Adopting of PAS 1192-2 by Irish AEC companies – A Formula for Winning International Work

Abstract

Forfas Ireland policy advisory board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation have recently recommended that the Irish Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry should engage in more international work and in doing so have advised the industry to work within a Building Information Management (BIM) environment, so as to avoid the possibility of a competitive disadvantage in overseas markets. According to Forfas BIM can help develop the appropriate technical skills amongst Irish construction firms so that they can successfully compete in markets where BIM is widely adopted or a requirement. More importantly they have encouraged the industry to strive to achieve and exceed international industry standards. Such a standard is the Public Accessible Standard (PAS) 1192-2, which is now becoming the preferred choice of industry standard regarding BIM collaboration within the United Kingdom (UK). The purpose of this standard is to offer guidelines to the UK in order to ensure they achieve their 2016 mandate. This standard would seem to be a natural fit for the Irish AEC sector, due to the fact that the Irish Government have previously followed closely behind the UK regarding regulations, as well as been strongly linked through a high number of construction companies exporting their services to the UK. PAS 11922 will potentially become even more relevant in the future as it influences the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in adopting accredited BIM standards. This may therefore not only limit Irish companies in trading to the important UK market but in also trading the rest of the world if they are not versed with its requirements. This paper will investigate the potential of adopting PAS 1192-2 within the Irish AEC sector as the preferred industry standard for BIM and how this could help construction companies win international work. The data collation methodology included a number of interviews and an in-depth questionnaire. The interviewees will consist of industry leaders from Ireland, the UK and Australia. This will be complimented by an international questionnaire that was distributed to assess what current standards are been used both within Ireland and abroad. The research findings have indicated that in order to ensure that the Irish AEC sector is ready to compete in overseas markets, that they should adopt PAS 1192-2 in accordance with any future BIM governed projects.