magaz ine

2013

SOLIBRI MODEL CHECKER V9is here!

- CASE -putting people first with design

Community centers from

QUADRANTOHIO STATE UNIVERSITY audits 35 mill ion square ft

using BIM

Kubus introduces its new

BCF PLUG-IN

Case Studies 5 JUUL|FROSTArchitectsgoes100%BIM JUULFROSTarchitectsfocusonusingBIMinthedevelopmentofuniversity

campusandhousingprojects.

8 SkanskaUKnurturessupplychaincollaboration Improvingcostoptimizationandworkflowbyusingqualityinformationina

timelyprocess.

10 QuadrantsupportsthecommunitythroughBIM ArchitecturalbureauQuadrantusesSolibriModelCheckertohelpcreate communitycentersinHolland.

14 KUBUSlaunchesBCFManagerforbothRevitandArchiCAD KubushasdevelopedtheBCFplug-intoallowtheeasiersharingofitems withinabuildingprojectteam.

17 TheAutocodesprojectcontinuestogeneratemomentumasitmovesdeeperintoPhaseII Thisprojectfocusesondevelopingprotocolsforarangeofservices–fromretailtohealthcare.

18 TheBuckeyeBIMinitiative OhioStateUniversityusesBIMandSolibriModelCheckertoaudit35million

squarefeetofitsspaceandbuildings.

20 Casehistory:CMBBIMpilotprojectCMBusestheSolibriModelCheckerfordisabledaccessibilitytoimprovepeople’slives.

2013

10SO

LIB

RI

20

5

22 CASEcraftssolutionsusingSolibriModelCheckerManagingthebusinessofbuildingspacesthatputpeopleandsmallbusi-nessfirst.

24 Thechangingdatamarket–aUKperspective AlookathowtheBIMrevolutionincreasescoordinationwithintheUKcon-

structionindustry.

Inside Solibri26 SolibriModelCheckerversion9 FindoutabouthowSolibri’slatestreleaseenrichestheuserexperiencefor

itscustomersandpartners.

30 TheUKIFC/COBietrialsTheUKseesthefirststagetrialsofmajorUKcontractorsworkingtogeth-eroncommongoalsregardingIFCdata.

©2013Solibri,Inc.Allrightsreserved.Contentsmaynotbereproducedbyanymeans,inwholeorpar t,withoutthepriorwrit tenpermissionofSolibri,Inc.

PublishedbySolibri,Inc.

Itälahdenkatu21A

00210Helsinki,FINLAND

Phone:+358105486800

Email :info@solibri.com

Editor-in-chiefRussellAnderson

russell.anderson@solibri.com

DesignJonnaNylander

jonna.nylander@gmail.com

CoverpictureOfficeBuildinginHelsinki,

Finland

Architect:HannuJaakkola

ArchitectsLtd

VisualizationandBIMCoordi-

nation:TietoaFinlandLtd

www.tietoa.fi

18

HeikkiKulusjärviCEO,Solibri,Inc.heikki.kulusjarvi@solibri.com

Imagine. RELIABLE INFORMATION ON DEMAND.ThepastyearhasbeengonequicklyandwithgreatsuccessforSolibriandourpartners.WeseeasmootherbaseddesignprocessasBIMcon-tinuestobeincreasinglywantedandrequired.Aswemovetowards2014andbeyond,webelievethespeedandsuccessthatSolibrihasfeltwillcontinuetobuildthroughoutthebusiness.Today’sBIMauthoring toolsaremainly focusedoncreatingbuilding

informationanddesigncontent.Theactualutilizationofthisinformationis takencareofbyan increasingnumberofdownstreamapplications.Theseapplicationsincludecostestimation,energyanalysis,buildingcodecheckingandfacilitymanagementtonameafew.AsBIMbecomesmorereadilyavailable,moreintegratedbenefitswill

beseeninall theseareas.Liketheactualbuilding,thevir tualbuildingcanhavealifespanofmanyyears.Itislikelythatinfiveyears,BIMfilesmadetodaywillbeusedextensivelyandtheinformationinthemwillbeutilizedforsignificantlymorepurposes.ByhavinggoodBIMfilestoday,youareeffectivelyfutureproofwhenitcomestotomorrow’sneedsinfa-cilitymanagement.Solibribelievesinofferingyoutherightinformationtosuityourneed

