BIM for the Baffled: Part 3 – BIM and the Government

In 2011 the Government published their Construction Strategy which set out their intentions towards BIM, amongst other strategies. All of these aim to modernise UK construction with a main focus of reducing the capital cost and carbon emissions of the built environment by 20%. They have stated that they will require that all public construction projects to be built using BIM from 2016, calling for the adoption of Level 2 BIM within the design and build process. The different levels are discussed in a bit more detail later but basically the Level 2 BIM comprises 3D Domain Models, 2D pdfs and COBie data sets for the project. Level 2 means that there will be managed 3D data for each object, which is formatted in a common way so that can be integrated with the rest of the design.

A BIM Task Group was established to support the Government’s Construction Strategy. They define BIM as “essentially value creating collaboration through the entire life-cycle of an asset, underpinned by the creation, collation and exchange of shared 3D models and intelligent, structured data attached to them.”

Data Format

To start with the Govenrment’s construction strategy requests that all the data for each object is provided in COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) format, as this is a vendor neutral format. This means that it is not a proprietary system that depends on a particular brand of software, instead it can be used by many different types of CAD software. This is similar to the way that the HTML code in webpages can be understood by a number of different browsers. COBie is a simplified subset of the IFC (Industry Foundation Class) which doesn’t contain any drawings or diagrams and the information provided can be contained in a spreadsheet. More information on COBie requirements can be found in the newly released BS 1192-4:2014 Collaborative production of information Part 4: Fulfilling employers information exchange requirements using COBie – Code of practice.

The data for each object can be held in locations such as the NBS National BIM library, a free online resource which contains both generic BIM objects as well as more specific ones which are provided by manufacturers and contain exact information about the object. Our BIM objects can be found on thelibrary, as well as on our website. The use of a library allows the BIM objects to be easily found and downloaded for use in a project.

BIM Maturity Levels 

The Government have specified that the data provided on public construction projects to be provided at maturity level 2 by 2016. The levels are as follows:

• Level 0 – Flat CAD with no 3D info (traditional drawings)
• Level 1 – Managed in CAD in 2D or 3D with a collaboration tool providing a common data environment.
• Level 2 – Managed 3D environment held in separate discipline ‘BIM tools’ with attached data. Commercial data is managed by various software tools.
• Level 3 – Fully integrated, interoperable BIM

These levels are not intended as a target which should be achieved and that’s it, rather they are designed as a guideline with the intention that BIM will continue to develop and evolve as we use it. Level 2 should not be the be all and end all, merely a step in the journey.

The advantage of using these models at a more mature level of information means that the effects of altering one element of the design can be reflected throughout the model and in all views that display that element, for example if a wall is altered then all the views that display that element, from the CAD drawings to the 3D model can be intelligently altered by the model, because they are all from the same underlying information.

For more information about BIM take a look at the BIM Task Group’s website, and visit the BIM categoryon our blog to read the rest of the posts in this series.

With BIM contractors can avoid project delays

In an interview with CWQ, Shamma elaborated: “I think the requirement of good project management is to ensure that the person who is in charge of the projects management, the director of a particular project, has the experience within the field in which he will be project managing. For example, if he is to project manage a mall development, it makes sense that his experience is within that sector of the industry.

“Their skills are best utilised in areas in which they have most experience. The worst mistake is to bring someone with no experience in that field and then put them in charge of it. These people know what’s coming and they’ve seen the problems before; it’s lessons learnt.”

With a number of project tenders on hold, it makes sense to ensure that information gathering is accurate and timeous. Shamma concurs that tenders are often incomplete when submitted, leading to delays.

“MEP has traditionally been a problem area. Typically there are clashes between MEP and structure. However, there are certain new technologies that help deal with this. BIM is certainly a tool that we are successfully using [on the Doha Festival City project] as it helps iron out the clashes before they occur. Case in point is IKEA, which has a significant MEP portion to it, and through using BIM it ran smoothly and we were able to deliver the project in good time.”

Shamma stressed that the project manager must have these additional skills: “The PM must have good MEP experience, with dedicated MEP staff and a specialist who has his own expertise in MEP in a specific discipline. He must also have BIM skills, specific to the category of project on which work is undertaken eg: malls, entertainment areas, hotels etc.

“Project management is about advanced planning and getting the right people.”

According to Shamma: “Good project manager dip into their pool of experience from lessons learned and anticipates what is going to be the problem and deal with it from an early stage. Then it will not run into delays or extra costs as they can be mitigated.”
 

Published 21st November 2014 13:45 GMT 
Source: www.constructionweekonline.com/article-31334-good-project-managers-avoid-project-delays

History of Building Information Modelling

From discussions with various industry bodies, companies and software vendors, one could be forgiven for thinking that BIM is a “new craze”.  Use of BIM as a buzzword has snowballed in the past few years.  I even had a reviewer of one of my papers telling me that “BIM is a trademark owned by Autodesk and should be recognised as such”! This is totally untrue but a web-search yields many mentions of Phil Bernstein (an Autodesk VP) being behind the acronym (you can’t trust everything you read on the internet).

In reality, the processes and technologies behind BIM have been evolving for at least 40 years. Yes – 40 years! Well before many of the current crop of “BIM gurus” were born. Early researchers included Chuck Eastman (then at CMU, now at Georgia Tech), Tom Maver at Strathclyde University,   Arto Kiviniemi in Finland (now at Salford University), and John Mitchell and Robin Drogemuller (QUT) in Australia.  All five are still invested in driving research and industry forward in this area.

