Building Information Modeling (BIM) is increasingly getting the attention of organizations involved in architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC), as well as the owners and operators of buildings (facility managers and real estate managers). In this context, BIM is a digital model representing physical, technical, and functional characteristics of a building. BIM is a shared data and knowledge platform for all stakeholders involved and provides a basis for decision making during the entire lifecycle of a building:
Different stakeholders at different phases of the lifecycle of a building add, query, or edit information in the Building Information Model to support their own function and share this information with other stakeholders.
Building Information Modeling is much more than a 3D CAD drawing representing a floor plan or construction detail. BIM benefits include data of interest to many stakeholders during the full lifecycle of the building, such as buyers, owners, occupants, facility and real estate managers, safety inspectors, lawyers, and emergency planners. BIM can also support the creation of surrounding processes, including geographical analyses, urban planning, and landscaping.
As building maintenance and operations reflect over 90% of total lifecycle costs, real estate and facility managers have an increasing interest in using Building Information Modeling (BIM) because the model keeps essential information on multiple aspects of a building or asset. These include spatial information, technical documentation, cost information, vendor data, or operating guidelines.
BIM facilities management reduces the traditional information loss associated with handling a project from the AEC team to the building owner and operator. By closing this gap between construction and building operation, all available data helps in saving time, effort, and money in running and maintaining the building during its entire life cycle, including its demolishment.
In our Space & Workplace Management solution, a new standard BIM integration is available. Planon Connect for BIM provides a bidirectional data exchange of spaces and assets between BIM and the Planon Universe platform. The solution primarily focuses on Autodesk Revit, a market leading BIM technology for architects, engineers and contractors.
Webinar: What you need to know about BIM
Frequently Asked Questions: How can you benefit from BIM as a Facility Manager?
BIM can include many dimensions of data to support processes for different stakeholders. A Building Information Model includes 3D coordinates and vector information that represent the geometry of the building and its components, including eventual geospatial data.
4D BIM adds time as a new dimension to the model. This enables planners and constructors to visualize activities subsequently on a time line, for example in the sequence the construction needs to be created.
5D BIM includes the linking of cost related data to any component of the Building Information Model, allowing designers, contractors or investors to visualize the progress of construction activities and its related costs over time.
6D BIM is the “As-Built” model including information such as product data, maintenance manuals, photos, warranty data, manufacturer information, and contacts. 6D BIM plays a key role in using BIM successfully during the operations phase of buildings and therefore needs special attention from Facility Managers and Real Estate professionals.
Using Building Information Modeling as a central information and collaboration platform during design, engineering, and construction of any building provides many benefits. It reduces the number of data sources drastically, resulting in
As multiple technical disciplines like construction detailing and electro technical and mechanical engineering are unified in one BIM platform, the impact of any change in any discipline is immediately visually available for all other disciplines. This increases interdisciplinary collaboration and drastically reduces failures or clashes during the design, engineering and construction phase.
Building owners, facility and real estate managers, and service providers can benefit from BIM as it keeps vital information for many processes during the operations phase of a building’s lifecycle. Information such as spatial data, asset details, documentations, and graphical information can support processes during the operation of buildings like space management, asset management, maintenance planning, energy management, and reconstruction projects during the lifecycle. To ensure that the BIM is enriched with relevant and useable information for building maintenance and operations, it is key to analyze this information during the initiation of the AEC phase.
For processes supported by IWMS or CAFM solutions, a bidirectional BIM connector allows data exchange between BIM and IWMS. Because the geometrical data remains maintained and changed in the BIM, data exchange with IWMS occurs on a frequent basis.
Software can be used to build, maintain, and visualize all aspects of BIM. This includes interactive capabilities, such as clicking on a floor level of a building to see who the tenants are, rendering a view of the urban landscape from a particular window of a building, or determining which vendor has installed the heating installation. Elements such as time (4D) and cost (5D) enhance the capability for lifecycle management.
Some leading products for BIM are Revit (Autodesk), ArchiCAD (Graphisoft), Bentley and Tekla. To re-use BIM successfully in operations, the previously mentioned integration with IWMS and CAFM solutions is a key requirement. BIM software vendors and the AEC industry are taking several initiatives for standardization exchange formats like the Constructions Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) in the United States.
Press release: Planon – the first company to unveil a new BIM standard for data exchange
In several countries, it has become mandatory to use BIM during the design and construction phase, including an efficient information transfer to the building operations phase. Frequently, this is combined with new financing and operating contracts including Design Build Finance Maintain Operate (DBFMO) or Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Many facility managers and real estate managers will be faced with these Building Information Models in future years and need to consider how to benefit from and utilize them successfully.
In the United Kingdom, the government started the Government Soft Landing (GSL) program that aims to reduce operating costs and improve carbon performance by involving users and operators during the design process. “Soft Landing” also refers to a smooth transition from the construction phase to maintenance and operations. For any governmental project in the UK, the use of BIM becomes mandatory from 2016.
White Paper: How can you benifit from BIM as a facility manager?
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