Guide To BIM by Scott Barrington

Copyright 2010 Barrington Architecture & Design Ltd. You have permission to post this document, email it, print it and pass it along for free to anyone you would like to, as long as you make no changes or edits to its contents or the printed or digital format of it. What this means: 1. You can pass it on to a friend 2. You can send them to www.barringtonarch.com to download it for free 3. You can make a copy of it or print it out and give it away (as long as you do not alter the original form of it). Copyright 2010 Barrington Architecture & Design Ltd.

About the Author Hi, my name is Scott Barrington and i lead the team at Barrington Arch. Barrington Arch. is one of the fastest growing BIM content development companies, working with building product manufacturers from around the globe. At the time of this publication we have been in operation, developing BIM content (for Graphisoft ArchiCAD, Autodesk Revit) for over four years. Working with companies from New Zealand to London. For most business owners in the AEC industry (Architectural, Engineering & Construction) BIM (Building Information Modelling) can be a confusing topic. This booklet has been put together to help clear up some of this confusion & clearly outline where your business fits into the â&#x20AC;&#x153;BIMâ&#x20AC;? process and how you can implement it to achieve fantastic results! If, at any stage, you would like to spend some time with someone from Barrington Arch discussing the concepts outlined in this booklet and how they relate to your business and our services and products - feel free to contact us at info@barringtonarch.com or on +64 3 669 0204 I sincerely hope you find this booklet helpful! Regards

Scott Barrington Chief Executive Barrington Architecture & Design Ltd.

Manufacturers BIM Content Distributed via the online BIM network channels

Barrington Architecture & Design Ltd. Is a specialist at all aspects of the BIM process. From BIM object creation to Working documentation to CGI animations & virtual reality.

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Barrington Architecture & Design Works Globally. Contact us today: info@barringtonarch.com

CGI, Rendering & Marketing CGI firms can use the BIM model to produce all of their renders, animations & marketing material from the project's 3D BIM model. Thus saving them time & allowing them to keep up with changes.

Final project being constructed

Manufacturer's products purchased Your BIM content makes your products apart of the BIM process. Thus resulting in your products being purchased over your competitors.

Contractor Contractors can manage costs & time more easily & see how changes will effect the project in advance.

-Interactive & Viral Web development -BIM project model creation -Design & Working documentation for Projects -Database driven web applications -BIM & Project consulting & mentoring

Building Information Model

Owner/Developer Can keep a closer eye on the project, allowing them to manage costs and the project outcome.

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Our Services: -BIM object creation for Manufacturers & Suppliers -BIM content distribution -In house BIM object creation for Architects & Designers -Rendering, Animation & CGI -Virtual Reality Models

Engineers Can produce their documentation directly from the Architect's BIM model. Allowing them to work more accurately and quickly see how decisions effect the overall project.

Architect Use BIM software to produce documentation from design to working documentation. All documentation is produced more accurately and efficiently.

Building Product Manufacturer By making parametric BIM models of your products available to Architects & Designers, you unlock more value in your product information and allow Architects & designers to more easily use and make decisions on your products. Thus increasing your return on investment.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) Process Building Information Modeling allows architects, designers, engineers, manufacturers, CGI experts, developers & contractors to work in collaboration. By working from the same 3D building information models, projects can be designed, constructed & managed with far more efficiency and accuracy.

Introduction Building information modelling (BIM) is currently a buzzword in the architectural and construction industry, and is the process of producing virtual (digital) building models on a computer which are then used to produce the documentation for the project. BIM software is currently being adopted three times faster than 2D CAD software was in the early 1990s. There are a few different brands of BIM software available, such as ArchiCAD, Revit and Vectorworks. ArchiCAD is currently the most widely used in New Zealand, with around 45 percent market share. BIM provides a number of benefits to people and companies at all stages of the building process. The problem most companies experience is coming to terms with BIM and correctly understanding how it affects them. Over the next few pages I will explain how BIM affects people in different areas of the AEC industry.

Architects BIM software is used by architects and designers from the initial design concept to working documentation. This allows the initial time that has been invested in the design process to be transferred through into the working drawing stage, thus speeding up the entire process. As well as insuring that vital aspects of the design are transferred through to the completed project. All the building documentation is taken from the BIM model, which enables it to be produced more efficiently and accurately and allows far more technicians to work collaboratively. Architects and technicians can easily place 3D “parametric” smart objects into their BIM models. This allows them to instantly see whether a product will work with their design, visually & functionally. As the project is “virtually built” on the computer, it allows for a large amount of error & collision checking, which once again saves time & avoids errors & delays on site. The architects BIM model can then be exported to a variety of different formats to allow any other consultants on their time to easily collaborate with them.