Eastman’s 1975 paper “The use of computers instead of drawings in building design”  described a working prototype “Building Description System (BDS)”, which included ideas of parametric design, deriving 2D drawings from a model, a “single integrated database for visual and quantitative analyses” and he also suggests that “Contractors of large projects may find this representation advantageous for scheduling and materials ordering”.  Eastman was describing “BIM” seven years before Autodesk was founded, and 25 years before the first version of Revit was released!

During the 1970s and 1980s development continued around the world.  The BDS approach tended to be described as “Building Product Models” in the USA, and “Product Information Models” in Europe.  These phrases them merged to become “Building Information Model”. Robert Aish (who was a creator of Generative Components but is now a member of Autodesk Research) first documented the term “Building Modelling”, in the sense we use BIM today, in 1986.

The term “Building Information Model” was first documented in English in a paper by van Nederveen and Tolman (1992), from TU Delft in the Netherlands.

Many websites, papers and books claim that Jerry Laiserin coined the term “BIM”.  However, Laiserin himself in his introduction to the BIM Handbook (Eastman et al, 2007), denies this.  He states that he attempted to popularise the term in 2002 and 2003 (though as described above the term had been coined at least 10 years before then).  Laiserin states:

rather than “Father of BIM” – as a few well-meaning but over-enthusiastic peers have labelled me – I prefer the unattributed epithet “godfather of BIM”, in the sense that a godfather is an adult sponsor of a child not his own. If anyone deserves the title “father of BIM”, surely it is Chuck Eastman (Eastman et al, 2007, pxiii).

Still, instead of fighting over rights to buzzwords, we should be focusing on what the original researchers intended, which is a much more collaborative construction industry utilising the best available technologies to improve information flow, reduce errors and therefore increase efficiency.

Is there a BIM architecture?

Despite being ostensibly termed a “design tool”, BIM is never normally associated with what a building looks like. BIM’s capabilities are usually aligned to more procedural matters such as team co-ordination, facilities management, 3D visualisation and data control, with architectural characteristics rarely considered to be directly determined by BIM. However, as BIM’s impact across architecture and construction grows, might this increasingly be the case?

Phil Bernstein, architect and vice-president at software giant Autodesk and the man widely credited with first coining the term “BIM”, has said in the past that there was a strong correlation between some of the architectural forms of the Eighties and the launch of early AutoCAD software.

“If you go back to the early Eighties there is absolutely no doubt that you could identify which buildings were designed using AutoCAD. The proliferation of various geometric shapes and curves showed that the tools became the form.”

Is the same thing happening now? Is the growing use of BIM software leading to an emerging style of architecture with a consistent set of aesthetic characteristics? Some think this might be, as Russell Curtis, director of architectural practice RCKa, explains. “BIM is not a design tool but increasingly it can contribute to what a building looks like. The use of parametric algorithms in design is certainly something that can, at least in part, be attributed to BIM software and there are certain aspects visible in elements like procedural cladding systems that can also be said to have originated from BIM.”

In the Eighties, the influence of AutoCAD software was principally architecturally conveyed in the agglomeration of simple geometric shapes, such as spheres, rotundas and triangles, combined to generate architectural form. This can be partially attributed to the popularity of post-modern architecture at the time which revelled in the almost child-like simplicity of bright colours and distinct shapes. But for many like Bernstein, these aesthetics were also linked to the constraints and capabilities of the fledgling CAD software of the time.

What might be the equivalent architectural characteristics of BIM-inspired buildings? Ironically, it would probably be the opposite of the simplicity espoused by AutoCAD. Complex facades, the juxtaposition of several materials, greater facade articulation in the form of multiple recesses and projections and the use of divergent geometric shapes of varying complexity to construct the building’s form.

According to Curtis, “this kind of thing is particularly evident in the commercial sector”, but there are perhaps traces of it within the residential architecture sector too, particularly in larger inner-city developments. Curtis also points out that the deployment of an unnecessarily large palette of materials might also be the result of planning intervention with the customary emphasis on “contextual integration”.

However, for Curtis, the influence of BIM on a building’s appearance goes beyond architectural style characteristics alone. “It’s very important that the design vision is what’s in the architect’s mind and not the computer’s. BIM has the potential to be hugely empowering for architects and it can give us the opportunity to regain some of the ground that has been lost to other areas of the industry.

“But the danger with BIM is that clients might be so impressed with what they think we as architects can do technologically that they forget what’s really important: the design. For us, architecture is about responding to context and not about getting caught up with the technology.”

HS2 plans ‘carrott and stick’ to incentivise contractors on BIM

HS2 head of systems and asset and systems information Jon Kerbey has told BIM+ how it intends to upskill its contractors and implement the execution plan in the HS2 BIM Supply Chain Upskilling Study, which last month concluded that BIM maturity was realistically achievable in HS2’s timescales.

But he also discussed the possibility – raised at last month’s HS2 procurement conference – that HS2 will link contractors’ milestone payments to the delivery of BIM data. 

Last month, the Mace-written study concluded that 94% of the supply chain was already using BIM, 60% had a BIM strategy with defined goals, 71% were making financial provision for BIM, and 60% were working to a BIM standard.

The study also includes an “execution plan” detailing the next steps to raise the supply chain’s ability to work in BIM, including the creation of an “HS2 digital campus for supply chain orientation, upskilling and new entrants”, and setting up an e-learning portal.

Kerbey said: “We are currently putting together an implementation plan of how we will drive through this initiative, and see if we can use the High Speed Rail College to implement [parts of] the execution plan.

“We’re not sure what that might look like, but we might be able to utilise some of their facilities for a ‘digital campus’ where participants can test out what they do, and what it will feel like to be in a collaborative environment.

“We want to help them upskill and we will push our requirements out to the industry early. Everyone will be affected by the use of BIM, right down to the bottom of the supply chain. But we will provide tools, guidance and educational content to upskill on BIM, and make sure we are not overlapping with the BIM Task Group.”

