BIM implementation an issue of trust
Organisations are finding it hard to adopt BIM and interoperability with no standards in place. TAHIR SHARIF, president of buildingSmart ME, looks at the way forward while highlighting a successful project.
01 September 2010
ALTHOUGH globally there are numerous case studies that demonstrate the value of implementing building information modelling (BIM), an organisation will appreciate the full extent of its inherent benefits only when it experiences it first hand.
Committing to anything ‘new’ is often difficult and this is made more difficult if there are doubts as to the real value of what can be a significant investment. What will make things easier is if the organisation can have the confidence that the provider can deliver the process correctly. It is often a struggle to find the right expertise when introducing new technologies and processes and given that BIM is relatively new to the Middle East, organisations are wary of using providers who promise but do not deliver.
This apart, BIM and interoperability mean different things to different people. Hence, there is no consistency in the region, as many businesses who have tried to source BIM or interoperability professionals have found out. In most cases, ‘experts’ know what they are delivering, but given that there are currently no standards that can be used as a basis for delivery, confusion is inevitable. This uncertainty is often the reason why BIM and interoperability are not adopted.
The solution lies in creating a set of standards to define BIM and interoperability; and developing a means of training and accrediting businesses and individuals to be able to achieve those standards. This will result in clear definitions of BIM and interoperability and will help potential users to validate programme deliverers.
Validating implementation
Proving competency in BIM and interoperability has been a somewhat inexact science, until now. Establishing standards for BIM and interoperability is required because:
• BIM is the technology and process at the heart of any collaborative environment in a construction project; and
• Interoperability ensures that the power of BIM can be maximised across all stakeholders in the project. Interoperability is “a process that enables construction stakeholders to work seamlessly with the same information at the same time – using their own discipline specific standards”. As there are many disciplines and associated technologies in the construction process, interoperability needs to provide a platform that can communicate data within and between these disciplines.
Standards are required to clearly define what BIM and interoperability are and provide an accredited programme to ensure they are correctly and consistently deployed. Such standards are needed by everyone involved in the construction industry to ensure delivery of consistent and high-quality work. For example, the government requires them for accreditation of processes and technologies; owners/developers, for confidence that the ‘experts’ will deliver; consultants/specialist services and management, to ascertain that they can deliver; contractors, for the ability to use services; software vendors/trainers/BIM services, for meeting accreditation requirements; and academia and trade associations, for providing students/members with the necessary skills.
Collectively, by addressing the people, process and technologies, standards will facilitate business as well as individual accreditation.
For around 10 years, buildingSmart International, formerly International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), has been developing technical standards for interoperability known as Industry Foundation Class (IFC).
It has captured and integrated business processes through its Information Delivery Manual (IDM) and has created a multi-lingual dictionary or library known as International Framework for Dictionaries (IFD). These standards have now been adopted by both governments and businesses in many parts of the world.
In addition, buildingSmart International supervises the local implementation of standards through its accredited partners (known as regional alliances). One such is buildingSmart ME for the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.
buildingSmart ME also works with other regional alliances and will be working with its international partners and their established standards to develop the specific standards and programmes that reflect the requirements of the Mena region. This not-for-profit organisation is owned, financed and managed by its several thousand member organisations representing construction professionals worldwide.
Members who deliver the BIM and interoperability standards (technology, training and process) are accredited to do so by buildingSmart ME, which also issues the certificates to validate the businesses and individuals who attain the required standards.
Case study
The benefits of BIM and interoperability were demonstrated in the construction of Panorama Tower in Espoo, Finland. The location of the 76-m-high tower office building in the centre of a commercial centre made it a logistically challenging project from the start.
During the project, a number of new functions in the BIM environment were implemented in the structural design to improve efficiency in both the site logistics and building cost factors.
The town, which has a built-up area of 23,600 sq m, has a steel column-and-beam frame with the bracing frame structure made of concrete and the lightweight facades largely made of glass. Construction was completed in March 2008.
