Quinn Building Products deliver bespoke BIM course to prepare students for the future of construction

Quinn Building Products delivered a specially developed short course to students and staff of St. Michael’s College in Enniskillen. The course, developed by Quinn Building Products in conjunction with the College, focuses on relatively new areas of construction to give students an insight into the future of the industry. These areas are Building Information Modelling (BIM), and Lean Construction. The college not only feel it important to provide students with labour market intelligence but also to work with industry to help pupils to develop the most up-to-date skill set possible to take forward and be successful within the job market.

The four-day course was tailored to those students considering a career in architecture, engineering and construction, providing an insight into technologies and practices which they will learn in greater depth in their future studies.

BIM is a process of digitally modelling & interrogating a construction project before going to site, helping the industry move away from paper to digital and revolutionising how buildings are designed and constructed.

Lean Construction focuses on the refinement of construction processes aimed at eliminating value added waste from projects.

The course is designed to give these students a head-start in their prospective studies, an overview of two key advancements in the industry in advance of their third level courses”, said Raymond O’Reilly of Quinn Building Products, who has led the course development.

He went on to say, “As part of our partnership with St. Michael’s College, we felt it was important to provide any students hoping to go on to study in this field, an advantage, and an understanding of what to expect from their future studies. The areas we’ve focused on, are playing a major part in the future of the construction industry, and they complement each other with a focus on the reduction of unnecessary waste, something we’re very passionate about in Quinn Building Products.”

Students taking the course will see how BIM software is used in construction projects to improve efficiency, reduce cost and waste. They will also learn about lean construction principles and methods, and how it is complemented and underpinned by BIM.

A number of guest speakers from the construction industry were invited to speak to the students about their experiences with BIM and lean construction, and how the adoption of BIM has impacted their businesses.

Guest speakers included representatives of ENGdoc Ltd., Chris Allen Architects, King & Moffatt Building Services and Lawrence Mechanical.

Fergal Maguire, Company Director of Laurence Mechanical Services explained that they chose to get involved with the project: “to showcase the benefit of BIM to the industry in terms of allowing for visualisation of installations prior to project commencement and also to highlight the need for BIM training in all sectors of the industry”.

Speaking of how important it is to prepare students for the future of construction, David Mullen of ENGdoc stated:

“We really value the importance of demonstrating the practical application of the skills we learn in school.  Over the next few years these skills will be developed to mould the BIM engineers, co-ordinators and technicians of the future.  As the construction industry goes through a major learning curve with the implementation of BIM, it is critical that companies can attract young talent who will enhance and develop these organisations into the future”

Padraic King of King & Moffatt Building Services also spoke to the students as part of the course, and explained why the company felt it was important to participate:

“We feel it very important to share our BIM knowledge with the students because we believe BIM is the future of construction and students are the people most likely to embrace the technology and build a better future”

Quinn Building Products and St. Michael’s College will now work in partnership with UK Educational Examination awarding bodies to gain accreditation for the course structure with a view to getting BIM introduced as part of the teaching syllabus on construction and engineering courses. This could provide significant advantages to employers when recruiting, and indeed become an example of best practice that will be made accessible for adoption in other secondary level schools, potentially throughout the UK and internationally.