more cooperation. If we can bring the BIM to a higher level, we are able to push it into other places as well: sales, marketing, customer success, fit-out process, cabinets, furniture and decorations, and all the other integrations. This will organically sprout different kinds of new digital services and business activities and revolutionize the whole construction industry while doing so. 

We are entering the era of BIM, and there is no turning back. The traditional and slow-to-change construction industry has already digitized its sales process and project management. The digital era has created a new kind of consumer, a new kind of freedom of expression; importance of empowering the customer cannot be emphasized enough. The role of construction industry is expanding rapidly from construction itself to enabling a continuous development focused on the home and its inhabitants. We are moving from silos to systems, to the future where the data is shared smoothly and in real time with all the stakeholders and where the point solutions are replaced with a more holistic approach. A shared language and a common platform made possible by BIM models is the goal for all of us.  

About GBuilder

GBuilder is the only company in the world to use BIM as a service to manage interior specifications and customer choices. Finnish born and now London based company with over 40,000 homes built through their platform over 11 countries, GBuilder is easy to set up and easy to use software that takes care of BIM so that you don’t have to.  

Offering 3D visualization of each individual home within any development, GBuilder enables investors, homeowners, or tenants to select their desired interior specification and furnishings to see how it suits and fits within their future home. The software is already widely used by Scandinavia’s largest residential developers and construction companies such as YIT, Bonava, Skanska, and Hartela. There are already ongoing projects in the UK and in other countries, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and the CEE.

Follow the link to the Gbuilder website to find out more: https://www.gbuilder.com/