Dubai, September 15, 2014: The first edition of the GeoBIM Middle East summit was recently held at Hotel Al Bustan Rotana in Dubai. The widely increasing role of BIM (Building Information Modelling) and geospatial technologies across various infrastructure projects in the Middle East set the tone for the day’s proceedings. Neil Brooker, Technical Manager, Autodesk MEA, highlighted the advantages of using BIM in infrastructure projects. He further outlined how geospatial data has played a defining role in better management of these projects and thus said that the integration of BIM and geospatial technologies is where the industry is heading. Hitham EL-Hussaieny, Regional Sales Manager, Topcon Positioning Middle East and Africa underlined the significance of geospatial technologies for the infrastructure industry and went on to provide a glimpse of Topcon’s unique solutions and offerings for the industry.
The event, which had Topcon as Silver Sponsor, saw presentations from a number of renowned speakers representing various segments of the industry, such as geospatial professionals, BIM managers, consultants and a member representing a law firm. The event also witnessed the participation of close to 100 delegates.
Mustafa Al-Musawa, Advisor-GIS, Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, gave a presentation on the Emirates’ GIS-based addressing system and also quoted several figures to showcase how the use of geospatial technology had resulted in better and more efficient management of the buildings’ registration process.
Gerry McFadden, BIM manager at WSP Middle East said that BIM had become a necessity in the current scenario as traditional design and construction process had become inefficient. Citing several real life examples, he said that the advantage that this technology offers is that problems could be identified during the modelling phase and rectification measures taken well ahead of the actual construction process.
Scott Lambert, Partner at Galadari Advocates and Legal Consultants gave a presentation on the legal facilitation of BIM. He explained various barriers in the way of using BIM and the means through which those barriers could be managed. He also explained in detail the BIM execution plan and the role of BIM manager in facilitating cooperation between the various stakeholders involved.
Ahmed Balawi, BIM Manager at Arabtec Construction, highlighted how BIM has played a significant role in some of the company’s biggest construction projects. He also said that there are several hurdles in the way, such as the limited maturity of stakeholders in the understanding of BIM, under-estimation of time required for BIM process appliance and lack of communication and collaboration with MEP BIM service provider.
The summit concluded with a panel discussion titled ‘Smart Infrastructure –The Road Ahead’ where the panellists discussed and debated several aspects such as the way ahead for BIM and geospatial technologies in the infrastructure industry and the challenges facing the industry and the possible ways to overcome those challenges.
Source: Our Correspondent
