Special Way of Design
31.08.2015
Despite the fast paced development of the construction market in Russia, design techniques have not changed since the Soviet period. No attempt to adopt foreign innovations on the national market has been successful yet.
The technology of Building Information Modeling (BIM), which is very popular in the developed countries, is not common in residential building design in Russia either.
Nowadays, around 80% of buildings in Western Europe are constructed using BIM, but in Russia 3D and 4D modeling is still underdeveloped. This approach is offered only by about 10% of design organizations.
According to Arseny Vasilyev, GC "UNISTO Petrostal" CEO, only 5-7% of developers use these technologies.
But design schemes in Russia are strictly regulated, and project appraisal and approval do not require digital models development. Therefore, designer companies creating 3D and 4D models and developers buying them do this voluntarily.
At the same time, as Armen Manukian-Burovtsev, CEO of LLC "Proektnoe buro-GS", notes, this technology is legally binding in Great Britain.
"Today implementation of innovations is required for successful projects fulfillment and competitive struggle. But the traditional way of working satisfies both designers and developers, as creation of digital models increases design costs, although it helps to enhance quality and safety of construction on the later stages of commissioning. Many companies chase after short-term income, they are not ready to invest into future perspectives. Besides, transition to BIM means significant changes that influence company's business processes and staff responsibilities. Development of these technologies requires legislative support, initiative from the construction market participants and awareness of corporate social responsibility," says Arseny Vasilyev, GC "UNISTO Petrostal" CEO.
Meanwhile, major developers are already mastering state-of-the-art technologies. Arsentiy Sidorov, CEO of LLC "NTC "Etalon" (part of Etalon Group), assures, "We have been using this technology for more than 3 years now. At Etalon Group, we use BIM starting from the conceptual phase – creation of first drawings, then in the process of engineering documents design and preparation, resource planning, scheduling and control of construction and erection works (encompassing deadlines, quality, occupational health and industrial safety). Today all our sites are constructed using BIM technologies. Now we have also started to use the BIM model at the stage of facility usage. Therefore, in our group of companies BIM is implemented at most of site's life cycle stages."
Sidorov believes that eventually BIM can be helpful for banks and investors as a remote control instrument of intended use of investments in construction projects.
Opinion
Armen Manukian-Burovtsev, CEO of LLC "Proektnoe buro-GS"
– In the coming decades, the number of projects implemented using BIM modeling in Russia will be far less then in the West. A lot of time will have passed before we can come close to Europe and North America regarding the level of this technology implementation. There are three main factors that discourage development of BIM technologies in Russia: low level of construction culture; unclear benefits of these techniques for customers; insufficient interest of designers in improving the efficiency of their solutions. These factors outweigh all the advantages of BIM.
