Hard Facts on Soft Landings

11 April 2014 | Updated 01 January 1970

ThisWeekinFM attended the recent Government Soft Landings (GSL) Conference at the QEII in Westminster (pictured) which attracted an audience of over 250 attendees, with interest an around public sector construction and Asset Management from owners, operators, consultants and service providers.

Proceedings began with first session Chair Deborah Rowland, Head of Facilities Management Policy and Strategy for Cabinet Office outlining the day and specifics of GSL, it’s link with BIM.

The Keynote presentation 'The importance of GSL in Government construction' was given by Peter Hansford, Government Chief Construction Adviser.

This was followed by a ‘Pecha Kucha’ round of focussed views leading on to an interesting Q&A panel debate on the benefits of GSL Industry views on the benefits of GSL:

The second session was kicked off and also chaired by Geoff Prudence who promoted the opportunity of Soft Landings and BIM in practice and the range of support documentation currently being launched – 1192-3, NRM3, CIBSE updated Guide M under the title of “The increasing Value of FM”. Stephen Ward AECOM, gave a well structured overview of the core principles of soft landings which included collaborative working, focus on operational outcomes, reality checking and a gradual handover of assets aligned with management and operation.

Kath Fontana BAM Facilities Management presented a strong case study into the transformational potential of BIM and GSL on the day-to-day management of operational buildings. The theme debate continued well into Q&A session and may well prompt a further event on harnessing the CAFM opportunity!

Afternoon sessions continued with an overview of PAS1192.3 and how BIM and CAFM data integration is key to GSL success. Speakers were- Rob Manning, BIS BIM Core Team and Ed Baldwin EC Harris. There was particular interest and questions from the floor on how to ensure value is achieved in the operational lifecycle of an asset.

Steven Jenkins of Rider Levett Bucknall presented a compelling case study on student residencies project for Kings College London, with meaning full illustrations of BIM and soft landings. Christine Houghton, General Manager from Planon, joined the speakers for a further Q&A session which again featured the CAFM/technology aspects of achieving success for data management in future projects.

David Philp, Head of BIM BIM Task Group lead the final session with his views “The future for BIM and GSL” highlighting the opportunity and the coverage across the range of active sectors moving forward. This was followed by Katy Dowding, Managing Director, Facilities Services Operations and Malcolm Stagg, Head of BIM Skanska UK, who presented jointly on the award winning project for Woodlands School, Essex as a case study to demonstrate how collaborative building information modelling (BIM) techniques improved the outcomes for the project in practice.

Mike Packham representing BIFM presented the case for skills and education to support the aspirations of successful future projects. Then considering again a future view from Paul Worland Emcor, Gary Ross Amtech joined the concluding panel discussion.

Deborah Rowland closed the conference which had certainly improved the focus for GSL, supported by the attendance, but there is still more good work to be done embedding it into practice.

Article written by Brian Shillibeer | Published 11 April 2014

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