IT could make traditional QS role redundant, claims architect

BDP chairman Nick Terry is launching a campaign to promote a new IT-based approach to construction projects, which he claims will eventually become the standard way of working for the industry worldwide and could lead to the the traditional QS role becoming redundant.

The key to the approach is that the design is created on a computer using the “object modelling” process, which automatically calculates the cost of each wall, door, window and so on. It is currently being used on high profile projects such as the extension of London’s Royal Festival Hall, on which BDP is working, and the refurbishment of the Sydney Opera House.

Under the new approach, which spans from the planning application stage to facilities management, each party involved on a project uses the same computer language – IFC standards – to communicate. According to Terry this prevents the need for re-drawing or re-calculating quantities, which can lead to “errors, duplication and confusion”.

“We don't have to work out quantities with this system. For example, if you put in a fire door the computer knows how thick it is and how much it will cost,” said Terry.

Prices and specifications would be obtained from the websites of builders merchants, he added.

Terry claimed the system, which was currently used by “a very small percentage in the UK” would become the norm in years to come, resulting in a radical change of culture within the industry and the “dissolving of divisions between the professions”.

The initiative is being spearheaded by a US-based international group called buildingSMART, formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability, which was formed in 1995. Terry is chairman of the UK chapter of buildingSMART.