Beacon Participates in Recent Industry Events In New Mexico and Colorado
Members of Beacon's leadership team participated in two recent industry events. In May, Dennis O'Neill and John Yeung attended the Spring Conference of the ABA's Fidelity & Surety Law Committee held in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Highlights of the meeting included many excellent speakers covering a wide range of topics related to complex surety claims, as well as great opportunities to network with colleagues old and new. During the ABA Spring meeting, Beacon's team co-hosted a luncheon and participated in group outings.
In late June, Dennis O'Neill, James Bruno and John Yeung attended the annual meeting of the Surety Claims Institute in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Dennis participated on a discussion panel made up of construction consultants, surety executives and BIM experts. Dennis shared Beacon's unique perspective on managing and turning around troubled construction projects where BIM is part of a project's requirements.
BIM stands for Building Information Modeling and it is a process by which a digital representation of a building's physical and functional characteristics is created. When implemented correctly, one big benefit of using BIM prior to and during construction is "collision detection"—for example identifying when separately created building system plans inadvertently have two pieces of infrustructure positioned in the same physical space (such as an HVAC duct and an electrical conduit). Avoiding such conflicts can help prevent work delays which can occur when the issue is identifying after construction has started.
BIM can also make it easier to prefabricate certain building components with greater confidence that they will fit correctly into the building when delivered and installed. However, implementing BIM is not without its challenges. The process can be complex and time-consuming for large projects, requiring a highly skilled and experienced BIM contractor with excellent analytical, technical and communications skills.