BIM+ also asked Kerbey to respond also to comments made by HS2’s commercial director Beth West at an HS2 procurement conference on October 19, when she asked: “Do we want to say: ‘We are not going to pay you until your information is in BIM,’ which would solve a whole host of problems?”

Infrastructure tech: beyond 3D modelling

The need for enhanced project efficiency through collaborative workflows, greater return on investment and enhanced resilience to disasters, is driving the use of technology in the infrastructure industry. 

So says Graham Irwin, industry sales director at Bentley Systems, a producer of software solutions for the design, construction and operation of infrastructure.

The security and integrity of information must be ensured as it is shared across various project disciplines and infrastructure life cycle phases, says Irwin. The infrastructure life cycle is made up of the design, construction and operations phases, he explains.

He believes 3D modelling represents an important first step in addressing the challenges of information flow in the cycle, and also helps facilitate information reuse and sharing in the design phase.

However, he notes, leading infrastructure organisations − including some governments − are advancing beyond 3D design and pushing for expanded use of building information modelling (BIM).

BIM technology is considered invaluable to the delivery of a construction project, since it provides a common single and co-ordinated source of structured information throughout the life cycle of a project. With BIM, accurate data can be accessed throughout the supply chain, adds Irwin.

South African infrastructure organisations are ready to adopt BIM methodologies, but lack greater understanding of this approach to meet the needs of the entire infrastructure life cycle, he says.

He suggests SA looks to the UK Government BIM Task Group as an exemplary model for BIM implementation.

Irwin points out one of the major holdbacks to increased use of advanced technologies in the infrastructure industry is the misconception these advancements will lead to the need for fewer workers, reducing the number of jobs available.

However, he says this technology is a tool to assist employees in being more productive and efficient, thereby increasing their value to the organisation. "One way to help overcome these misunderstandings is through proper training in not only the new software, but also in best practices."

Given the importance of the mining and metals industry to the region, South African organisations seeking a competitive advantage need to improve engineering information management, including change management, to enhance information integrity, says Irwin.

At the same time, they need to improve operational efficiency, while streamlining the business processes associated with sustaining infrastructure assets over the infrastructure life cycle, he concludes.

Spotlight on Becher Neme: BIM Expert Pushes a Zero-Change-Order Approach

The team that makes up Neme Design Solutions, a Long Beach, California-based BIM consultancy, specializes in simplifying highly complex projects to enable fabrication.

Led by founder Becher Neme, the firm includes a small team of architects and engineers with more than a decade of experience working onsite with general contractors, and with particular expertise in the CATIA solution.

This combination of field experience and software knowledge has helped the firm carve out a unique niche in model clash detection and resolving interface challenges.

Yesterday’s Improvements Are Today’s Inefficiencies

While Neme notes that the AEC industry has flocked to BIM as a means for improving construction efficiency, the tools commonly used require certain sacrifices.

Case in point, one of the firm’s primary services is coordinating clash detection among BIM models. Today, most general contractors launch a project by meeting with all of the trade contractors.

Dozens of people bring their 3D models and, through a seemingly endless series of meetings, they run clash detection to find potential conflicts among systems. When conflicts are found, each model is updated with the solution.

Neme left these meetings wondering: how much time is invested in preparing for these meetings? How much money is spent on getting all parties involved on the same page? If BIM is about providing project efficiency, how can this process be made more efficient?

A Single-Source Solution

While clash detection can be easy, there’s value to be gained in resolving these conflicts more efficiently. To do so, Neme Design Solutions has explored the single-source model concept.

The idea is that Neme Design Solutions works with the general contractor to create an accurate BIM model before subs are brought on board. A small, highly skilled team creates a highly accurate model. As much as 90 percent of the conflicts can be resolved at this stage.

Next, the trade contractors are brought in. Rather than resolving hundreds of modeling conflicts, this wider group fine-tunes the existing model before moving directly to fabrication and installation.

The Peak of Precision

This single-source solution is already in action on several of Neme’s projects.

Among them, the Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center required the high-precision work for which the CATIA software solution is best known. The project features a highly complex ETFE roof with more than 3,000 connection components.

The roofing contractor brought Neme Design Solutions onboard when the sub determined its software could not handle the roof’s intricate geometry.

By developing a comprehensive, single-source 3D model, the roofing team was able to extract fabrication drawings so accurate that only four of the 3,000 components ultimately needed changes.

But it is Tivoli Village—a mixed-use development in Las Vegas—that perhaps best demonstrates the unique benefits possible from single-source models.

General contractor Hardstone Construction took complete charge of this 2 million square foot project. As part of a small team of CATIA experts, Neme was deeply involved in developing a single-source model for the project. He rendered the MEP part of that model to be conflict-free and ready for installation.

With the help of this process, the $350 million first phase of the Tivoli Village was so efficient that it had virtually no change orders. The general contractor was able to beat the budget in several areas.

BIM is deployed in UAE's largest Mosques

Abu Dhabi: Al Ain will have one of the largest mosques in the UAE by 2016.

And when the mega project is completed, the new facility will hold more than 20,000 worshippers

The construction of His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Masjid in Al Ain is being carried out by the Department of President’s Affairs and its first phase has been completed, a senior official told Gulf News in an interview.

Once open, the 15,684-square-metre mosque will service a growing population in the Al Ain area.

It will be located at Al Mahat in the heart of Al Ain City close to the UAE University Campus.

“During the planning stage, President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan was very keen that people in Al Ain should be able to have easy access to the masjid. People can simply walk to the masjid from the city,” Dr Mubarak Sa’ad Al Ahbabi, Chairman of the Department of the President’s Affairs, said.

To achieve this goal, the project was designed with “walk-friendly” features.

