Hello, welcome and thanks for listening to Carbon Climates, an energy podcast dedicated
to discussing all things energy, carbon and sustainability. We also like to talk about
what's getting hot, aside from our planet. I'm your host, Enya, and today I'm joined
with my Carbon Climate co-host, Kenya. Hi, Enya, how are you doing?
Hi, I'm doing good. Thanks for asking. How are you doing?
I'm doing good. I always get thrown off on people because I create the podcast to ask
how people are doing, like, like climate. Whenever people ask me, I'm like, we get this.
Brilliant. Well, how is your week been? So my week was very productive. A lot of
work in office as well, a lot of work on weekends as well, because I work as I take my own projects,
so I have to work on them on weekends, I only get time then. So yeah, it was very productive
and working just a week. Yeah, that's it. Very good. And we knew each other because
you're employed with a sister company of BPP Energy called Cobalt Consulting.
So can you describe what's your job title there? So yeah, so my job title is BIM Engineer,
and it's mostly related to creating models, managing all the mechanical, electrical,
and all the pipes and everything, and designing the layouts and coordinating this with architect
and other consultants. So this is what my responsibilities are. Yeah, that's it.
Yeah, nice. Nice. Well, how long have you been in the sector, the construction or BIM sector?
Yeah, so I have been working like for more than four years now in the sector with BIM,
because when I was in my uni in my bachelor's doing my architecture,
I have been taking my own projects then as well. So it's been like kind of four plus years working
in construction and architecture industry. But honestly, in BIM, I was introduced like three
years ago. Right. Yeah, it was my like first job, initial job back in India. And it was one company,
Galactic Group, where I worked there as a BIM architect. And it was kind of a new, new company,
and it was a startup company. So I really had a lot of responsibilities. So I really learned a
lot from that. Okay, brilliant. Very interesting. And see, you said you knew about BIM in your
bachelor's. See, when you were at school, I'm not too sure what the Indian equivalent is for
secondary school here or high school. But when you're like at that age, maybe 16, 17,
did you ever envisage yourself in the sector? No, actually, when I was doing my bachelor's in
architecture, I really didn't expect that I would learn, get into BIM industry, because I always
thought about myself as like creative person, and I will be designing and architecture sector.
But there was always this myth going on that BIM is only about modeling, you know, just creating
digital models of what building is, and you will lose all the creativity. But when I was introduced
to the BIM concept, it is nothing like that. It's so much more like, no one could ever imagine,
you know, like I have learned a lot. Then BIM was introduced to me from my like past senior
company COO, he was my mentor, like Aakraj, and he introduced me to the concept of BIM.
And that time I decided like I have to pursue master's in that. And that's why I'm here now.
So yeah, wow, really. And you're so you're a tech person, you know what you want? And you're like,
yeah, I'm gonna go for it. Like, yeah, like, this is such a good concept, you know, like, because
in India, all the construction methods are traditional. But here you have the mandate and
it's so good. It's so sustainable, you save a lot of cost, you save time and so many benefits.
Oh, okay. That's that's really fast here. Okay, well, as you could probably guess by Tanya's
introduction and explanation of her job role, today's episode will be focused on BIM,
which stands for building information modeling. So originally had an episode and episode three,
few listeners will know this and again, when we discuss BIM and through and the process of
creating a model, the BIM building information modeling, it's where we engineers like us
create a 3D model of the building that is going to be developed and fill it with as much information
as we possibly can. So this includes Azure, San Tanya, the pipes, the all the HVAC equipment,
the lights, and then also put details in like the types of walls, types of windows, the roof,
the fabric of the building. And this helps us get a realistic view of what the building's going to
look like and is it functional? Yeah. And like, otherwise, like any changes like, you know,
they can be easily made. Yeah. But yeah, that's BIM. Like, I've been in the sector for, I always
start, like I always say in these episodes, I've been in the sector and I'm pretty sure each episode
it changes how many years I've been in the sector. So I've been in the sector, I'd say eight,
eight, nine years. And the last couple of years I've really seen BIM like take off with BIM news.
