Building Information Modelling (BIM) BLD62403 Project 1 – BIM application and research in AEC Risk Assessment Sen Yih Yiing 0318890 Mr Koh Jing Hao
Abstract Building information modelling (BIM) is one of the most dominating technology in recent developments in building industry, such as in the industry of architecture, engineering and construction (AEC). BIM is a 3D database which provides virtual process that could enhance the productivity and collaboration between owners, architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and other design team member through the interrelated properties of BIM. Moreover, with the application of BIM in building projects, potential risk and hazard can be detected and mitigated prior to the actual construction initiation, this could result in time and cost saving to clients and owners and increase the confidence of using BIM in upcoming building projects. This aim of this paper is to determine the abillity of BIM in risk assessment in design projects and buildings. Introduction Building information modelling (BIM) is one of the most dominating technology in recent developments in the building industry, such as in the industry of architecture, enginerring and construction (AEC). The introduction of BIM technology allows a virtual model of a building to be accurately constructed, the virtual model is known as a building information model which can be used for a more advance and efficient planning, design, construction and operation of the facility. Furthermore, with the production of the building information model, architects, engineers and constructors are able identify any potential design, construction or operational issues through the visualization of the building to be built in a stimulated environment. BIM can be seen as a virtual process that encompasses all aspects, disciplines, and systems of a facility within a single virtual model, enable a more efficient and accurate collaboration in all the design team members which includes the owners, architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers rather than using traditionally done drawing and planning process. It also making positive changes in the workflow and the project delivery process that could promotes collaboration by integrating people, system, and business structures and practices so that waste can be reduced and the efficiency through all phases of the project life cycle can be optimized. As the virtual model of the design is constructed, the design team members can easily refine and adjusting the design’s portion according to project specifications to ensure the model is as accurate as possible and the final changes of the design can be seen and understand by the team members before the project is physically constructed on ground. There are a lot of time and cost-‐saving benefits by implementing BIM technology in the building industry, as the constructed building information model allows immediate understanding of the geometry, spatial relationships, geographical information, quantities and characteristics of building elements, estimations of cost, variations of materials and project schedules of respective
building designs. The entire life cycle of the building can also be demonstracted through the usage of BIM technology. The result of the implemention of BIM technology includes easy isolation and definition in scopes of work. A relative scale of of systems, assemblies, and sequences can be shown in drwings, procurements details, submital processes, and other specifications can also be easily interrelated. There has been a need for an effective communications infrastructures that facilitates seamless inter-‐working between the disparate professionals involved in the construction projects. However, multiple stakeholders as well as numerous stages of construction process is one of the major constraints faced by the construction industry. This may leads to disintegration among the stakeholders and enhance the poor communication and staggered information handling. This may result in the growth in mistrust and poor relationships between the members in the construction projects and trigger an internal risk as there was a break in flow of information. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are to review the concept of Building information modelling and demonstrate how to reduce internal and external risk in construction delivery process by implementing BIM in various of case studies. Concept of Building Information Modelling (BIM) The concept of BIM can be divided into four fields that could ensure the smoothness of the project and to enhance the productivity of the team. People
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o Collaboration and communication o Knowledge and experience o Role and responsibilities o Trust and commitment o Culture Technology o Data security and user management o Certified hardware and software o Data formats and structures o Data versioning o Internet Process o Cost estimation o Quantity take-up o Change Management o Operation and maintenance o Design creation and coordination o Scheduling and progress monitoring Policy o Building standard o Risk and Insurance o Ownership and deliverables
o Project guidelines and contracts As BIM would covers the entire project lifecycle, the implementation of BIM in building construction forms specific impacts in the project in the following ways: •
Plan – As the owner describes their project concept, communication between the designer and the owner can be perform easily by using BIM technique. They a also rapidly and accurately get the opinions on how to program the execution of the project according to the result of the site condition analysis, phase planning and the budget throughout the project can also be estimated. It significantly improves the communication between multiples interests in construction project.
