Atkins wins HS2 BIM contract 17 Mar 2015

Atkins has won a four-year contract to provide Building Information Modelling (BIM) technical services to HS2 Ltd, the company charged by the UK government with delivering Britain’s new north-south rail link.

The contract will include professional support covering the planning and delivery of a range of activities including BIM educational and assessment tools for the supply chain, and working to help drive long-term efficiency and durability into asset management.

UK high speed rail Phase I connects London and Birmingham

Last year HS2 Ltd published the findings of a study looking at BIM readiness within the supply chain. It found an ever-increasing awareness and implementation, but also some inconsistency in the way firms approached up-skilling and need to improve benchmarking against client expectations.

Since the publication, work has been under way to develop an approach together with the BIM Taskforce, to help build digital skills and know-how across thousands of suppliers to the UK’s design, construction and civil engineering industries.

BIM Level 2 – which aims to create a common data environment throughout the supply chain – will be mandated on all major government projects by 2016. Jon Kerbey, HS2 Director of BIM, said: “I am very pleased that Atkins are on board to help us achieve our vision of delivering a world class implementation of BIM. HS2 is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe and a fantastic opportunity to embed BIM right from day one, delivering real value to the project, and to the industry as a whole.”

Mark Roberts, Director of Atkins, said: “Adoption of BIM will revolutionise programmes like High Speed 2, materially improving delivery efficiency and success, and embedding an approach that looks beyond design and construction into the requirements and benefits for the whole operational life of the railway. We are delighted to have been chosen to work alongside our HS2 and supply chain colleagues to implement a BIM approach that we believe will be ground breaking, deliver great success and ultimately help support the UK’s economic prosperity.”

The HS2 contract win comes just two months after Atkins was appointed by Transport for London (TfL) as part of one of the major consulting groups tasked with developing the detailed plans for Crossrail 2, the planned new north-south rail line for the UK capital which features up to 30km of twin-running tunnels.