Eyeing information across the project timeline

Professional institutions have restructured plans of work to take into consideration the early work flows required for the BIM process and to encompass the whole project lifecycle, from identifying strategic needs through to operations and end of life. Furthermore, they organize the process of briefing, designing, constructing, maintaining, operating, and using construction projects into a number of key stages. The amount and level of information increases as you progress across the project lifecycle. (Refer to Chapter 9 for more information about the timeline.)

In some instances one party can’t progress because it’s waiting for information from another. For example, the structural engineer may be waiting for the architect’s general arrangement drawings before progressing further with the structural design. BIM tries to solve this by putting information into a central depository; however, the process still relies on all parties to pull their weight and exchange information in an agreed and timely manner.

Here we discuss the different project team members’ needs and the types of information they require.

Recognizing who’s producing what

Depending on the type of procurement route chosen, a contractor may be responsible for all design work or certain aspects of the design, or have no design work at all. The responsibility matrix is a way to define what information is produced and by whom. This document is important because it clearly defines who’s producing what information and clarifies design responsibilities. The responsibility matrix should also incorporate information exchange points and the schedule of services. Refer to Chapter 8 for more about the matrix.

The amount and level of information increase over the project lifecycle as the project team develops it. Information needs to be shared during the project timeline among the project team to enable different project disciplines to complete and develop specific packages of work. Information also needs to be shared with the client at specific points along the timeline to enable the client to make strategic decisions. These sections consider the role and importance of information exchanges within the BIM process.

Establishing the brief

At the end of the project, the project information model (PIM) is a rich source of information, packed full of data. However, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you don’t need all this data from day one. Before you begin any project, you have to be clear about not only who’s doing what and how, but also why.

The briefing process and project brief lay down the requirements for the project team. In essence, the project brief explains why the project is going ahead and answers these types of questions: Why a new build? Why a refurbishment? Why this site?

Make sure that you have a robust brief in place before starting the concept stage. You wouldn’t want to pay for a three-course meal when the client only wanted a dessert! The client undertakes the brief or may draw upon the assistance of professional advisers. Briefly (pardon the pun), you can break the brief down into three stages:

• Strategic brief: Addresses the client’s business case, core objectives, and reasoning behind the project.
• Initial project brief: Further developed within the initial project brief. Consider things such as budget, sustainability, performance and quality aspirations, and project outcomes and deliverables. The client may require feasibility studies to test whether the brief is robust before the design team begins commencing any concept designs. When you have the initial brief in place, you can start the concept designs.
• Final project brief: After the design team has prepared the concept design, you must make sure that the brief is updated to include any revisions and updates; after all, design is an iterative process.

Producing feasibility studies

The client uses the feasibility study to question whether the project should go ahead, to see whether the project is viable, and to be sure you’ve looked at all the alternative options. Feasibility studies are prepared alongside the brief and help in the preparation of the strategic brief. Feasibility studies may consider things such as:

• Consents and permissions, such as planning permission and statutory approvals
• Possibilities to refurbish or reuse existing assets and facilities instead of a new-build project
• Procurement routes
• Site assessments and appraisals such as ecology, environmental impact, geotechnical, and contamination

Producing concept designs

The concept stage is when the design team members respond to the client’s project brief. For example, the client has identified that an asset needs more space to accommodate additional staff following a merger, and so the design team members get to work on planning the initial concept proposals. The concept design determines the basic framework of the project design that the project team will further develop at a later stage, such as massing, structural design, spatial layouts, and environmental and sustainability strategies, and respond to the site’s context.

The concept design may include

• Outline project specifications
• Visual indication of proposals identifying key requirements, such as access and maintenance zones
• Information that’s suitable for spatial coordination of primary systems or elements
• Schedules of areas and accommodation
• Planning strategy
• Cost plan
• Procurement options
• Program and phasing strategy

Traditionally, the drawing board and freehand sketches have been the tools of choice when getting the creative juices flowing, perhaps because they’re quick and assessable. In some situations, BIM tools may be too complex to support free-form modeling because you consider initial shapes and spaces for your concept design quickly, trying new ideas and discarding those that fail at the first hurdle. BIM software is evolving to enable this initial creative phase to occur through the use of concept tools inbuilt to the software that allow you to model shapes and geometry with no restrictions. A number of BIM tools are often marketed as lightweight and intuitive to use, and they allow you to quickly and easily sketch in 3D.

