Our Community was honoured to be asked to be a part of Oracle’s Construction and Engineering Day. Sessions were hosted in Johannesburg and Cape Town and the highlight was Paul Shillcock’s ISO19650 presentation. And, of course, Richard Matchett’s presentation on Digital Twins.
Here are some of the comments from our members who’d attended the sessions:
"ISO19650:
I appreciated the international input from Paul Paul Shillcock on the ISO19650 standard locally here in SA (JHB). Thank you to Oracle for hosting the event and for the overwhelming support from the BIMcommUNITY. Paul presented the ISO19650 standard’s development timeline and how it had evolved over the years from BS1192 to PAS1192 and eventually to ISO19650. He also highlighted the challenges of the myriad of standards that may be linked or cross referenced to the ISO19650 standard, not to mention the standardisation of terminology, etc.
Despite the past complexity, Paul demonstrated in a simple and effective way what the ISO19650 standard is and how it could bring order from chaos if implemented on a project. I am convinced all project stakeholders could easily understand and would want to see this standard implemented on all projects.
ORACLE / Aconex:
Thank you to Werner and his team for hosting the event. Aconex has come a long way and I like what it has to offer in terms of a CDE and BIM. It would be awesome if Owners/Employers/Clients (Terminology…..) would realise the benefit that they could have and to make it available on all their projects for improved collaboration.
Digital Twins:
I thoroughly enjoyed Richard’s thought provoking presentation on Digital Twins. Richard mapped out a logical, simple, yet comprehensive sequence of the various stages of an Asset life cycle (New or Existing), before and beyond…. It is clear that it is all about Data, data and more data….. Physical and linked to the Digital….. Data -modelling, -collection, -managing, -monitoring, -visualisation, -analysis, -science, -mapping, -sensing, etc., etc.
Now I am even more convinced, to start coding and learning to manage data …. in order to link the dots between the digital and physical…. to present data in its various forms, for more effective decision making, etc., etc., etc.
I am excited about future projects and the possibilities of what can be achieved collectively in the BIMcommUNITY."
"My experience of the day was extremely positive. It was a huge improvement in terms of the numbers of people and the diversity of functions. Sadly some of the more technical stuff and demos were way above my head as a Luddite facilities manager.
I did however appreciate Richard Matchett’s presentation on digital twins which switched on a whole bank of lightbulbs for me.
All in all a great day and a huge leap forward for the BIMcommUNITY.
Andrew Mason MIWFM | www.workplacefundi.com
"The event was great! My heartfelt thanks are extended to Paul, on the ISO standards workshops; Richard, on sharing his research and forward thinking ideas on digital twins; yourself as representative of BIMcommUNITY Africa; as well as Oracle for sponsoring such a well organised and managed event. Conferences and networking events such as these give meaning to what many of us, behind the scenes, do. It helps us keep connected with peers and colleagues in the industry. It broadens our awareness of exciting opportunities, challenges and changes we see within the AEC industry. I find it re-energising, spending time with like-minded people that are not afraid to fail, and fail often, for the greater cause of changing the AEC and BIM community for the better.
Astrid van der Laan | BIM Coordinator
"The overall conference was great! Having Paul explain ISO 19650 made such a difference for me. Oracle deserve a thumbs up by bringing him. All the organization was on point, even the food was great not to mention the coffee which was amazing. I was at the conference in Cape Town and was lucky enough to present as well, sharing the stage with Paul. It was a windy day in Cape Town, I get the feeling this affected attendance. However, the diversity of people present was very enriching: I was the only Architect and we had people across fields like the mining industry, FM, BIM, engineering, etc. to mention a few. We also had the opportunity to drive the VR environment of ACONEX (Oracle’s property software) which was very exciting, I almost fell off a building with a little bit of vertigo! We also had a session on how to use ACONEX on site, with some role playing from the Oracle engineer’s which was very interesting and made us laugh quite a bit. I really think having companies like Oracle supporting this type of events is something that the BIM industry needs, specifically in Africa. These events should happen more often. I would gladly push this agenda in every chance I get with players in the industry."
Bruno Martorelli | Senior Architect, SSH
If you attended either of the events and would love to share your insights or comments with us, please do.
And again, thank you to Werner Maritz and his team at Oracle.