“Even old people can easily walk to the prayer hall without climbing any steps or use lifts or escalators. The parking area is on the same level. After parking their car, they don’t need to walk more,” Dr Al Ahbabi said.

The Department of the President’s Affairs is coordinating with local authorities in Al Ain to ensure that roads around the project will provide easy access to the masjid.

Construction started in December 2013.

Dr Al Ahbabi designed the project in collaboration with various professionals and is supervising its progress. He has successfully overseen similar iconic projects in Abu Dhabi during the past two decades, such as Emirates Palace and Landmark Tower.

The mosque will be on a plot of 256,680 square metres and will have a big dome and four minarets.

“The dome, being one of the biggest in the UAE, is the most attractive feature of the masjid,” Al Ahbabi said.

The dome has an exterior diameter of 86 metres, an interior diameter of 75 metres and an interior height of 31.3 metres. Four minarets will have a height of 60 metres each.

All these features will be appropriately decorated in the final stage.

The prayer halls will be simple to ensure that worshippers will not be distracted by decorations or paintings.

“Worshippers can pray peacefully in a serene surrounding in this Masjid,” Al Ahbabi said.

Dr Al Ahbabi, who earned his doctorate from the University of Salford in the UK on Building Information Modelling (BIM), said he utilised his research findings in refining the design to achieve about 30 per cent saving of the project’s estimated cost.

Infrastructure tech: beyond 3D modelling

The need for enhanced project efficiency through collaborative workflows, greater return on investment and enhanced resilience to disasters, is driving the use of technology in the infrastructure industry. 

So says Graham Irwin, industry sales director at Bentley Systems, a producer of software solutions for the design, construction and operation of infrastructure.

The security and integrity of information must be ensured as it is shared across various project disciplines and infrastructure life cycle phases, says Irwin. The infrastructure life cycle is made up of the design, construction and operations phases, he explains.

He believes 3D modelling represents an important first step in addressing the challenges of information flow in the cycle, and also helps facilitate information reuse and sharing in the design phase.

However, he notes, leading infrastructure organisations − including some governments − are advancing beyond 3D design and pushing for expanded use of building information modelling (BIM).

BIM technology is considered invaluable to the delivery of a construction project, since it provides a common single and co-ordinated source of structured information throughout the life cycle of a project. With BIM, accurate data can be accessed throughout the supply chain, adds Irwin.

South African infrastructure organisations are ready to adopt BIM methodologies, but lack greater understanding of this approach to meet the needs of the entire infrastructure life cycle, he says.

He suggests SA looks to the UK Government BIM Task Group as an exemplary model for BIM implementation.

Irwin points out one of the major holdbacks to increased use of advanced technologies in the infrastructure industry is the misconception these advancements will lead to the need for fewer workers, reducing the number of jobs available.

However, he says this technology is a tool to assist employees in being more productive and efficient, thereby increasing their value to the organisation. "One way to help overcome these misunderstandings is through proper training in not only the new software, but also in best practices."

Given the importance of the mining and metals industry to the region, South African organisations seeking a competitive advantage need to improve engineering information management, including change management, to enhance information integrity, says Irwin.

At the same time, they need to improve operational efficiency, while streamlining the business processes associated with sustaining infrastructure assets over the infrastructure life cycle, he concludes.

How BIM Helped Walt Disney Build Its Most Complex Creation Ever

“This is, by far, the most complex castle we’ve ever done,” says David Abair, Senior Concept Architect at WDI who worked on the design of the Storybook Castle. “We’ve got a restaurant, a stage show, a boat ride, a walk-through, a meet-and-greet, a grand staircase, and a whole host of support spaces underneath. It was because of this complexity that we knew the process would necessitate a different approach to the design. It was one heavily reliant on 3D modeling and on coordination between all of the design disciplines involved.”

The challenge of the Enchanted Storybook Castle was to create a reasonable design companion to Walt Disney World Resort’s Cinderella Castle while also including a much more modern and complex interior, including a central double-helical staircase, restaurant, fountain pumps, a boat-ride system and its maintenance facility, and a children’s salon, among many other features.

The building does not look exactly like Cinderella Castle, as the Enchanted Storybook Castle is the first Disney castle to feature all of the company’s film princesses. But it does take certain design cues from iconic Disney towers and architectural details, such as its windows and roofs. At more than 200-feet tall, it’s also the largest of Disney’s castles.

Building a BIM Castle in the Cloud. The Enchanted Storybook castle was designed entirely in 3D, and the WDI team used a building information modeling (BIM) process that took cloud collaboration to new heights. This allowed easier sharing of models, less rework for communications, and better detail. BIM-enabled collaboration using web-based social, video-telepresence, and cloud-based computing also brought together dozens of team members in both Glendale and the Shanghai construction location, allowing key project milestones to be delivered successfully.

Although the architectural team made the conversion to Revit software, the Structural and MEP disciplines within the WDI team continued to use AutoCAD. To facilitate data exchange between the disciplines, the team developed an in-house workflow as well. Custom scripts allowed design files to easily and automatically provide a daily output of architectural Revit information for the other disciplines.

Many disciplines—142 in all, including architects, engineers, and sub-contractors—worked on opposite sides of the globe to design the project together.

“Another challenge was that the design, about halfway through, had to be localized in Shanghai,” said Eric Anderson, AIA, the project integration manager at WDI. “We had two sides of the world in the workflow—in Glendale and in Shanghai. So one of the things we did to disseminate information across the team was to make a BIM information diagram to show who is responsible for what and how their information is being passed down across the globe.”

Because of issues with Internet connectivity in China, the team used a cloud-based construction collaboration platform called Buzzsaw to transfer updates to the BIM model back and forth between Glendale and Shanghai.

