Productivity in the construction industry has been slipping for many, many years, leaving a vast amount of room for improvement. This was a common theme among experts addressing a series of webinars that CPC/BIM recently hosted on the topic.

Michael Casten, founder of the consulting firm Construction Concepts, informed webinar attendees that construction productivity has been declining at a rate of about 1-1.5 percent per year and that there has been a steady decline in productivity over the last 25-35 years. Additionally, Will Lichtig, a lawyer with McDonough, Holland & Allen PC, reported that up to 57 percent of work performed in the field is waste in the construction industry compared to 12 percent across the manufacturing sector. Some of the advice that Casten, Lichtig, and several other experts had to offer during the webinar series is included in this month's edition of CPC/BIM.

Also in this issue, John Jurewicz examines "green BIM," a pair of groups want standards bodies to help minimize confusion over the term "BIM," Tammy McCuen probes the National Building Information Modeling Standard for Minimum BIM and the Interactive Capability Maturity Model, Gordon Aronson describes a new construction scheduling application that "shows great promise," and don't forget Industry Updates.

McCuen examines the National Building Information Modeling Standard for Minimum BIM and the Interactive Capability Maturity Model.

Aronson examines a new construction scheduling application that "shows great promise."

BuildingSmart Alliance, Open Geospatial Consortium make several recommendations in new report. In an interview with CPC/BIM, Consortium and BuildingSmart officials offer several additional details.  

CMAA, Vela Systems, Tekla, Bentley, and AIA make announcements.