The year 2021 did not turn out as we had imagined. It probably did not turn out as anyone had imagined. The pandemic continued to hold the world in a tight grip and despite new vaccines, at the time of writing this blogpost we are moving towards another virus wave. Despite all this, the year has been eventful, rewarding and very successful when it comes to Bimfire Tools and our work with fire safety in BIM. We have had new launches, panel discussions, written articles and continued our work to develop software that enables a digitalized way of working in fire protection. We have highlighted a few activities this year which we are extra proud of!
New versions were launched
After having the early version tested by selected users, we were able to launch a completely new, improved version of Bimfire Tools (BFT) during Q1. This was done in connection with two webinars, a Swedish session in January and aNorwegian one in March. During these occasions, visitors learned more about the background of Bimfire Tools, took part of user stories and were shown a short demo of the new software. We’d like to give an extra shout out to Erik Almgren from Bengt Dahlgren and Erik Nyström-Ångman from Ramboll who participated during their respective webinar! During the year that has passed we have also released BETA rulesets for Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom.
HELP Guide
In April, we launched our new HELP guide to complement our support. We are not only here to support when something goes wrong, but also help our users to grow and increase their knowledge in digital fire safety design. The HELP Guide we hope will help us, and our users, with this mission. The guide is constantly updated with new articles and if you lack any info, get in touch with us and we will review it as soon as possible.
Fire BIM at Nordic BIM Summit and BIM Forum
Bimfire also had the pleasure of participating in Symetris Nordic BIM Summit in April, both as a guest lecturer and sponsor. During the day, we presented our think piece “From Global to Local”, which you can read here. We also got the chance to introduce our new BFT further. Fire Safety in BIM also continued to be on everyone’s lips after our industry colleagues Fredrik Hiort, Briab, and Robert Grahm, Skanska, held their session “Låt Brand projektera Brand” at BIM Forum in September.
November events
During the month of November we had the chance to visit two different events; first the conference Fire Protection 2021 in Stockholm and then the London Build Expo 2021. It was fantastic fun to be out and meet users, partners, industry colleagues and friends! We hope to have the opportunity to go out in 2022 and meet even more of you.
At the end of November, together with Symetri, we arranged a panel discussion where we invited Swedish leading fire consultants to discuss what their journey have looked like as they started designing in BIM. We’re planning to continue this series, so keep an eye out for a session in your language!
Digital fire no longer an idea, but a practice
Before this year the idea of fire safety in BIM was for many barely a concept. Now, as we’re wrapping up 2021, digital fire safety tools are now used by more than 20 organisations in Scandinavia and the UK. We are happy that we have been able to support and educate companies such as Design Fire Consultants, Ramboll Norway and Brandprojektering and help them take their fire safety offer to another dimension!
What’s happening next year?
Next year we’re preparing to enter the UK market! After having finished a few test projects with our UK partners we are now looking forward to an official release event, follow us on social media so you don’t miss it! With the Building Safety Bill working its way through the House of Commons we’re sure that the topic of digital fire safety will be on everyone’s lips, and we are eager to join that discussion.
With this we’d like to wish you a happy holiday and a very happy new year!