Roman Introduce BIM

Roman’s key collections of products can now be downloaded in the BIM format straight from their website in their Downloads and Guides section. Roman understands that information is key in the BIM process and its main objective is to bring further efficiency and significant improvements to the industry. Roman knew they had to be involved with BIM immediately and consequently their products are now easily and readily available in the BIM format to all who require these files. 

What is most important and significant in BIM is that not only does it give a visual representation of the specific product but it also provides their provenance and Standards. The provenance being the manufacturer’s details, such as, the range name, door style and product code and very importantly all relevant Standards, such as EN Standards and CE marking. The inclusion of all these critical details subsequently mean that if the product is substituted for an inferior or non-conformant product in any stage of the design plan this will be highlighted to a client as being non-conformant. 

The introduction of BIM will see many advantages, such as, saving crucial time for all parties, much more accuracy in estimation and very importantly the avoidance of error, alterations and rework due to information loss. 

David Osborne, Managing Director of Roman, commented: “BIM is taking off at a speed and we knew without delay that we had to have our products available in the BIM format, to ensure that we stay ahead in the industry.”

Success Story: The Design Büro’s Race to BIM

When the United Kingdom’s Cabinet announced in 2011 that all government buildings must be delivered using Building Information Modeling (BIM) by 2016, some architectural firms may have questioned their ability to meet this demand. The Design Büro, however, didn’t bat an eye.

Upgrading their software and learning how to adopt a BIM workflow was crucial to The Design Büro because they primarily work on government-funded projects. Founded in 1991 in Warwickshire, United Kingdom, The Design Büro specializes in creating health and social care facilities that contribute to one’s wellbeing. The firm’s designers believe that environments play an important role in the healing process, so they work closely with the people who will use their buildings to ensure they get the features they need to meet their clinical goals. “Our designs focus on the needs of patients, their families, and the staff members who work in the facilities to provide a supportive, inspiring, and flexible environment,” Marshall says. Doing all this while keeping their projects sustainable, practical, and within budget has made the firm successful.

Test Project: The Tamarind Centre

Before the firm jumped directly into a BIM workflow, designers tested Vectorworks® Architect software with a traditional 2D process on The Tamarind Centre in Yardley Green, Birmingham, a state-of-the-art, medium-secure mental healthcare facility. Named after an African herb said to promote healing and recovery, the Centre, delivered in 2012, is important to The Design Büro. “We have a long-standing relationship with the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, the client for this project,” says Marshall. “We were involved with that project for six years, and it was extremely critical for us to meet the aspirations of the end users. We were very passionate about being able to understand what our client wanted from our architecture and delivering that to them.”

The Tamarind Centre is a 7,800-square-meter, purpose-built, 89-bedroom facility that provides a cohesive healthcare campus and a high-quality, positive healing environment. The unit forms part of the overall development plan for the Yardley Green Campus and was centrally located on the site to ensure that more quiet, therapeutic external spaces could be formed. Its location, away from main roads, also aids security and provides natural screening. The facility consists of a three-story administration building and seven single-story wards with space for patient bedrooms, a dental suite, occupational therapy rooms, and recreational open space. All wards and buildings are linked within a secure courtyard via covered walkways with views of the recreational sports area.

The Tamarind Centre was The Design Büro’s last major project to be completed entirely in 2D. It won the Birmingham City Council Building Consultancy’s 2013 Built in Quality Award due to the firm’s high standard of work, excellent communication and collaboration with all parties involved, and careful attention to the requirements of the end users.

Taking a Leap of Faith with BIM

Entering the world of BIM was the next logical step for this successful firm, and its first, large-scale BIM endeavor was to design the Pathology Department building for the Ysbyty Glan Clywd Hospital in North Wales. “It was a leap of faith for us at the outset because we didn’t really know what BIM meant at that time,” Marshall says. The Pathology building has since become a landmark project for the firm. Completed in 2013, the facility houses the Microbiology, Histopathology, Cytology, and Blood Sciences departments on the ground floor, as well as staff facilities and offices on the top. For having such serious business completed within, the exterior of the building is refreshingly bright and vibrant. Multi-colored windows decorate the sleek façade, bringing light and warmth into the modern interior.

Close collaboration with key stakeholders was paramount to match functionality with design. The firm strived to use the full capabilities of BIM, freely exchanging information during the conceptual, design, and construction phases with specialist subcontractors brought into the workflow to help with building solutions and digital fabrication. “We were able to utilize our BIM model to have the building’s pre-cast elements made off site by Laing O’Rourke’s Explore Manufacturing,” says Marshall. “This is where we started to see the real wins for BIM in cost, speed, and health and safety.”

Since this was The Design Büro’s prototype BIM project, the firm set up parallel design teams. One group worked in 2D to create signoff materials, and the other team worked in 3D to model the building. The contractor told them that they could revert to an entirely 2D process if the BIM transition became too much to handle. However, designers picked up the intuitive workflows of Vectorworks Architect quickly and soon moved the whole project into 3D. “We realized as the project progressed that the 3D team was not only working faster than the 2D team, but that they were also producing better outputs from the model to aid user signoff,” says Marshall. “We converted the 2D team to assist the 3D team, which ultimately delivered the project in a more efficient fashion.”

Bentley Systems and Highways Agency Announce AssetWise Academy

LONDON – The Year in Infrastructure 2014 Conference – Bentley Systems, the leading provider of software solutions for sustaining infrastructure, and the Highways Agency, responsible for operating, maintaining, and improving England’s strategic road network, today announce plans for an AssetWise Academy. Bentley’s AssetWise software is already being rolled out and further extended to serve as the Highways Agency’s Integrated Asset Management Information System (IAM IS). Now Bentley and the Highways Agency announce plans to provide a virtual environment for introducing and propagating best practices for BIM-enabled asset management, through the AssetWise Academy.

