I was checking through the NBR Online the other day (no not the paid subscription – you can read here, here and here what Lance Wiggs has to say about that!) and I came across this article that caught my eye.
Now getting a Building Consent is one of the most frustrating parts of any building project. Over the years with leaky buildings and such, the process has become more involved, rigorous, costly and longer!
Apart from the fact that changes are being made the comments at the bottom of the article interested me most:
building act need IT solution
the solution here has been stareing all and sundry in the face.get the companies office to build the department of building ( local councils) an internet site which is interactive, where the whole design process is online and the client attaches their plans.
While the idea misses the mark a little the concept behind it is incredibly sound – don’t just dabble with the current processes but take a completely new look at it.
Changes to the way buildings are designed and constructed is the business I am in and I have been involved both directly and as an advisor in projects trying to encourage these changes.
Without wanting to ‘pigeon hole’ them a couple of my customers, Predefine and Bisco, are looking at addressing this issue, with a commercial and residential focus respectively.
On the other hand these changes are nothing new, the Singapore Government implemented an ambitious project that involves code checking of intelligent 3d building models (ie BIM Models.)