All infrastructure projects are, full of challenges: distant goals, complex and expensive resource provisioning, evolving scope, risk management, tough communication, unrealistic expectations, and more. To me, this is why embracing a Building Information Modelling (BIM) platform is so important.

I see this as a single, unified mechanism that can bring together people, ideas, design documents, functional characteristics, and operational details of a large infrastructure project, without spilling out or creating duplicate data. The beauty of BIM in this context is that it not only improves productivity and reduces cost, but also improves coordination and collaboration, brings transparency, reduces rework, helps track progress, and ensures projects are completed within time and budget.

In a developing economy like India, infrastructure projects are a totally different ball game. Common challenges include land acquisition, lack of coordination, and nuanced dispute resolution mechanism between various government bodies, as well as significant shortfalls in planned investments along with large time and cost overruns. For me, the experience of working on Maha Metro Rail Corporation’s Nagpur Metro project, one of the largest infrastructure projects in India, was exceptionally enriching.

The project – an elevated metro corridor with a total length of 40+ km, 36 stations, and 2 depots – was no mean feat. In addition to being a large, complex, time-bound project, it was one that included a massive team of architects, contractors, engineers, consultants, suppliers, and designers; each with a distinct perspective, each offering a solution to every problem faced. There were a lot of challenges faced, but also a lot of learning was achieved. Here are 5 things I learned from working on one of India’s biggest infrastructure projects:

1. Focus on the end objective: Unlike smaller projects where processes are fairly simple and straightforward, managing a large and complex Metro Rail project was like starting on a clean slate. The challenges faced were unique and there was nothing to compare them against. Since the infrastructure project called for a one-of-a-kind 5D BIM platform, we faced several implementation challenges, sometimes with no answers to explain what was being done or why it was to be done. The challenges with respect to the supply chain were always holding us back. Very often, we ended up wondering why something was enforced, or what benefits we would derive from a particular task or process. I had to train myself to focus on my task while looking for small and large points of alignment with the overall vision. In fact, keeping the overall objective in mind -delivering a functioning public transport alternative to the city, helped me focus on my own tasks better.

2. Teamwork wins: One of the most striking characteristics of the Metro Rail project was the presence of people from varied educational backgrounds, different experiences, and multiple locations from across the world; a team of experienced professionals trying to use one common platform was a pioneering effort. All through the project, the team consisting of design consultants, contractors, specialist sub-contractors, bureaucrats, site supervisors, finance/accounting professionals, project planners, suppliers, and more work towards one common goal – the goal of building a world-class Metro Rail project that meets international building and construction standards and Global Best Practices. Teamwork was manifested in the way each member adhered to the best architecture and engineering quality standards and this drove a favorable outcome.

3. Handling process challenges: The implementation process of the Metro Rail project was a complex one. There was so much dynamism as the process to be followed for any action through the project life cycle had to be identified, defined, tested, implemented, monitored, and then enhanced as and when needed. People had to be trained on the process, as well as on the tools that had to be used for a particular task. We had to overcome a lot of hurdles around process management, organizational hierarchy, reporting structure as well as communication protocols. We learned to adapt our internal execution processes and client reporting methods and adapt them to help us achieve our goals.

4. Integrating technology: Multiple software and the need for collaboration between them brought up several interoperability issues. We had to find ways of integration and we also had to find the right people, and train them on the technology while making them comfortable with using the technology. Since most infrastructure projects use a top-down approach, we used the same for the Metro Rail project as well; and even though this led to some resistance from the project team, we were successful in bringing everyone together.

5. Nothing can be perfect; learn to evolve: Considering the size and complexity of the Metro Rail Project, a key learning was to evolve with time. We realized nothing can be perfect; we had to accept the different ways of working of different individuals (even with the flaws) and incorporate that onto our BIM-mandated plans instead of asking everyone to follow a new way or process. To ensure the highest quality output, we always made sure to implement stringent measurements. Peer reviews, customized quality checklists, and automated software-based model checking were some ways by which we ensured we delivered our best at all times.

