At this year’s edition of the Leeds Beckett University’s RISE Awards, the university introduced a very special award commemorating Dr. Andrew Platten’s contribution to both BIM academia and field work. The great honour of receiving the first Andrew Platten Commemorative Award for BIM Adoption went to the BIM data software companycoBuilder.
Having been so heavily involved in both BIM advocating and training work, the UK BIM community remembers Andrew Platten as a man of great passion and vision. He was one of the original founders of the thinkBIM network and had a real belief in the power of technology to finally bring together a very fragmented construction sector for the benefit of all.
As well as setting up the thinkBIM network with then CKE Director Claire Bowles, in his academic pursuits he was instrumental in ensuring BIM featured heavily in built environment courses for Leeds Beckett students and also in the University’s overseas franchise offering in Hong Kong and Mauritius. Andrew was a widely published author, having written more than 45 academic papers in the field of construction and construction management.
“The Andrew Platten award for BIM adoption was established as a means of honouring our much–loved colleague and thinkBIM founder and his passion for all things BIM. This year we are delighted to awarding the inaugural trophy to coBuilder for their recently launched goBIM product, which offers a real solution to BIM compatibility issues and achieving true collaboration through data. Andrew would be impressed!” says Liz Schofield, Projects and Events Manager, Centre for Knowledge Exchange, Leeds Beckett University.
“This award is really special to us and we are greatly humbled to receive it. We can only look up to Andrew who was not only a dreamer but a doer. Developing goBIM we aimed at making BIM a reality for the construction manufacturing sector. It will be a dream-come-true to see accurate manufacturers’ data being used seamlessly throughout the construction project stages – goBIM is here to make that happen.” – Peter K. Foster Jnr, Director of Manufacturers and Merchants UK at coBuilder International.
“We hope to continue awarding these prizes annually and will be looking for companies who are taking positive steps to either embed BIM/digital into their own practices or develop tools and technologies to support other companies in doing that. We are also looking for companies who have harnessed BIM for collaboration and co-operation to the benefit of all parties and can provide the evidence to support this. We hope that highlighting those who are “doing BIM” well will raise awareness and hasten adoption.” – concluded Liz Schofield.
There was also a second award given in the name of Andrew Platten – the BIM for Health and Safety Award – won by the NBS.