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Design – Immediate 3D visualization of the design such as spaces could quickly be evaluated by technical and non-technical staffs as the sections, plans and quantities take offs could be automatically updated to effectively estimate potential costs. Furthermore, the programming information can be quickly compiled for comparison to original documents with high percentage of confidence in its accuracy through the code validation and engineering analysis.
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Construction – As BIM allows construction process simulation using possible attributes related to cost, planning and scheduling. BIM simulations acts as communication tools that could reveal potential risk as to enhance collaboration among the project team. Nevertheless, the contractors are also able to review the constructability analysis of the project that could efficiently and accurately done using BIM software and techniques.
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Operation and maintenance – BIM facilitates in updating the designed model to comprise the changes made during construction and it also benefits in digitizing facilities management services in both old and new construction services.
Risk in construction project The definition of a project can be understand as “a unique and temporary endeavor that introduces changes to create a product or service that meet defined objectives using various resources within set constrains”, which the resources can be both human and materials. The design team, consulting engineers, estimators, contractors and sub-contractors are the human resources in the construction projects, which these various interests may lead to complication of the process and thus, causes risks in projects. The term ‘risk’ can also be defined as a combination of the probability of the occurrence of a defined hazard and the magnitude of the consequences of the occurrence. There are two basic components to risk, which the first is the probability of an event occurring and follow by the negative impact due to the occurrence of the event.
Nevertheless, there are more inherent risk in construction projects due to the involvement of multiple contracting parties, which include the owners, designers, contractors, sub-contractors and also suppliers. A project where risks are effectively managed is considered as a successful project as risks cannot be eliminated. During the old times, socioeconomic factors such as environment, public safety and the general economy, organizational relationships which involved contractual relations, participants attitudes and communications and technological problems including design assumptions, site conditions, construction procedures and occupational safety were the risk in construction projects. According to the book ‘Understanding the key risks in construction projects in China’, project risk can be divided into two sub groups, which are external and internal risks. External risks are those that are beyond he control of the project management, whereby internal risks can be differentiates according to the originators of the risk events, examples like the owners, designers and contractors. Risk at the design might emanate from three causes, which are defective design, deficiencies in drawings and specifications and also changes made in the design: •
Defective design, incomplete design or design may include lots of mistake or may not be constructible. Designers are some time rushed to complete the design phase by owners to start construction early and achieve the time to market objectives.
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Deficiencies in drawings and specifications. This relates to quality of drawings and specifications produced by the design professionals.
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Changes made to the design during the construction phase are another source of internal risk in construction project.
Therefore, with the implementation of BIM in the building industry, the data rich object- orientated, intelligent and parametric digital representation delivered from the virtual model constructed, is appropriate and easy for the various users and team members to extract and analyze the information generated from the virtual model which allows them to make decision and improved the process of delivering the facilities with more minor risk. How BIM Able To Mitigate Risk In Construction Projects Inconsistent needs of the owner over time, lack of communication between design team members or completely constructed building does not meet the requirements of the owner and the occupants may causes construction risk. However, the functionalities of BIM such as coordination of digital information collection about a building project that includes cost, schedule, fabrication, maintenance, production of advance quality construction documents, prediction of performance, estimation of cost and construction planning could mitigate the construction risk in following ways: •
Elimination of manual extraction of drawing through datachange platform or other method of integrating process.
o Implementation of BIM employs parametric modeling which incorporate the use of relational database containing information regarding the components of a structure and their relationships. Thus, the virtual model generated can be used to propose spatial calculations, energy efficiency, structural analysis details and traditional design document so that the hazards such as incorrect measurements of inaccurate generation of cost could be lowered. •
Reducing the design deficiency through data exchange platform. o The errors made by design and construction teams can be reduced by utilizing the mechanism of conflict detection through visualization techniques is one of the major ability of BIM. Cost can be saved through the reduction of risk in time and errors as BIM has the ability to handle more building information.
