Kang chairs Texas building information modeling group

The [Building Information Modeling Texas Alliance] (http://www.bimtexas.org) , a statewide group of construction industry professionals led by Julian Kang, associate professor of construction science at Texas A&M, is advancing the industry’s use of BIM, which improves productivity in building design, construction, and maintenance.

“Most general contractors in Texas have adopted BIM to coordinate buildings’ mechanical, electrical and plumbing construction, but the adoption speed here is slower than in some other states,” said Kang, chairman of the alliance, which formed in August 2011.

Also, he said, owners are looking for ways to verify contractors’ BIM proficiency before they hire them, and learn more about using BIM for facility management once the building’s construction is finished.

Two alliance committees, who have hired graduate construction management students from Texas A&M to assist them, are addressing these issues; an evaluation committee, led by George A. Pontikes Jr., president and CEO of Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc., which is developing a step-by-step guideline for evaluating contractors’ BIM proficiency, and a facilities management committee, led by Kurt Dierking, vice president of facilities support services of Dallas’ Parkland Hospital, which is developing a step-by-step guideline for BIM-aided facility management.

Kang has led the alliance’s monthly meetings, which have included discussing committee matters and making BIM presentations to industry professionals. He’s also in charge of organizing the alliance’s annual conference, which attracts construction industry practitioners from across the state, to explore current and future uses of BIM. This year’s [conference] (http://one.arch.tamu.edu/news/2012/9/7/kang-bim-conference/) is scheduled Nov. 8 and 9 in San Antonio.

Alliance partners include Texas A&M’s [Department of Construction Science] (http://cosc.arch.tamu.edu) , Satterfield & Pontikes Construction, Inc., Manhattan Construction, the city of Dallas, Parkland Methodist Hospital, PDG Architects, Manhattan Construction and SpawGlass.

Kang, holder of the Cecil Windsor Jr. ’66 Endowed Professorship in Construction Science, joined the Texas A&M faculty in 2001. He is interested in best utilizing emerging technologies such as BIM, 4-D visualization and radio frequency identification for construction engineering and project management.

He also oversees Texas A&M’s BIM Computer Aided Virtual Environment, an immersive facility that graduate construction science students can use to develop BIM simulations.