The Global BIM Event

Build LONDON Live 2009 is a unique mix of virtual collaborative event, architectural competition and a BIM exhibition. It will be held over three days from December 15th – 17th and is destined to become the largest real-time engineering showcase & collaboration ever to have been held. Bll2009 aims to set several world first's, including fastest, largest and most engineering applications deployed on a single project.

Virtual Competition

This 48 hour virtual design collaboration starts at midday on Tuesday 15th December and runs through to a finish on midday Thursday 17th December. The concluding press conference, also delivered on line via video link, will be hosted at 4pm (UK BST) Friday 18th December and will be followed by a drinks reception for participants, interested observers, and the press.

What is it?

New technology can revolutionise the way buildings are designed and how the public are engaged in the process. By using the power of collaborative working, the web and international developments in interoperability, Build LONDON Live will show the power of these new paradigms for architecture, engineering, planning and construction. By working across the web the event is open to world wide participation and audience.

International

Build LONDON Live 2009 will welcome teams and observers from all countries in the world. The objective is to reach a truly international audience on six continents with a single high-profile event. Bll2009 is designed to be inclusive and will use the latest techniques to show how engineers working in different languages and from different cultures can collaborate together on a single project. Bll2009 will also demonstrate that BIM excellence can be found in abundance from all over the world.

The Challenge

This years Build LONDON Live is set on a hypothetical man-made island in the Thames Estuary just off Southend. The Bll team have created a master plan designed to augment other proposals in the Thames Gateway including the Thames Estuary Airport Island. Each team will be allocated a site and be provided with a 3D context model in the form of a BIM. The brief is to design a mixed use scheme that will include hotel, office, retail and residential space in accordance with the design criteria. Massing is entirely up to the teams, provided that the required spaces are delivered. Some teams may decide to create several buildings; others like the Bll2008 Gravicon team may opt to build all the requirements into a single building.

Interoperable Software – buildingSMART™

Build LONDON Live is committed to the buildingSmart™ principle of software interoperability. Bll2009 is not tied to any particular software vendor, and being completely independent will seek to ensure that every main stream 3D BIM design & analysis application is represented. Teams will be required to upload BIM’s in IFC (Industry Foundation Class) format to the Asite portal where they will be amalgamated into the enlarged scheme.

Building Information Models (BIMs)

Build LONDON Live demands higher standards than the typical conceptual storyboard style presentations submitted to most architectural competitions. Teams will upload multi discipline BIM's that will include architectural & structural designs, building services designs & calculations, sun & wind analysis, energy analysis & consumption data, constructability analysis and much more. All this be made possible by full use of interoperable collaborative techniques and software platforms. The standard of work anticipated from the participating teams is exceptionally high and is expected to set new standards for what can be achieved in 48 hours.

Worlds Largest BIM

Build LONDON Live is as much about collaboration as it is about software and competition. To show what can be achieved, the organisers intend to amalgamate the designs from all the teams into an enlarged master plan to form the worlds largest BIM. Bll2009 will prove that not only does interoperability work, but that the state of the art is such that global collaboration on a single project is completely achievable using off-the-shelf software tools and the buildingSMART™ principle.

Building Information Models & Analysis