We have been talking about digitizing processes in construction for a long time, but there is still a lot to do. We’ve had proof of that during this lockdown period. Many architectural and engineering firms have found themselves in difficulty because the digitization of processes is still an underdeveloped subject. Many architects and engineers boast of using certified protocols and procedures with thoroughly researched quality systems that, in the vast majority of cases, are not respected in daily use. But I do not want to point the gun at architectural and engineering firms, because the Government itself, with the public administration, seems not to have understood the importance of this subject.
2K19: BIM Decree
In 2019, the BIM Decree, a decree which provided for the obligation, from 1 January, to use the BIM for complex works relating to constructions with a tender amount of 100 million euro or more. A few months ago, from 1 January 2020, the threshold was lowered to 50 million euro and is expected to become 15 million euro in 2021.
It is a pity that this Decree finds it difficult to apply, especially in the Public Administration. Just take a tour inside the Ministry of Infrastructure to understand that very few people know how to use CAD in a professional way, let alone start talking about BIM, not to mention the fact that to date, the decree on new levels of design has not yet been completed. It almost seems that at the Ministry of Infrastructure, the managers who work inside, architects and engineers, we have never had the need to use an IT tool.
The use of BIM in the digitization of processes during this lockdown would have been fundamental to allow public and private companies to continue their work without interruption. In the construction sector, BIM could have become the most suitable working tool to help operators to start the process of review and reconfiguration in a digital sense of the entire construction chain. At institutional level there is a lack of an industrial strategy and a road map indicating that digitisation is the only way to reduce the gap with other production sectors.
Business support for smart design
So why not allocate to innovation part of the resources allocated to get out of the Coronavirus emergency and spread BIM among small businesses and administrations? We need to provide support for smart design for businesses. We need to make sure that companies learn to use professional figures for the management and coordination of all activities related to BIM and to make sure that these figures can be trained among the employees who work internally using incentives. I would like to remind you that just as you don’t create Project Managers and Design Managers from scratch, you need professionals who have some experience in the construction field to manage these digitization processes. In addition, it would be useful to support companies that adopt tools for the digitization of processes in the construction supply chain, such as the computerization of building components catalogues, installation and maintenance. Such catalogues are in fact most of the time incomplete, without well-defined national and international standards, becoming an obstacle in the evolution of process digitisation. It is, in essence, a matter of encouraging those who adopt intelligent design methods based on 3D models, which allow efficient design, construction and management of buildings and infrastructure.
As usual, we are missing an opportunity.