Why semi-automation is the right answer for BIM today

BIM is changing. What once centred on 3D coordination and asset management now spans project delivery, information management and data governance. The geometry is still there, but the real complexity lies in the information that underpins it.

Our Digital Engineering Lead, James Washbourne, has been thinking carefully about what that shift means in practice and why semi-automation, rather than full automation, is the more considered path.

Automation tools like Dynamo and Grasshopper have transformed how we work. They remove manual data entry, reduce duplication and free up our team to focus on quality and developing junior engineers. The gains are real and so are the unintended consequences.

When model changes become frictionless, clients naturally ask for more of them. The brief evolves, iterations multiply and the design cycle never quite closes. James calls this ‘disposable design’, a pattern where the time saved through automation is quietly absorbed by the very iterations that automation makes possible.

The lesson is not to pull back from automation, but to be deliberate about its limits.

Our work on the new Acute Services and Ward building at Luton and Dunstable Hospital shows this in practice. When the contractor opted to switch RC columns to precast late in the process, the data loading challenge was considerable. Handled manually, it would have meant days of rework and a real risk of inconsistency between the model and drawings. Instead, our team developed a two-stage Dynamo script that identified each column, pushed specifications to Excel for engineer review, then fed the validated data back into the Revit model. Engineering judgement stayed with the engineers. The script handled the repetitive work.

James Washbourne, Digital Engineering Lead, says:
Semi-automation keeps us competitive. We get the speed gains and engineering judgement stays where it should. With the professionals. If you build a workflow that runs without engineering involvement, you will produce information that needs changing, and that creates inefficiency further down the line.

The BIM Technician role is changing too. Visual scripting is becoming a standard expectation alongside building technology, technical drawing and structural literacy. AI will play a growing part in code production and testing. But engineering knowledge and critical thinking remain the core of what we do.

To learn more about how Perega uses BIM and digital engineering to support the design and delivery of projects, explore our BIM and digital engineering capabilities.