–whetheryouareadesigner,constructioncompanyorfacilitymanager,whatyouneedisqualityinformation,attherighttime.That’swhyinSo-libri,wehavea themethat isdrivingoursolutionandour focusaswelaunchversion9of theSolibriModelChecker. Thetheme is: Imagine. Reliable Information on Demand. Webelievethereisplentyofworktobedoneherebyallofus.Solibriis

committedtoworkhardbyprovidingsolutionsthatwillhelpouruserstohighlyimprovethequalityofthebuildingprocess.Togetherwecanmakethishappen.Inthisedition,wehavearticlesshowingexamplesofhowsuccessful

BIMprojectshavebeenmadeandmanagedusingthe latestBIMstan-dardsviaBCFbasedcommunication.You’llalsoseeupdatesonSolibri’slatestdevelopmentinAutoCodesandCOBiesolutions.Wehavenotforgot-tentodevelopAreaCalculationsolutionseitherandwewillhavesolutionsonthisfrontcomingshortly.ThenewdevelopmentofSolibriModelCheckerhasbeenfocusedon

puttingtheuseratthecenteroftheexperience.WecontinuetofurtherenhanceQualityAssuranceandQualityControl.Youwillnowbeabletofindlocalrulecontentandadd-onsontheSolibriSolutionCenter.Licens-ingandadministrationarenowmadeeasierthaneverbefore.

Enjoyyourmagazineandwelookforwardtohearingyourthoughts.

5CASE STUDY

THO

MAS

GR

AAB

ÆK

BIM

Equ

ity

The School of Business is a100% BIM project where alldevelopment, sketching, de -sign,designandsubsequently

FacilityManagementisdonewithBuild-ing InformationModelling technology.To ensure that all interested par t iescanpar ticipate in theproject’sdevel-opmentandcontinuousprogress, theprojectteamisusingtheIFCfileformatas an open exchange plat form. Thismakes the development process notjust easier and more dialogue-based,butalsoensuresthatallbuildingdata

JUUL | FROST Architects goes 100% BIMIN ÖREBRO, SWEDEN

InthenearfuturethecityofÖrebrowi l l undergoacomprehensivedevelopmentwithmassiveinvestmentswithintheuniversitycampusandseveralhousingprojectsamongothers.Acampusdevelopmentcompetit ionmadeJUUL|FROSTArchitects(JFA)becomeanintegralpartofthedevelopmentprocessinÖrebro.AspartofthisprocessJFAisresponsibleforthedesignanddevelopmentofanewBusinessScienceCenter,studentandresearcherhousingandanewSchoolofBusinessbui lding,containingalargeauditor iumfor lecturesandtheuniversity’soff icialceremonies.

willbeviablelater,whichisveryimpor-tantforthefuturebuildingoperations.

JUUL|FROSThavebeen in chargeof BIM as the driving technolog y be-hindthedevelopmentoftheSchoolofBusiness fromtheearlyprojectphas-es. They have developed a CAD/BIMmanual,whichsets the framework fordigi tal collaborat ion. As a result , allproject par ticipants are aware of thedemandsforthemodelingworkflowandexchangeprocess.

Toensurethequalityof IFCmodelsfromthestar t,theprojectteamhasex-

6 CASE STUDY

changedtestmodelsforcoordination.The variety of BIM programs used bycounsellors of the project structuresthe models and databases dif ferent-ly,and this isobvious in theexpor tedfiles.Smalltrickshelponthiscoordina-tion,suchascorrectclassificationand“locations boxes”intheproject’spointof origin, so i t is easily checked thatall models are placed correctly. Con-t inuous model exchange, automatedqualitycontrolandmodelbasedcom-municationhasmeantthatmanyincon-sistencieshavebeenworkedoutmuchearlier,thanwiththetraditionalcollab-orativeprocess.Thisgavemoretimetosolvecomplexproblemsandreducethenumberofcriticalerrors.