Persistence is key

For such a large and complex infrastructure project as the Nagpur Metro to be successful, persistence is key. I kept telling myself to be persistent but have a little give and take. In addition to process challenges and technology roadblocks, we also had to find ways to deal with the highly diverse team of expert professionals. Since each team member had a different outlook and different tips and tricks that worked well for his/her job, coming together was hard. I think that relying on plans driven by the BIM models helps us. We could identify issues in time and plan to minimize their impact. This not only helped us in mitigating risks but to my mind, was a key reason for our success on this massive Infrastructure construction project.

(BIM) has had a moderately slow emergence since its existence in the 1970s. In recent years the recession which affected the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, resulted in the slow adoption of BIM. However, a significant rise in the BIM market globally is expected to take place in the coming years due to the introduction of cloud-based BIM technology.

The implementation of BIM has helped construction managers to improve quality control and productivity which is one of the major drivers in the market. This has led to expanding BIM into other management areas. The advantages of this technology have in turn supported the widespread adoption of BIM in the US and UK construction industries.

The use of BIM helps to reduce a significant amount of project cost while meeting time and quality expectations in projects due to effective and efficient information sharing; better coordination in planning among other team members and accurate designing of models which extensively supports lean construction techniques.

Stanford University’s Center for Integrated Facilities Engineering reported the following benefits of BIM after conducting research on 32 major projects –

• Diminishes changes up to 40% by early problem detection.
• Compared to traditional methods of estimation, BIM produces estimates within 3% of accuracy
• Reduces cost estimation time by 80%

BIM emerged as a supporting technology that was developed and used to address the growing and complex challenges of modern-day AEC industries that could not be taken care of with traditional technologies.

BIM or 3D modeling has resulted in an abrupt reshaping of the AEC industry in the areas of technology and process.

As the construction industry focuses on harnessing digital technologies to improve efficiencies and data availability, 5D BIM technologies are becoming more and more pronounced for their use. Maha-Metro Corporation decided to make use of 5D BIM processes to have an integrated environment for all the BIM data along with the project schedules and costs.

Overview of 5D BIM system Architecture:

The Nagpur Metro 5D BIM system had the 3D models and the related data at its core on a common data environment euphemistically called Electronic Data Management System (EDMS). The model data was linked to the project schedules on a Prima Vera server and costs data on the SAP ERP system.

Excelize’s expertise on the BIM models, and various software for BIM resulted in Excelize being trusted with the EDMS part of the 5D BIM system. The EDMS comprised of Bentley system’s Project Wise and Asset Wise software.

Excelize devoted its expertise to formulating modeling guidelines, the configuration of the Bentley software, installation of the client application on user machines, license control, and training on the use of the software.

Excelize had been in consultation with the owner (Maha Metro) and their technical consultants (called General Consultants or GC); formulated the information and workflow processes and configured them on the system. Excelize formed the part of the Owner’s Support Office (OSO) that gave necessary support to the owner to effectively use the system. This included the training of Owner / GC and Contractor personnel, coordination with Bentley, and other 5D BIM vendors, and system administration for the Asset wise and Project wise systems.

The administration part included the user configuration, contract configuration, and creation of the box reports as well as custom dashboards. Excelize helped the GC personnel in the review of models on the system by helping them to ensure that the models meet the necessary guidelines, federate different models from different sources on the Project Wise system, and derive different outputs required by the owner.

Asset Management:

One of the core features of the 5D BIM system is an integrated asset management system. Excelize engineers interacted extensively with the different disciplines of the Metro Rail project such as Stations, Via-ducts, Rolling stocks, Tracks, Signalling, Telecom, OHE, Security systems, etc.

With the deep consultations from Excelize, the asset strategy, asset tagging system, and the workflows for asset management for the life cycle of the assets were formulated. The workflows and asset tag structures were mapped on the system so that the contractors and GC were able to connect the asset tag to the model entity and all the technical documents such as drawings, operation manuals, inspection reports, etc were tied to an asset tag.

Excelize’s core architectural and construction modeling and the industry experience have come in handy for Maha Metro corporation for the Nagpur Metro Rail Project to successfully implement the 5D BIM system’s EDMS. It also resulted in Excelize being further mature in its knowledge of greenfield project implementation as well as exposure to different systems that form a large infrastructure project.

Excelize will build on this to provide the benefit of this combined knowledge of 3D BIM modeling along with EDMS, 5D BIM systems,s, and industry practices in various disciplines. Excelize would attempt to garner more business in this area and supplement its leadership position.

