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Hector Chapa Sikazwe

Newcastle upon tyne, 2014

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The Attraction of BIM solutions

Using REVIT

Hector Chapa Sikazwe, 2014

Keywords

BIM, Autodesk, REVIT, AEC, Engineers, Architects, Building construction, UK government,

RIBA, MEP, Building process, Eagan report, 3D, 4D, 5D, Building solutions, Software, Civil

engineers, Clients, Innovation,

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Table of Contents Keywords .............................................................................................................................................2

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1.0 The problem .............................................................................................................................. 3

2.0 Possible Solutions ......................................................................................................................4

2.1 American Response ................................................................................................................4

2.2 United Kingdom Response ......................................................................................................4

3.0 The need for an integrated construction process system ..............................................................4

3.1 Design and Build .................................................................................................................... 5

3.2 Traditional arrangement ......................................................................................................... 5

4.0 The role of Architects and BIM .................................................................................................... 5

5.0 REVIT as a BIM solution ............................................................................................................. 6

5.1 BIM definition ....................................................................................................................... 6

5.2 REVIT as 4D and 5D BIM ......................................................................................................... 7

6.0 The Future of REVIT ...................................................................................................................8

7.0 Bibliography ..............................................................................................................................8

1.0 The problem

The willingness to assume responsibilities does not come easily from any party in the current

litigious climate of the construction industry in the United Kingdom and in general in the European

Union. . It is not surprising that in the European Industry, when the Client, architect, engineer,

contractor and other groups that represent parts of the Construction industry do not jointly fix the

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responsibilities of the various tasks to appropriate parties, the standards of design and construction

practice is eventually resolved only by court decisions.

2.0 Possible Solutions In an attempt to provide a guide to the entire spectrum of participants in a construction project, many

organizations have made great attempts to find solutions that would address the problem of the

fragmented Construction process. The solutions sought addresses several key themes, including the

value of clearly defining and assigning responsibilities, the importance of teamwork, the need for

clear contractual provisions, strategies for good communication, the owner's selection process for

other team members, the potential benefits associated with various project delivery systems, and

procedures for managing design and construction whilst limiting litigation and sky-rocketing final

construction costs.

2.1 American Response

In response, across the Atlantic, the American Society of Civil Engineers issued a Manual of

Professional Practice entitled “Quality in the Constructed Project in 1990”. This manual was

intended to help bring a turnaround of the fragmentation of activities in the design and construction

process.

2.2 United Kingdom Response

In the United Kingdom the government released the Eagan report entitled “Rethinking

construction”1 which also had similar intentions to address the escalating problems in

communication during the construction process.

3.0 The need for an integrated construction process system In an integrated construction process system, the planning for both design, and construction, is

expected to proceed almost simultaneously whilst examining various alternatives which are

desirable from both viewpoints and thus eliminating the necessity of extensive revisions under the

guise of value engineering2 or value added3 false promises. It is interesting to note that European

building clients are generally more open to new technologies and to share risks together with

1 http://www.constructingexcellence.org.uk/pdf/rethinking%20construction/rethinking_construction_report.pdf 2 http://www.wbdg.org/resources/value_engineering.php 3 http://www.qualityresearchinternational.com/glossary/valueadded.htm

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designers (Architects) and contractors. In particular, they are more willing to accept responsibilities

for the unforeseen subsurface conditions in geotechnical engineering. Consequently, the Architects

and consultants from other professions and contractors are also more willing to introduce new

techniques in order to reduce the time and cost of construction.

