PCSG chairman and UK BIM Task Group Chairman Mark Bew this month underlined the value of embedding Building Information Modelling and data security into the systems infrastructure delivery process to an international audience of security experts.
Speaking at “Security, Safety & More - The Expert Forum 2016” event hosted by German industrial giant Bosch in Munich, Bew set out how the UK Government was using data to drive change and competition towards a safe and secure market in the built environment.
Having led the UK Government’s BIM Level 2 programme, Bew explained the whole life cost and efficiency gains that had been witnesses across the infrastructure sector thanks to the public sector mandate to embrace BIM.
However, he also pointed out how, by using the processes described in specially the drafted PAS 1192-5 specification, infrastructure owners and operators now had a set of tools to more effectively set up and maintain appropriate management approaches to personal, asset and data security.
These processes and security advantages, he explained, would be extended and expanded as asset owners move towards BIM Level 3. This will see interconnected digital design of different elements in the built environment and will extend common data management into the operational and functional delivery phases of the asset lifecycle – where the majority of cost in seen.
BIM Level 3 is being rolled out in the UK as part of the Digital Built Britain initiative which Bew now chairs. It will, he explained, support the delivery of smart cities, services and grids and enable asset owners to track their real-time efficiency, maximising utilisation, reducing costs and minimising energy use.
This increased use of and dependence on digital technologies will inevitably lead to an increase in asset and data vulnerability and so will require greater security focus to manage the potential for data corruption, loss or interference.
He explained that through the publication of PAS 1192/5, BIM processes had been demonstrated to actively promote a so-called “security-minded approach” to information management. This will help asset owners and supply chain to introduce appropriate and proportionate monitoring and auditing procedures and so reap significant competitive advantages, whilst remaining safe.
For further information and advice about the impact that BIM and digital information management can have on asset and data security, contact [email protected]