Engaging clients

Many clients may need educating as to what BIM is and the benefits it can bring. Think back to when you made a large purchase, such as a car. Were you interested in the process that the car went through during the design and manufacture process, or were you more interested in the specification, the price, and whether or not it could get you from A to B and fulfil your requirements? Remember, most clients aren’t interested in the process, only the end result.

A client may be embarking on his very first project and as such may require the project team to advise on the type of information he should be asking for. Perhaps this project is part of a number of projects the client has. Regardless, the client still requires information at strategic points in order to make informed decisions along the way.

Clients are generally looking for

• Increased building performance, achieved from analysis
• Shorter project schedules
• Reliable cost estimates and cost certainty
• Visualizations, not just for marketing purposes but also to engage other stakeholders and understand the scope of the design team
• Optimized FM strategies — by simulating building usage and understanding energy requirements, for example

Coordinating the design team

Coordination of information is a workflow that requires cooperation from the whole team and preparation and planning from the outset. Unfortunately, as of yet there isn’t a magic button that will just coordinate the data for you. Cooperation still requires a good old-fashioned conversation among the project team.

A BIM kick-off meeting is an opportunity before any modeling commences to discuss items such as naming conventions, how to share and transfer information, and any particular software file version requirements. In the section “Recognizing who’s producing what” earlier in this chapter, we discuss the responsibility matrix as a way to define what information is produced by whom. (Refer to Chapter 8 for more about the matrix.)

Producing developed designs

The purpose of the design development stage is to produce information that provides a visual representation of the proposals and confirms the brief for the technical design stage, which supports full spatial coordination. Information at a developed design stage should

• Provide developed principles of the design to a greater level of detail than the concept stage.
• Provide information that can be coordinated between all professionals.
• Provide visual development showing coordination for general size and primary relationships between different elements of the construction.
• Form a brief for a specialist subcontractor or fabricator to progress with technical design, fabrication, and installation. Include critical dimensional coordination, performance requirements, and qualities of finish.

Producing technical designs

The project team develops information further at a technical design stage. Information is developed to provide visual information and the fixed principles of the design that support procurement. Information at a technical design stage should provide

• Developed coordination between all professions
• Visual representations showing coordination for general size and relationships between different elements of the construction
• Dimensionally accurate visual representations that indicate the primary performance characteristics (graphical information represented may alter depending on visual information to be produced, such as scope of work drawings, setting out, floor loading, and so forth)
• Typical construction and installation details that are separately produced but linked to model elements and adjacent constructions

Specifying for BIM

A specifier isn’t a job title as such, but rather a function that someone performs. You can think of anyone who makes or influences the decision to use a specific building product or service as a specifier. That list could include the architect, surveyors, engineers, contractors, interior designers, facilities managers, related professions, and even the client.

Traditionally, construction professionals with significant experience undertake project specifications, so they know what products to select or specify. Specifications often commence after the detail design is complete and perhaps in some cases a little late in the day. Because the specification is often the last task completed before a project goes to tender, it can be rushed as Friday afternoon rolls around. Through BIM, the industry is not only seeing a new generation of specifiers being empowered, but also project specifications taking place at a much earlier stage in the process.

Chapter 9 discusses the digital plans of works (DPoW). Plans of work have been authored to take the BIM process into consideration where more information is produced earlier in the project lifecycle. Having earlier information gives you the opportunity to start to specify at a much earlier stage in the process; for example, you can consider performance requirements.

Bringing in BIM managers

All the different job titles — BIM manager, VDC manager, BIM coordinator, BIM engineer, BIM modeler, BIM technician, BIM specialist, BIM consultant, BIM information manager — can get a bit confusing. Before we jump the gun and dive into defining the different job titles and descriptions, take a moment to consider the needs of your business and what you’re trying to achieve. Depending on the scale of the organization, many of the roles in the following sections may overlap in parts or even focus on a very particular aspect of the role if working on a large-scale project.

