ABSTRACT
In its implementation, however, BIM is rather more complex. It is this complexity that has most impact on contract administration using the three JCT forms of contract included in this book. Before illustrating how both the power of BIM and its complexity affects contract administration, it is worth pointing out that modelling is nothing new. People have conceptualised in three dimensions from the beginnings of time and designers are trained to think three-dimensionally. Quantity surveyors are also trained to translate three-dimensional figures into costs and construction managers to translate those same figures into a programmed sequence. The difference with BIM is that much of the creative thinking process is encompassed within a single digital representation. This means both that it will no longer be necessary to imagine the figure to be worked on as it will always be available in digital form, but also that many tasks (such as taking off quantities) will be removed, or greatly de-skilled. Additionally, the parametric features of building
information models allow interdependencies of elements and sub-models to be organically and automatically integrated when changes are made at any stage of the construction cycle.3
