BIM Uncovered. Collaborate Effectively and Deliver Better Design, Construction and Operational Models

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1 BIM Uncovered Collaborate Effectively and Deliver Better Design, Construction and Operational Models BIM BIM History Government BIM BIM for Architects BIM for Construction BIM for Infrastructure BIM for Facilities Management BIM Components BIM Objects Within five years, all government procurement will be within 3D collaborative BIM, with specific exceptions where the cost might exceed the benefit, although I m struggling to think of obvious examples of that. Paul Morrell, Chief Construction Adviser, May 2011 BIM An Overview It takes many activities and skills to bring the ideas and designs of Architects/Engineers to fruition. Building Information Modelling (BIM) attempts to standardise the creation and exchange of information to make the design, construction and operational management of a facility or infrastructure asset more efficient. The way we manage information can improve collaboration, drive cost efficiencies and improve productivity on a project. This is really what BIM is meant to do through the use of standardised practices and methodologies. Architects have been using building information in many forms for a very long time and BIM is merely an extension of this trend. The use of the word building itself doesn t necessarily describe the full scope of a project. It also doesn t describe all the industries that can adopt BIM best practices. Increasingly in the UK, BIM touches construction, facilities management, civil infrastructure, and even product manufacturers and fabricators. The extent to which BIM requires information is also not limited to CAD modelling either it covers policies, assumptions, strategic decisions, manufacturing data, user assessment, regulation, client specification, maintenance instructions and waste management data for example. All of these are part of the information pertaining to the construction and on-going management of a facility or asset and are a necessary part of the information that needs to form part of the model. BIM History The term BIM is often lauded as having its roots back in 2002 in the United States, where it is argued it was originally conceived by NASA and the White House and then became the auspicious of the US Government Services Agency who clearly defined what it wanted it to mean.

2 That said the concept of a building information model could arguably be traced further back to 1962, when Douglas Englebert in his paper on Augmenting Human Intellect suggested the use of object-based design, parametric manipulation and a relational database would be key components of the designers toolkit. Although many definitions of BIM have been muted, they tend not to be prescriptive about what standards to follow or what tools to use. These need to be determined by each company depending on what strategy they want to follow (US Government, UK Government, European Standards, or just the desire of their largest customers or main contractors). They could all be different and they could all be BIM compliant. What we do know is the intent of BIM is to cover a complete lifecycle of an asset and the entire supply chain involved in the design, construction and operational management of a facility or asset. Government BIM & Standards In the UK, BIM made its first real public appearance in 2010 when the UK Government Adviser on construction, Paul Morrell said BIM would play a key part in Government procurement policy. In 2011 the Government (The Cabinet Office) produced the Government Construction Strategy (GCS), and orchestrated the setup of the BIM Task Group to help deliver the objectives of the GCS. The UK is now very much at the forefront of BIM development and with construction expansion expected worldwide this demonstrates a fantastic opportunity for UK business export for contracting, engineering and design services. The hypotheses of the BIM Task Group is aligned with the Government s key objective is to reduce capital cost, the carbon burden and operational expenditure of the built environment by 20%. The BIM acronym itself may have outgrown its usefulness since Paul Morrells declaration in 2010 and whilst it may involve technology investment, it is much more about management of information and people than about buying new software. Arguably the Government s first project was funded by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and involved the re-build of a 180 cell block at Cookham Wood Prison in Kent. The MoJ translated 2D standard designs into required 3D BIM models and involved the customer, the MoJ staff and external contractors throughout using collaborative models and common data environments to support the BIM initiative. BIM is being driven by UK Government, to ensure that all public sector projects are underpinned by the creation, collation and exchange of shared 3D models and intelligent structured data that is attached to them. UK Government has defined a minimum requirement for Level 2 BIM by 2016, which defines a series of domain models and the provision of a single electronic environment to store shared data and information. The plethora of standards that are referred to in a BIM context are ever-increasing and include:- Government Construction Strategy, May 2011 (Cabinet Office) PAS1192-2:2013: Specification for information management for the capital/delivery phase of construction projects PAS : Specification for information management for the operational phase of assets using building information modelling RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Plan of Work 2013: For practice management BS1192:2007: Collaborative Production of Architectural, Engineering and Construction Information COBie 2012: Schema for information exchange standards for new and existing assets BS8541, Parts 1 and 2: Defines library objects for the architectural and construction industries

