Award: Business Gain through Open Technology
The buildingSMART Award Business Gain through Open Technology is granted to projects that
demonstrate and inspire the use of open standards developed by buildingSMART in the AEC and
facility management industries.
The award will be given for the first time here at the international buildingSMART meetings in
Toronto.
BuildingSMART created the award program to learn about projects that use buildingSMART
solutions and to publish them on the buildingSMART website as an inspiration to others. However,
we do not just want to learn about successes. Thus, competitors were also encouraged to bring
forward problems and challenges, such as when buildingSMART solutions or software do not work
as expected.
The award, entitled Business Gain through Open Technology, is given to the AEC project that most
clearly demonstrates effective and inspirational use of open standards.
It was a requirement that the projects entered must use one or more of the buildingSMART tools
and standards: Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD or IFD),
Information Delivery Manual (IDM), Model View Definition (MVD), or BIM Collaboration Format
(BCF).
The international jury was drawn from buildingSMART chapters and UserCom, representing the
many aspects of a project.
Members of the jury were as follows: Canada, Susan Keenliside; France, Sylvain Marie; Germany,
Martin Egger; the Netherlands, Henk Schaap; Nordic, Jan Karlshøj; Norway, Lars Chr.
Christensen, with support from Steen Sunesen; the UK, Davis Jellings; the US, Deke Smith, with
support from other UserCom members in the US: Roger Grant, Birgitta Forster, and Tom Gay.
Twelve projects were submitted from five countries. They are of high quality and demonstrate the
use of open BIM in different stages of the lifecycle of buildings.
The jury had to select:
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The winner of the award
A Special-Mention SME (Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise)
A Special Mention for sharing end-user experiences
Winner: Business Gain through Open Technology Award
The following process was used to select the winner: Each member of the jury gave points for each
of eight criteria. Based on the number of points, the top five finalists were selected. In the second
round, each jury member prioritized the top five projects. The winner was chosen based on the
total points.
The Finalists
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Bradford College - The David Hockney Building
Shopping Center Puuvilla
New Hospital Project in Østfold
Rigshospitalets Kvalitetsfondsprojekt
Vestfold Hospital Trust—New multi-storey parking structure with helipad
The winner is an innovative project with a committed owner who demonstrates leadership. The
project team leveraged open technology to support multiple project uses, streamlining collaboration
and sharing information over the full lifecycle of the facility, including training and simulation. The
customer, while gaining great benefit, also identified future opportunities for improvement. The
team demonstrated a determination to share their knowledge and experience in moving the
industry forward.
The winner is the New Hospital Project in Østfold.
The client is the South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------SME (Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprise) Special Mention
The jury has decided to give the SME Special Mention to two SME companies. The jury found it
stimulating to see SMEs promoting the use of buildingSMART deliveries. SMEs don’t have the
same capacity as large corporations and may, therefore, find it more difficult to promote and
implement new technology. Since most of the companies in the construction industry are smalland medium-sized enterprises, it is extremely important to have them promoting the use of open
standard/buildingSMART deliveries.
The two companies receiving the Special Mention for an SME are Bond Bryan Architects from the
UK and Juul Frost Architects from Denmark.
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Bond Bryan Architects gets this recognition for their efforts at Bradford College—The David
Hockney Building.
Juul Frost Architects gets this recognition for stimulating the use of open BIM in the Örebro
Business School, University of Örebro, in Sweden.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Special Mention for Sharing End-User Experiences
The jury has decided the give the Special Mention for sharing end-user experiences to MT
Hojgaard for its analysis of the design quality of 153 projects. Here is a statement from the study:
“The research shows how the IFC format almost eliminates projects with a low design quality and
that the use of IFC applied within the Danish ICT regulations 118/119 increases design quality by
45% compared to projects without IFC.”
MT Hojgaard has been given a Special Mention for analysis of design quality. MT Hojgaard will
give a presentation on their study on Wednesday afternoon.
If we decide to continue this award program, I would love to see more projects from more chapters
and to have more private clients submit proposals and add additional categories to the award
program.
I would like to thank all participants that submitted proposals, the members of the jury, and Betzy
Dinesen and Jane Thompson for making the certificates. buildingSMART will promote the
proposals on the international website and in the international newsletter, and encourages you to
spread the news on local chapter websites that you can gain business benefits from using
buildingSMART deliveries.