As you know, we are smack in the middle of the Information Age. Like me, you probably receive text messages from your dentist reminding you of appointments, check real-time weather or traffic as you head out the door to inform your decisions about which jacket to grab or route to take, and “Google” directions to a restaurant rather than call.

Although these are routine examples from daily life, the impacts on our lives of the easy access to information that defines the current era are quite dramatic when compared with even 10 years ago. The ramifications are also quite notable within the practice of structural engineering. Aside from e-mail, the ability to look up design properties for steel sections online (see freePubs at www.aisc.org), and other ways to access available information, the real power and economic advantage to business is in creating data. In our profession, the data that is most relevant — and will be most powerful — is created through building information modeling (BIM).

According to Will Ikerd, P.E., the founder and director of the department of integrated project delivery at Raymond L. Goodson Jr., Inc., “The significance of BIM on the structural engineering profession is that it will fundamentally and historically change the process of designing structures before 2015.” That’s just five years from now!

Ikerd’s confident conclusion is based on findings from the annual SEI/CASE BIM Survey, an effort he has guided for many years. In fact, he further contends that, “The building design and construction industry’s change to BIM is happening faster than many realize…the structural engineering profession of 2015 will look dramatically different in terms of BIM use and competency than it does today.” Read Ikerd’s article, “Who’s using BIM,” starting on page 32, for more insights on how BIM will impact structural engineers.

In my opinion, we are moving beyond the “get on the BIM bus” message to the profession, and we are starting to ask questions such as, How else can structural engineers leverage their BIM expertise? Beyond the in-house efficiency and drawing consistency selling point, there are many data-creation opportunities for BIM. The most apparent is the ability to assist contractors in their BIM and 4D efforts related to construction. Who else knows the structure better than the team that designed it?

Another opportunity that I recently learned about is energy retrofitting for existing buildings. Spurred by incentives from federal and state programs, owners including the GSA have funding to allocate to energy retrofitting. In a nutshell, most existing buildings do not have BIM data. However, the engineers and consultants who perform energy models need an accurate, as-built base model of the building on which to perform their analyses. I know that there are many structural engineering firms with in-house talent that could create a BIM for an existing building with extreme efficiency, given the means to do so by a client who recognizes this valuable service. In a recent Structural Engineering & Design webcast, “Designing an Energy-Efficient Future for Existing Buildings,” experts discussed this new market; an encore broadcast with a live Q&A is scheduled for Tuesday, April 20; see page 31 for more details.

Of course, the ability to build and access data with ease is dependant on the technology infrastructure. Software and hardware developers are constantly improving their product offerings to enable structural engineers to be key stakeholders in the building industry’s evolution to BIM. For example, Bentley Systems recently unveiled its integrated structural modeling approach to managing multiple software applications within the BIM environment. Responding to the industry, the company is working hard to overcome the interoperability issues that interrupt the efficiencies of BIM.

New tools from software and hardware developers, coupled with new and evolving markets for building data, will provide continued opportunities for proactive structural engineers to leverage their BIM skills and create data. The once-new paradigm of BIM is poised to quickly become commonplace within the AEC industry, and the competitive advantage of using BIM will need to be augmented with new revenue streams for this service. Someone will create the data that building constructors and owners need, and realize a return on that effort — why not structural engineers?

Jennifer Goupil, P.E.,

jgoupil@stagnitomedia.com