David Robertson, Bentley Director, BIM academies, said, “Building on the successful academy development with Crossrail, the goal of the Highways Agency’s new AssetWise Academy is to drive industry best practices and standards, evolve solution templates, capture and recycle lessons learned, and advance asset lifecycle information management across the Highways Agency’s business. This will be achieved through onboarding and awareness sessions, forums, and targeted seminars and working groups within the AssetWise Academy, all supported by project-specific course content created jointly by Bentley and the Highways Agency.”

Robert Greaves, Head of IT at the Highways Agency, said, “As the Highways Agency changes our structural focus to become increasingly dynamic, forward thinking, and commercially driven around asset management, the AssetWise Academy will play a key role in helping us propagate best practices to take full advantage of AssetWise IAM IS capabilities as they grow. Bentley’s work has already included rollout of the solution to a significant proportion of our asset support contracts, and ongoing development will next year include Network Events, and then Structures, followed by Drainage, and Geotechnics implementation in 2016.”

In 2012, Bentley’s AssetWise software platform became the Highways Agency’s comprehensive foundation (IAM IS) for asset information management, and will replace 17 disparate systems. AssetWise provides management and visibility of network and asset data using multiple linear referencing methods within a single spatial and temporal-enabled database, furnishing a robust network database model to underpin and integrate network-based applications. It also helps users control information and manage change throughout the asset lifecycle, ensuring the delivery of accurate, trusted information to operations and maintenance teams.

The AssetWise platform ensures that the Highways Agency and its supply chain will share a single, integrated system for information management related to roadway assets inventory, condition, defects, and repair works. The Highways Agency is using this common data to support and measure, in an accurate and consistent way, the ability of its service providers to complete roadworks that improve the safety of roads and highways and reduce traffic congestion. Bentley’sMANAGEservices is facilitating the provisioning, expedited deployment, and operation of the Highways Agency’s AssetWise asset information management services in a hybrid cloud-services environment.

Alan Kiraly, Bentley Senior Vice President, server products, said, “The AssetWisesoftware platform brings together proven technologies (deriving from Exor, eB,Bentley Map, and InspectTech, among others) that offer new information mobility and comprehensive integration on behalf of owner-operators such as the Highways Agency. With AssetWise, we are advancing our future platform for all owner-operators. Significantly, this is enabling us to deliver IAM IS to the Highways Agency as a commercial off-the-shelf software offering, cloud-service provisioned through our MANAGEservices. Our dedicated team is responsible also for the delivery of learning, operational support, and change management for the Agency and its service providers. We are currently discussing with the Agency how ourAssetWise Academy can be deployed to support further innovation, addressed towards people and processes, for fully achieving the benefits of technology advances.”

BIM and sustainability: a growing partnership

According to a recent manifesto from the New Sustainable Energy Association, the UK could save £12.2bn a year between now and 2050 if it focuses on delivering greener buildings. Traditionally, it's the environmental factor which has driven sustainable building, but now businesses are also recognising the financial benefits.

An example of this is the Government's initial 2016 zero-carbon mandate for all new homes, which was focused on promoting green policies and sustainability. However, there is now also political recognition and backing for the business and economic value of sustainable buildings, with the same zero-carbon standard being applied to all non-domestic structures by 2019.

To achieve the initial 2016 mandate, the government also simultaneously created the BIM Task Group. It recognised that by using BIM technology it could help reduce investment costs and the impact on the environment by up to 20% by evaluating considerations such as building materials, air leakage, build costs and householder experience. We're still at the stage where the construction industry is working out exactly how BIM can be used to design and create structures that are sustainable in every sense of the word, but there's already been a great deal of progress in this area.

DESIGN AT THE CORE OF SUSTAINABILITY
At the core of sustainable building is design, and it's important for designers to ramp up their knowledge of sustainable practices. In the 1980s there wasn't so much consideration about sustainability or cost of use - we built big shiny glass towers and fitted expensive and inefficient air-conditioning systems as an afterthought to make them habitable. But now, as the clean tech market matures, technology has developed and BIM makes it much easier to design sustainably, without comprising on aesthetics.

Some industry practitioners have embraced BIM as a logical next-step process in aiding sustainable design and construction of eco-friendly buildings. However, although BIM has gained traction in recent years, its pairing with sustainability is still only an emerging trend, and there remains confusion with architects and engineers as to the benefits it can deliver. But there are many reasons why BIM should be an essential tool in sustainable design. Its fundamental processes - simulation and visualisation - enable professionals to become more efficient and make more informed decisions. It also enhances cost-effectiveness by, for example, reducing wastage of time and materials.

BIM IN PRACTICE
More and more building projects are putting sustainability at the forefront of design and using BIM tools, such as energy simulation, in the construction process. At a basic level, BIM incorporates visualisation software so that architects are able to create photorealistic renderings that outline the physical, real-world space available. This enables them to efficiently design the building and include space-saving concepts such as mobile working areas, desk sharing features and telecommuting, which not only reduce the size of the area built but also achieve a corresponding decrease in energy usage.

Visualisation can also be used to test out various sustainable methods prior to constructing the building, by incorporating details of the surrounding areas into 3D BIM software. For example, New York-based architects SHoP were able to make changes at various stages of the design process of the Botswana Innovation Hub because they used a model-based design prior to construction. This meant that following a series of reviews by a number of architects and structural engineers, they came up with the best sustainable practices for the building, which included changing the parking structure to reduce the amount of steel needed - reducing the structural costs by up to five per cent. They also analysed the impact of sun on the building, implementing ample overhangs to shade and keep the building cool and formed a living roof, which collects rain water for reuse.

he process is not limited to new builds; it can also be applied to existing structures to improve sustainability. In a retrofit, the building is captured with a camera, satellite images or a laser scan, and architects run energy simulations that detail how the building could optimise its energy usage. A simple retrofit example is installing a 'cool roof' to reduce cooling loads during the hot weather, which can be achieved by either analysing the roof type or considering placements of rooftop photovoltaics (PV). The design software has isolation values embedded that can identify where the sun and its shadows are at every hour of every day of the year predict whether cool rooftops or PV panels offer better cost savings.