3 BIM For Industries For many facilities, more information will be created during the operational phase than will be created during the design and construction phases. Structuring data at the outset and quality controlling it through all phases of a project will bring tremendous benefits. BIM is often wrongly associated with just graphical (often 3D models) information. This is only partly true. All forms of correspondence form part of the model: specifications, risk registers, manufacturers technical information, preventative maintenance schedules could all form part of the BIM for example. The heart of BIM though is information - it s the I that s important, even more than the M or the B. Whilst 3D graphical images are visually appealing, it s is the information that will really bring the value to BIM, delivering on the capital and operational costs savings promised by the adoption of it. It is probably also the reason why the architectural and construction industry has accelerated more quickly in the use of BIM. Industry and vendors have focused predominantly on the building or the model. The civil infrastructure and facilities management industries will also reap the benefits of BIM and maybe have even more to gain in return on investment. BIM for Architecture With the Government Construction Strategy bringing BIM into focus, successful BIM delivery is not just about software but also about processes, understanding, data management and collaboration. We bring our expertise to help you (architects and engineers) to realise the benefits of BIM, achieving higher returns on investment, reducing rework and risk, whilst improving communication, design and analysis. BIM can bridge the information loss associated with handing a project from design team, to construction team and to building owner/ operator, by allowing each group to add to and reference back to all information they acquire during their period of contribution to the BIM model. This can yield significant benefit for the facility owner or operator. For example, a building owner may find evidence of a leak in his building. Rather than physically exploring the building to find the root cause, the suspect component (e.g a tap or valve) may be more easily located by referring to the digital model. He could also have in the model the attributes of the specific equipment: for example, valve size, manufacturer, part number. Dynamic information about the building, such as sensor measurements and control signals from the building systems, can also be incorporated within the BIM model to support analysis of building operation and maintenance. BIM for Construction Construction financing, government policy, carbon reduction, contractor collaboration and BIM integration are placing increasing demands on the industry to reduce construction costs and compress project timelines. Digital constructability modelling, higher quality documentation, streamlining quantification and estimating and multi-disciplinary collaboration are all achievable through the adoption of BIM solutions. Participants in the construction process are constantly challenged to deliver successful projects despite tight budgets, limited manpower, accelerated schedules, and limited or conflicting information. The significant disciplines involved should be well coordinated, as two things can t take place at the same place and time. Building Information Modeling aids in collision detection at the initial stage, identifying the exact location of discrepancies, reducing on-site problems during the construction stage.

4 The BIM concept envisages virtual construction of a facility prior to its actual physical construction, in order to reduce uncertainty, improve safety, work out problems, as well as simulate and analyse potential clashes in the project programme. Sub-contractors from every trade can input critical information into the model before beginning construction, with opportunities to pre-fabricate or pre-assemble some systems off-site. Waste can be minimised on-site and products delivered on a just-in-time basis rather than being stock-piled on-site. BIM for Infrastructure Failing infrastructure, lack of public funding and government policy are drivers in the infrastructure industry. Data assimilation, aggregation and management are also key challenges and with BIM ready solutions you are able to deliver better and more efficient designs and workflows to combat some of these key challenges. Although the adoption of BIM within the civil industry has arguably been less aggressive, there are a number of flagship projects where BIM has been very much part of the adoption process. Mott MacDonalds 700m London Undergound at Victoria station designed to increase the capacity, reduce journey times and improve emergency evacuation is an excellent example. It has also been used on key projects like the M25 widening project by Atkins and Heathrow Terminal 2B by Balfour Beatty who used a virtual 4D model as a BIM collaboration tool. BIM for Facilities Management Occupiers are increasingly seeing the benefits of both new build and refurbishment construction projects being delivered through BIM processes. Successful BIM delivery for facilities/asset management is about closer cooperation with the design and construction organisations throughout the project and at its handover. Key benefits of BIM adoption for property owners or managers include achieving a better understanding of the buildings operational modes through rapid space and energy assessment in addition to, better management of assets and services (cleaning contracts, maintenance scheduling etc) to save money and reduce waste. BIM Components Stakeholders with a wide range of business goals or governance goals want to bring business process reengineering into the worlds of design, construction, civil engineering and facilities management. Old business processes no longer make sense when computers and networks can be deployed to do things better and faster. It s valuable to note, too, that new opportunities for profit or public service arise as information and communication technologies (ICT) are integrated into workflows. So what makes up a BIM solution or when is a project considered to use BIM or be BIM compliant? BIM is a three letter acronym that means Building Information Modelling, but if you think about it with regard its intent, it could equally mean Business Improvement Methodology, Better Information Management, Business Integration Management or Building Industry Modernisation. Implementing BIM is about adopting the ideology and recognising its value. How you implement it is still not clearly defined and the tools and practises used are to some extent down to you to decide upon.

