Northumbria and BIM Academy win hat trick of awards

4th October 2016

Academics from Northumbria University, in partnership with the BIM (Building Information Modelling) Academy, have been celebrating a triple award win.

Building Information Modelling, known as BIM, is the structured creation, sharing, use and re-use of digital information about a building, including 3D models, throughout its entire lifecycle. BIM Academy is an innovate joint venture between Northumbria and Ryder Architecture, which is helping to bring construction into the digital age and inspire greater collaboration. Its work in industry directly informs learning, teaching and research innovation at Northumbria, which is recognised as an international centre for excellence in BIM. Since its launch, the academy has gone on to win a host of international awards including Build New York Live, with high-projects including the Sydney Opera House and ongoing work in Hong Kong and China.

Northumbria and BIM Academy’s latest hat trick of awards came at the RISE (Research Innovation Sustainability and Enterprise) Awards 2016, which took place at the Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) conference on 14-15 September 2016. The University’s academics won the 'CIOB Best Academic Paper Award', and the SEEDS 2016 'BIM Award'. Meanwhile at the RISE Awards: The Andrew Platten Award for BIM Training was awarded to the partnership between BIM Academy and White Frog Publishing Ltd.

Barry Gledson, Lead researcher and Programme Leader in Construction Project Management said: “From a research perspective, we were thrilled to recently receive multiple awards for our collaborative cross-departmental paper. This work explored how Building Information Modelling can be used as a vehicle for active project-based learning in order to augment the key employment skills valued by prospective employers.”

Susan Dawson, Senior lecturer in Architecture and Built Environment at Northumbria, co-author of the award-winning paper added: “These awards truly demonstrate our excellence in working collaboratively internally, across departments and externally with industry partners in the true spirit of Building Information Management. It is a joy to be part of this dynamic and international success.”

The RISE Awards 2016 recognise the excellence of the work produced collaboratively and across department and conjunction with internal and external professional partnerships.

BIM Academy is impartial and industry-facing, undertaking research, consultancy, software development, outreach and training. The academy works closely in the UK with industry bodies such as RIBA Enterprises and the Government’s BIM Task Group. One of the academy’s most high profile achievements was the creation and authoring of the National Building Specification’s (NBS) award-winning National BIM Library, a free-to-use resource of standard BIM content. For more information about BIM Academy click here.

Northumbria offers a range of courses in Architecture and Built Environment. To find out more about studying at the University sign up for one of our upcoming Open Days on 29 October and 26 November by clicking here.