Analytics of the processes of informatization of the construction business in Russia
Informatization of the Russian construction business in the past year has made significant progress despite the problems caused by the coronavirus epidemic.
This happened thanks to the efforts of the authorities and the professional community in the development of standards, the results of which were the adoption of regulations important for the construction industry and the launch of the first version of the construction information classifier.
The market has fallen, but will soon “squeeze out”
The global market growth dynamics was negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Markets and Markets forecast, published in June 2020, the global Building Information Modeling (BIM) market will grow from $ 4.5 billion in 2020 to $ 8.8 billion in 2025 (CAGR 14 ,five%).
According to “dockyard” forecasts, in 2025 the market was supposed to amount to $ 9.5 billion with an average annual growth rate of 11.9%. Extrapolating from the Markets and Markets charts, it can be assumed that the forecast curves will practically converge in the 2027-2028 region. Unless, of course, anything like the coronavirus epidemic happens.
Forecasts of the dynamics of the building information modeling market, $ mln
Incentives and obstacles
Analysts point to urbanization and an increase in the number of infrastructure projects, as well as government incentives and awareness by market participants of the benefits of BIM among the main factors of growth in the global market. A certain role is also played by the fact that information modeling belongs to the IT sphere, which in a global sense has benefited from the massive transition of specialists to a remote work format.
In Russia, the main drivers for the development of the BIM market in 2020 were the introduction of new regulatory documents and the spread among commercial customers of the practice of including requirements for the development of an information model in the TOR. The reasons for the slowdown remained the same – the use of BIM solutions requires large expenses for software and salaries for employees (about ₽300 thousand per workplace). Another large expense item is training employees to work with software (a monthly course costs about 25 thousand rubles).
The state “legalizes” BIM
The state in Russia traditionally acts as a driver of IT progress; in 2020 it was marked by a number of legislative documents that contribute to the informatization of the construction industry. The key ones were government decrees No. 279 “On information support for urban planning activities”, No. 1431 “On approval of the Rules for the formation and maintenance of an information model of a capital construction object” and No. 1558 “On the state information system for ensuring urban planning activities in the Russian Federation.”
Of particular note is Resolution No. 1431, which approved the rules for the formation and maintenance of the information model of a capital construction object and the composition of information, documents and materials included in the information model of a capital construction object. This document gave government agencies the right to act as customers of information models.
In addition, the first version of the Building Information Classifier (CSI) was published in early December. To some extent, this is a key milestone for the digital transformation of the construction industry, especially in terms of data consolidation and unification. The Russian construction information classifier was created according to the ISO 12006-2: 2015 standard adopted in European countries. Among the unique features of the domestic system are synchronization with the national regulatory framework and references to the relevant regulatory and technical documents, as well as the organization of links between classification tables.
Technological innovations
There were no technological breakthroughs in the global construction software market in 2020, but some important improvements in key products can be noted.
Autodesk’s Revit 2021 software adds a built-in generative design module. Generative design is a form-seeking process that first sets the design goal, and then selects the best form of a building or its layout from countless possible solutions.
Graphisoft в течение года активно развивал свой облачный сервис для объединения данных, а Archicad отличился сильным модулем по созданию аналитической модели для передачи данных в расчетные комплексы и улучшением интероперабельности с другими BIM-программами.
Nemetschek Allplan Systems has created a visual programming module. This update can hardly be considered an innovation, but nevertheless it is a big step towards improving the usability of the program.
The Russian construction software market also developed. For example, Renga software from Renga Software has an opportunity to design low-current systems and improved functionality for working with the IFC format (Industry Foundation Classes are used to ensure interaction between software in the industry). Signal Format has released a Signal solution based on Autodesk’s Forge cloud platform. In addition to a functional portal for project management based on an information model, Signal has functionality for conducting construction control using 360-degree panoramas shooting, as well as a means of comparing photogrammetric data with a digital model.
The most interesting projects of the year
Among the most technologically complex projects that were developed in Russia and the CIS countries in 2020, one can name the creation of digital models of industrial facilities – a gold recovery plant in the village of Aksu in Kazakhstan (AA Engineering), offshore platforms in the Caspian Sea (Volgogradnefteproekt) … It is also worth noting the work on digitizing the buildings of VDNKh, done by the GORKA group of companies (before the rebranding of Gorkapstroy), in preparation for the restoration and overhaul.
Of the foreign BIM cases, the most interesting is the project of expanding the high-speed railway in Bergen (Norway), which required modeling not only the object itself, but also the territory around it. Bentley’s iTwin cloud-based digital twinning solution and BIM tools helped 18 companies in five different countries coordinate the process, reducing construction costs by 25% from the original target.
In Russia, the area of information modeling of territories remains one of the most problematic. A large number of gaps and collisions in the existing urban planning regulatory documentation negatively affects the ability to create high-quality models. In such conditions, the own technological developments of design organizations play an important role in the successful implementation of projects. In this area, it is worth mentioning the project for the development of the territory of the city of Kronstadt, which was created by the Urban Planning Institute of Spatial Modeling and Development “Giprogorproekt” using a hybrid solution “BIM + GIS” based on Autodesk and ArcGIS software systems.
Prospects for 2021
One of the key development trends for the next year may be the use of an information model at the stages of construction and operation management. In these areas, there are already ready-made solutions and cases that can be scaled up. In addition, the concept of OpenBIM and the interoperability of information models, which implies the interaction of large teams without being tied to specific software, should gain great popularity. The implementation of this concept will create great freedom for the development of complex complex digital projects, including BIM models of infrastructure facilities and digital twins of territories.
