" Building Information Modeling (BIM) aspires to become the centerpiece of the building life cycle. It is the engine of change in the construction sector". With these words the Minister of Public Works of the Government of Navarra, Luis Zarraluqui, inaugurated the workshop BIM held at School of Architecture of the University of Navarra.

The meeting, co-organized by the School of Architecture and Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, brought together 150 participants to discuss the advantages of this tool that enables the collaborative work of all the agents in the building process based on digital models.

"In the United States, BIM implementation exceeds 70%, while in Europe it is around 30%. There is still work to be done," said Zarraluqui about its implementation, which has already demonstrated benefits in places like Great Britain where the British government in 2011 required the use of BIM technology in the awarding of public project exceeding 5 million pounds. There, the savings figures for working with this technology have been around 72 million pounds in construction costs and 279 million pounds in the life cycle of the buildings constructed.

"The implementation of this technology at national level is far from reaching the levels of other countries in our environment, being the large construction companies with international turnover the pioneers in its implementation, forced by the requirement of its employment", said Cristina Sanz, coordinator of the workshop.

In this sense, Navarra has been working for some time on a strategic plan for sustainable construction. "Integrated in the Moderna Plan, in the Comunidad Foral, we have been implementing this system for some time, which financial aid to do more and better things with less complications", explained Juan Las Navas, president of the Navarra Territorial Commission of Fundación Laboral de la Construcción (FLC).

He also stated that this technology incorporates "new information relevant to project planning", in addition to being a tool that provides "orderly and coherent information".

For his part, José Ángel Medina, director of the School of Architecture, stated that there is a need on the part of the University to "continue advancing in the knowledge and the implementation" of new technologies. "Now more than ever schools of Architecture are obliged to be the spearhead in research and innovation. In this sense, BIM constitutes one of the tools with the greatest impact on the management of projects, and therefore, fundamental for the future of architects."