“The #SmartCity vision envisages a balance of heritage with modernism –  we can be #smart while we keep our heritage protected” – Smt. Vasundhara Raje (Chief Minister of Rajasthan)

Excelize’s director Mrs. Sonali Dhopte was invited as an eminent panelist for the Smart and Digital Rajasthan Summit & Expo 2018 scheduled on March 14th and 15th, 2018 at Jaipur. The event was organized jointly by IACC & The Guild to discuss and address the challenges and opportunities in implementing the blueprint of Rajasthan’s Smart Cities vision.

The key leaders at the summit were Mrs. Vasundhara Raje Scindia (Chief Minister of Rajasthan), Shri. Venkaiah Naidu (Vice-President of India), Kenneth Juster (United States Ambassador to India) and Shrichand Kriplani (Hon’ble Minister, UDH & LSG and Chairman, RUDSICO).

This 2-day summit had 50 speakers & over 500 delegates participated in the event. The presentations and the panel discussions were highly inspiring and had a great emphasis on the global perspectives on how to create smart & sustainable cities and showcase best practices & technologies that can help Indian cities and other urban areas become efficient, sustainable and smart by developing more interconnected infrastructure, communications and data systems.

Excelize is honored to have participated in the Summit and embellish the opportunity to share technical knowledge, discuss the challenges and understand the cross-industry opportunities.

Check out the event details: https://www.smartrajasthanexpo.com/

About Excelize:  Excelize is an engineering services firm providing Building Information Modeling (BIM) & CAD solutions to clients in India, Mid-East, UK, Europe, Australia, and the US. These clients include Architects, Engineers, Design-build contractors, General Contractors, Real-Estate developers, building owners and consultants.

About Sonali Dhopte: Architect and Interior Designer since 1993, Sonali has worked with the top architectural firms in the US and India. As Technical Director at Excelize (www.excelize.com), she oversees and guides the BIM team and manages project deliveries as per client requirements. As a leading woman Architect, Sonali is a nationally recognized BIM Expert and has presented and participated in various panel discussions in prestigious conferences and has published various articles on BIM in prestigious journals.

The accuracy of BIM Quantity Take-Off and consequently material procurement!!!

If the estimation is not correct on a project, it will affect the business negatively. While underestimation of the cost leads to loss of money, the overestimation may result in failure at the bidding phase. Even though the direct victim of this issue in traditionally fixed-price contracts is a contractor, the impact of poor estimation will be seen in the entire project.

The typical pain areas for BoQ’s industry-wide are:

• As quantity take-off from 2D drafting is not connected to the resulting BOQ dynamically, the surveying team has to take many days in order to visualize the construction of 2D drafting.
• Even though BOQ industry needs the cost and resource-loaded schedule. It is not in the hierarchical structure of the BOQ.
• There are different methods to estimate cost codes and schedule resources at various levels of detail.
• BOQ or the schedule is not the structure for cost controlling and cost capture. But a third structure should be mapped to these two for cost controlling and cost capture.

ESTIMATING PROCESS

A baseline of the cost required at the various stages of project development is called cost estimation. The cost engineer or estimator predicts an amount at a given stage, based on the data available. Even though several types of cost estimation methods exist, Bill of Quantities (BOQ) Unit costs are the most commonly used. In this approach, the bill of quantities assigns a unit cost to each of the components or tasks. If you sum the quantities that are multiplied by the corresponding unit costs, you will get the total cost of the project.  The unit cost method is based on a simple arithmetical principle and is very accurate in estimating. But the proper application is essential. However, there are three key factors that decide the success of this method.

• The first and most important factor is that BOQ should be accurate
• There should be a well-defined framework for the construction procedure, which is commonly called as Standard Method of Measurement (SMM) or Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The framework should contain a series of tasks with the allocation of quantities to those tasks.
• Estimating tools are the third factor. They are used to calculate cost accurately based on WBS and BOQ and report the expecting estimates in client-defined formats.

Besides the three main factors, there are many other fixed or variable factors like inflation, consumption rates, taxes, currency fluctuations, contingencies, etc., which should be considered by the estimator.

