The BIM Cycle

Words by Mark Vaughan, Sunday 26 February 2017

As a company committed to remaining at the top, BSBG is always looking to review our processes and standards to offer better solutions and services to our clients. This approach is particularly important when it comes to Building Information Modelling (BIM) and the processes the provision of a full suite of BIM solutions requires.

With the help of our graphic design team, we have recently created our own BIM graphic to help explain the cycle in which BIM is used on the delivery of projects, and this is how it works.

Breakdown of stages

Appointment

This is the stage in which the design team are appointed to carry out the required design process. At this stage it is important to understand the BIM capabilities of those being appointed. This is a crucial step, not only for the client, but for the entire design team moving forward. Any weak link can affect the efficiency of working in BIM – especially in the latter stages of a project.

To avoid issues as the project progresses, it’s important that clients put a great deal of focus on BIM during the interview/selection process. This ensures they are obtaining the skills they require.

Programme

The programme can only be properly considered once awareness is gained of the design team’s BIM capabilities. If you have appointed a design team strong in BIM across the board, you can reduce the programme time down significantly.

In addition, through the use of phasing in software such as Revit/Navis, contractors can programme out the order of works much more efficiently. If contractors interact well with this benefit of the software, it will greatly improve the logistics of work (further info in stage D). At this stage, the phase of construction will not be fully complete, however as the process develops (certainly by the schematic stage) the contractor will be able to really utilise this to their benefit.

Concept design

This is where the design process really starts, and it can be a very unstable/fluid process. Therefore, conventional BIM software used to deliver projects do not always represent the best option. That said, in my time working in BIM I have seen great advances in the concept design capabilities of the software available (such as the recent rendering ‘visuals that pop’ upgrades in 2017). Therefore, I would expect this to continue to improve greatly.

BSBG adopts Revit as soon as it is possible within this stage, and even though the stage is not without its abortive risks, there are high level schematic tasks that can be undertaken – such as producing linking diagrams and BIM execution plans (BEP).

Below is an example of the BSBG linking diagram I recently revised:

And the new standard model breakdown diagram created for the JLT project that I was working on last year:

These are both now company standards.

Coordination stages

Schematic design

This is where the magic really happens. By schematic, the concept should be predominantly fixed and therefore it is time to start modelling.

You get out of BIM what you put in to BIM, and so this is a really important stage as it’s critical to ensure information is being input in the right way to reap the real benefits that come in the next stages.

Detailed design

By the time you get to detailed design, the majority of 3D modelling should have been completed. It is at this stage you will start extracting the information you require from it – such as schedules for instance.

Obviously effort levels do not just take a complete drop at the beginning of this stage, but this effort does decrease and the production of deliverables should speed up significantly.

Documentation

This is where we finish the design documents to a construction level. The type of contract put in place will determine who produces the documentation and to what level.

Fabrication

This is what we refer to as shop drawings. Not all contractors will use Revit to produce their information, however, all shop drawings are a product of the information given from BIM.

At this stage there are often questions from contractors if they require more information to understand the design intent. BIM allows additional information to be extracted to easily answer design queries.

If the specialist/contractor already works with BIM software, this speeds up the process even further by allowing them to undertake their own investigations for any further information they may require.

4D/5D construction logistics

This stage is related more to the planning of construction and its associated costs. BIM is very good at being able to quickly provide all the necessary information to assist with these tasks. BSBG does have the capacity to be able to assist with this, but it is often not within our scope. This is usually a task associated more with contractors and quantity surveyors.

Handover/facilities management

This is the end of the design and construction process. Benefits moving forward at this stage are that a client can use the models to help manage the buildings and develop them at a later date.

Demolition

Buildings do have life cycles, and over time they will need renovation/further works. This type of work is not as common in the UAE at present as many of the buildings are so new. That said, BSBG has been fortunate to have been involved in many existing building expansions/refurbishments. A couple of examples of this are The Dubai Mall Zabeel Expansion and Masdar N1R.

BIM is an excellent process to use for the design/management of demolition works. We look forward to future opportunities to become involved with existing project renovations/refurbishments.

Mark Vaughan

Lead Architectural Technologist

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