Content is King In order for architects & technicians to produce powerful BIM models they require well built and information rich BIM content. BIM content (often referred to as Revit families or ArchiCAD objects) are the components that make up the BIM model and are normally of a building manufacturerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s products such as windows or timber beams. As BIM models get more widely used (up take is happening at a rate 3 times faster than 2D CAD up take in the 1990s), the need for BIM content from manufacturers is increasing.

How Can You Help? At Barrington Arch our core business is helping manufacturers to get their products BIM ready and deliver them to BIM users in all of the formats they require. If you are a building product manufacturer make sure you get in contact with us at info@barringtonarch.com, as with any thing new, the market awards the early adopters. If you are an architect or technician, you can help this process by recommending that manufactures get their products into a BIM format that you can more easily use. If you have a particular manufacturer or product you would like to see in a BIM format, feel free to send your ideas through to us at info@barringtonarch.com

Engineers/Consultants The 3D virtual BIM models can be accessed by and exported to work with the software used by structural, MEP and thermal engineers. Once again this allows all parties to work in collaboration, meaning documentation is produced more accurately. This saves time during the final building process as everything is modelled in 3D, and any issues can be sorted out before construction starts. Structural Structural Engineers can take the architectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s BIM model and use it for their structural calculations. They can then place all of their designed beams and structural elements into the 3D BIM model. Allowing them to instantly check for collisions and whether they compromise the architectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s design.

MEP Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing engineers can once again work from the same BIM model (which now contains data from the architects & structural engineers). This allows them to virtually run all of piping & wiring and once again check for collisions.

Thermal Thermal & Energy Efficiency (Green Building) engineers can take the BIM model and run simulations on it. Such as virtual sun studies & weather pattens. This allows them to effectively see how different weather will affect the proposed building project. This information enables us to instantly see how how energy efficient a building will be & helps to improve it, before the project is built.

Building Product Manufacturers BIM provides manufacturers a chance to unlock more value in their product information. By producing and making available parametric BIM objects of their products, it allows architects, designers and engineers to use and make decisions on manufacturersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; products more easily. as well as instantly seeing how a product will affect the building project. Data from BIM content/objects which are place in the model can then be pulled from the BIM model to populate schedules & specs. This allows all of the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s documentation to be more streamlined and creating less chance for error.

BIM content is easily distributed via a variety of internet channels, which allows product data to reach the market more quickly and easily. The fast growing amount of manufacturer specific BIM content allows for greater cross product comparisons and more educated decisions.

Manufacturer’s Obligation As a building product manufacturer, making it easier for Architectural firms to integrate your objects into their project(s) translates to more usage of your product and an increase to your bottom line. As well as create a huge brand preference. That means creating high quality BIM content and getting it distributed to the design community increases your chances to be specified and used.

The Keys To Success With BIM Content There are many key factors that will add to the success of your BIM content (whether it be for ArchiCAD, Revit, Bentley BIM or Sketchup). These are: 1.

Quiality built content

Good distribution

Backup user support

Updating (What happens when next year’s version of Revit or ArchiCAD is released?)

Stats collection & ROI measurement. (Remember if you can’t measure it, it’s not worth doing!)

Review Where Your At Every building product manufacturer is different. Whether your big or small, selling windows to concrete blocks, well made BIM content will get your products in front of more architects & get more of your product specified. Contact us at info@barringtonarch.com is you would like us to assess what it would take to get your product range BIM-ready. Or click here to learn more.

Developers/Owners/Clients Through using BIM modelling, developers and owners can keep a closer eye on the whole construction process, allowing them to manage costs and the project outcome. BIM 3D models can then be exported for use in marketing materials. As well as used to produce photo-realistic renders & animations Commercial projects can also use the BIM model as part of their everyday building management system, thus making the BIM process a very valuable part of the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s life cycle and yielding a huge return on investment.

Proposed living room rendered from BIM model by Barrington Arch.

Summary To summarise, BIM is all about increasing the flow of information and allowing greater collaboration between parties within a project. I hope this booklet has given you a better insight into the BIM process and where you, your company or your product fit into it. If you have any questions or would like to enquire about any of our services & products, please contact us at info@barringtonarch.com

Regards

Scott Barrington Chief Executive Barrington Architecture & Design Ltd.

P.S. Still looking for more information? Be sure to check out of news/blog at www.barringtonarch.com/news/ for some of our latest insights & ideas.

+64 3 366 4131 info@barringtonarch.com www.barringtonarch.com twitter.com/barringtonarch sdbarrington