Catriona Ross: Principle Digital MEP Coordinator

What is your role at Pick Everard?

I am Principal Digital MEP Coordinator, and my role involves leading projects for digital delivery. This includes attending meetings, managing resources on the project, ensuring deadlines are met, project work, managing any issues within the project team, clash coordination/reporting and BIM tasks in line with ISO 19650.

I have also recently become involved with the Digital Design Initiative group where we meet weekly to discuss ways to improve delivery.

What attracted you to Pick Everard?

I worked for a local subcontracting company on projects where Pick Everard were consultants, and I recognised that their work was exceptional and I wanted to find out more.

I was driven to become involved in RIBA stages 2, 3 and 4 of design and was eager to learn more about 3D modelling and BIM.

I saw Pick Everard as a real professional, national business, and I witnessed how happy the Inverness team were. Their length of time with the company confirmed this to me, which made me really want to join their team.

In my time at Pick Everard, I worked at the Leicester, Glasgow and Inverness offices which offered me a great opportunity where I could work and learn from the bigger BIM projects in England and bring those skills back to Scotland. I thought it was exciting to be able to work from a few offices and I feel it benefitted me as I was given the opportunity to meet and work with many of the engineers across the business.

What inspired you to pursue a career in BIM (Building Information Modelling) within Building Services?

I recognised that BIM and 3D design was the direction the industry was heading and knew I needed to get involved as soon as possible, so I approached Pick Everard. BIM offered a new challenge for me, having only worked in 2D before.

What makes a great leader?

A great leader ensures that their team know they are fully supported. It is important to have an understanding of people’s situations and offer flexibility and trust in the team. It is also important to treat everyone fairly and have a willingness to get stuck in and assist the team if and when required. I would also say, communication, open discussions and most importantly consistency in all of above.

How do you see the future of BIM developing?

I believe BIM will continue to become more and more common and eventually be utilised on all projects. As a result, it will benefit all disciplines and our output will improve. I think there will be further developments across the industry in data management extracted from the model.

Why is BIM so important to the work that Pick Everard undertakes?

A BIM project should bring more money into the business and allow us to bid/win bigger jobs whilst competing with the best. BIM also helps us to attract and retain good staff and offer the highest quality product.

How does Pick Everard utilise new software and industry developments?

Our Mechanical and Electrical team use the ‘Magicad’ tool which is a fantastic package and helps us with efficiency and quality. This piece of software is forever evolving and offers regular seminars to allow for continuous professional development.

Pick Everard IT offer updates to software regularly which keep us in line with the most up to date versions.

The BIM department have also set up a testing environment for trialling new software which, I am a part of on behalf of M and E. This offers an effective method to ensure we have efficient software that works best for the business.

What advice would you give to junior BIM professionals?

Ask questions and don’t be afraid of the software. Try to be involved and get as much experience as possible, as it is very easy to forget how to use software such as Revit if not being used regularly. Build relationships with the engineers and other disciplines and communicate with them as much as possible. Attend and watch all seminars offered to you - they are great for picking up tips!