THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
28 | CALFORDSEADEN
Thereneedsto be an overarching
industry understanding of how they
should work in practice, and at
calfordseaden we are hoping to help
enforce this. This makes up part of
our drive to offer our expertise to
policymakers, who too often disregard
the input of those at the coalface of
their sector. If new technology is to
be continually introduced, there must
be systems in place that monitor its
output and realworth.
We often witness the results of
poorly supervised building projects,
which bring down standards and
lead to an unnecessary number of
building defects and, in turn, client
dissatisfaction. We seem to have
been brought in more regularly in
recent years to oversee remedial
works to completed new build
projects. Some of our site inspection
commissions often require only a
limited number of site visits. High-
quality site supervision, in the guise
of the clerk of works role, is essential,
although this role seems to have been
gradually diluted over time. Our belief
is that accountable, permanent and
highly trained clerk of works or site
inspectors should once again become
the industry standard.
Building information
modelling (BIM)
The government has pursued BIM
technology in recent years, declaring
that all public projects need to be
implemented through BIM. With the aim
of digitising the building process, BIM
enables better collaboration between
architects and engineers. It relies on
all designers of a project utilising the
same three-dimension computer-
aided design model, which would be
accessible throughout the project, so
various parties will have remote access
to the same “drawing”model.
We are one of the few consultants in
our sector to be accredited at BIM level
two and we aim to help push forward
the use of BIM across the industry.
Clients have been reticent to invest
in BIM projects up to this point, but
if it became an industry standard, we
would be able to complete far more
projects using the technology to help
reduce building defects and increase
building delivery efficiency. BIM not
only assists project delivery, but it
can also be used as a tool over the
building’s entire life cycle. This would
offer more control over maintenance
costs for clients and it would allow
them to plan for the future with
greater certainty.
Finally, we hope to rectify some of
the skill shortages that are visible
within the construction industry. We
are taking an increasing number of
students from college and school and
placing them in apprentice schemes,
and we have also sponsored some
students to study further, so that
they can then join our surveying,
architectural and engineering teams.
At calfordseaden, we hope this
forward-thinking approach will benefit
us and our industry in thefuture.
Our belief is
that
accountable,
permanent
and highly
trained clerk
of works or
site inspectors
should once
again become
the industry
standard
“
“
3D BIM model of
Prendergast School,
London
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