Structural engineering for the Panorama Tower was based on BIM. Structural engineer Pöyry Civil used Tekla Structures software and Ruukki, the supplier of the steel frame parts, also successfully utilised the same model, which was integrated with Staad software to perform analysis related to the building’s stability, horizontal displacement and other design calculations. In addition, a 4D model, containing schedule information, was used to visualise construction sequence of the project during planning and subsequently at site meetings.
A new development in the design process was the use of separate models of the surrounding terrain and the pit excavated under the building. These were integrated into the BIM, which could then be used to share information between project members.
“Thanks to the use of BIM, serious mistakes were avoided in the project as the measurement environment was absolutely reliable,” says Kari Lassila, project manager at Pöyry Civil.
He adds that the highly-visual model-based design and the possibility of combining models made information exchange easier, decreased the number of errors, and helped to coordinate the design work throughout the project. The greatest benefit was gained in data transfer between project parties. Ruukki, for example, designed the structural steel components through the model. “In addition, model-based design helped us to keep to the challenging schedule,” adds Lassila.
Pöyry Civl created a virtual 3D model of the foundation and frame structures of the Panorama Tower early in the process. This model included existing structures of the driveway and service traffic tunnels of the Sello shopping mall, which was located under the new tower and needed to remain operational during construction. This had to be taken into account during design.
Due to the high cost of steel and fire endurance class requirements for the building, concrete was selected in the draft stage as the frame material in the 3D model, but was later replaced with steel.
“Through the model, information was easily exchanged between Pöyry and Ruukki. This helped to quickly implement the changes in frame type and subsequent fabrication, allowing delivery of the structures to the site as scheduled. At Pöyry, the biggest job was to implement the changes caused by choosing steel, which was thinner than the concrete designs for beams, floor and roof hollow core slab sets,” says Lassila.
Ruukki carried out its own design based on the transfer model from structural engineering. The frame model was also updated several times as design work progressed but easily transferred back in the BIM environment. This method of operation ensured the compatibility of the structures and a flawless process from fabrication to assembly. A similar method was used for designing the lightweight steel facades.
Integrating terrain model
A groundbreaking feature in the project was the integration of a terrain model. A laser scan of the excavated pit and existing tunnels underneath the building created a surface model from the scan, which was transferred to the structural model to verify the position of the existing tunnels. The building exceeded plot boundaries at several points indicating that the structures were forming obstacles under the pedestrian street. This information meant that structural changes could be made early enough to resolve the problem.
The project has been used to create a thesis on building technology at the Helsinki University of Technology. The study concluded that laser scanning is a fast as-built dimensioning method and, within certain limits and clearly defined parameters, can be used to create dimensionally accurate documentation.
Commenting as to why Pöyry Civil invests in BIM, company vice-president Heikki Solarmo says: “In addition to the accuracy of the structures and improved design process, further benefits are realised through integration between different design areas within our group and additional external disciplines, such as quantity surveying and scheduling. The features of the model associated with the building’s lifetime are an increasingly important part of our delivery to the client. “The model-based planning of Panorama Tower was pioneering work. We now have the capacity to perform the entire design process in BIM, if the client so desires. Even though there still is a lot of room for development, the benefits of modelling are already obvious. In today’s building projects, building information models are being utilised in scheduling assembly, frame erection, and building engineering, as well as property maintenance.”
“Ruukki has a long tradition in BIM,” says Timo Alanko, head of the company’s engineering department. “The model is used for managing the supply process and forms the basis for the development of processes throughout Ruukki’s supply chain. The model makes it possible to link scheduling with product information and in this way improves schedule management in projects. BIM improves the quality of building. Dimensional errors within plans have been almost completely eliminated.”
As BIM becomes more widely used, its benefits increase. Information exchange between project parties, as well as data synchronisation, becomes increasingly important.
“Because of this, neutral formats for data transfer should be developed so that information from different parties could be brought to common use. To avoid overlapping modelling functions, modelling carried out by the parties should be documented and the information content of the models unified,” he adds.
