CU1605

TECHNOLOGYfocus
Going 'off-piste' without COBie
Is COBie keeping up with software trends? Neil Marshall of BIM.Technologies looks at the benefits
of keeping potential adventurers to the nursery slopes
Oh no, I hear you sigh - another
article about COBie. For what it's
worth this is my take on some of
the matters that concern and confuse us
about the elephant in the room.
COBie has and will continue to receive
bad press, and I think some of it stems
from a severe lack of understanding by
the parties who request it, and pretty
much constitutes laziness in learning it. I
believe that some of the bad press is
unjustified and perpetuated by people
with a commercial interest elsewhere.
You need to have an open mind when
reading these articles, in other words.
There are some great blogs about
COBie which are easy to find. The
LinkedIn group dedicated to it for
example is very popular, and if you're not
following it already I suggest you give it a
look: www.linkedin.com/groups/2638637
One of my issues with the subject of
COBie is that it’s often dismissed before
it's even had the opportunity to
demonstrate its potential. I believe this is
partly due to the hype that surrounds the
scaremongering and bad press it’s
receiving in some quarters. Another
possible reason is that the managers
responsible for specifying it don't want to
understand it and are instead preferring
to make it up as they go along and go
'off-piste'. In essence they are attempting
to take an easier route, in their view.
Unfortunately, when COBie is dismissed
it seems all manner of common sense is
dismissed as well. I understand that
developing your own information
exchange can be an extremely
successful solution and one that's often
implemented well. In some
circumstances I would wholeheartedly
support this route and I am involved in
developing routes such as this. However,
people come and people go. What's the
30
May/June 2016