As BIM can be easily scaled up, it can also be used in large projects, such as assessing and designing entire cities. For example, Vancouver built a simulated version of its entire city by combining terrain files, building footprints, satellite photos and GIS data into a 3D modelling program. With this information it can identify how shifts in population affect density and how the landscape would change due to new infrastructure projects, identifying if there are any opportunities for a mass building energy retrofit to improve sustainability.

These are just a few ways that BIM can be used in designing and constructing sustainable buildings, but they aptly highlight beneficial ways in which the process is enabling the architectural, engineering and construction industry to design eco-friendly and sustainable buildings, mapping the way for the cities of the future. Using such digital tools allows for construction to be simulated before a structure is built or adapted, permitting observation, analysis and discussions that lead to the best economic and sustainable decisions possible for the project. And now that BIM can be used in the cloud, it's so much easier for architects, engineers and contractors to collaborate, which reduces errors and increases efficiency.

FUTURE GAZING
To reach the economic savings mapped out by the New Sustainable Energy Association, planning for the future is essential and BIM enables professionals to be innovative while mitigating the risks of trying something new and unpredictable. As these sustainable building practices become more mainstream, more data will be collected which will make it easier to incorporate best practices and key principles into structures of the future. This is important not just in terms of the initial design and build costs but, more importantly, the running costs and return on investment on the build, as owners look for the most energy efficient solutions.

As seen by the various initiatives undertaken by the government, not only through the zero carbon mandates but also planning policy statements, sustainable will become the norm. Designing for green should no longer be an afterthought; it's time to embrace it at the start of the process. Depending on the build, whether a new design or retrofit, the sustainable attributes will be varied but the overall benefits of BIM will remain the same. Ultimately, BIM allows for a more informed approach to design and construction, ensuring that projects are completed on time and on budget, and utilise the best sustainable practices available to them. 

Building a Storied Career Around Easing Design Complexity

Today Dr. David Gerber serves as assistant professor ofArchitecture and Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California, but the title he claims is far simpler than his multi-disciplinary research aims.

The son of an engineer and a computer scientist, Gerber has called many countries (and at one point, a sailboat) home, and his work today reflects that blend of technological interests and global perspectives. A design architect by training, Gerber has worked for some of the world’s most innovative architecture and technology firms, including Gehry Technologies and Zaha Hadid Architects.

Since then he has served as professor, lecturer, author, and founder of several technology startups, but his work revolves around one theme: the intersection of architecture, design with computation, and technology.

Finding A Better Way

It was during his time with Zaha Hadid Architects more than 14 years ago that Gerber says he discovered the lesson that would set his career trajectory.

That path, as he describes it, has been “to develop parametric skillsets, technologies, and knowledge to better equip designers to handle real-world complexity, while maintaining the highest level of quality in design possible.”

Gerber had won the title of project architect and manager for a massive new project: the One North master plan in Singapore. The design called for a 30-year master plan for a city of 200,000 people, with 5 million square meters of gross floor area over 200 hectares of land.

At that time, parametric design wasn’t a term ever heard in architecture, but the connection of information it allows was greatly needed by such a complex project.

“There weren’t any tools for me to appropriately manage my responsibilities, which was to link the data to my geometry while my geometry was changing on an hourly basis,” Gerber recalls. “And the data sets were enormous.”

Ultimately, Gerber developed a program that linked this information. However, he left the project thinking, “There has got to be a better way to enable good design, while not losing the bidirectional impact from geometry to data, and data to geometry.”

Exploring Parametrics

The Singapore master plan was a project with a painful lesson, learned under a tight schedule and cost constraints, among other challenges. Yet Gerber knew the tool he had commissioned while working on the project—what he calls the first parametric urbanism tool—was a first step toward smarter design.

From Zaha Hadid Architects, Gerber went on to Harvard’s Graduate School of Design to pursue his doctorate. It was in a class taught by his advisor that Gerber discovered CATIA®.

It was among the first classes in which architects were instructed on CATIA, and it was eye-opening for Gerber to realize that there already existed technologies in engineering disciplines that he and his colleagues had tried to duplicate in the architectural setting.

“This became the 4-year trajectory of my PhD studies, in which I wrote one of the first PhDs in architecture on parametric design,” Gerber says.

His early experience in CATIA, through classes and work at MIT’s Media Lab where he was appointed as a research fellow, became an asset that helped Gerber earn an internship at Gehry Technologies, where he was able to further develop this knowledge for architecture.

Since then, through lectures, teaching and publications, Gerber has set out to help others realize the “better way” of delivering highly complex projects.

Removing Uncertainty

Gerber believes that parametric design tools and the shift to 3D design have become so valuable to designers because they help address the problem of uncertainty that is characteristic of design.

“As designers, we have a huge amount of responsibility because our visions carry with them 100- to 200-year lifespans and life cycle costs,” Gerber says.

Given this duration, he sees design as inherent with enormous uncertainty. As a result, Gerber says, “It’s our duty to enhance the design process, and therefore the design product, with more and more intelligence.”

Parametric and generative design systems are one key for linking otherwise fragmented expertise in the AEC industry and applying it to accurately achieve the complex aims of today’s projects.