3.1 Design and Build

In European practice, Clients typically present contractors with architectural conceptual design

plans, and the contractors in turn prepare detailed designs, which are double checked by the Clients’

Architects or engineers. This is normally under the “Design and build” contracts that are becoming

favorable in comparison to the traditional Architectural master builder arrangement. In addition to

these “design and build” drawings, detailed designs may be alternate designs, and specialty

contractors may also be invited to prepare detailed alternate designs that may end up aggregating

and compounding further the defragmentation of the construction process

3.2 Traditional arrangement

In a traditional arrangement, the planning for a construction project begins with the generation of

concepts of a project by a design Architect for a facility which would meet market demands and

Client needs. Architect’s innovative concepts in design are highly valued not for their own sake but

for their contributions to reducing costs and to the improvement of aesthetics, comfort or

convenience as embodied in a well-designed facility. Participants in the building process are

constantly challenged to deliver successful projects despite tight budgets, limited manpower,

accelerated schedules, and limited or conflicting information

4.0 The role of Architects and BIM

Architectural design consulting is the essential knot to the success or failure of a project. It’s

desirable that Architects take responsible to the Client’s and the law for the design quality. They are

requested to ‘eliminate hazards which may give rise to risks’ and to ‘reduce risks from remaining

hazards’. They therefore must consider the materials and process in their design for the construction

project. They also must concern themselves to the factors regarding health and safety in the project.

The significant disciplines such as architectural, structural and MEP designs should be well

coordinated, as two things can’t take place at the same place and time.

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Building Information Modelling (BIM) aids in collision detection at the initial stage, identifying the

exact location of discrepancies. With due appreciation of the built environment, the constructor as

well as the Architectural design professionals must have an appreciation and full understanding of

the technological complexities often associated with innovative designs in order to provide a safe

and sound facility that answers the Client’s needs and meets the market value of the intended plans.

Unfortunately these design concepts are currently often preliminary or tentative and several

prolonged screening studies, researches, boardroom calamitous meetings and professionally poorly

crafted visionary concepts are carried out to determine the overall technological viability and

economic attractiveness without pursuing these concepts in great detail. Due to the ambiguity of the

objectives, poor communication processes and the uncertainty of external events, client’s call for

uninhibited innovation in creating new concepts and judicious judgment in selecting the appropriate

ones for further consideration has constantly made the construction process very difficult to control.

5.0 REVIT as a BIM solution

Construction Quality management in the design phase is as important as it is in the construction

phase. It is meant to help all parties involved in the project to save their time, cost and assure the

project life without causing the Client excessive pay-outs due to escalating project costs and

unforeseen consequences that derail investment futures. Although most of the organizations have

their own systems to manage the quality of the products and services from conception through to

disposal, there are still many solutions that are needed to be done because no study has been done

within the construction industry to measure how effective these quality management systems affect

the overall project delivery.

5.1 BIM definition

The problem is that, the construction process needs a good system to track accurately the causes of

the failure and find out where the cost can be minimized. That is where Building information

modelling (BIM) comes in. According to the UK government,4 “BIM is the first truly global digital

4 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/34710/12-1327-building-information-modelling.pdf

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construction technology and will soon be deployed in every country in the world. It is a 'game

changer' and the construction industry need to recognize that it is here to stay. Building Information

Modelling is a collaborative way of working, underpinned by the digital technologies which unlock

more efficient methods of designing, creating and maintaining building assets. Autodesk state that

“Building Information Modelling is changing how buildings, infrastructure, and utilities are

planned, designed, built, and managed. BIM solutions help turn information into insight and deliver

business value at every step in the process.”

In a nutshell, BIM is an intelligent model-based process that provides insight to help professionals

to plan, design, construct, and manage buildings and infrastructure whilst using innovative software

tools like REVIT comes as a breath of fresh air for the industry in its quest for finding a design and

global solution. Autodesk Revit is a Building information modelling software for architects,

structural engineers, MEP engineers, designers and contractors. It allows users to design a building

and structure and its components in 3D, annotate the model with 2D drafting elements and access

building information from the building models database.