In determining competency, many people turn toward qualifications and certification schemes. Increasingly, colleges and universities are including BIM modules as dedicated BIM courses. A number of professional institutions and organizations offer certification schemes leading to entry to a maintained register. These schemes vary in entrance requirements, from providing a CV and BIM case study providing evidence of core BIM competencies through to more formal educational routes where you sit an exam at the end of the course.

Reducing issues on-site with clash detection: BIM coordinators

The ability to identify clashes and mitigate them before they’re constructed results in fewer clashes on-site. Clash detection should be an on-going process, and the information manager needs to coordinate models and documents between the whole design team throughout the design process. This is enabled by a willingness to share and collaborate so that you can reuse information and keep rework of information to a minimum. (Refer to Chapter 16 for more specifics about clash detection.)

The BIM coordinator leads his construction discipline within the project and coordinates any clash detection and any actions or outcomes that may be required. You may also recognize this role as a digital project coordinator, BIM leader, or BIM integrator. Often BIM coordinators are construction professionals who are focused on a production role but have found themselves as BIM coordinators, perhaps because of the knowledge they’ve acquired, and have naturally drifted into this role, or maybe it has been developed or created around them.

Of course the duties, roles, and responsibilities of a BIM coordinator differ from organization to organization and on project to project, but in the main you can think of BIM coordinators as involved in the production side of BIM. This role has a wider set of responsibilities than information manager, and BIM coordinators usually coordinate their work with the entire design team.

Sometimes people use the terms BIM coordinator and BIM technician interchangeably. The BIM technician may also be known as a BIM modeler or BIM designer, and is more likely to be working in just one BIM platform and on one particular discipline.

Authoring objects and models for BIM

In order to have information to coordinate, you need the individuals who are focused on producing the information.

You can obtain BIM objects from a number of different sources, including BIM object libraries, public BIM library portals, and private BIM library portals, or you may create them in-house (see Chapter 10). In order to produce good-quality BIM content, the BIM author has to have a good overall understanding of BIM software and how it’s used within the project environment.

A BIM author may create content for a design team, manufacturer, or BIM library content provider. In the same way that BIM managers and BIM coordinators need to know current industry trends, BIM authors should attend conferences, research, and gather information to fully understand how others, like facility managers, use content. You only have to think about the development of the smartphone and the fact that the iPhone didn’t exist before 2007 to appreciate technology is moving at an alarming rate. Therefore, BIM authors have to consider not only current trends and standards but also those that are emerging.

Evolving from the concept design

At the concept design, outline proposals for the architectural, structural, and building services designs are prepared. Outline specifications and preliminary cost information are also considered.

At a discrete point a concept sketch becomes a generic placeholder object. A placeholder object is used when the project team has yet to decide upon the final project or solution. The object then evolves into a manufacturer object (also referred to as a product object or proprietary object) that represents an obtainable product provided by a manufacturer or supplier.

Developed design to as-built

The developed design eventually progresses to represent what has been constructed. This consists of a mixture of as-built information from specialist subcontractors and the final construction issue from the design team. The client may also wish to verify as-built information by using laser surveying technology to bring a further degree of accuracy to this information.

The object finally becomes an as-built asset object with geometry and data reflecting the actual installed product. Not all information lives in an object, as we discuss in Chapter 10. Although you can contain information such as product reference numbers within the object, sometimes linking to information outside of the BIM is better; for example, linking to a user manual through a simple hyperlink.

Table 17-1 considers the typical level of information that is required for each project stage.

Changing how the end user accesses information

Although BIM is full of useful, relevant information, it’s not that useful or even relevant if the end user can’t leverage the information from the model at the end of the day. Knowing how the information put into the model will be used in the future and by whom is impossible. That’s why the information should be in a structured and open format.

For example, you may know the weight of a building component, so you can include it within the model. This piece of information may be useful in the future for someone who has to return a faulty piece of equipment to the supplier — he can now work out any shipping rates.

