Case Study: Building Information Modeling Case Study

Case Study: Building Information Modeling A Deeper Look Montefiore Medical Center’s Hutchinson campus complements its other healthcare campuses by offering 12 stories of physician practices, outpatient surgery and comprehensive imaging. The campus’ location is allowing the greater Bronx community access to much needed services close to public transportation and complementary services.

The team’s early adoption and 100% commitment to Building Information Modeling supported the highest level of coordination and model management.

BIM and the Model Ruled the World BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING

CHALLENGE

CLIENT AND PROJECT OVERVIEW Montefiore Medical Center’s Hutchinson campus is making healthcare more accessible for its urban community. With the campus’ central location and increased need for staff, the System’s plan is to lower the prevalence of health burdens and playing a large role in easing

Existing zoning parameters, an aggressive schedule and full complement of technical, healthcare requirements dictated a team completely aligned and working on one building model was essential.

economic burdens in the Bronx. With nearly a third of the Bronx employed in the healthcare industry, Montefiore has become the borough’s largest employer.

With the three-fold goal of improving the patient experience, meeting increased demand for outpatient ambulatory care services and improving efficiency, Montefiore recognized the need for a new state-of-the-art ambulatory care center, a hospital without beds. Providing an all-inclusive facility with specialty and primary services, Montefiore Hutchinson campus stands to become a one-stop shop for medical needs and serves as an opportunity to reduce

SOLUTION

health burdens. Having multiple providers housed in one encompassing facility ensures bet-

The team collocated onsite, held daily huddles and as design and construction decisions were made, including construction sequencing and long-lead building materials needed, the building model immediately reflected those changes.

In addition, Montefiore wanted to take advantage of the Industrial and Commercial

ter patient follow up, communication and knowledge sharing to offer enhanced care.

Abatement Program, or ICAP, a program available through the NYC Department of Finance.

Approximately $12.6 million in lease savings was available. The caveat: substantial completion of the building had to take place by December 2013. Since the core and shell was originally designed as a Class “A” office building with a hotel on the upper floors and had received approvals, any major changes to the foundation plan would jeopardize the December 2013 substantial completion date.

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“Referencing the data contained in the building model has helped us immensely since the Ambulatory Center has opened. We can literally see through the walls with the data available.”

- Former Construction Director Montefiore Medical Center

DECIDING ON THE SITE AND MEETING THE DESIGN DEADLINES Looking for available parcels, they identified a property adjacent to an existing Montefiore facility that had already received zoning approvals – a plus regarding the schedule, as securing zoning approvals in NYC can often be a long and arduous process. However, the zoning approval had been for a hotel that featured significant setbacks and floor plate size restrictions. In order to proceed without obtaining a variance, which would result in significant cost and schedule impacts, the footprint and setbacks could not be altered.

After a thorough investigation to incorporate Article 28 requirements set by the New York State Department of Health, the team developed a floor plan around existing columns and core locations (set by piles) to meet the project schedule and budget targets.

To meet the aggressive schedule, the team - owner, developer, designers and engineers recognized that everyone needed to work from a single BIM model and collaborate extensively. While BIM has been used by design and engineering firms for approximately three years, construction firms and trade contractors have not embraced the technology as rapidly. Recognizing the need to bring the trade contractors up the BIM learning curve in order to meet the schedule, the General Contractor, MCG, hired Liberty Mechanical Contractors in a dual role as the plumbing trade contractor and as the project-wide BIM coordinator.

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Implementation

there was a robust BIM model of the core and shell, MEP and

ALL IN WITH BIM Up until this project, Liberty had not worked exclusively with BIM, but recognized that this was an opportunity to learn the “ins and outs.” With a BIM manager dedicated exclusively to the Montefiore project., Liberty committed to educate all the subcontractors, by co-conducting weekly coordination meetings.

turned over to Liberty. Liberty took the MEP model, and through a program called Navisworks, began to translate the MEP drawings directly into fabrication lengths, again saving significant time and effort in engineering coordination.

