Experience

Guide Digital is Tom van den Driessche. I’ve spent more than 19 years making information management work on live estates and major projects, from a £429m PFI hospital to the Houses of Parliament. The approach is the same each time: work out what the client actually needs to know, set up the standards and tools to deliver it, and bring the whole team with me.

Houses of Parliament: since 2014 I’ve led information management across the Parliamentary Estate, first as Building Information Manager and, since 2020, as BIM Projects Team Lead. The Palace of Westminster is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so every standard has to respect conservation and heritage, and security shapes what information is shared, with whom and how. I lead the team responsible for BIM standards, strategy and information reviews, refined the Estate’s software strategy, and apply ISO 19650 across capital projects and day-to-day estate management.

Laing O’Rourke: as BIM Manager I ran BIM on the £429m Brighton 3Ts hospital (PFI), from protocols and strategy to training and clash detection. It became the largest UK hospital project to use the Revit and Codebook interface for equipment management, and I used package numbering to close scope gaps and laser scanning to coordinate with the existing hospital. I also led BIM on Kings Health Partnership at Guy’s (£80m), the Blavatnik School of Government in Oxford (£75m), including information for FM handover, and William Street Quarter (£80m).

Driving change: the results that matter are the ones that last. Standards that teams actually follow, training that turns sceptics into confident users, and information that is still useful once the building is handed over. I’ve written the protocols teams work to, trained design and project teams across a range of software, and built strategies that run from project inception through to facilities management.

Industry: I take part in public-sector information management meetings supported by the Construction Leadership Council and the Information Management Initiative, and I’m invited to contribute to nima working groups, where the next generation of UK guidance is being shaped.

Sectors: government and heritage estates, healthcare, higher education and schools, commercial offices, laboratories and residential, including operational information management across large, complex estates.

Disciplines: information management strategy, ISO 19650 implementation, standards and protocols, information review and assurance, digital handover to facilities management, heritage and conservation, and security-minded information management.

Technology: Revit, Navisworks and Solibri for modelling, coordination and model checking; Codebook for room and equipment data; laser scanning for existing buildings; and common data environments including Aconex, Asite, Viewpoint (4Projects) and Business Collaborator. I’m software-neutral: the right tool is the one your team will actually use.

Information security: handling project information where access and confidentiality genuinely matter.

Accreditation: I’m certified by BRE against ISO 19650 — which in practice means the person who reviews your documents is the person who signs them off, and you can check that on BRE’s public register.

Qualifications: PGDip in BIM and Integrated Design, University of Salford; BSc (Hons) Computer Aided Product Design, Nottingham Trent University.

Experience gained while employed by, or working alongside, organisations including the Houses of Parliament, Laing O’Rourke, British Land, Argent, WSP, Purcell, Pick Everard, BDP and the National Health Service.

If your project needs information requirements that people can actually use, get in touch: tom@guidedigital.co.uk