The fall of skill, the rise of automation

Where is building documentation heading? John Gelder, NBS Content Development Manager, peers into his crystal ball.

Looking backwards in time, we see that radically new information technology (IT) last changed the construction sector during the Renaissance. Then it was the rise and convergence in Europe (from the 13th to 16th centuries) of a series of ITs, including cloth-based paper, 'arabic' numerals, text books, perspective and orthographic projection, graphite, scaled drawings and standardized mensuration (i). This slow-moving IT 'storm', alongside other changes in society, eventually swept away the mature ecosystem of medieval construction practice, clearing the way for a new construction paradigm, led by the new professions of architect and military and civil engineers.

Looking at the present, we see that radically new IT is kicking in again, through the global rise, in a tenth of the time, of a single IT – computing. The present fast-moving IT storm, again alongside other changes in society, is destroying the mature construction-sector ecosystem we were all trained in, which is built around the three staples of construction IT – drawings, bills and specifications. These have been with us in their modern form since the 1830s (ii). Before that, a simple specification was generally integrated with the drawings, and quantities were left as implied.

The 'other changes in society' mentioned, and pertinent to construction, include globalization (particularly the present recession), migration, changing procurement strategies, increasing regulation (e.g. on environmental and security matters), and the increasing complexity of building types and construction technology. All these things have stretched our traditional design and documentation skills to their limits so that, since the 1970s, we have been obliged to turn to computer-based IT for assistance. But the more we rely on computing to deal with the world's increasing complexity, the more complex the world becomes, the fewer traditional skills we possess, and the less those skills can help us anyway. As a result, computing has become more powerful, and we have come to rely on it even more. We are on an IT-driven spiral to the substantial automation of design and documentation.

Looking forwards in time, we can see that the way is again being cleared for a new construction paradigm and new professions. What will this 'post-modern' world of documentation and practice look like? The change to drawing practice is the furthest advanced, so we'll start there.

Drawings

Architecture students are no longer taught manual perspective or orthogonal projection and drafting – this skill set has gone. Rather, they are taught to use CAD systems, though not usually at the cutting edge, i.e. they are taught 2D CAD, and maybe 3D CAD, but not geometric building information modelling (BIM) (because, in the UK at least, it is so rarely used in practice). Architecture schools are still living in the past.

Nor are architecture students taught detailing any more. A recent NBS Advisory Panel agreed that graduates have almost zero construction knowledge – they are expected to pick this up in practice. However, older experienced architect-detailers are approaching retirement, and some may be leaving practice early due to the recession. So in practice there are fewer and fewer folk able to teach the art of detailing (a recent BRE survey (iii) found that 'understanding of construction' – technics – was the top topic for a specifier training course). This is another skill set that's disappearing amongst architecture graduates, with the result that practices increasingly rely on architectural technologists for this. We might have expected that, as CAD got easier to use, undergraduates would turn again to learning the art of detailing, but this hasn't happened. Schools have rejected this as 'not architecture', possibly because of the discontinuity introduced when CAD was clunky to learn and took all an undergraduate's technical time.

Perhaps due to the decline in detailing skills, and certainly due to increasing regulation, detailing is increasingly driven by regulation, e.g. Robust Standard Details, to ensure adequate standards are met. CAD packages are also coming to our aid, e.g. for automated detailing of standard structural steel joints against design codes (e.g. StruCad, Advance Steel, Asteel 3D, Tekla Structures). Both approaches encourage uniformity, and discourage innovation and understanding of principles, but at least they are safe.

Clients are also driving the use of computing for documentation, through lower fees, tighter timelines, and raised expectations. Declining fees force designers to turn to automation, especially for the documentation stage. Tighter timelines collude with tighter fees. Clash checking software, for example, can do the job in a fraction of the time, and better than traditional manual clash checking will achieve (assuming 3D CAD has been used). Object-oriented modelling can be much faster than conventional 2D drafting, especially during the iterative design stage (though the time saved is often spent on more iterations!). Raised client expectations, in the form of demand for fly-throughs rather than static perspectives for example, also compel architectural practices to make more use of advanced CAD packages. As clients begin to realize the advantages, to them, of BIM (e.g. for facility management) we can expect that they will pressure design teams to move up to BIM.

Contractors will also be applying pressure, in order to take full advantage of CAD-CAM (computer-aided manufacturing), or of automated project programming, for example. It is interesting that most of the push towards BIM seems to be coming from everyone but the designers themselves! Not a good sign.

Bills of quantities

It's a similar story with bills of quantities. UK QS graduates do not know how to take-off quantities – the subject is taught in the first year, but forgotten by graduation. For the QS profession, other skills are seen as more important for the future. Again, the older experienced QSs are retiring. So with no-one able to take-off quantities, QS firms are increasingly engaging specialist technicians to do this work (which takes us full circle to the beginning of the QS profession as specialist clerks in Robert Smirke's architectural office).

