CC Sep-Oct 2023

CONFERENCEpreview
meet today's urgent information
management needs.
FOUR CONTENT STREAMS
The four content streams will cover
building safety and the 'Golden Thread',
residential and social housing, diversity of
thought, and technology, innovation and
artificial intelligence (AI) - and not
excluding ChatGPT!
The keynote speaker for the building
safety stream will be Dame Judith Hackitt,
author of the Building a Safer Future
Report which was produced as a result of
the Grenfell Tower tragedy. Dame Judith
will look at the Building Safety Act,
compliance challenges for building owners
and how best to approach delivery on the
requirements of the Act - all in accordance
with the appropriate use of technology.
Leading the diversity of thought stream
will be Dr Mark McBride Wright MBE,
founder and managing director of
EqualEngineers. When people with
different backgrounds and experiences
work together, they bring unique
perspectives and allow a wider, more
expansive thought process. Diversity of
thought ensures better thinking, better
choices and better outcomes. Mark will
explore what this thinking really looks
like and how to apply it to the
construction industry.
For the social housing stream, Charlotte
Bates of Expert Citizens CIC, will talk about
why we need to provide and manage
"good" social housing, the pitfalls and
challenges linked to mismanagement and
how efficient use of data could help to
overcome such challenges. Plus this
stream will focus on how to identify the
needs of the residents through people and
data management.
The final stream will concentrate on the
critical element of technology, how
technology is driving construction and
what is the digital dream. The digital dream
keynote will be delivered by Dr Jennifer
Schooling OBE, director of the Cambridge
Centre for Smart Infrastructure and
Construction (CSIC), at the University of
Cambridge and former chair of the
Research Strategy Advisory Group and
director of the Centre for Smart
Infrastructure and Construction at the
Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB).
Following each keynote talk, there will be
a panel discussion continuing the
conversation and looking at how each of
the four critical areas are supported by
data and information management. In the
virtual environment, there will also be six
networking rooms, each with their own
topic area for insight, predictions and realworld
projects that will demonstration the
digital progression of the built environment.
LOOKING FORWARD
While planning its Virtual Conference, nima
has been reviewing how it can both
maintain and expand ongoing
development of best practices in datadriven
information management.
Engagement with individuals, communities
and with industry-leading organisations is
critical here.
The conference will reflect the ongoing
involvement in nima of hundreds of
individual volunteers, some of them also
active in buildingSMART UK & Ireland
(nima is the UK and Ireland chapter of
buildingSMART International) and in the
continued upkeep of the free guidance
and resources in the UK BIM Framework.
This forward-thinking event will also give a
platform for exhibitors and sponsors -
many of whom are existing nima patrons,
including over 20 technology providers - to
showcase their progress in the digital built
environment in support of better
information management, particularly in
areas such as building safety and
sustainability.
ABOUT NIMA
nima is, however, also looking to expand.
It particularly wants to attract new patrons
and for other businesses - clients,
contractors, consultants, manufacturers,
facilities managers and other supply chain
members - to join with nima in advancing
the industry's digital capabilities and
whole-life information best practices.
It also aims to extend the reach of its
network of communities, which spans
groups in areas such as rail, healthcare
and education estates, housing
associations, building safety, academia
and facilities management, to name a few.
And it also has a growing affiliates network,
already bringing together over 20
professional and trade associations, to
help coordinate consistent messaging and
approaches to information management
across industry.
In short, nima's first Virtual Conference will
mark its first year in its new guise and will
celebrate the expansion beyond BIM to
include information management concepts
such as AI, robotics, Internet of Things,
smart buildings and digital twins, and it will
help to deliver its mission: "to inspire,
influence, connect and support everyone
active in the built environment and enable
them to better manage information vital to
the needs of our times."
ATTENDING THE FREE NIMA VIRTUAL
CONFERENCE
Registration is free for the nima Virtual
Conference and you can find out more here:
https://wearenima.im/events-calendar/nimavirtual-conference-2023/
nima - formerly the UK BIM Alliance - is leading efforts to embed digital ways
of working into how we deliver tomorrow's buildings and infrastructure.
October 2023 will mark the first anniversary of the rebranding of the UK BIM
Alliance to 'nima' - a volunteer-led organisation, originally founded in 2016.
The name nima is also the Greek word for 'thread' and is not an abbreviation.
It was selected to help give the body an identity, sense of purpose and a set
of behaviours that are better aligned with current and anticipated future UK
thinking about what we used to call 'digital construction'.
The new name reflects an ongoing evolution. nima supports the purposeful
use of information across the whole built environment, from the inception
stages of projects, through design and construction, and then - most
importantly - to support for efficient operation, maintenance and use of
assets through to their end of life.
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