Weeklyexchange/Bi-weeklySkypemeetingsIn the spring of 2013, the schematicdesignphasehasended.We realisedthathavingtheexchangeprocessoncea week is suitable for the nature andproject phase status. We use SolibriModelChecker (SMC) tocombine,co-ordinateandensurethequalityoftheprojectpar ticipantsmodels.SMC isa

logicalchoice,becauseoftheautomat-edfeaturesandbecause ithasafree”viewer” that works on all plat forms.All team members can open quali t yassurance repor ts fromSolibriModelCheckerwith the freeviewer; identifythe challenges the team has to faceandcommentonthem.Thecommentsare expor ted via the BCF f ile formatandareadded to thecommonmodel,andinthiswayallteammembershavea bet ter overview of the coordination

process.BCFfileshavetheadvantagethatallcommentswillbesummarizedinamodel,eliminatingthenecessityofExcelsheetcomparisonsfromthedif-ferentteammembers.InthiswayerrorsandcommentsarelisteddirectlyintheindividualBIMobjects,whichmakesiteasytolocateandfixerrors.

The common model (merged fromall discipline IFC models in SMC) wasexchangedeveryweekandfollowedbyaSkypemeetingeveryalternateweek

Thismakesthedevelopmentprocessnotjusteasierandmoredialogue-based,butalsoensuresthatallbuildingdatawillbeviablelater,whichisveryimportantforthefuturebuildingoperations.

“

7CASE STUDY

ÖrebroschoolofBusiness

Client: Örebropor tenPeriod : 2011-2014Area : 6,600sqmSoftware platforms that cooperate in the project:• ArchiCAD16(IFC2X3)• AutodeskRevit2013(IFC2X3)• MagiCADHPV2011.11(IFC2X3)• AutoCADMEP2011(IFC2X3)

toevaluatetheprogressoftheprojectand invest igate the model together.At these meetings, both model - andproject-related changes were agreed.Thesewerecomplementedwithactualin-person meetings with the develop-mentanddesignteamwhenneeded.

There was usual l y an unwi l l ing -nesstoshareunfinishedworkswithinthe project team, and all team mem-bers agreed to exchange their mod-elsas“snapshots”,andeveryonewasaware that they are seeing their col-leagues work ”in progres s”, there -fore only selected areas of the mod-elswerevalidated.

8 CASE STUDY

ALAN

BAI

KIE

Sol

ibri

UK

Ltd

Newbuilding

forB

evisMarksinLo

ndon(artistsim

pressio

n).Pictu

re:Skanska

Skanska UK nurtures supply chain collaboration

A fundamental value for thebusiness is a collaborat iveapproach to delivering proj-ects.Skanskaactivelyseeks

tomaximiseco-operativeworking,withSkanska teams working direct ly withselec ted preferred suppl iers . On alargeproject thismay includeseveralhundredsuppliersrangingfromdesignconsultantsthroughtof it-outspecial-ists.AsDavidThrossell,BIMImplemen-tationManager,comments“We define BIM as a collaborative approach that ensures the right information gets to the right people at the right time. Collabo-ration means working together, sharing and reusing information so that we enter

SkanskaUK,headquarteredatMapleCross,north-westofLondon,hasanannualturnoverofmorethan£1.16bnand4,000employees.Throughitsskil lsandexperienceinconstructionandinfrastructuredevelopment,Skanskadeliv-ersprojectsinhealthcare,education,defence,transporta-tionandmunicipalservices,deliveredthroughbothprivateandpublicinvestment.Specialistin-houseteamsprovidefoundationsandpilingexpertise,aswellasmechanicalandelectricalservicesforbuildingsandinfrastructure.Skanskaalsoprovidesfacilitiesmanagement,soistrulyinvolvedinthewholelifecycleofabuilding.

9CASE STUDY

i t once and reuse it many times. This avoids errors from rekeying data which is of ten the reason the wrong informa-tion gets passed on.”