Leverage information from a BIM for use in facilities management may require moving to specific BIM facility management tools or to a third-party BIM add-on tool.

Transmitting information

Many people within the process require BIM data for different things, and this information passes from one person to another: from contractors and design teams to the clients and owners, to the day-to-day facility managers, to the window cleaner, to the replacement carpet-tile manufacturer.

Assume a federated model exists somewhere. Now you can generate information such as drawings, specifications, documents, and reports from the model if the information is both structured and in an open format. You access this information directly via the model or you export information. You can communicate and transmit information by

• Exporting to portable document format (PDF)
• Exporting to extensible mark-up language (XML), for use in a database or spreadsheet
• Taking a screenshot and sending via email
• Accessing information on a mobile device through a BIM viewer
• Exporting to a text file or cutting and pasting text
• Exporting to COBie/IFC, which you can then put into proprietary FM software
• Printing out on paper (although the industry is slowly moving to a paperless environment)

Consulting with specialists for BIM

A specialist is someone who concentrates or focuses primarily on a particular subject or activity, and that person is likely to be highly skilled and knowledgeable in a specific and restricted field.

A BIM specialist may be an academic or a researcher who devotes his time and interest to a particular aspect of BIM. For example, he may focus on the development of BIM applications and technology, or perhaps the development of open standards. A BIM specialist could equally focus on modeling components, software development, or analyzing data.

Maintaining asset information

During the process of design and construction, lots of information, documents, manuals, and certificates are produced, and the project team needs new ways to collect, filter, and update them. Many basements, lofts, and cupboards across the world have in them neatly rolled-up drawings and three-ring binders lining the shelves. Imagine that over the weekend while the office was closed some lowlife tried to break in and damaged the back door in the process. Your role is to find out who manufactured the door and where you can source a new hinge to replace one that was damaged. Perhaps needle and haystack come to mind!

Chapter 8 discusses how the project team transfers information from the project information plan (PIM) to the asset information model (AIM). The project team records the requirements for an asset information model within the organization information requirements (OIR) and asset information requirements (AIR).

Managing assets and BIM for FM

In Chapter 9, we discuss the suite of documents that you can use to help explain what BIM Level 2 means. One of these, PAS 1192-3, looks at operational phases of construction projects, and specifies how the project team transfers information from the PIM to the AIM, and how an AIM is generated for an existing asset. Of equal importance is how the project team then retrieves and passes information on to an existing enterprise system such as a database.

Chapter 11 specifies how to work with COBie information. The purpose of COBie is simple: it’s a way of capturing critical information for owners and operators to assist with the management of their assets.

The project team shouldn’t duplicate information and data. In some cases linking and cross-referencing the AIM to an enterprises system may be better. Integrating information means the facility manager doesn’t have to re-enter information, resulting in better quality of data because it’s more accurate.

For example, COBie information increases during the project timeline. If you consider a boiler, for example, the project team captures COBie information such as the manufacturer name and product name. You can then extract this information from the BIM (either through a COBie import or through direct integration with the BIM platform).

The interoperability of data is critical. You can’t guarantee that a proprietary format and the technology that supports a particular software application will be supported in the future. Open-source data formats such as COBie and IFC safeguard access to data in the future. Think about an asset manager for a university or a city district. He may have five projects, two of which were created in Autodesk Revit, two in Bentley, and another in Graphisoft ArchiCAD. The costs are in Cato, Exactal, or Calcus and the specification was produced in ARCOM, eSpecs, or NBS Create.

COBie is a way of presenting your data and isn’t a request for new or additional information other than what you currently produce for a project.

Making BIM work for FM

As-built or the as-constructed BIM serves to document what was actually constructed, so the client, end user, or facilities manager can reference it in the future for projects, maintenance, or operation and management. Nongraphical data is usually better accessed and updated in a database through the use of unique identifiers.

FM is clearly where clients are going to realize a lot of the performance, maintenance, and energy benefits, but remember that the value of information decreases if it’s not kept updated to reflect any changes within the physical built asset.