If you’re interested in BIM courses, then you might already be familiar with the concept. BIM, or building information modeling, is a process that makes use of advanced 3D models to give design and construction professionals the ability to better visualize how designs will function once constructed, helping them to envision and create a brighter future.
Since BIM is a relatively new approach to design and construction, made possible only by recent advances in the available technology, we are still in the early days of seeing how BIM can be put to work on large-scale infrastructure projects. The UK’s Crossrail project, however, offers an example of what BIM is capable of. It is a new 117-kilometre railway line in southeast England connecting Berkshire and Essex, and crossing through central London, designed using the BIM approach.
Read on to learn more about this fascinating project, and how BIM is helping to make it happen.
Crossrail Is the Largest Infrastructure Project in Europe
For anyone who wants to become a BIM technician, the Crossrail project is a great example of what BIM can accomplish and the significant benefits it offers to those trained in its use. Crossrail is currently the largest infrastructure project in Europe. As the first new underground line to be built in London in over 30 years, the Crossrail project has added 42 kilometres of new rail tunnels underneath the city. This took eight 1,000-tonne tunnel boring machines over three years to complete.
Once complete, the new Elizabeth Line, as it will be called, will stop at 41 stations (10 of them newly built for the project) and is expected to serve around 200 million people each year.
A Great Example of the Possibilities BIM Can Offer those Considering BIM Courses
When design work for Crossrail began in 2008, working in a collaborative 3D environment was an essential requirement for each of the project’s 25 design contracts. More than ten years later, the project now integrates information from across 25 main design contracts, 30 advanced works contracts, and over 60 logistics and main works construction projects. Overall, the project involves a stunning 1,000,000 CAD (computer-aided drawing) files integrated within a centralized information model.
This represents the first time a BIM environment has been created on this scale for any European infrastructure project, and for those interested in BIM courses, it’s a good indicator of how scalable the approach is, and the kind of monumental projects it could be applied to in the future.
Learn About the Benefits with BIM Technician Training
The BIM approach has provided a number of key benefits for the project and those working on it. BIM has reduced information loss between contracts and between project phases. It has reduced risk and increased efficiency by providing greater visibility into the design and construction process, and helped different teams coordinate their work and avoid clashes.
As you’ll learn in BIM technician training, the process also allows design teams to produce sophisticated 3D renderings, both still and moving, well before construction has even begun. In the case of Crossrail, this provided a significant advantage in terms of visualizing the complex network of pipes and cables in and around the stations which had to be taken into account when designing and building stations.
These are only some of the advantages, however. If you’d like to learn more about the full range of benefits offered by BIM, there’s no better way than learning it yourself through hands-on training.
Are you ready for a future working in BIM?
Your career awaits.