Withbothpublicandprivateclientsdriving the rapid adoption of BIM intheUK,Davidsawsomeveryspecif icneedsandopportunitiesemergingfromthistransition.Hecontinues“As an in-dustry we are used to looking at draw-ings, overlaying them, marking them up and ‘reading them’. The currency of design is changing rapidly and we are receiving more models and data and less paper. So, how do we ‘read’ these models? How do we mark them up with comments? How do we compare ver-sions of models? How do we overlay models? How do we interrogate the rich data contained in the models? Can we improve quality by carrying out checks on these models as this was never easy with paper? ”

It was these cri teria that the BIMteamatSkanskausedasthebasisforselectingSolibriModelChecker(SMC).Davidsumsuptheteam’sconclusionsas “What we saw was a sof tware tool that analyses 3D CAD Models. That anal-ysis covers model quality (against proj-ect standards), model completeness (via material take of f ), model compliance (against national, local and client codes and regulations), model integrity (check-ing validity of the modelling approach) and model comparison (against dif ferent

versions of the same model). In other words, all of our criteria and more.”

Also impor tant intheselectionpro-cesswasthebuildingSMARTIFC(Indus-tr y Foundation Classes) format whichprovides foruniversal transferofBIMmodels between di f ferent sof twareproducts.TheIFCformat,whichiscen-tral tobringingmodels intoSMC,alsosuppor ts Skanska’s aspirat ion to besof tware vendor neutral with respecttoBIM.Thisneutralformatwillextendthelifeofdata.Anotherimpor tantcri-teriawasCOBie (ConstructionOpera-t ions Building information exchange)which isadatastructure for transfer-ringmodeldataintoFM(FacilitiesMan-agement).AsCOBiehasbeenspecifiedbyUKGovernmentforallfuturepublicprojectsthiswasespecially impor tanttoSkanskawithitsextensivepor tfolioof public projects. David notes “So-libri’s support for COBie UK 2012 com-pleteness, checking and creation of the COBie spreadsheets and their willing-ness to help us develop COBie tools to meet the UK Government BIM mandate was a crucial part of our purchasing de-cision.”

SkanskahasestablishedbothaBIMTechnicalWorkingGroupandaSolibriUserGroupwith representatives fromacrossthebusiness.Inadditiontofur-theringBIMandquality-checkingwithintheirteams,theserepresentativesarealsoencouragedtobringforwardideas

tosimplifyworkflowandcollaboration.Increasingly the focus has moved toworking with the supply chain whereit isparamounttoensureeachsupplychainpar tnerclearlyunderstandsthedata and quality required from them.These requirements are described intheprojectmodelauditingstandards,whichformspar toftheBIMexecutionplanoneachproject,andasDavidex-plains are a key par t of the on-goingrelationshipstrategywithsupplypar t-ners.“In order to gain trust in the qual-ity of information delivered by our supply chain we looked at our BIM delivery pro-cesses and identified a set of validation, audit and completeness checks required at dif ferent stages in the project pro -cess. With the help of Solibri and their large tool box of rule-based checks we have developed a set of model checks which are easily understood by our sup-ply chain and something we can monitor and report against.”

Skanska has very clear goals fromwhat is required from thedeploymentof BIM and the role the supply chainhasinsupportingthis.Skanskaisaim-ingtoincreaseproductivity,reduceon-site waste, deliver projects with zerodefects and improve operational ef f i -ciency.Skanskarecognisesthatachiev-ingthesegoals iscriticallydependentuponreceivingbestqualityinformationfromitssupplychain.Withitsteamworkapproach,coupledwithafocusonbothits upstream and downstream supplypar tners,SkanskaUKiswellplacedtomeetthesegoalsbyhelpingthesupplychain towork togetherbysharingandreusingreliableprojectdata.

Theimpor tanceofqualitydatafromthe supply chain is emphasised byDavid:“An important part of collabora-tion is trust and to get the ‘right informa-tion’. We all need to check and validate our information before we make it avail-able to others. Solibri Model Checker is helping us to gain trust in informa-tion quality and therefore ensuring new standards for collaborative working on our projects. With high quality data our clients can optimise their operational costs year on year.”

SkanskaUKheadquar ters

10 CASE STUDY

Quadrant supports the community through BIM and Solibri Model CheckerA NEW COMMUNITY CENTER FOR THE MUNICIPALITY OF LOON OP ZAND

ArchitecturalbureauQuadrantwashiredbythemunicipal i tyofLoonopZandtodevelopanddesignanewcommunitycenter intheheartofKaatsheuvel.Thebui ldingwi l l beahomeforagrowingcommunitybecauseit isapartofamuchbiggerproject:abrandnewvibrantcitycenter.

