Recent BIM and collaboration vendor news from Kubus in the Netherlands, and NBS and Script&Go in the UK.
Kubus expands BIMcollab ecosystem
In July 2018, Netherlands-based software developer Kubus announced the launch of a software development kit (SDK) to enable easy, seamless integration of BIM software using BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) and BIMcollab, the company’s own cloud-based issue management ecosystem. The SDK will let third party developers rapidly integrate their BIM tools with BIMcollab tools for model viewing (via free IFC viewer, BIMcollab ZOOM – video below), and BIM manager plugins for cost estimating, planning and other tasks. Kubus CEO Erik Pijnenburg said “We got more requests for integration then we could handle. With this strategic step we open up the platform for third parties to integrate their tools.”
This SDK followed the June 2018 launch of BIMcollab 5, providing project management improvements and enhancing the user interface to make it easier to collaborate on issues in large construction projects. The key enhancements include settings to support project-specific way of working and communication, the ability to mark issues as favourites, and support for GDPR. BIMcollab’s ecosystem now supports over 30,000 users worldwide.
Update (14 September 2018) – Kubus has released an on-premise version of BIMcollab, allowing users to install the software on their own servers (office or datacentre) – useful where project, company or country policy demands data be held locally.
NBS Chorus
RIBA Enterprises’ NBS is actively involved in software projects. The UK-based business has developed widely-used specification information resources, and a range of software tools including the National BIM Library, the NBS BIM Toolkit and the NBS Online Viewer, and has promoted the annual National BIM Survey which has tracked UK BIM adoption since 2012 (the 2018 edition included data on common data environments, CDEs). Its latest software development – its first cloud-based platform – incorporates specification and BIM standards.
NBS Chorus is a collaborative specification platform supporting global design and construction, aimed at professionals needing to produce high quality specifications efficiently. As it’s an online service, users always have the latest software and global content (including standards and classifications), improving collaboration and minimising risk. Mott MacDonald, Ryder Architecture and IBI Group are among the early users who helped develop the product, configured to support design businesses in the UK and Canada (with support for US and Australian practices and standards to follow). NBS is planning a series of UK events to launch the service, in London (25 September), Manchester (2 October), Newcastle (4 October) and Edinburgh (10 October). More details here.
Script&Go Site Diary case study
France-based software developer Script&Go has been targeting the UK since January 2018 and has expanded its collateral by producing a COMIT case study on use of its Site Diary application by UK contractor Costain. This application was initially developed from about 2012 through the EU-funded MobiCloud project, which aimed to create a European corporate Appstore and Platform-as-a-Service.
(Note: The next COMIT community day is on 13 September at SAP’s offices in Feltham, Middlesex, while the 2019 annual conference is on 12-13 June at Bentley Systems offices in London.)