5 That said, essentially there are a number of key ingredients that you should be looking to have to ensure you meet the guidelines being discussed by Government. These ingredients include data exchange standards, a collaboration platform (or Common Data Environment), a 3D graphical model and BIM Objects:- Data Exchange Standards There are a significant number of standards that are at the core of many BIM discussions as detailed earlier in this document. Some of them refer to schemas or data exchange formats, others are more to do with people and process. The whole subject of data exchange within the BIM world is complex and there are a number of key data exchange formats that can be adopted on any project and any BIM software technology platform is likely to support multiple standards. Key vendors like Autodesk, Bentley and ArchiCAD all support multiple formats for the exchange of information. For the purposes of this document we will concentrate on the common ones that repeatedly appear and reappear in the UK. Common file formats supported by most software platforms include DXF, DWF, DWG, IFC, PDF, XML. In the UK, the Government Construction Strategy (GCS) looks for a Common Data Environment (CDE) and exchange format - COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) is at the core those recommendations. The GCS also requires fully collaborative 3D CAD environments for all project and asset information. COBie focuses on delivering information and not geometric modelling. COBie is a subset of IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) and was developed in the US. In COBie information is complied in a standard format spreadsheet based on excel. Data is dropped into the COBie spreadsheet in a variety of ways either through automated software outputs or manually. Different disciplines on a project will provide the COBie data as it is created during different drops. Designers provide floor, space and equipment layouts. Contractors provide make, model and serial numbers of equipment and so on. COBie data drops broadly align with the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Work Plan 2013 as follows:- COBie Data 1st Data drop 2nd Data 3rd Data 4th Data RIBA Work Plan 2013 Stage A- B Stage C-E Stage F-H Stage J-L Types of Elements Requirements & project constraints Outline Business case Checking designs against client needs Rationale for main contractor selection Additional functional requirements Supplier capability evaluation Final Production Information Procedure for tender selection Project Planning Onsite operations Project completion & handover Project analysis IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) is a platform neutral, open file format specification. It is an object-based file format with a data model developed by buildingsmart (formerly the International Alliance for Interoperability) to facilitate interoperability in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry, and is a commonly used collaboration format in Building Information Modelling (BIM) based projects. The IFC model specification is open and available and can be used to as a pathway to create COBie data drops. It is registered by ISO and is an official International Standard ISO 16739:2013.

6 Collaboration Platform The UK Government Construction Strategy calls for the electronic sharing and collaboration of all information relating to a construction project. It doesn t in any way, shape or form dictate the vendor platform to be used but is does define that all project related data be shared in a collaborative digital environment. At its most basic level (BIM Level 0) this could simply be but in the true sense of achieving Level 2 Compliance, this needs to be some form of collaborative digital platform. There are many platforms on the market that fulfil this aim and they include BlueCielo Meridien, Man and Machines G-Info, Autodesk Buzzsaw, Autodesk Vault for AEC, a simple Windows based file sharing environment, Bentley ProjectWise and Graphisoft BIM server. Increasingly these platforms are presented as cloud-based services and common ones in use today include sites like A-site, Buzzsaw, Autodesk BIM 360, Conject, 4Projects and Graphisoft. 3D Graphical Model Once again the Government s stated intent for BIM Level 2 compliance dictates the need for collaborative 3D modelling software, but it is not prescriptive about what vendors software is chosen. That said, AutoCAD is probably the most commonly and widely used 2D design tool in the world today. It is not surprising therefore that Autodesk s Revit is at the very forefront of BIM development on a worldwide basis. Also packaged as the Building Design Suite it brings additional capabilities of visualisation, construction sequencing and simulation to the design community. That said there is proliferation of other software platforms on the market including ArchiCAD, Bentley, VectorWorks and Tekla. Each software package should be evaluated for their applicability for each specific project and the extent to which they are adopting and driving BIM standardisation. BIM Objects Inevitably with main contractors and the Government dictating the adoption of BIM standards, companies are looking to create competitive advantage by providing standard BIM models for their product range. These models will be used by designers, architects and engineers to create their 3D models more easily, knowing they have the appropriate BIM attributes to create data drops more efficiently. A BIM object is a combination of many things: Information that defines what the product is Geometry representing the product s physical characteristics. Visualisation data giving the object a recognisable appearance. Functional data that enables the object to be positioned or behave in the same manner as the product itself. For each of these BIM objects it is important that they follow a standardised format to realise the full benefits of BIM. From the outset, the NBS (National Building Specification, owned by RIBA) National BIM Library set an industry standard and many objects contained in the library include COBie and IFC parameters, as well as NBS specific parameters and manufacturers additional parameters. Besides the National BIM Library, there are other sources of content including BIMStore, Autodesk Seek and smartbim library. The Benefits of Building Information Modelling High quality BIM models and the adoption of BIM methodology on projects reduces risk, saves time and reduces cost during the design, construction and operational management of a building. Proponents claim that these savings can be made due to: Improved visualisation Improved productivity due to easy retrieval of information Increased coordination of construction documents Embedding and linking of vital information such as specific materials, location details and quantities required for estimation and tendering Increased speed of delivery due to better understanding of project workflow Reduced waste due to early clash detection

7 In any event, the survey by NBS clearly highlights that BIM is here to stay and represents the future of project information. This paper serves to try and provide clarity around the current state and our experts are on hand to help provide the answers you need. References Used in this Whitepaper BIM Demystified, by Steve Race Data Exchange Standards in the AEC Industry, whitepaper by Autodesk NBS National BIM Report, 2014 Government Construction Strategy, 2011