Again, computing is coming to the rescue. Quantities take-off is being automated. For example, Privica [www.privica.com] offers such a service, using SMM7 (and other sets of rules), 3D CAD, and RIB software [www.rib-software.com]. Interestingly, RICS is replacing SMM7 with a new method of measurement, designed to provide a short-form bill for employers rather than the full-form that SMM7 was designed to support. While employers may not need to commission full-form bills, contractors will continue to do so, so we can expect them to increasingly turn to software rather than to QSs.

Specifications

Specification is likely to go down a similar route. It never has been taught much, at undergraduate level or anywhere else (in the BRE survey, 70% of respondents had had no training on specifying skills, and a further 19% had just had NBS software training). Specifiers learn in practice from older experienced specifiers; but again, retirement threatens the skill set. As a result experienced project specifiers are concerned about the future of their craft.

One of my acquaintances is going down the automation route. He is working to put a 'mini version of himself' into the computers of Australian architects before he retires by developing a Q&A software tool, an expert system if you will [www.autospec.com.au].

Automation in master specification systems is on the rise elsewhere, too (e.g. at ARCOM in the USA and CRB in Switzerland). NBS itself has been travelling the automation road for some time now, and has some sophisticated ideas for the future.

Data integration

Computer-based automation differs from previous IT developments in that it cuts across all aspects – drawing, writing, calculation, reproduction, transmission, and so on. Critically, therefore, it offers the possibility of (re-) integration of drawings, bills and specifications (within the next 5 years). This could be achieved via the 'smart' building information model [www.buildingsmart.org.uk]. Most BIMs currently comprise just the 3D geometry of the objects they describe. Software developers are now working to ensure they describe their properties, too, and all along the project timeline, from inception to demolition. This lifelong building model will be created and used by all contributors to the project, from conception to maintenance.

The integrated digital model will enable drawings, bills and specifications to interact with each other. At its simplest, objects created/ deleted in one of these reports will be created/ deleted in the others. Changing the parameters of an object in one will change them in the others. Views of an object in one will connect to views of that object in the others. Software designed to interrogate the model will access all three reports if necessary, e.g. for acoustic simulations, regulatory compliance, project programming or environmental assessment. The digital model will also support a host of other reports, currently produced only with difficulty, or not at all.

BIM, when mature, will enable objects to detail themselves against rules that are in regulations or codes (e.g. Eurocodes), to quantify themselves, and to specify themselves, again using rules (e.g. if building is within 2 km of coast, wall ties will be stainless steel). Rules can also be set by clients and designers themselves, e.g. for office standard details, or for supermarket planning and detailing. At this point clients will be able to generate fully documented designs themselves (websites already offer services along these lines for kitchens and bathrooms, e.g. at B&Q's www.diy.com, for offices, e.g. at www.kitchenplanneronline.com/indexIOffice.php#planner; and for the component manufacturers to develop their own tools, e.g. www.3dspacer.com or www.planningwiz.com).

The design professions

With the rise of automation, who will employ skilled detailers, take-off staff and specifiers? Software houses will certainly need them, to develop and maintain the rules built into BIM. Specialist consulting offices might employ them, as might larger innovative design practices (for whom the basic software rules won't always be suitable). Regulators and insurers may even have a place for them. But ordinary design practices will probably get by just using BIM.

And who will train them? Undergraduate training is already disappearing for these skills. It might be replaced by on-the job training offered, e.g., by the software houses, or by a few specialist postgraduate courses. We might even find they are trained overseas, e.g. in India or China.

We can expect change at the level of the professions, too. Integration of the building model, and its increasing automation, will eventually mean that the various design professions can (re-) integrate. Just as master builders disappeared with the Renaissance, so architects, QSs and the other dis-integrated professions will likely disappear (kicking and screaming no doubt) with the shift to BIM and automation. All that may be needed is a single BIM-literate 'design integration' profession, which will deal with the sort of projects for which standard automation technologies are not adequate (iv). New skills will be needed.

Something to look forward to?

Notes

i John Gelder, 'Building modelling: A historical perspective', International Construction Information Technology Conference, Sydney, April 1996.

ii John Wilton-Ely, 'The rise of the professional architect in England' in Spiro Kostof, The architect, 1977.

iii Mindy Hadi & Gareth Howlett, Specifying skills training survey – Questionnaire findings, BRE, 2008 (unpublished).

iv For other views on the future of the design professions, see Simon Foxell (ed.), The professional's choice: The future of the built environment professions, Building Futures, 2003.

Related NBS information:

Articles:

• Future specifiers
• How to specify: A century of works on building specification practice
• How to use NBS content

Selected links:

• Computing

Written June 2009

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