5.2 REVIT as 4D and 5D BIM

Revit is also possibly a 4D/5D BIM5 capable tool to plan and track various stages in the building's

lifecycle, from concept to construction and later demolition. In the strict sense, Revit is 3d/2d

Modelling program that has a powerful database at its core. But in the recent times, it is the 4D

capabilities of BIM, the ability to link the design model to the programme and to examine the

implications of design and programme changes that makes it such a valuable tool on site. The

mention of 4D and 5D BIM acronyms has brought confusion but the industry accepted definitions

are:

4D is 3D + schedule (time)

5D is 4D + cost

Irrefutably, Revit is one of a handful of programs that is kick starting the BIM movement. As already

5 The acronym “BIM,” is historically linked in the minds of many to 3-dimensional and now 4D (time) and 5D (cost) virtual modelling of buildings. BIM, however, has the capability and even the responsibility to be much more.

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stated, REVIT is mainly used by Architects & design and build contractors, therefore it's only being

used for the upfront part of the building process at the moment and the UK government is trying to

make it become a more readily used solution for the construction industry.

BIM is meant for the entire life cycle of the entire building construction process. BIM is not just for

figuring out the initial cost of the building. It is not a tool just to figure out what the building looks

like. BIM is about both of these items plus it is about modelling information during the construction

process. BIM is a digital representation of the physical structure as such it should have all of the data

about the building stored in its database and Revit carries out this aspect rather well. Revit is a

Building Information Model in the sense that it attempts to accurately model the physical and meta-

data characteristics of a building. The fact that it currently does not record all information about a

building doesn't mean that it is not a BIM tool. It has the capability to input all of the data that

pertains to the building as long as all of those parameters are built into the model, and documented

properly from the beginning.

6.0 The Future of REVIT

AutoCAD users may be comfortable with their comfort zone of using AutoCAD software, but more

and more AEC-related firms are turning to Autodesk Revit for a new way to model buildings from

start to finish. It is absolutely impossible to find an Architectural firm that does not crave new

employees that are proficient in REVIT software when new jobs are advertised. According to the

Global Fraternity of Architects (GFA), Revit is the future, especially for projects that demand greater

precision and efficiency. REVIT brings direct benefits to utilizing 3D design and Building

Information Modelling to projects that where hitherto impossible to control and achieve before.

Specifically, organizations can see improvements in day-to-day collaboration with all design project

parties in a building project which will lend to greater focus on integrated project delivery. The

overall process provides an opportunity for all team members to collaborate more intensely

throughout all phases to develop a better final product

7.0 Bibliography

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Astin, A. W., (1990) ‘Assessment as a tool for institutional renewal and reform’, in American

Association for Higher Education Assessment Forum, 1990, Assessment 1990: Accreditation and

Renewal, AAHE, Washington, D.C., pp. 19-33.

Autodesk (2003). Building Information Modeling. San Rafael, CA, Autodesk, Inc.

Barnett, R., (1988), ‘Entry and exit performance indicators for higher education: some policy and

research issues', Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 13, 1, Spring, pp. 16–30.

Bennett, D.C., (2001), Assessing quality in higher education Perspectives, Liberal

Education, Spring.

Eastman, C., P. Teicholz, et al. (2011). BIM Handbook: A Guide to Building Information Modeling

for Owners, Managers, Designers, Engineers and Contractors. Hoboken, New Jersey,

Wiley.[page needed]

Eastman, Charles; Fisher, David; Lafue, Gilles; Lividini, Joseph; Stoker, Douglas; Yessios, Christos

(September 1974). An Outline of the Building Descripiton System. Institute of Physical Planning,

Carnegie-Mellon University.

Gallaher, Michael P.; O'Connor, Alan C.; Dettbarn, John L.; Gilday, Linda T. (August 2004). Cost

Analysis of Inadequate Interoperability in the U.S. Capital Facilities Industry. National Institute of

Standards and Technology.

http://www.autodesk.com/solutions/building-information-modeling/overview

http://www.consortech.com/bim2/documents/Transitioning-to-BIM.pdf

https://www.consortech.com/bim2/documents/BIM_for_small_firms_EN.pdf

Lee, G., J. Lee, et al. (2012). 2012 Business Value of BIM in South Korea (English). SmartMarket

Report. Bedford, MA, McGraw Hill Construction.

www.autodesk.co.uk