The Christmas break has given me chance to catch up on some interesting links that I saved just before the holidays began. Foremost was an Autodesk news release (also reported by Cadalyst) describing the findings from an online survey of 211 architects conducted in the UK earlier this year (May-June, to be more precise - the apparent delay in releasing the findings may be due to Autodesk conducting a similar exercise in the USA).
The executive summary is that:
- more than eight in ten UK architects recognise the impact of human involvement on global climate change, are taking personal responsibility for the effects placed on the environment and are working toward change
- Regulatory requirements and client interest are the main green driving factors
- Architects are moving forward in adopting green design practices - a trend that is predicted to continue
Not surprisingly, given Autodesk's involvement, there is recognition for the role of design software to evaluate and explore alternative building materials to maximise energy performance and minimise environmental impact and to specify, predict and evaluate solar heating. Nearly all UK architects surveyed were heavily reliant on use of computer–assisted design systems, and two in ten architects (22%) are beginning to incorporate the use of building information modelling into their practice (no mention of construction collaboration systems or similar). This figure was half that achieved (44%) in the US survey - reflecting, I think, how the UK is lagging behind the US in its adoption of BIM.
The detailed results have some interesting results, but I'm not sure how conclusive they are given the size of the sample and the online methodology. Hopefully, some other AEC bloggers will pick up on some of the points.
(Update (06 January 2009): A news release from RSMeans Business Solutions, a division of US publisher Reed Construction Data, describes a recently conducted US study of the rate of adoption of BIM and discovered that the rate of adoption has increased significantly over the last 12 months.
Of the offices sampled that use BIM, 96 percent indicated they adopted it within the last 12 months and nearly half of all respondents estimate that all projects will use BIM within one to two years. One-third of smaller firms (under 50 staff) estimated that their staff uses BIM more than 50 percent of the time - almost triple the rate of larger firms.
The report cites cost, training and support as the most significant barriers to BIM adoption and as a result many expressed resistance until clients demand it.
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