RO

SA

VAN

TO

UR

KU

BU

SB

V

11CASE STUDY

Several par t ies are involvedin the development of thisprojectsoclearcommunica-tionwaskey. In2010Quad-

rantfullyembracedBIMasamethodofworkingandsince then theyhavenotlookedback.Abetterworkflowdeliver-ingimprovedinternalandexternalcom-municationswasoneof themain rea-sonsforadoptingBIM.

“Working with BIM gives us an advan-tage over our competition and ensures we can secure more contracts. That is one of the reasons we choose Solibri Model Checker - it breathes BIM.”Robvan der Velden, project manager ofQuadrant

Par t ies involved in the communitycenterproject:Architect -QuadrantArchitectenBNA,Zevenbergen (ArchiCAD and Sol ibr iModelChecker)Structural engineering - GoudstikkerDeVries,DenBosch(RevitStructure)Building services - Van Capellen Ad-vies,EindhovenBuilding physics advisor - Baars Ad-viesbureau voor Bouwfysica & Bou-wkunde,Eindhoven

General contractor-HeijmansWoning-bouw Den Bosch (Revi t Archi tectureandSolibriModelChecker)HVAC contractor - Heijmans Utili tei t ,DenBosch(Stabicad)

MultifunctionalandculturalThesearethekeywordsforthisproject.ThediversityofpeoplethatliveinLoonopZandisreflectedinthediversityofuses, which the building has to caterfor.Thedesigngoalswerebaseduponfourpillars:municipality,living,workingandleisure.Alltheseelementsneededtobeincorporatedintothecommunitycenter.Thefourpillarsalsorepresentthe dif ferent kind of uses of the newcenter.Someofthemunicipalityadmin-

istrationwillbehousedinthebuildingsotherewillbeofficesbutwithpublicaccess. Services of fered from theseoffices includepasspor tapplications,driving licensesandavarietyofothercivilmatters.Theconferenceroomswillbeusedforcouncilandboardmeetingsbutclubs,unionsandassociationswillalso be able to use these rooms fortheir own purposes. In addition thereareanumberofutilityroomswhichcanbeusedforarangeofpurposesinclud-ingexhibitions,showsandperformanc-es.Forthesepurposestheroomsneedthe f lexibili ty to be turned easily intoatheater.Andtocompletetheexperi-enceforusersthecenterwillalsohavearestaurantandbar.

QuadrantisamemberofBNA(RoyalInstituteofDutchArchitects)

Some1500agenciesareunited inBNA: thesectorassociationforDutchar-chitecturalagencies.BNAisanetworkpromotingmodern,creativeentrepre-neurshipinspiredbythepowerofarchitecturewithrespectforthesocialanddomesticenvironment.

12 CASE STUDY

Thedif ferentusesofthecentercre-ateadditionalcomplexityinthebuildingdesign.Asanexample,soundproofingof thebuildingwastricky.Tominimizethe noise nuisance from activit ies inthetheater ithadtobesoundproofedfromtherestofthebuilding.Andwitha

publiclibraryalsointhesamebuildingthiswasespeciallyimportant.

TheBIMcoordinationofthisprojectis the responsibili tyofQuadrant, andSolibriModelChecker(SMC)isusedforthiscoordination.Thedif ferentpar tiesworkingonthisprojectareusingdif fer-

ent sof tware products for design anddevelopment, so coordinat ion wouldbeaproblemwithouttheuseofIFCtotransfermodel f iles.SMCcan impor t,via IFC, the building models from thedif ferentpar tiessothatallmodelsarecheckedagainstthesamerulesets.

LetSolibriModelCheckerdoallthehardworkSolibriModelCheckercanbeusedatany stage during the project, even atthe very early design. Because prob-lemsandclasheswillbedetectedearlyon,modelscanbeadjustedeasily.Thiswillavoidalotofcostlycorrectionsei-therinlaterdesignoron-site.