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Integrating design process with construction and engineering. o As the building is simulated by the builder before and during the actual construction process, the changes are able to be controlled the design and engineering stages as well as in the built environment lifecycle. It is ideal for projects with high risk and high cost which may lead to high rewards in mitigating those cost and risk. The accessibility to all stakeholders to the schedule and cost will cultivate communication and cooperation thereby reduce the hazard of defragmentation among project members.
Utilizing Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Risk Assessment The advantages of BIM such as coordination and collaboration, early detection of conflicts which may cause risk mitigation, time-‐conserving drating and others. The advantages of the application of BIM in risk assessments are as following: • Visualization – The management process is more transparent in the help of BIM as the shortages of the project can be readily informed in the 3D BIM virtual model. • Fabrication drawing – In the construction of the virtual 3D model of the design, shop drawings for fabrication of any design elements can likely be generated. • Code checking – Code checking is very important to maintain standardization of design to ensure compliances with local regulations and international codes of practice. • Cost estimation – Every elements in BIM are developed with inbuilt features of materials, costs, volumes and others, thefore, cost estimation can be conducted through the design by using BIM.
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Conflicts detection and Coordination – Detection of obstructions can be easily and automatically performed therough the 3D visualization of the design such as the system could identify the pipes that did not intersect with beams, ducts or walls.
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Forensics analysis – The 3D virtual design model can readily illustrate possible failures, leaks or evacuation plans
Case Study 1 – Operations Controls Buildings (OCB) in Super Major, Western Australia (Risk Assessed: Throughout Visualization, Conflicts Detection)
AECOM. (2015). Reducing Cost And Risk Through Building Information Modelling (BIM). Western Australia. Retrieved from http://www.aecom.com/Where+We+Are/Australia+-‐ +New+Zealand/Oil+Gas/_projectsList/Reducing+Cost+and+Risk+through+Building+Information +Modelling+(BIM)
Super Major is an oil and gas factory in Western Australia which needed an Operations Controls Buildings to manage its liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant. As the ‘brain of the facilities’, the $300M OCB would control all the operations of the plant as it houses a mission critical data hall and central control room. There are several challenges at the location of the remote island of the plant and the client required confidence that theLN G plant control centre would able to operate within the severe cyclonic marine environment. Therefore, the demand for accurate documentation was topmost important as compounded by the strict quarantine issues on the island. A ‘fly-‐through’ view of 3D modelling constructed by AECOM using BIM shows throughout the design of the OCB showing the building and internal systems prior to construction. As a result, potential onsite issues before construction begin were able to identify through the ‘fly-‐through’ view of the 3D model. It provided a level of detail that enable construction materials being designed before arrival on the island reduced unecessary trabsportatio and costs. The client’s constrcuction
time can be saved by identifying issues before construction commence and also ensure the design able to be built as planned without accidents. The OCB can be constructed as planned and without onsite delays because of the cofidence provided through the usage of BIM throughout the construction process. Case Study 2 – Aquarium Hilton Garden Inn, Atlanta, Georgia (Risks Assessed: Forensics Analysis, Cost Estimation) The Aquarium Hilton Garden Inn project consists of a mixed-‐used hotel, retail shops ans a parking deck, the area of the hotel occupies 484,000 square foot of land with extimated cost of $46M. The scope of BIM in this project is to coordinate the design, detect potential clashes and work sequencing and it befits the schedule by saving 1,143 of working hours. The general contracting company based in Atlanta, Geogia (GC), initiate the visualization uses of virtual 3D modelling for detail-‐level information from subcontractors according to the drawings from the designers. The models were later used for clash detection analysis as it allows GC to identify potential collision or clashes between different structural and mechanical systems. There were 55 clashes detected during the design development phase which result in a cost avoidance of $124,500. The model was updated and resolved collisions were tracked during the construction documents phase. Before the actual construction began , there were more that 590 clashes detected and the overall cost savings of the 590 collisions detected throughout the project was estimated $801,565 (further details in Table 1).
