At Nordic BIM Summit 2023, the award for “Best New BIM Use” was given to Ramboll Norway for their work with introducing BIM modelling to fire engineering. On stage receiving the award was Sindre Didrichsen, head of the winner´s fire-BIM group. A few months have passed since then and we recently had a chat to catch up.
When Ramboll Norway received the title “Best New BIM Use” it was with the following motivation:
A company that has taken a great step into BIM and 3D, within a field that traditionally has been associated with 2D drawings. In 2019 they took a strategic decision with the goal of becoming a leader in BIM and Fire Safety in Norway and with a desire for stronger ownership in projects. Today, more and more customers see the value of having a fire model in interdisciplinary assembly models.
When we spoke to Sindre again this autumn, we quickly learned that innovation truly is part of Ramboll’s DNA. The process of digitalizing fire engineering started in 2019 with an ambition to be at the forefront, with Revit as first step.
“The digital strategy was one of the of the reasons why Ramboll was my choice when I started in 2021, I became part of the group that worked with these issues, with the goal to be the frontrunner within fire engineering and BIM. When the leadership position became open, I took the chance and continued the great work that had been done, with the help of Bimfire Tools and Symetri.”
“There are great opportunities at Ramboll for innovation. If you have an idea, it’s easy to find support to continue exploring that idea. This initiative has come out of this environment, and that´s also how we started working with Bimfire Tools.”
When asked if the award has inspired them to push the limit even further, Sindre replies that that’s exactly what they have been doing.
“First of all, after we won the award, we were contacted by architects who wanted to learn more about how we worked. We were also on a kind of tour, presenting our work on Fire BIM, where many had heard about our work from Nordic BIM Summit. This inspired us even further, how much information can we take from our documentation into our models and how complete can we make them?”
Today, Ramboll Norway has set their aim even higher than modelling. “We have a goal to become an integral part of the BIM process. This means not just delivering our IFC models and being done with it but to be an actual active part of the design team. A new way of doing fire safety and it has been inspiring to continue our work.”
More and more stakeholders are realizing the importance of data and BIM in their projects. In Norway, Statsbygg (the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property) have developed their own BIM documentation for their projects, including fire safety.
“We now have a project with Statsbygg and to be part of the project we must deliver a BIM model. Sometimes, people are hesitant to include fire engineering in the model. However, when we show the value of having the fire engineer be part of this process, the reduction of errors and in the end reduction of cost, they are often willing to try. And once they’ve tried, they most often ask for BIM also in their next project.”
Sindre concludes that he hopes to join us for Nordic BIM Summit in 2024, to take part in interesting discussions and listening in to see where the industry is headed. There is no question that his team at Ramboll Norway is playing a major part of the digital transformation of fire engineering, and we are looking forward to seeing what they will do next.
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