Yeah. With mechanical and electrical designs and they're really helpful. And it's also our job as
engineers, we would talk to the architect and the architects, most of them use BIM. Yeah. Or like
some type of BIM. And when we're using the same software, it's a lot easier to communicate and
help them make any changes. But excellent. So the type of BIM we are going to be talking about today
is it's a BIM package called Revit, which is owned by Autodesk. Now, anyone who's doing engineering
in uni or anyone who actually took technology and design, GCSE or Key Stage 3, that is a type of,
that is a type of BIM software. You've probably come across it, SolidWorks, Autodesk, AutoCAD,
Solid Edge for any of the Ulster University users out there. But yeah, there's BIM everywhere. But
yes, we're going to be talking about Revit. So Tanya, you're a BIM engineer here. Yeah. But then
you also have a business where you are able to freelance as a BIM modeler. Yeah. So that is the
great opportunity, you know, like I think in BIM industry, people are still lacking skills.
And you can, and those who have skills can get like so many projects, so many opportunities,
in BIM and those who don't like they really should develop their skills in softwares, you know. And
so yeah, we are working as a freelancer, me and my partner, we have this, we soon be opening our
venture called.BIM. And we have now currently worked for like 25 plus projects. And when it's
going very good, like this consultancy, I've worked with one of the consultancies, which is the
branches in London, and one again in New York. So it was a massive hospital project, which I worked
on. And they were, they were open to give as much money you want, you know, then there's no,
there's no limiting in money in the sector. And just because you have skills, and you can just
showcase that and you can just give your services. So it's the best thing you can do in this industry,
you know. That is amazing. And it's great to see the likes of contractors like they're really
realizing the importance of BIM. Yeah. And could it be fun fact for you? Yeah, not so fun fact.
Actually, I'm going to phrase it like a question. Okay, I'm going to be, I'm going to be careful
with how you phrase this, because all the questions I prepare, I somehow mess them up. Okay.
But I did a search on LinkedIn for Revit or BIM engineers. Okay. Do you know how many jobs
there are right there advertised at the minute in the UK? As far as I know, like Ireland is a hub
of BIM, you know, there's huge demand in Ireland. I would say like there must be like,
are you talking about just Northern Ireland or? Whole UK in general. I'm pretty, I'm pretty sure
that I'm not too sure what my filters were said. Okay, for the whole UK, I would say like,
there must be like near about 200 jobs. Well, did you know 7,000 came out? 7,000? So I think
I should have really looked into detail the results. But when you type in BIM or Revit
into LinkedIn, there's 7,000 opportunities that go up. That is, it's so huge. Now I'm sure like
there's some that are really focused and some that aren't as focused. But still it's a huge market,
right? Huge, huge market. It's got, you've got huge job security and job keep abilities for that.
So anyone who is maybe likes a bit of software, likes a bit of software like Revit or any other
other software, just know there's plenty of job opportunities. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, brilliant. So could you tell us what the exact process you go through when you're working, say,
with Revit and you want to create a project? Yeah. So like first you've got to have a project.
And then second thing you do is like start creating Revit models. But first you should
know the scope from the stakeholder. Getting the scope is very necessary because of the scope.
Getting the scope is very necessary because you won't be overdoing it and you won't be underdoing
it because you'll get the right amount of face scale and right amount of exactly what is needed
basically. Okay. So yeah, understanding scope is very important from the stakeholder. You should
know like what plans is needed, what elevations or what are they expecting, what 3D or do they need
any further sustainable analysis or scheduling or costing anything. And then first, if you have a
scope, if you have correct project details, correct project specification, then you just start
modeling it. And then but communication is the key. Like BIM project requires high collaboration,
high collaboration. Because right now we are working on this one project and our client is
in USA. And over the week, he goes to site, he works on the project on site. And on weekends,
we need to have meetings with him. On Sundays, we just discuss, we just have like eight to nine
hours of straight meeting. And then we discuss all the drawings and all the plans and how the
design will look. So this 3D visualization helps a lot like what it is going to be on site. So
creating a digital model beforehand construction, it really solves a lot of time, it will solve
errors. And yeah, so that's so communication is the key, basically creating any Revit project.
