In this episode of The ConTech Crew, Jeff Sample is joined by Dave McCool, Director of Product of Procore Technologies and Tore Hovland, co-founder of Novarender, for a detailed discussion into the global evolution of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Together, they explore the innovative tech that’s redefining how the construction industry interacts with massive models in real-time from civil tunneling projects in Norway to vertical builds in the US.
The conversation unpacks how Novarender’s origin in oil and gas tech evolved into a game-changing BIM viewer capable of rendering “the universe,” and why the merger with Procore is a pivotal moment for democratizing BIM. The trio tackles philosophical differences in BIM adoption across countries, the potential to reduce rework and safety incidents, and the crucial move from reactive to proactive construction.
Key Takeaways:
- Norway's BIM-first mandate is leading global adoption and shifting the construction paradigm.
- Novarender was built to stream massive data sets originally from oil rigs via mobile, just like a YouTube video.
- Procore and Novarender’s partnership aims to "democratize BIM" and make 3D access available to all.
- Real-time feedback via laser scans is reducing rework and material waste in mega civil projects.
- Federated BIM models simplify complex decisions by showing multi-discipline impacts clearly.
- 30% of construction time is spent on rework; this tech could drastically reduce that.
Timestamps:
[00:00] - Introduction
[00:55] - Intro to Dave McCool and Tore Hovland
[02:48] - Tore’s background in oil and gas and the origin of Novarender
[04:01] - How Novarender approached rendering massive digital assets
[07:16] - The challenge of democratizing BIM on mobile devices
[09:04] - Norway’s BIM mandates and philosophical differences in global BIM use
[17:55] - Procore’s vision: unlocking, enriching, and connecting BIM
[22:05] - Real-time tunnel deviation reporting using point clouds and theoretical models
[32:05] - Connecting BIM to schedule, RFIs, and more across the platform
[37:53] - The future of BIM: right info, right time, right person, right platform
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