For all that, the pace of change continues to keep the proverbial pedal to the metal, a case in point being the augmented application of Building Information Modelling ("BIM").
As the insightful and expert observations of our guest interviewee Emma Hayes lucidly illustrate, the digitisation journey is well underway (albeit, with considerable distance left to travel) in the design & construct sector.
And – as with many worthwhile journeys – it's not entirely risk free. As Emma points out, People, Process and Technology are all of integral importance to producing collaboration processes which are capable of delivering accurate, co-ordinated and clash resolved information throughout the project lifecycle. Clarity, as regards BIM protocols, the parties' contractual entitlements and responsibilities, and the matrix of data's ownership, is key to enabling that triangle of People, Process and Technology work through the project in optimum harmony. Absent that clarity being arrived at, and as ever, disputes may ensue, as readers will recall from Trant Engineering Limited v Mott MacDonaldLtd [2017 EWHC 2061 TCC], where the successful applicant sought access to data in a BIM model.
As the appetite for adopting and implementing BIM processes grows, might design & construct professional indemnity underwriters opt, in some instances, to ask additional BIM specific questions of, and seek more detailed information from, their insureds?
An underwriting state of flux; ongoing debates about methodologies, materials and protocols. Yes, the design & construct professional indemnity market operates in interesting times, with no single panacea readily appearing on the horizon. For all that, and however heady the pace of change, the collaborative path looks set to keep being a sound one to take, once it's navigated with clarity. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. As Reid Hoffman has observed: No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you're playing a solo game, you'll always lose out to a team.
We hear you, Mr Hoffman: we hear you.