And just creating Revit project is you should know the basic skills, you should know how do
you use the software, how to run it. And that's how you create a model then that's it.
Excellent. I think I love like, I love like doing this and like interviewing people every
day. And I love seeing them so passionate about the job. And that really came across there when
you were speaking about it. So that's really great. So guys, everyone can be as passionate
about BIM as Tanya is, okay? Join me. But yeah, exactly. So that's interesting. Just
another retip, but how long like would a project last for you? Or is it really dependent on the
length of the construction? Yeah, it totally depends on length of construction. So I'll just
give you an example. So I was working on this hospital project and it was, it was among like
it was on five acres of land, and it was just the scope was FAN to BIM. So they just got me
a laser scan, fine cloud scan, which I can upload it on Revit. And then from that scan,
I'll create a model. I can even make a topography from it, like site work and everything.
You can add all the details like laser scan is like the best tool you can use for restoration.
Right. Because the hospital was actually built on site and they just wanted to do the further
renovations on it. So they just send me a scan of it. And then I just made a 3D model of it. So it
just took like, what like just two weeks for me to create that model for five acres land.
But the one project I'm talking about, it is a residential project, which is in USA and the
client itself goes to site and build his own house. And it's so it's been here, we are working on this
project, because we are detailing all the framing structure, foundations, interior, and all the
facade materials, landscape and everything, all the lighting. So this, so it totally depends on
scope actually, not even scale, because you can get the higher scale project done in a week, but
even lower scale project will take a year because you have high scope in that you need to create
documentation drawings, you need to create walkthroughs, 3D and presentations, whatever
is needed. So it all depends on what scope is expected from you. Okay, right. Okay, so
project specific. Okay, really. That's really good to know. And so much detail like it was in there.
That's what happened. That's the end. Well, you're talking about you have your own consultancy,
or like you start your own consultancy, site business to your BIM engineer job,
to call well, so you get a lot of experience with BIM. Would you recommend, is there any sort of
training out there? Like for anyone who wants to get started? And yeah, so for training, like there
are so many videos on YouTube, you can just learn Revit from that because I did the same in my,
when I was doing my bachelor's, I just went through YouTube pages and there's one page,
Balkan Architects. It's so good. Like you will find each and every solution related to Revit
on that page. So I would suggest like just scroll around that page. It's very good. And it's very
explanatory. And other than that, I think professional, getting a guidance from a
professional experienced person would be very beneficial. Like I got like in my first job,
Akash introduced me to this concept of BIM and Revit. I used to think that I know Revit,
like I know how to use, but I didn't know how to use it in professionally. There are so many
lot different things to use Revit in professionally. And yeah, it was just very new concept. Like we
were working on this project from Dubai and USA. And it was just surprising for me, like sitting
in India, I can work on projects all over the world. Like it's so good. Just you need this
high collaboration. That's it. But yeah, it was very good. It was very shocking to me when I got
to know about BIM, you know, like just very surprising and you can do so many things on that.
That's enough. Well, you could say like all your experience with BIM,
you've been there and done that. Yeah, that's actually a good episode title. I should have
said that. Brilliant. Okay. So yeah, there's like a mix YouTube and then like professional
guidance. Professional guidance is nice. Yeah, that's great. Well, Tanya, I'm going to reach
the point in the episode where each of these episodes, I like to tailor a wee fun section
for each of my guests. So because we're talking about BIM and talking about Revit,
section is called Viva la Revitlution. You can keep that now. But yes, so I'm just going to
give her some facts and you give me your take on them. But first, I want to ask you a question.
Okay. So Revit type of software package we're talking about. Do you know what Revit stands for?
