AEC / BIM

It has taken almost 20 years for the building industry to widely adopt 3D modelling and espouse BIM processes in the design phase.

The Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry is undergoing a revolution; we live in the era in which we will likely see its complete digital transformation, from concept to fabrication. While many may think the adoption of BIM is an end in itself, moving from 2D to 3D was really only an initial phase in a longer digitisation process. It will eventually lead to computationally assisted design, automated manufacture and assembly. While this all sounds far-fetched, we have seen this happen before, in the world of manufacturing. AEC’s destination is a case of history repeating itself.

There are firms now racing to get the benefits of digital pre-fabrication, modular in mass production of buildings in mainstream markets – houses, offices, hotels – through the convergence of many technologies and processes appropriated from the rather more mature market of industrial-scale manufacturing, such as aerospace and automotive.