Table 1. An Illustration of Cost and Time Savings via Building Information Modeling in the Aquarium Hilton Garden Inn Project Retrieved from http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000127
The cost benefits to the owner was significant and it initiates the used of BIM technology in all major projects by the arhitects and GC.
Case Study 3 – Emory Psychology Building, Atlanta, GA (Risk Assessed: Fabric Visualization, Fabrication Drawings) The architect had been utilizing the building information model at the earky stage of his design to determine the best orientation f the building and evaluate different façade options such as mansory, curtain wall and window styles as the virtual model could perform daylight studies which is crucial to the final positioning of the building on site. The shading and lightning studies and right-‐to-‐light studies were used to ensure the effect of sun exposure and lightning conditions throughtout the year and also the effects of the installations on the nearby buildings.
Use of BIM for options analysis and sun studies in the Emory Psychology Building (Courtesy of Holder Construction Company, Atlanta, GA). Retrieved from: http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000127
The result of the adjusted design of the building that were conducted from the studies are as below: • The number of glazings on the west façade were decreased. • The penthouse on the roof of the building was reduced in size. • The overall height of the building was also reduced due to the onducted lightning and sun studies. The risk of redesigning at the later phases in the life cycle of project had been avoided due to the incoporated design adjustments during the design phase of the building.
Conclusion Techology has become one of the essential components to be implied in the building industry in terms of enhance communication between design and construction team members, reduce cost and time throughout the project, integrating different field of interest and achieve common understanding in respective projects by implementing BIM as the tool and process. Construction risk can be mitigted and detected by using BIM in order to achieve the objective of the object in categories of time, cost, quality, safety and sustainability. The concept of BIM is that using a virtually built model to simulate and analyze building impacts, work out problems prior to build it physically. In a nutshell, BIM is an advance platform that could help in lowering the construction risk in projects, especially elimination of common errors in the design management. In is no doubt that BIM improves the quality and productivity of construction projects.
References AECOM. (2015). Reducing Cost And Risk Through Building Information Modelling (BIM). Western Australia. Retrieved from http://www.aecom.com/Where+We+Are/Australia++New+Zealand/Oil+Gas/_projectsList/Reducing+Cost+and+Risk+through+Building +Information+Modelling+(BIM) Azhar, S. (2011). Building Information Modeling (BIM): Trends, Benefits, Risks, and Challenges for the AEC Industry. Retrieved September 12, 2015, from http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000127 Azhar, S. and Ahmad, I. (2015). Introduction to the Special Issue on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in AEC Organizations: Assessment of Impact on Work Practices, Project Delivery, and Organizational Behavior. Journal of Management in Engineering, 10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000345, A2014001. Retrieved from http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000127 Dabo, H. (2015). Mitigating Construction Project Risk Using Building Information Modelling (BIM). Retrieved September 12, 2015, from http://www.academia.edu/2011136/MITIGATING_CONSTRUCTION_PROJECT_R ISK_USING_BUILDING_INFORMATION_MODELLING_BIM_ El-Sayegh, SM. (2008). Risk assessment and allocation in the UAE construction industry. Int J Project Manage, 5;26(4), 431-438. Gou, HL. Li, H. Skitmore, M. (2010). Life-cycle management of construction projects based on virtual prototyping technology. Journal of Management in Engineering, 134(10), 776-784. Olatunji, OA., Sher, WD. (2011). The Application of Building Information Modelling in Facilities Management. In Underwood, J., Isikdag, U. (Eds), Handbook of Research On Building Information Modelling and Construction Informatics: Concepts and Technologies (pp. 239-253). USM. Zou, PXW., Zhang, G., Wang, J. (2007). Understanding the key risk inconstruction projects in China. Int J Project Manage, 8;25(60), 601-614.