GENERATING ACCURATE BIM QUANTITY TAKEOFF:

The best way to get an accurate BOQ is nothing but the adoption of Building Information Modeling services. The possibilities of common errors in BOQs are minimal in the projects that use BIM processes and technology. BIM represents a single and accurate design model instead of providing several drawings. A BIM model can create a bim quantity takeoff automatically, which means it has the inbuilt intelligence to know about each building element and what it is made of. Therefore, if any change occurred in the design of a model, the BOQ will also be updated.

EXAMPLE OF BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING SERVICES QUANTITY COMPARISON:

Costing is one of the most important aspects of a project to the owners of the project. Controlling cost escalation and managing material is one issue that cannot be compromised.

Quantities for architectural and structural components are extracted at the schematic, tender, Good-For-Construction (GFC), and construction stage. At the schematic stage, it is used for budgeting. While tender, the BIM quantities are compared against the tender costs. As the design is refined at the GFC stage, the revised quantities are used for evaluating change requests. On completion of execution, the bim quantity take-offs from the model are used for bill verification.

At every stage, the accuracy of BIM quantities exceeds the accuracy of conventional thumb rule calculation. Overall adoption of building information Modeling services helps control cost escalation and disputes during the checking process.

On average, while comparing the benefit of BIM for Accurate Quantification and material procurement it can be summarized through our project experiences that

• Time is taken to calculate quantity from BIM -1 day
• Time is taken to calculate quantity by site team -1 week

The difference in the quantities is anywhere between 1% – 8%.

BIM SOLUTIONS APPLICATION AND BENEFITS TO STAKEHOLDERS:

The availability of software packages that can help prepare bills of quantities is increasing day to day. Bills of quantities are produced with the help of building information Modeling services. They do this task using the information contained in the model. The benefits of integrated BIM solutions are several and they are beneficial for everybody in the construction industry including owners, cost consultants, project managers, and contractors.

Building Information Modeling services help owners take a ‘hands-on’ approach to managing investors, stakeholders, and contractors. Using this technology, the project managers and architects can provide their services on behalf of their clients. Cost consultants can provide various services like rapid and credible cost planning, energy analysis and procurement services, etc. BIM helps contractors support revaluation amendments.

The AEC industry has adopted quite a few interesting and innovative technological advancements to enhance its productivity over the years. The important one among them is Scan to BIM. We can see the application of Scan to BIM process extensively in renovation projects. Here data is derived with the help of laser scanning technology and later productive 3D BIM models are developed using these data.

As-built data deprived of 3D laser scanning captured with the help of laser scanning equipment assist in generating accurate 3D BIM models faster as compared to the traditional methods. External and internal laser scanning helps to build accurate 3D surveys further assisting in creating intelligent 3D models.

BENEFITS OF 3D SCAN TO BIM:

• Scan to BIM helps in improved transparency, communication, and collaboration.
• BIM model generated from the scan data allows more reliability & quality assurance
• Reduces the construction cost
• Scan to BIM eases project alterations and assists in faster decision making
• Using BIM throughout the building process leads to better sustainability in the project
• The virtual creation of BIM model from scan data helps eliminate costly mistakes during construction

Building data are extracted during the scanning process using highly effective laser scanners. When laser beams get back the hardware and they were directed towards the structure, in the beginning, points clouds are acquired.

SCAN TO BIM WORKFLOW:

• Modelers should open Revit first to include point cloud data in Revit project
• Once the modelers get accessible to Revit, converting the available scanned data into effective file formats is the next procedure.
• BIM Modelers are generally covert raw scanned data into point cloud files using Autodesk® ReCap.
• Models should transform raw scanned data into appropriate cloud files during the indexing process.
• After the indexing process, the raw scanned data is transformed into .rcp and .rcs file formats.
• So, users can link the point cloud files within a Revit project soon after they get .rcp and .rcs file formats.
• Countless .rcs files (Reality Capture Scan files) are included in an .rcp file (Reality Capture Project File).
• So, cloud files modelers should click ‘Insert tab’ first and then ‘Link Panel’. After that, they can select ‘Point cloud icon within Link panel.
• After selecting Point cloud, the modelers have to identify the files which should be linked to the project.
• BIM modelers are allowed to pick either a .rcp extension file or a .rcs extension file, depending on their requirement.
• BIM Models should use Point Cloud tool in order to insert the file into Revit Project.
• Once the modelers select a suitable file, then they have to focus on how to position a file in the project.
• Modelers can position a file in the project either by selecting Auto-center to center option or by using an option among Auto – Origin to Origin, Auto – Origin to Last Placed, and Auto –By Shared Coordinates.
• Once the modelers choose an effective file positioning option, then they can link the point cloud file in the project by clicking on “open’.