“In this project we used Solibri Model Checker for clash control of the dif ferent disciplines. The variety of purposes for this building makes this a complex proj-ect. We’ve learned from past experience there are a couple issues that tend to go wrong when designing a model. With So-libri Model Checker we can easily insert these issues into rule sets and check our model. This works so much more

WorkingwithBIMgivesusanadvantageoverourcompetitionandensureswecansecuremorecontracts.ThatisoneofthereasonswechooseSolibriModelChecker-itbreathesBIM

“

13CASE STUDY

ZEEPgetsBIMcommissionfromRgd

ZEEPwascommissionedbytheRijksgebouwendienst(GovernmentBuildingsAgency,knownasRqd)toadviseonseveral

BIMrelatedprojectsuntiltheendofthisyear.Par tofthecontractinvolvedBIMcoordinationofthebuildingfortheMin-

istryofSecurityandJustice,ForeignAffairsandInteriorandKingdomRelations(JuBi),whichwasdeliveredattheend

of2012.Forthepurposeofthemanagingthemaincontractingandmaintenance,thecooperatingpar tiesarecurrently

transferringthe132.000m2buildingtoaBIMmodel.ZEEPistherebyresponsibleforthecoordinationbetweenthesepar-

ties,clashcontrolandconformancetotheRgdBIMstandards.

“When working with projects of this extension, visual checks on the quality of the BIM models are impossible. Using Solibri Model Checker gives clear and unambiguous insights of the validity of BIM extracts according to the Rgd BIM standards. ZEEP has an extensive experience with developing and applying rule sets within a various range of projects. Therefore we are pleased with the commission from Rgd to review and lead these projects and involved parties.”PaulBos,BIMmanager

ofZEEP

Inadditionto theBIMcoordinationofJuBi,ZEEPalsowasaskedbyRgdto judgeotherBIMextracts fromDBMFO-

contracts.Thepurpose,besidesjudgingtheextracts,istodevelopanddocumenttheprocessofsecuringtechnicalcon-

formitytotheRgdBIMstandards.

BIMadvisorsHansHendriks(BIMspecialist)andPaulBos(ZEEP)developedarulesetfortechnicalvalidationofIFC

modelswiththeRgdBIMstandard.TheoutcomeofthisprojectwasusedforthecurrentBIMstandard.

Projectinformation

• C ommuni t y c enter ( combined assemblyandofficebuilding)• 5.300m2grossfloorspace• Currentstatus:finaldesign• Delivery:June2015

efficiently than visual 3D checks of the model. And Solibri Model Checker helps out with problems in the model you haven’t foreseen.”RobvanderVelden,projectmanagerofQuadrant

SolibriModelCheckerandKUBUSworkingtogetherKUBUSdevelopedasetofrulesspecif-ically for theDutchmarket: theStar t-erskit NL. With this Dutch companiesdon’thavetowritetheirownrulesetsfor their projects. Quadrant used thestandard Solibri Model Checker rulesets in combination with the KUBUSStar terskitNL.ThenQuadrantmodifiedtheserulesetstofittheirownrequire-mentsformodelchecking.

In addition using SMC on this spe-cif icproject,QuadrantalsousesSMCforallmodelchecking throughout thepractice.TocheckagainstDutchbuild-ing regulations they modif ied and ex-

panded the Star terskit NL rule set tomeettheirownneeds.Forcostestimat-ingandquantity takeof f the Informa-tion Take-Of f def init ions (included intheStar terskitNL)arebeingusedoneveryproject.

ThefinalresultbenefitsfromSolibriModelCheckerWhen asked how does Solibri ModelChecker benef i t the f inal project re -sults,RobvanderVelden,projectman-ager of Quadrant , answered wi th : “We are more in control during the early stage of design. Despi te increasing building complexity, especially in techni-cal installations, we are able to specifi -cally align design principles and space requirements for technical installation.”

The Quadrant experience with So-libri Model Checker is of a pleasant,easy to use tool, which enables themto gain and deliver information fast-

er. Former rounds of visual checkingdonebyhandarenowautomatedwithSMC.Inadditiontothisadvantagethegraphicrepresentationofissuesidenti-f iedautomaticallymakescommunicat-ing with ex ternal par tners faster andmorereliable.

14 CASE STUDY

The BCF plug-ins provide a di-rectconnectionfromapresen-tationinSolibriModelCheckerto theauthorof themodel in

Revi t or ArchiCAD. T ime consumingcommunicationaboutproblemsfoundbySMCandthesuggestedactionsandto-do-listsbecomeathingofthepast.

