The value-for-money justification for employing BIM often focuses on the gains to be made from integrating the design and construction processes. But even if the use of BIM is considered to be cost-neutral in the design and construction phase, it can be justified by the benefits it affords in managing the built asset after the work is completed. The way that the contractual obligations are structured in the construction phase can promote this.
Improvement in the performance of a building starts with the procurement of a project that suits the needs of the end user. A BIM implementation plan that encourages the involvement of the end user in the design phase focuses the designer on that user’s main concerns and ensures its buy-in.
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As part of this process, designers should consider the requirements of the intended facilities manager (FM), and create a pre-construction timetable that allows for the verification of the design by the FM provider.
Then we have the “soft landings” initiative, which recognises that an orderly transition between the construction and the occupation phases can dramatically improve the performance of a building. The first step in this process is to ensure that the FM provider has access to the right information.
It is a mistake to think that more data is always better. Instead, the BIM model that is available at the end of the construction phase should allow access to the right data. The information requirements that are set down at the outset of the scheme should focus on the data that will be used in the FM.
For this to be useful, the FM provider should be able to rely on the BIM accurately providing that information; this should be no different from wanting to rely on as-built drawings. Time and cost efficiency can be gained from reducing the need to verify data, or to amend its format before it is used in a Computer Aided FM system.
The underlying truth that pervades every part of this discussion is that we do not live in a virtual world. The reality of procuring the right data is people discussing their requirements and thereby working out what is needed and what is feasible. The reality of a transition is people familiarising themselves with the BIM model at the same time as they familiarise themselves with a building. The key is to encourage the project team relationships that make such dialogues inevitable.
By Assad Maqbool, a partner at Trowers & Hamlins specialising in projects and construction