If the modelers follow the above-described steps effectively, they can easily and efficiently link the point cloud files into Revit Project.

With BIM implementation the fundamental techniques of operation in the construction industry are rapidly changing. It is believed that BIM’s feature of openly sharing information would derive substantial benefits in cost and value proposition. Renovation or refurbishment BIM projects could be more accurately and comprehensively completed with the help of Scan to BIM method of capturing 3D survey data.

To know more about Scan to BIM Download our Case Study where Excelize offered its Scan to BIM Services for a more than 60 years old Heritage Building in the USA.

This July 2015, Construction world released an article focusing on the challenges faced by the Indian Government in implementing the Smart Cities projects.  As the Indian government has planned to launch smart solutions to meet the need of growing urbanization and has approved 100 smart cities project in India.

Many industry experts contributed different solutions to the challenges highlighted in the article. Like,

Mr. Pratap Padode (@pratappadode) says, ¨The Smart Cities mission and AMRUT are likely to infuse a total of Rs 400,000 crore, once integrated with other missions like Digital India, Swachh Bharat, Housing for All, etc.¨

Mr. Kanwaljeet Singh, Business Development, Energy and Smart Cities, Schneider Electric India say’s “At present, only Lavasa near Pune can be classified as a smart city. Other cities (such as Mumbai and Delhi) are still in the process of upgrading their systems and could qualify as smart in the future.¨

¨We have been talking to these cities about the best way to do this, following which they will come up with their procurement procedures,¨ says Aamer Azeemi, Managing Director, Cisco, adding that the company is in discussion with many cities. ¨We have done the complete smart city planning for four cities in the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor,¨ he shares.

Similarly under the “Utility and Solutions” section where there are two components to any smart city: Physical infrastructure and software. Every city, from ancient times to now, has required roads, water, power, parks, security, transportation, shopping, food production, and services of different types for its citizens. What has changed is that all these facilities can now be designed using the analysis of data. Therefore, you get smarter roads where traffic lights are coordinated with the amount of traffic and smarter water by measuring the amount of water being consumed and then planning how much to buy, how much to clean and purify, and how much to store and distribute. While smarter power and the fine granular measurement can improve load factors and reduce electricity cost, smarter grids for electricity distribution improve the resiliency of power networks. Additionally, smarter transportation, agriculture, and services can be possible by backing every decision with data collection and analytics.

This considered, the benefits building information modeling (BIM) offers at the various stage are proven. ¨It can play a significant role to make smart cities a success,¨ affirms Sonali Dhopte, Director, Excelize. She highlights some goals for BIM adoption or implementation in smart cities:

• At the design stage: Visualisation of the project leads to a reduction in coordination time; reduction in time by design changes; accuracy in data used for construction as BIM lets us build virtually before building physically.
• At construction stage: Reduction in rework at site owing to clash detection and resolution; the accuracy of Bill of Quantities (BOQ) and consequently material procurement; delay monitoring through 4D construction simulation; availability of an as-built model for facility management.
• At maintenance stage: Integration of design data with maintenance data; the impact of any updates or renovations can be assessed against the data available in the BIM model.

Read the entire article here: “THE SMART CITIES CHALLENGE”

Brief about Ar. Sonali Dhopte:

Architect and Interior Designer since 1993, Sonali has worked with the top architectural firms in the US and India. As Technical Director at Excelize (www.excelize.com), she oversees and guides the BIM technology team and manages project deliveries as per client requirements. As a leading woman Architect, Sonali is a nationally recognized BIM Expert and has presented and participated in various panel discussions in prestigious conferences and has published various articles on BIM in prestigious journals.

Building Information Modeling (BIM), is nowadays widely used to model and design buildings of all types and sizes. In earlier days, when BIM initially came into use, people had a misconception that it is suitable only for large complex structures, and most of the early adopters of BIM concentrate on applying this technology to large complex projects. However, now BIM is started to apply widely in residential projects, which brings a significant change in the construction industry.