Wow. That's never wondered actually. I know so much about Revit, but never wondered like
what would Revit mean actually? Well, what does it mean? Would it surprise you to learn that Revit,
it's shortened down to revise instantly? Okay. Yeah. So we it's supposed to be talking about
ease of making a change to a 3D model off the building. Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's good. Just a
little bit of yeah. Yeah. You can you could use that if there's like if you go to any pub quizzes,
I'm sure they're gonna. Yeah. That's the basic you should know about creating your own pub quiz
of all your Revit's made. But yeah, brilliant. Okay. I've also got another
tidbit for you. Yeah. So Autodesk, it purchased Revit in 2002. Can you give me a guesstimate
of how much it purchased Revit for? I think it's. I'm going to give you a clue. It's in the millions.
What? It's in millions. Autodesk didn't create Revit. They just bought Revit from some.
You know what? I really should have looked at Google. Yeah, I think yeah, they've acquired the
promote my trusty source. I know like Revit license costs around 3000 pounds per year.
Wow. They could have got it from millions like they've brought the. Is it less than five millions?
But they so they bought the whole software Revit including it in their package. They bought it in
2002 for 133 million. Oh my god. I know. 133 million dollars. I feel like I should have the currency.
That's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I've got one more question for you. Yeah. So we're talking
about Revit and being a software you create 3D building on and with software it has a file type.
Can you tell me how many file types Revit has? Yeah, it has DWG, DWX, IFC, NWC, 4 for now and.
Are there more? Yes. So you're completely correct in those ones. And then there's also the types of
files that has the likes of the project file and a family file. Oh yeah. And a template and a shared
file. Shared file. Yeah. From my understanding, it's where you share it. Yeah. Like say if the
architect has it and then like, okay, this is the model I'm working on. Correct. And then you share
the model I'm working on. Correct. And you can see any changes. Yeah. You can see changes. You can
sync our models and we can see all the changes in collaboration. So. Really. That's good. Well,
you were talking earlier about the types of projects you've worked on. So the likes of
residential and hospital. Can I ask in your opinion, what's been the most difficult project
you've worked on or the most annoying project? Or no, sorry, I won't phrase it like that.
What's been the most testing your knowledge project you've worked on?
So yeah, so I've worked on like this luxurious hotel projects. Like right now I'm working in
Cornwall on Admiralty Arc. And before previously I've worked on this Masamaka project, which is in
Saudi Arabia. Wow. And it's a huge project. Like there are like 24,000 bedrooms in that hotel. And
so it was a quite big project. And we were team in India and we had to coordinate with the team
in Dubai. So we had to stay on call every time. And that project was like, they were creating the
exact digital model, what they were going to do on site. Right from the pipe, what company pipe
are they using right from the faucet they're using, it has to be the exact same copy of it,
exact replica of what they're going to construct so that they could do all the analysis and they
could get the exact first and exact material, avoid material wastage. So this project took a
lot of time, like I would say like it took more than more than eight to nine months to work on
this just to create BIM model, not even on site, it was just modeling and collaborating thing.
So yeah, it was a huge project and huge learning curve for me from that. And I was kind of leading
that project, you know, like I had to take calls with the Dubai team and I had to coordinate with
them give each and every update. And yeah, it was very fun. Actually, that time I got to know like
how the BIM collaboration work. Wow, that's amazing. And any so you're saying you've worked
all these places like America, Saudi Arabia, you ever get a chance to come visit them?
No, sadly, no, because as a BIM consultant, I think you lack that thing because you're just
working remotely, you can work from anywhere. That's kind of a benefit as well. But kind of
that thing because you don't never get to visit on sites. But yeah, one day when I'll have my
own project maybe. Yeah, yeah, that'll be class. Oh my goodness. But yeah, you just highlighted
a key point. So anyone who wants to focus on BIM as a career, you can work remotely. Exactly.
You can work from anywhere. Yeah, you can. You can get even from like any currency.
Oh my goodness, you probably get it from Bitcoin.
I never tried that. But yeah, that's okay. It seemed very good. Okay, well, brilliant. Thanks
for answering that, Tanya. Okay, now I can ask you what's your favorite thing to do in Rabbit?
