Students at Birmingham City University have been offered experience using cutting-edge digital building technology as part of a new module.

The module, developed in partnership with Corstorphine + Wright Architects, focused on Building Information Modelling (BIM) techniques to equip students with industry standard skills.

The initiative has seen students given students access to real-world BIM data, given site visits and guest talks to give them a direct insight into digital construction in the professional world.

The dedicated project for the module has been Birmingham's Pershore Street Residential development located at the heart of the city.

Additional support given by Corstorphine + Wright Architects and Bouygues UK has seen students apply real-life project data in their studies and examine BIM related information in a practical context.

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Erika A Pärn, the module leader and Lecturer in Architectural Technology and at Birmingham City University, said: "The integration of BIM in existing curriculum has shown great potential as a method of educating students from a broad range of disciplines the new ways of working collaboratively in an industry confronted by the digital era.

"As a previous industry practitioner and an early career academic researcher, I believe in a practice based approach in which a constructivist philosophical underpinning can be adopted.

"The constructivist learning theory seeks to explain that learning occurs by constructing understanding. Subsequently students on this module have made sense of their experiences by process of constructing meaning with collaborative work though BIM."

Mike Turner, Technical Director of Corstorphine + Wright Architects, added: "We have developed a good relationship with BCU in the last few years where we are working closely with the University to develop new talent and support the University with a series of guest lectures and site visits linked with large scale construction projects we are working on within the City of Birmingham.

"We have shared Revit models of these projects and are providing access to site visits for students via our contacts with the main contractors.  "Corstorphine + Wright have employed three students from BCU in the last three years and are currently looking to take at least one this year. It is our intention to provide graduate programmes to our new employees which will align closely with the requirements of CIAT to provide a pathway from University to full chartered membership of CIAT."

(CM)