The fact is that BIM for residential design can be adopted effectively for small firms too if we apply it with the right preparation and strategic planning. Selection of the right BIM tool and its implementation through strategic planning of transitioning determines the success of BIM project. This planning is nothing but management.

BIM can be defined as the combination of 3Ps, which are process, product, and practice. Here the process is a sum of building information and management, the product is BIM, which is the authoring tool (Revit, Bentley, etc.), and Practices means management that includes strategic planning of transitioning.

Experts believe that BIM is suitable for all types of projects of any scale and it can successfully solve the unique complications of each building sector with BIM in residential construction and BIM in residential architecture. That is why, several institutional projects around the world, as well as residential developers, began to accept BIM widely, realizing its benefits. Even though BIM was considered a tool to improve the design process on large projects in earlier times, fortunately, that situation is changed now. The residential owners of this period realize that BIM, beyond a tool, is a method, which can be used throughout the practice for all types of projects of any size and design. As a result, BIM is begun to be used in more and more custom green home projects.

THE SEVERAL ADVANTAGEOUS FACTORS OF BIM FOR RESIDENTIAL DESIGN:

• BIM increases productivity with structured information
• It improves collective understanding of design intent
• BIM is capable of analysis and simulation of energy, quantity, and cost
• It enables better project planning and thereby ensures accuracy
• It offers cost estimates for early project certainty
• BIM enhances operations, maintenance, and facility management

EFFECTIVE COLLABORATION TOOL

BIM enhances the collaborative effort of all members in a construction project including owners, architects, contractors, sub-contractors, engineers, suppliers, trade professionals, and building operations/facilities personnel. So, the right information is accessible in the right place at the right time. Therefore, all projects of any type and size -from complex commercial building structures to small residential projects, get the benefit of BIM.

ORGANIZED FLOW OF INFORMATION

The main feature of BIM 3D Modeling has a significant role in improving the business and so residential owners and developers depend on visual 3D than 2D. Most of the clients cannot understand the concept flat 2-D world. But developers can convince them easily using 3D models. In short, using Building Information Modeling, we can view the project even before it is built. This technology also helps to avoid miscommunication, frustration, and waste.

BIM ENERGY MODELING

Increasing energy prices, unpredictable climate change, and occupant health consciousness are matters of high concern around the globe nowadays. the high consumption of energy and carbon emissions worldwide are the threats to our world about which the green evangelists are worried. So, people all over the world are forced to take necessary actions to sustain the society green. As all these phenomena matter to residential, institutional, and commercial building projects, the construction industry is under great pressure for changing the current design and construction approaches.

Here comes the importance of BIM. As this new technology helps to reduce the waste and carbon emissions to the atmosphere, several construction firms in US and Canada start to adopt Revit, a BIM-authoring tool in the construction of residential architecture projects and custom green homes. In Canada, using Revit and ArchiCAD, some prefabricated home plants started working. As well pipes are included in prefabricated floor panels using the MEP suite.

FUTURE OF BIM

As BIM improves the broad-scale project ecosystem and enhances project outputs for all parties, it has growing implications in the construction industry. BIM can satisfy the unique workflow, expectations, and value proposition of each player on a construction project, as it can be applied in every situation.  Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), the result of BIM application, makes a significant change in the world of the construction industry.

We all know that only big enterprises realized the usefulness of computers when it is introduced to the market first. But, now even small children are experts on the computer. Similarly, general contractors and sub-contractors as well as being increasingly using BIM to provide drawings and other disciplines in BIM. Both new projects and renovation projects start to apply BIM for better results.

4D construction simulation helps in delay monitoring.

Being one of the largest and significant industries, the Construction industry has a main role in determining the gross domestic product (GDP) of many several advanced countries. This unique industry exists in a dynamic environment and therefore itself it faces lots of changes, conflicts, and complexity of communications, which will result in the delay and sometimes the failure of the project. Here comes the significance of BIM, as it can assist in creating a traditional delay analysis method. As this method is easy to perform and deliver its message, the problems between all involved parties can be solved earlier.

Understanding the benefits of BIM, several construction firms are now starting to invest in BIM technologies during all stages like preconstruction, bidding, construction, and post-construction. Therefore, owners need BIM service from everybody involved in a project including construction managers, architects, and engineering firms.

