Michelmersh Brick Holdings Plc, the UK’s fourth largest brickmaker, specialises in premium bricks and pavers, contributing to iconic projects like Battersea Power Station and Harrods. Sarah Le Gresley is the Innovation Director and David Willett is the Operations Compliance Manager, with both actively engaging in industry groups, such as the Brick Development Association and Ceramics UK.
The Challenge
In circa 2009, prior to the UK BIM Mandate coming into force, Sarah correctly identified that BIM was going to become the transformative technology that it ended up becoming and helped to communicate that to the industry. As an innovative company, Michelmersh saw the potential and started to investigate how BIM could work for them.
The Solution
In keeping with the fact that Michelmersh are always looking at ways to be ahead of the game, the company were early adopters of BIM. They assessed the specialist partners who were operating at the time and concluded that Bimstore provided the solution they needed matched their ambitions, both at that time, and for future development.
"We always want to be as helpful as we can be for our customers. Therefore, we continually push ourselves to be a digital leader and seek ways we can improve the customer journey. Providing the best-in-class documentation, technical data, images, texture maps, etc. is really important for that experience." - Sarah Le Gresley, Innovation Director
The Progress
Michelmersh have attracted hundreds of thousands of views on their products since hosting their BIM content on Bimstore. The marketing and technical support via Bimstore has helped to bolster that.
"It’s been really easy to work with the Bimstore team throughout the years. Whenever we had a request for information or needed help, the guys are always there and very helpful. We view them as business leaders and experts in their field." - Sarah Le Gresley, Innovation Director
Michelmersh have driven BIM content downloads through Bimstore and their own company website, with all leads being captured in their CRM system and made available to their sales and marketing teams.
The Results
The primary benefit that Michelmersh has experienced since working with Bimstore is the improvement in connection to their customers and the speed of response they can provide them with the relevant BIM content. The reassurance that the technical information of their products is accurate and up to date is invaluable to Michelmersh and their commitment to customer service.
"The generation of the correct data is now a lot easier than it was in the past. The lack of times I hear from our customers is a strong indicator of success, it means they are getting what they need, when they need it, and all the information is there for them." - David Willett, Operations Compliance Manager
The Future
Michelmersh will continue honing their technical processes and by creating and maintaining a single source of truth, this will help to create a Golden Thread of information, something which the company believes is vital to continue to promote for the future. Sarah and the team also intend to continue pushing ahead with new innovations, such as researching complementary technology, like digital twins and digital passports, and discover how these could benefit their customers.
To find out about how Bimstore works with manufacturers to maximise the benefits they get from their BIM content, take a look at this page. More information on Michelmersh Brick can be found on their manufacturer profile on Bimstore.
