With the advent of Building Information Modeling (BIM) drawing closer, David Wigglesworth, Managing Director of ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions, discusses the division’s plans to deliver 29 BIM objects to the construction sector.

BIM is designed to create and unlock an approach to working in the construction industry that aims to establish collaboration through the entire life-cycle of an asset. By bringing together the different disciplines involved in a building’s development, it is hoped that the building process will become rationalised and streamlined.

Essentially, BIM is a way of working underpinned by the creation, collation and exchange of shared 3D models, with structured data attached.

Currently there are many different disciplines and professionals involved in a building’s design and construction, all of which take 2 or 3D models of the build in a variety of formats, from which they create their own drawings on the parts relevant to them.

Whilst this may work in the first instance, it creates unnecessary administration when changes need to be made, as multiple documents across multiple companies will need to be updated and shared.

BIM creates a central model, which each discipline has access to and can export the element of the model relevant to them, importing it back into the central model when updates have been made.

This method of working generates a coherent approach between all contributors, at all stages of project development, whilst encouraging the sharing of information across multiple disciplines. In addition, it also creates the Operation Manual for the life-cycle of the building.

The Government is currently undertaking a four-year programme for sector modernisation, and intends to demand collaborative 3D BIM (with electronic project and asset information, documentation and data) on its projects by 2016, as part of a broader plan to reduce capital cost and the carbon burden from the construction and operation of the built environment by 20%.

A BIM object represents a design – vague and undefined, generic or product-specific, solid shapes or void-space oriented (like the shape of a room), that carry their geometry, relations and attributes.

Using this theory, a door would be referred to as an ‘object’ created in the BIM software package. All objects are parametric, allowing software operators to change parameters, such as hardware, acoustic rating, handing and door closers, within the object model.

ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions is developing 29 combinations of standard internal doorsets with associated hardware packages or BIM objects in conjunction with RIBA’s National BIM Library, allowing specifiers to import a complete doorset without the need to identify related ironmongery.

This is crucial to ensuring ASSA ABLOY lead the market in the specification arena, with most architects and contractors already using BIM it is important we are able to support them on future projects.

The ASSA ABLOY Security Solutions BIM Objects are anticipated to be available at the end of September 2013, for further information visit