BIM is short for “Building Information Modelling” and is a project management

system for the design and construction industry.

It uses 3D models to create, check and communicate project information among all
stakeholders throughout the product life cycle.

BIM is gaining stakeholders in the design, construction, manufacturing, and

operation of built assets.

Firms are now hiring BIM Managers to help assist in the design, management,
construction and fabrication process and to implement the new BIM systems in the
workplace.

There are many benefits to BIM at an organizational level and Project level.

The design process is now beginning to change from the traditional linear process
of project planning, conceptual design, design development, documentation,
construction, and operation to now having an integrated design process with BIM
where all the project stages are combined into one.

In a similar fashion, collaboration is also shifting from that of a decentralized

and distributed collaboration to now a centralized collaboration with BIM.

BIM significantly reduces the cost of documentation, construction, and operations

in a project whilst shifting the effort and cost taken to document in a traditional
workflow to the concept and development stage.

There are an increasing number of BIM roles emerging within companies including BIM
Manager, Model Manager, Coordinator and more.

BIM offers the possibility to produce better products for the final outcome of a
project.

It increases transparency for construction through offering tools for linking a 3D

model directly with scheduling and sequencing.

BIM tools such as Robotics, Virtual Reality, machining and more, have given users
the opportunity and tools to send information direct from a 3D model to the
construction site, streamlining the design to construction process.

BIM provides the opportunity for the mass customization of products straight from
design to production and construction on site.

Each individual building element is able to be laid out on sheets, labelled and
organised for production purposes.

You can use programs and plugins such as Dynamo and Grasshopper to automatically
create sheets, renumber doors, windows and other building elements, label egress
roots, bulk place families and more.

With BIM, the cost of desktop computer hardware is decreasing, however computers
now require faster RAM and a better graphics card.

BIM users now work collaboratively on projects.

Team members have access control to a central file where they save a local file and
work on different aspects of the model at the same time.
 BIM has introduced revision control and audit trails to track the document and
modelling status.

Majority of BIM products have the ability to store data on the Cloud.

This reduces the need for server storage, reduces the costs of handling larger
servers locally but also relies heavily on internet bandwidth and data security.

The BIM Cloud has many uses in the AEC industry including rendering 3D models,
coordinating projects from initial design stages to final

The cloud is also used for revision management and document markups and is mainly
accessed through Autodesk applications as well as Graphisoft and Trimble Connect.

They call these Common Data Environments or CDEs where it boasts a minimum loss of
data and geometry as it is all stored in a central location on the Cloud.

All models from design to fabrication and construction are stored in the same
environment for all teams to access, review and manipulate.

Geospatial Information Systems or GIS are becoming more common where designers no
longer work with 2D linework and tape measures but now work with total stations,
GPS, GIS, and laser scanning technology.

Surveyors can now send survey data directly into 3D modelling environments such as
Revit and convert Point Cloud Applications straight into 3D models to be measured
and used.

Compare existing building elements with modelled elements to ensure precision

setout onsite.

You can now take exact measurements from existing elements such as vegetation,
trees and newly developed projects.

The same applications apply to internal building areas where you can check built
construction against the modelled digital version.

Instead of remodeling a design to fit into other software programs for analysis,
BIM now permits live-analysis on a model within the same program such as Revit with
it’s custom linked analysis tool Dynamo or Rhinoceros with the built in plugin
Grasshopper.

Visual scripting is playing a big role in the design, construction and building
industry with scripting interfaces such as Bentley’s Generative Components,
McNeel’s Grasshopper and Autodesk Revit’s open-source plugin Dynamo offering easy
access to model data.

Applications such as Dynamo provide direct access to Revit’s Application

Programming Interface (API), making it simple to customize specific functions in
the program without knowing how to learn and write code.

There is now 3, 4, 5 and 6D BIM.

3D – Concept Modelling, form-finding, visualisation of 2D and 3D designs
4D – Design and Construction programming, Phasing, Simulation, Schedule Monitoring
5D – Cost estimation, validation and detailed management
6D – Data export from BIM to Asset and Facility Management
3D Examples – Unity3DTM, Unreal, LumionTM, Oculus RiftTM

With BIM you can now automate the process of design to fabrication.
Fabricate directly from a model without abstracting information or drawing up 2D
documents.

Everything is now in 3D with the option to convert model elements within design
programs such as Revit into modular elements to prepare for fabrication.

Not only can you prepare models for fabrication with the click of a button, but you
can also connect the resources such as the Bills of Material with Product Lifestyle
Management to streamline transaction-related activities such as resource planning,
purchasing, storage, QA, productivity, HR, finance/payroll and more.

Robotics are coming into play with the automation of fabrication processes.

In addition to robots, machining tools such as CNC routers and laser cutters are
being introduced to speed up the fabrication process and easily create objects and
designs that are often impossible or extremely time consuming and difficult for
humans to achieve.

Job sites are becoming increasingly paperless with the Cloud now offering an
online, wireless database for construction workers to use to verify information,
detect quality control, construct and fill out reports and more, all using mobile
devices.

Data can be collected using barcode scanners, tag readers, 3D laser scanners and
sensors to capture asset information, building performance and other data.

As with all other building management codes, BIM has a series of support documents
and Employer Information Requirements that firms are required to follow.

EIRs define the required level of detail for each stage of a project and involve
Technical, Management and Commercial categories.

BIM Task Group

The Level of Development (LOD) support documents that provide categorise models
into various levels of completion – generally defined as 100,200,300,400 or 500
based on the amount of information incorporated into the model in either 2D or 3D.

100 level is classified as Conception and covers analysis, cost estimating and
scheduling where information can be derived from other model elements.
200 Level is classified as a Generic Placeholder and is used in a similar manner to
the 100 level but includes non-graphic information placed on the model.
300 level is classified as Specific Assemblies and is approved for construction,
analysis, cost estimating and scheduling.
400 level is classified as Detailed Assemblies and is approved for construction,
analysis, cost estimating and scheduling. It includes detailing, fabrication,
assembly, and installation information.
500 level is classified as “As Built” and is a representation of the final element
in terms of size, shape, location, quantity, and orientation.

A number of countries such as the UK and US have a series of BIM Standards that
they have produced.

The BIM Task Group offers a few documents to abide by. Similar in the US, the AIA
has established three documents to support digital practice.

In Australia, you can follow the Australia New Zealand Revit Standards (ANZRS) for
guidance.

They usually cover areas such as project setup, content creation, sheet labelling,
annotations, views and data sets, file exchanges and so on.

BIM Execution plans (BEPs) give guidance for teams to work on sharing models and
information, standards and reviewing the model.

The format of the BEP is based on factors such as geographical and market context,
building type, preferences by project team members and so on.

The BIM Library consists of content from ongoing or recently finished projects.

They vary from firm to firm but should generally conform to the Content Creation
Standards as prescribed in the BIM standards.

Items are usually categorised for ease of use.

There should be an office library and project library with different levels of
building details and elements in each.

The Office Library should categories families by type of element, have the LOD
standards, standard modelling procedures and so on.

The project library should have 3D geometry of the components as well as specific
parameters and versions of the families specific to that project.