Not a loaded questions – really, a genuine interest of mine. See, both options have advantages;
A Building Owner/Developers appoints a Project/Design Manager (or multiple people to fill those roles) so they get better representation, more certainty, good cost control, deadlines achieved and generally keeps all consultants inline.
A project manager manages the project, the participants, the process; The role of the design manager implies technical abilities too – a counterpart to consultants within clients’ representatives.
Having a non-BIM P/D Manager can be useful. They are usually unable to ‘look under the bonnet’ of the project information database so they focus their attention on the outputs, which are contractually most important anyway. They scrutinise drawings in the way contractors would and as such find holes in documentation more easily.
A BIM literate P/D Manager benefits building-project clients by hands-on-working the model based database and is able to look at design options in a more considerate way. Understands the project better and more intimately and is able to change directions at a short notice as required.
You may think that I am already set on one of the answers, but am not;
What I am mostly wondering about is, what do clients prefer to have?
Do they rate the BIM literacy of their Project and Design Managers and does knowing BIM enter the selection criteria-list at all?
A Project Manager will ideally be a brilliant, experienced brainiac who will find problems, conflicts and solutions whether they are on paper or CAD. It is great to be paid to create a thorough 3D BIM model because going through the process is a sure way to find missing or conflicting information. However, an excellent PM will have the olfactory powers to find stinky things relatively quickly, just by carefully studying the plans. Therefore, BIM literacy is secondary. Experience and knowing what to look for are more important.
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