Image courtesy of David Gerber

Of course, there is room for more innovation in this new approach toward integrating project expertise. Gerber describes his world today as being about solving the problems that lie at the intersection of architecture, engineering and construction through an emphasis on the humanistic expression of design and integrating the innovations in the computer science field.

“My ultimate aim is to provide higher fidelity information, and capture higher fidelity knowledge to better equip the architect and designer,” Gerber says.

3DEXPERIENCE Forum 2014

David Gerber is a featured speaker along with Becher Neme and Kerenza Harris at the upcoming 3DEXPERIENCE Forum in Las Vegas, November 11-12, 2014.

Dr. Gerber will present the evolution of CATIA-based teaching, consulting, and research through the lens of 12 years of experience. The talk will highlight the importance of bottom-up and top-down educational and research strategies, and will link to the needs of AEC industry challenges.

The US Navy to begin BIM implementation

The U.S. NAVFAC announced that it will move ahead with its BIM Implementation plan in October, 2014. This comes in the wake of increasing global adoption of BIM worldwide. As a consequence, AEC firms bidding for the Navy federal projects must now have a firm understanding of BIM technologies and the upcoming NAVFAC BIM requirements.

The federal agency intends to use BIM throughout its projects life cycle where the 3D parametric models are maintained and updated during the life of the building.

NAVAC has decided to mandate the use of BIM for all new buildings that are $750,000 or greater and all major revamps that are 50% or more of the plant replacement value and greater than or equal to $2.5 million. This applies to Design-Build and Design-Bid- Build projects.

Germany to trial BIM approach in infrastructure

Germany’s Transport Ministry is to test Building Information Modelling (BIM) systems in two key infrastructure projects. The two pilot projects will be for the road and rail sectors. The technology provides a digital 3D model of the construction project which will allow for the planning, construction and usage of the project to be presented. The BIM system also incorporates deadline and cost planning aspects of construction projects.

The German Transport Ministry aims to use the technology to uncover any conflicts in the planning and construction of large projects, synchronise the time plans of various partner firms and improve control over project costs.

This new trial is moving forward in a bid to regain ground in managing large infrastructure projects in Germany. The country has in the past been regarded as highly efficient when managing its infrastructure programme. However in recent times key German infrastructure projects such as the construction of the new Berlin airport terminal and the Stuttgart railway station have slowed to a crawl, with costs spiralling far beyond original expectations. Both projects are now far behind schedule and have proved highly embarrassing politically. Using BIM technology the Transport Ministry hopes to learn from expertise gained particularly in the UK with regard to managing complex infrastructure projects on time and within budget.

Global BIM Acceptance

In the U.S., after two decades of development, Building Information Modeling has gained a fairly broad acceptance in most sectors of the AECO industry.There are many organizations involved in promoting and advancing BIM. Building Information Modeling is typical for large and complex buildings - airports, hospital & medical facilities, laboratories, schools.

In the beginning, BIM adoption was driven by professionals who quite simply wanted to improve quality, performance, and profit. In 2007 BIM adoption was boosted by the GSA National 3D-4D-BIM Program. Transition has not always been easy, and the level of implementation as well as methodologies vary widely, but today the top design firms in the U.S. are BIM firms: Gensler, HOK, HDR, Perkins+Will, SOM, HKS. Not coincidentally, the top construction firms have also invested in BIM: Turner, Clark, DPR, Hoffman, Hensel-Phelps.*

Similarly, in the U.K., BIM adoption is being driven by the government sponsored Building Information Modeling Task Group. The 2011 Government Construction Strategy will require collaborative 3D BIM (with all project and asset information, documentation and data being electronic) on its projects by 2016.

The story in the MENA (Middle East & North Africa) region is not the same. Doha, the capital and largest city in Qatar, did not exist just fifty years ago, and it seems unlikely that many of the towers that have seemingly erupted from the desert were conceived using BIM. Even today, the new buildings currently being constructed are not exactly high tech, in terms of construction. They are reinforced concrete with block infill structures clad with aluminum and glass. They are massively built and labor-intensive and fantastic, but any evidence of BIM use is difficult to identify.

Qatar does have a National BIM initiative, which is an aspect of its 2030 National Vision for growth and development following the FIFA World Cup in 2022. All of the major infrastructure projects and all of the 2022 stadiums are BIM driven projects. Familiar names like Atkins, AECOM, Jacobs Parsons and Turner are among those involved. Overall, however, the progress and development of BIM is far behind what we take for granted in the West. Why?

In his LinkedIn article "10 Barriers to a Full BIM deployment in the Middle East" Hamzeh Nawar, BIM Coordinator at Arabtec Construction LLC, explains:

Software companies took the lead in introducing BIM to Middle East, as a set of software and tools in the form of modeling, clash detection, quantity take-offs, and drawing extraction. This has resulted in a huge misunderstanding of BIM as a collaborative business process and limited the deployment of BIM in industry to the usage of BIM tools.

• As BIM is new to the region, qualified BIM specialists are rare. Accordingly firms tend to hire and train people on using BIM tools without educating them on BIM process.
• BIM requires significant sharing of data and information through the project life cycle between internal and external parties involved in the project; however companies in this region tend to be conservative and not so open to the sharing of information
• BIM is a collaborative process that requires a major change in the internal work process and culture.
• BIM (as it is meant to be!) is struggling to float to surface in this part of the world. A conservative and limited form of BIM is starting to form in the Middle East, a version of BIM limited to technology and capabilities of BIM software and tools.

Hamzeh concludes, “Benefits are still realized with this version of BIM, but the major benefits of a full BIM deployment are still a long-shot. Apparently BIM-ers still have a really long journey to go before they start realizing the actual benefits of BIM in Middle East.”