The Employer’s Information Requirements and theRole of the BIM Information Manager

Ashley Beighton Julian Bullen

Worthing Homes, Meadow Rd.

Innovate UK funded research project

A Housing Forum Demonstration Project &

Constructing Excellence Innovation in Practice Project

Graham Clarkson, The Clarkson Alliance

1. Background to our research project2. Objectives of the research project3. Involving the supply chain4. Early findings5. Lessons Learnt6. Summary

Content

Background to Research project

• Collaboration Partners– The Clarkson Alliance– Clearbox, BIMxtra– Worthing Homes• Host project – Meadow Rd• The project comprises the development of 12 new

build 2 bedroom houses of 77 - 79m2 arranged in three blocks units• £1.39m

Progress on site – June ‘15

Objective1 Establish how time can be assigned to components and how the installation of each component can be

sequenced to produce a construction programme.

2 Establish how costs can be attributed to components so that a cost plan for the project can be produced which is accurate to within 2% of the final outturn cost before post-contract change.

3 Establish whether the model can be used to increase off-site manufacture and thereby integrate the supply chain into the process.

4 Establish how we can monitor the completeness of design.5 Design in a ‘live’ single environment, without drawings to avoid interfaces.6 Integrate contract administration processes into BIMXtra.7 Use the BIM model to simulate the construction and assembly process prior to commencing work on site.

8 Soft Landings – Establish if the model can used for operation and maintenance of the completed facility and that whole life cycle costs can be recorded in the BIM model.

9 Achieve the following savings on the host project:10% reduction in design costs20% reduction in construction costs75% reduction in post-contract change10% reduction in time on-site25% reduction in notified defects25% reduction in construction waste

10 Establish a re-engineered process and roles and responsibilities across the construction supply chain to integrate BIM.

11 Publicise findings from research project to achieve future reductions in construction costs.

Consultants have created 3D models using various BIM tools and these have been exported in a variety of file types.

These models have been coordinated and shared in a common data environment, BIMXtra.

Models

Architectural

Sub-Structure/Civil

Mechanical

Electrical

Timber Structure

Authoring Software

Autodesk Revit

AutoCAD Civil 3D

Autodesk Revit

Autodesk Revit

AutoCAD & Consultec Plugin

Common Data Environment

Models can be viewed by all project stakeholders within a visual environment.

Selection can be made of one or multiple models to enable users to interrogate data pertinent to them.

Various options within the BIMXtra Highlighter allow a user to view data associated to objects and to view documents that have been linked to objects.

Data can be viewed by users who have been assigned task specific users rights within the cloud based environment.

Models have been loaded into the system and objects from these are being organised into design schedules.

Once this information has been approved and a fixed revision set then O&M documentation will be uploaded and linked to these objects.

Documentation can be view and is directly linked to objects within a visual environment.

Employer’s Information Requirements

PAS11-92:2013 © The British Standards Institution 2013

Sets out asset information for model

What do you want to use the information for?

BIM Project Execution Guide v2.0 The Computer Integrated Construction Research Program, Penn State Department of Architectural Engineering

Key is to 'start with the end in mind' i.e. what is the BIM model for? The use cases are useful in defining the various needs. These use cases should then form the basis of the Employers Information Requirements

Why do we need the information- Rainwater goods

Common Data Environment (CDE)

• shared use of individually authored models in a Common Data Environment (CDE), being a single source of information for any given project, used to collect, manage and disseminate all relevant approved project documents for multi-disciplinary teams.

• The CDE is a critical tool for effective collaboration, quality control and avoidance of waste

No CDENo Comment

- deviation caused waste & rework

Model development

• 1st time data entry and

capture

• Clash avoidance

• Federating the model

• Deviation & Defects

• Asset management

Design

Construction

As built

Involving the supply chain

• Early Contractor and supplier involvement– 2 stage tendering – lessons learnt– Early sub-contractor, supplier and manufacturer

involvement– BIM objects– It’s not just about the supply of components it’s

also the supply of information

Early research findings• Timber frame– Software compatibility– Level of detail provided– All starting from the same base coordinates

• Changing suppliers for cost reasons – unintended consequences

• Suppliers developing BIM objects for their product range

• Incorporation of EIR’s in the contract

Changing suppliers for cost reasons – unintended consequences

• Need to write EIR’s into contract

off-site manufacture

• the equation of cost of component versus availability of data needs to be considered. It maybe that it is worth paying more for something that has the data available. This will save drawing time (the architects will not have to model the object themselves) and also provide access to O & M date that will reduce maintenance costs

Lessons learnt

• BIM involves delivering both a physical building and a virtual building in the form of a BIM model.

• It’s better to design in BIM from the start: if the planning submission drawings can be extracted from a BIM model at scheme design stage then once planning's been obtained there can be a more seamless transition into the detailed design stage, with no need for unnecessary rework.

Lessons Learnt

• If there's a need to collect operation and maintenance information in the BIM model then early engagement with the asset and/or facilities managers is key in order to understand what data needs to be collected through the design and build process and in what format so that it can pass seamlessly into the operation and maintenance phase

• for BIM Level 2 it's preferable if designers have already gone through the process of at least (a) trialling BIM in house (lonely BIM) and (b) sharing their BIM models on a one-to-one basis with other designers

• it's important to understand the team's BIM capability so that any issues or risks arising can be understood and mitigated. To facilitate this the BIM Capability Assessment form should be appended to the EIR and the BEP contain a Project Implementation Plan setting out how any issues or risks arising will be mitigated.

Lessons Learnt

BIM Challenges

• Smaller supply chain contractors undertaking limited design, currently do not have the BIM capabilities

• Manufacturing software does not easily link with design authoring software e.g. timber frame required some coding from software engineers to bring through all the data (but this was overcome by Clearbox writing some code)

• Lots to learn on "first" projects• Not used to providing more detailed information earlier which

enables design issues to be resolved. Procurement needs to be reviewed to engage teams earlier in the process.

• Not all families of objects available with intelligent data

Summary• BIM has the opportunity to revolutionise our industry• For any revolution to take place there is a need for us

all to change• Benefits are significant – 90% reduction in post

contract change• Improve quality & reduce waste• Improving buildability• Moving Construction to an assembly process• Achieving targets set for 2025 Construction Strategy

BIM, It’s a journey and there’s still a long way to go

Graham ClarksonThe Clarkson Alliance01865 355 580graham@theclarksonalliance.com

@tcaprojects