Free information for small and medium-sized firms has been released by the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA), to coincide with the government’s April 2016 introduction of requirement to use BIM Level 2 in significant centrally procured contracts.

The ECA’s ‘BIM Basics’ checklist highlights the ‘bare essential’ requirements that firms within the building services sector will need to meet to work on BIM projects.

Developed with the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), the ECA’s ‘BIM Basics’ checklist includes the basic requirements within the following key areas:

–          Capability and skills

–          Processes

–          Software and hardware

–          Digital information.

According to the ECA’s Bill Wright: “Central government spends billions each year on buying goods and services, and it’s vital that building services firms of all shapes and sizes quickly get up-to-speed with BIM Level 2.

“BIM won’t work properly if the specialist supply chain is fully ready, and the ECA’s easily digestible ‘BIM Basics’ Checklist will help smaller and lower tier contractors to understand what may be their most likely interactions with BIM projects.”

The ECA’s free ‘BIM Basics’ checklist can be viewed by clicking here.  A more extensive version, containing more ‘advanced’ BIM requirements, is available exclusively to ECA Members only. The ‘BIM Basics’ checklist is freely available until 1 July 2016.

Research conducted by the ECA last year found over half of contractors (54%) with a turnover of less than £1 million are ‘not ready at all’ for BIM, while 3 in 10 firms (30%) with earnings between £1m and £20m were in the same position. The BIM checklists are part of the ECA’s response to help companies’ increase their relevant BIM understanding and capability.