With 12 state-of-the-art operating suites, this was a very

With the lead BIM coordinators from each trade present, Array and Liberty led discussions to develop a BIM Execution Plan that clearly identified specific milestones and each trade’s contribution to the design and construction of the project. This streamlined the process and contributed to significant time savings.

complex building from an MEP perspective. Floor plate size limitations, due to pre-approved set back and height requirements, necessitated a very unusual stacking solution. ORs and support spaces had to be located on separate floors: ORs, patient prep and recovery on the 3rd and 4th floors, staff lockers and support on the 4th floor and central sterile on the 5th floor all connected by dedicated elevators and stair.

Utilizing a project website to facilitate communication, Array and Liberty made the BIM Model “live” and available to the entire team. This allowed revisions to be seen in real time significantly reducing change orders. Similarly, with their “marching orders,” each trade was able to contribute to the BIM Model in real time as well.

Array, Simone Development and Montefiore collaborated for six months developing test fits for the building, taking into consideration the existing foundations and piles. As a result, PAGE 4 | case study: building information modeling

structural infrastructure and foundations available which Array

With fabrication of piping and ductwork being done off-site to expedite turn-around time, it was critical that the model and drawing show clash detection and clearances for all access panels accurately in these areas. There was no time to re-fabricate or have change orders in the field.

Liberty developed a unique tool in the BIM model called an Access Circle that mapped Reach Distances – i.e. the area that could be easily reached by maintenance personnel through

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Who We Are ARRAY-ARCHITECTS.COM the access panel once the building was completed. Identifying Reach Distances was critical to the success of the stacked program. The Access Circle supported clash detection by ensuring that any object, MEP, structural, ceiling, etc. could not cross the Access Circle sphere. It allowed the design and construction team to visualize the Reach Distance from all access panels to shut off valves and gauges. In addition to facilitating the construction process, this model will be turned over to Montefiore’s facility management team and will be an invaluable resource for

We Are Healthcare Architects We are a team of architects and designers with unique backgrounds, but we all have one thing in common- we share a strong desire to use our expertise and knowledge to design solutions that will help people in moments that matter most.

inch or larger was modeled, as were all medical gases, every

This focus makes us leaders in our field. There’s a degree of compassion, empathy, and sensitivity that goes into every project that we touch. It’s designing a nurse station with sight lines to every patient. It’s building a Behavioral Health facility without corners, so that patients are safe. It’s translating the operational needs through the technical details to fine tune the lighting system in a neonatal unit so caregivers can match the lighting to each baby’s stage of development. It is a deeper understanding, honed through relationships spanning

valve and shut off switch.

decades..

This also expedited other field trades such as electrical sub-

Together, we discover optimal solutions with our clients. It is our three decades of specialization that allows for effective communication, collaboration and precision in the complex, changing world of healthcare.

maintaining the building.

With the model so integral to the design, off-site fabrication and construction of the project, it was imperative that the building reflect the BIM model exactly. When changes were made in the field, the BIM model had to be updated as well. To illustrate the level of detail included in the BIM model, all copper piping one

contractors. Because the BIM model so accurately reflected the actual construction, snapshots of different columns could be extracted from the BIM model, measuring distances between all columns, allowing accurate offside fabrication. This reduced the need for field sketches of transitions and saved significant time.

The BIM model was developed to support actual construction sequencing. For example, some floors had piping completed before ductwork, while other floors had ductwork completed first. All materials were color coded on the BIM model, and then delivered to the site with color coding to facilitate installation.

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The BIM Model “ruled the world.” For example, if an issue arose with an item during construction, the BIM model was checked and it was quickly apparent that the item was not installed following the pre-determined location identified in the BIM model.

The BIM model didn’t change, but rather the field location of the item was changed.

Collaboration among team members was critical to the success of this 280,000 SF “hospital without beds.” Team members met in the War Room on a weekly basis. Shop drawings were reviewed by the group on screen based on the BIM model allowing the coordination drawings to be approved in half the time of a conventional project. The result was a complex project designed and built with minimal field revisions utilizing BIM to meet an extremely aggressive schedule.

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