Or I'm sorry, that's a nerdy question, but I've got the software I use and I've talked about it
before in this podcast. It is called SAP Software and it creates like energy assessments for domestic
properties. But I have like favorite things I like to do on the software. I'm like, I'll ask, I'll ask
you. You like to do on your software. So yeah, I actually love to use Rabbit. I can visually see
what this building is going to be and I can do so many experience, so many experiments with the
material and the designs. So I just love the coordination process. Even I'm working on this
and maybe next day someone else can continue working on that. That kind of coordination.
I just love coordinating like how this is going to turn out and getting the exact digital replica
is so cute, you know, like, yeah, like enormous big building is going to be constructed on site,
but you have this cute little model on the rabbit. And so yeah, I just love that. And, you know,
because coordination process is so much better because it saves a lot of time and reduces so
many errors on site. You can, because on Nevis work, what you can do is you can put your
construction project manager schedule in that you can connect it on Nevis work and you can just
see a time lapse video of how your building is going to construct. Like on this day, this wall
will be constructed and then on other day slab will be constructed. So you can actually see
that train coming in, the truck coming in, like how the truck is facing traffic. And you can get
like each and every detail about that each and every detail about the schedule that is going to
be achieved in that project. So it's so handy and it saves a lot of error, you know, yeah. So
that's so many more benefits. I don't know. That's amazing. I didn't know you could be like a time
lapse. Like how it's going to be constructed on site. So, wow. Okay. Very, very good. Very,
very, very, very cool. Um, okay. I wish I had software that did that for me.
But yeah, no, that's class. It's really great. Um, I'm seeing a lot of, like a lot of people or a
lot of, um, the universities I would sometimes go to, um, a lot of people, they're using technologies
like them, um, like IESV and, um, all these different softwares that can help with construction
projects. But it's really good to see that like stuff like this, like we're back in my day, back
in 2013, maybe only a handful of people were going into, but now it's considered a major like field.
Yeah, that's right. And this is the thing, like, because like coming here, starting here,
gaining experience from UK, because you know, like in India, people are not aware, like what
VIM benefits are and what, how much cost they can save on construction, how much wastage of material
can be reduced. So I just think like, I'll be able to promote this thing through my venture or my
freelance projects. And I can bring that in India. Just like, I think in India, just awareness of
VIM is must. That's it. That is what is lacking. And yeah, that's, that's really great to hear.
Oh my goodness. Um, kind of, kind of just say thank you. You've been absolutely brilliant
to have on. But just before we go, do you have any advice for any respective VIM engineers or
modelers who are looking to use or VIM or the likes of Ravit? Yeah. So I would just say like,
get familiarized with yourself, with all the softwares and what VIM is. Get your concepts
clear, because I know there are so many misconceptions about VIM as well. But I think
one should know how to use VIM and how, what softwares to use, you know, and yeah, that's it.
The software is the only key you can just connect with, do networking, do networking VIM because,
because even I will feel happy if someone would come up to me and introduce me like, oh, they're
also working as a VIM professional. So much to talk about. And just, I would suggest like,
go on, do networking and connect and just ask stupid questions to everyone, some or the other
even some or the other will always help. Is there a, is there a body that you can get
accredited with for VIM or is it like, is there like a, is it more CIPC or like an institute of
built-in engineers? I think there is accredition, but not as, not as
higher as CIPC or anything. It's just like a certification you can get. Okay. I'm not sure
if you can get accredited. Okay. Well, Tanya, next time you're on, you'll hopefully know.
Yeah. Sure. Oh, that's brilliant. Well, my piece of advice is advice I have just come up with
in the last 20 minutes. Okay. So again, it's for anyone who wants to go out, use VIM or the likes
of Autodesk. So if you use Autodesk, you will auto impress. That's a good one. Thank you. That
could be the tagline of your ventures. Excellent. Oh, well, Tanya, thanks for coming on. Thank you.
Thank you for calling me. Thanks for listening to Carbon Climates. If you follow us on Instagram
at carbon underscore climates, you can keep up to date with our latest news and posts.
Okay. Thanks for listening. Bye.