Canada BIM Council Recognizes Canada's BIM Community with Inaugural CanBIM Awards

– Annual General Meeting, awards and final Regional Session for 2015 held in Calgary concludes with record number of certifications –

TORONTO, Oct. 5, 2015 /CNW/ - The Canada BIM Council (CanBIM) held the first ever National CanBIM Awards on Sept. 30, recognizing excellence in Canada's Building Information Modelling (BIM) community. CanBIM handed out awards in the following three categories: Innovation, Interoperability, and Best In BIM.

Quebec-based general contractors Pomerleau earned top honours in two of the three awards categories, taking home awards for Innovation and Best In BIM. Pomerleau demonstrated exemplary innovation for their work on Place Bell – Cultural and Sports Centre in Laval, Que., and demonstrated the Best In BIM for outstanding implementation throughout design to construction on the multifunctional amphitheatre Videotron Centre in Laval, Que. In the Innovation award category, Pomerleau edged out projects from Turner Fleischer Architects (Toronto) with their Laser Scanning Implementation Technology, and Calgary's GEC Architecture's YYC/TCP Baggage Handling System; and for the Best In BIM award, McGill University Health Centre Glen Site from SNC Lavalin (Montreal) and DIALOG's Brookfield Place Calgary.

"All nominees demonstrated great execution of BIM," said Allan Partridge, CanBIM President. "But Pomerleau demonstrated exceptional strength in their respective award categories, as seen by our experienced evaluators. We are proud to have received so many great submissions."

Architecture and interior design firm DIALOG, from their Calgary regional office, took home top honours in the Interoperability category for demonstrating exceptional, seamless data transfer across software platforms on the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital (Alta.) project. Runners up in the Interoperability award category were GEC Architecture for YYC/TCP Baggage Handling System and Halifax-based surveying and engineering firm Servant, Dunbrack, McKenzie & MacDonald for the BioVectra Plant Renovation.

Nominees and the respective award winners demonstrated a high level of excellence in their project submissions, further cementing the belief that Canada's BIM Community is robust. "Our independent CanBIM evaluators represent a great cross-section of the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Owner & Operator industries," stated Gerry Lattmann, CanBIM Executive Director. "They did a great job evaluating and selecting our outstanding nominees and winners for the inaugural CanBIM Awards."

"The awards are a major landmark not only for CanBIM, but also for Canada's BIM community," stated Pietro Ferrari, CanBIM Awards Emcee, CanBIM Director and Chair of Education & Research Committee. "The awards bring to the forefront the significant achievements of this country's BIM professionals and are proof of the success that occurs when art, science, technology and industry converge and collaborate."

On October 1, following the CanBIM Awards and AGM, Canada BIM Council hosted their Calgary Regional Session and Technology Exhibition. The Calgary event was the third and final regional session of 2015, and continued on the unprecedented success of the Toronto Regional Session held in June, once again offering excellent networking opportunities, presentations and a roundtable discussion with some of Canada's most distinguished BIM professionals. The presentations and roundtable discussion focused on the "Business of BIM" and how the decision to use BIM has become an important ingredient in the success of AECOO companies. The consensus for Canada's BIM leaders in attendance aligns with CanBIM's advocacy efforts: that not using BIM will become a disadvantage and those that implement BIM efficiently and effectively stand to gain in the long term.

In thorough fashion, the event concluded with an in-depth presentation on the CanBIM Certification Program by Ferrari, outlining the Levels of Certification, Process, Criteria and other key details for the program. Following this informative review of Canada's only national certification program for BIM professionals, the CanBIM Board delivered its third Certification Ceremony to date, handing out CanBIM Certification Certificates to a record 43 recipients, more than double the amount of certifications in the last two rounds combined. This latest round of CanBIM Certification received more than 70 applications; the assessment process was both rigorous and thorough, ensuring that CanBIM Certification meet the needs of Canada's BIM industry by properly recognizing the experience of those certified. Of special note was the significant commitment to CanBIM Certification from Turner Fleischer Architects who delivered over 60 of the 70-plus applications; a clear demonstration of commitment to BIM Leadership. CanBIM asserted its position that its Certification program is a necessary mechanism to recognize practitioners. 

"It's a great time to be a part of CanBIM as it rapidly becomes a mature, vital, and leading organization representing Canada's BIM community. The success of the awards and the ever-growing interest in the certification program are clearly an indication of this momentum. CanBIM Certification will prove to be the gold standard for benchmarking BIM excellence in Canada," noted Ferrari.

Prior to the awards, the CanBIM Board elected its newest Board Member, Christian Proulx, Aéroport de Québec, Project Manager. Proulx is a Professional Mechanical Engineer who currently Chairs the CanBIM Owners & Facility Managers Committee, which addresses the BIM needs and challenges for that community. 

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About CanBIM
Serving as the business voice of Canada's BIM community, CanBIM represents, supports and advocates on behalf of the entire AECOO and educational community to build a positive business environment for the effective deployment of BIM, not only for our member firms, but for all engaged in utilizing BIM in Canada.

SOURCE CanBIM

Media Contact:Cary Mignault, Director of PR and Communications, 416-435-9295 or [email protected]; For membership, events, certification or CanBIM Awards inquiries please contact [email protected]