BIM is alive and well in Wales and being put into action at Shotton Primary School, Flintshire. Flintshire County Council, Lovelock Mitchell Architects, Read Construction and their other partners are delivering an Exemplar project and working together to transform the council’s schools building programme via BIM.

Indeed, it has already streamlined the development of Shotton Primary by identifying potential conflicts during the construction phase. This proves two things. Firstly that when a project is based on core Constructing Excellence principles such as collaboration, integrated teams, leadership and respect for people it is easy to apply the latest methodology and gain a quick result. It is important to accept this because too often people consider BIM as a technology driven process. It is not. BIM is a means to an end, a process yes, but one reliant on a collaborative approach by everyone within a project team. Only then will the technology allied to BIM be applicable in such a way that the whole integrated team, not just the project itself, benefits.

The second thing that Shotton illustrates is that BIM is not just being used by big project teams on landmark schemes. What is particularly impressive about Shotton Primary is that the process is being developed by a small local architectural practice and a local SME builder in partnership with the local authority – which goes to show that BIM is not just for the big boys.

What’s more, if you are still unsure of the merits of the approach you will be able to learn more about the project in the future when case studies are presented via the CEW Exemplar Programme. You will also be able to monitor how the Shotton Primary School scheme is progressing via the Read Construction Website.

Digital modelling really is transforming the design and build process at Shotton which will support future asset management and maintenance. It could do the same for countless other projects across Wales.