“The article aims at understanding current applications of BIM in different disciplines and to comprehend how “Design to Build” and “Build to Design” concepts can be implemented along with focusing on 3D and 4D construction simulation.”

High level of communication and collaboration environment is the most advantageous of BIM. It can cover all aspects of a construction project by incorporating every parameter like time (4D) and cost (5D). AEC uses BIM services in several application areas such as photorealistic rendering, virtual design review, cost estimating, analyzing design alternatives, analyzing execution methodologies, and project document production. A categorized framework has been established for eD/4D model areas of applications into three key phases such as design, shaping, and construction.

DELAY ANALYSIS USING 4D SIMULATIONS

Professionals and Forensic delay analysts must become more aware of the capabilities of 4D implementation in the AEC industry, As-Built models should highlight to the industry.

Case Study: Delay monitoring through 4D construction simulation

Execution of multiple projects at the same time, and monitoring the progress of every project is intimidating. The project owners are very keen to use technology to assist them in monitoring progress remotely.

Monitoring delays in execution is another plus of BIM implementation that is achieved. Simulating the construction activity for planned and actual dates and highlighting these to the client and project team ensures that execution delays are minimal. The clients are able to monitor the execution remotely on multiple projects

The project plan (from Primavera) is linked with the BIM model. To the 3D model, the 4th dimension of time is added and the construction simulation for every activity is generated. This linking is done initially for a baseline project plan and routinely updated (every 2 weeks) for actual updates to the project plan. Using this, delays are highlighted, and the construction sequence is corrected, thus achieving the goals of efficient resources and material management.

4D BIM AND SCHEDULING (TIME):

Construction planning and management: BIM models include tools for a visual depiction of the space utilization of the job site through the entire project construction, which provide a means of verifying site logistics and yard operations. Several temporary components like Lorries, cranes, and fencing can be included in the model. It can also incorporate the traffic access routes for cranes, Lorries, lifts, and other large items.  Using the tools, we can also enhance the planning and monitoring of health and safety precautions required on-site, when the project progresses.

Schedule visualization: Schedule visualization provides multiple sources of accurate real-time information and using this, the project members can make sound decisions. A chart can be used in the BIM model to show the critical path. The chart also gives a visual representation of the dependency of some sequences on others. Advanced BIM models can identify the changes in a design, which will influence the critical path, and indicate the possible corresponding impact of these changes on the overall delivery of the project.

A large project may have more than 100 activities at the proposal and schematic stages. While the scheduled activities are between 500 and 1000 during design development, they will range from 1000 to 10000 or more during the construction document stage. So, it is important to make sure that no information is missing when the project progresses to the construction document.

Buildings today are complex concatenations of structures, systems, and technology. Over time, each of the components inside a building has been developed and improved, allowing modern-day building owners to select its features independently. Smart buildings go well beyond just using smart materials and protocols. So, what exactly are these? A smart building uses information technology to connect a variety of subsystems, which typically operate independently, so these systems can share information to optimize total building performance. Enabled by technology, this smart building connects the structure itself to the functions it exists. That said, smart buildings look beyond the building equipment within their four walls.

The Smart Buildings Summit got underway in Hotel Four Seasons, Mumbai, on August 21, 2015. Organized by CONSTRUCTION WORLD and Smart Cities Council India, the summit’s theme was “Smart Buildings: Redefining Our Buildings” with the involvement of 12 speakers and 5 high-powered sessions.

Mr. Padode, as moderator, touched upon building automation, which already exists, but which has a cost involved, delving deeper into building information modeling (BIM), building maintenance system (BMS), and geographic information system (GIS). Other panelists included architect Sanjay Puri, Chetan Raikar, Chairman, and Managing Director, Structural Consultants, and Sonali Dhopte, Director, Excelize.

Topics in Smart Building Technology

• Smart elements to optimize overall building performance
• Future of building automation
• Innovative technologies for smart and optimal utilization of water and waste
• Technological advances to predict and address failures
• Remote monitoring and management

During this panel discussion, the need for using Smart Building Technology was discussed. Using BIM during the design phase for coordination and then using the data from this model during the operation stage of a building is one of the ways the buildings can be made smarter. This was discussed by the panel in relation to the solar analysis and temperature control in any building, water meters, recycling water, and using innovative construction techniques to make buildings smarter.

To read more about the event visit: Smart Building Summits 2015