BIM Trends - a New Way for Existing Buildings SCAN to BIM Project for Curtin University

Perth, Western Australia, January 18, 2016 (Newswire.com) - In today’s world of Web, Mobile and cloud based technology, building information models are now required for design, construct and operations. Buildings are now being manufactured not built and the sophistication carries through to the operations phase where more information, and better technology tools are required. The question becomes ‘What if we don’t have BIM’.

Just like in the Design’ and Construct phase, BIM will provide more accurate information, functionally rich, and easier and cost effective ways to manage facilities. When Bi-directionally linked with the Facilities management system, BIM provides a more powerful tool for building lifecycle management.

ASt's Scan to BIM workflow, and QA processes, delivered accurate quality models for Curtin, for their buildings, facilities and lifecycle management use. ASt used standard Autodesk Revit tools and no third party software was required to build the models. The process also discovered many inaccuracies of the existing buildings and 2D Drawings, validating Curtin PF&D's business plan.

Don Hitchcock, Director

Most existing buildings have been documented in the old-school 2D format and not BIM, whereas most new buildings are already available as building models (BIM). ASt set about to find a better solution to produce accurate, cost effective building models (BIM) of existing buildings, for owners to better manage their entire buildings portfolios?

ASt worked with Curtin’s Properties Facilities and Development department (PF&D) to convert 83 existing buildings to high quality building models in a short time frame. The project included 28 walkways, connecting bridges and an accurate surveyed site model.
Curtin University PF&D’s business plan is to replace their existing 2D drawings - which have grown over time to be inaccurate and lacking: elevations, sections, details and information such as building materials and fixed assets - with accurate and complete 3D models.

 ”The most accurate, and cost effective way, to bring our existing facilities into the realm of 3D models, was modeling from 3D laser scanned point clouds…”, said Alan West of Curtin  Properties Facilities and Development (PF&D).

Curtin’s 4 stage plan for their Bentley campus started with the building externals. The completed ‘Revit’ models of the external building envelopes were accurate to 5mm, had correct materials, and provided outputs immediately useful to the organization and the many users on the site.  Apart from the ‘Revit’ models, ASt also delivered Navisworks models, AutoCAD based elevations, and a composite site model, with the buildings accurately positioned and geo-referenced to Perth Coastal Grid. 3D laser scanning was also checked against the site survey; a valuable resource to the master planning and development team.

ASt provided the scanning and modelling resources and expertise to deliver 85 accurate building models in the short time frame of 90 days.
The Models from Stage 1 became immediately available for use by Curtin planners, AEC consultants and many other users, including faculty. Future stages of model development include: the building internal structure, fit-out, services and the integration of the models with other technologies, such as the facilities management and site infrastructure systems. Each stage of the project towards BIM development shall provide increased benefits and use over the old existing 2D drawings.

ASt’s Scan to BIM workflow, and QA processes, delivered accurate quality models for Curtin, for their buildings, facilities and lifecycle management use. ASt used standard Autodesk Revit tools and no third party software was required to build the models. The process also discovered many inaccuracies of the existing buildings and 2D Drawings, validating Curtin PF&D’s business plan. 

”The project delivered by ASt, has greatly assisted Curtin PF&D in providing accurate 3D model data to our varied AEC industry consultants and partners, opening the ability to track our asset data ‘within the model’. Additionally, it provides marked improvements in our existing building data, far surpassing our 2D drawing accuracy...”, said Alan West

The future of ‘Construction’ is manufacturing buildings and will require BIM!
Your next building won’t be built – it will be manufactured (Phil Bernstein – Autodesk)
The future of ‘Managing Buildings’ will use BIM, Mobility and Cloud Services.

The continued trends of building design, construct, mobility, and cloud based FM systems, will demand using BIM, as the use of 2D CAD falls further away, and will be essential in the new world to deal with complex facilities.

Understanding the impact of BIM4FM will be essential for Facilities and Real estate Management professionals for the ongoing management of their buildings.