This intelligentwayofcommunicat-ingissuesbetweenBIMsoftwareappli-

ER

IKP

IJN

EN

BU

RG

KU

BU

SB

V

KUBUS launches BCF Manager for both Revit and ArchiCADNEVER LOSE SIGHT OF ISSUES ANYMORE

KUBUSBV,aGoldPartnerofSol ibr i, Inc. intheBeneluxcountr ies,hasdevelopedBIMCol laborat ionFormat(BCF)plug-insforRevitandArchiCAD.BCFprovidesaneff icientcol laborat ionworkf lowformodelQual i tyAssuranceandQual i tyControl.Usingthisapproachenables issuesfoundbySol ibr iModelChecker(SMC)tobeeasi lycommu-nicatedandlocateddirectly intheBIMauthoringsoftware.Theseissuescanbesharedwiththeteammembersresponsiblewhichprovideseveryonewithabettergr iponthedevelopmentandthequal i tyofthemodels.Roundtr ipsbacktoSol ibr imakeitpos-sibletoviewsolut ions,fol lowmark-upsandprovidefeedbackonissues.

cationsisrapidlyevolvingintothestan-dardfortoday’sconstructionindustry.

AnintroductiontoBCFWhat is BCF, and why should you use it?

TheoriginofBCFThe BCF concept was introduced bySol ibr i , Inc. and Tekla Corporat ionat a buildingSMART ISG event held in

Helsinki in 2009. The two companiesint roduced the idea of using openstandardstoenableworkflowcommuni-cationbetweendif ferentBIMsof twaretools.TheydevelopedanXMLschema,called Building Collaborat ion Format(BCF),toencodemessagesthatinforma sof tware package of issues foundin theBIMmodelbyanothersof twaretool.Theimplicationisthatonlythose

15CASE STUDY

issues and not the entire BIM modelneeds to be communicated betweenstakeholders. This capabili ty enablesa power ful and open col laborat ionbetweenallpar ties in thedesignandbuildprocesses.

OfficialstandardofbuildingSMARTThe or ig inal developers have trans-ferred the ownership and r ights oftheBCFschema tobuildingSMART foradoption as an open standard and tomaintainitforthebenefitofthewholeindustry.Currently,inadditiontoSolibriModelChecker,Magicad,TeklaStruc-tures,TeklaBIMsight,DDS,andmanyotherBIMsolutionssuppor tBCF.Now,withtheKUBUSplug-ins,it’salsoavail-abletoRevitandArchiCADusers.

The BIM Collaboration Format hasbeen submi t ted to bui ld ing SMARTunder thenew“Af f iliationScheme” tobecomeanofficialbuildingSMARTspe-cification.

The use of the BCF p lug - ins byKUBUSalsoextends todesign-teams,even if they work with the same sof t-ware, as team members can commu-nicate design issues with each otherthrough BCF – the great advantagebeingthatonlyissuesarecommunicat-

edandnotmodelfiles.Inadditionthisprovides an improved communicationworkflowseparatedfrom,butlinkedto,themodelandwhichcreatesanauditrecordofissuesandactions.

TheessenceofBCFOn most projects, several companiesand teammembersare involved.Dur-ing design reviews many i tems areidentifiedwhichneedtobeacteduponbythevariousmembersoftheprojectteam,typicallyusingdifferentsoftware.Actual models are exchanged via the‘open’ standard IFC, which in recentyearshascontinuedtoreachmaturityinmostsof twareapplications.

But how do we transmit the issuesthathavebeenfound?Whilst IFCcon-tainsdatalikeproper tieslinkedtothebuilding objects, i t is not suitable fordocumentingissuesandworkflow.BCFoffersacommunicationworkflowcon-nected to IFC models. The idea is toseparatethe“communication”fromtheactualmodel.

Communication=ControlModelsarecheckedtoidentifyactionsthatneed tobeaddressedandwithinwhattimeframe,asrequired.Star tingthecommunicatingoftheseissueslieswith thecheckingsof twarewhere the

issuesarefound.Savedintoan‘Open’f ile format like BCF with viewpoints,selectedobjects,snapshotsandcom-ments thegoalsare tobeable tousethis Issues f ile in any modeling sof t-wareandfor themodelcheckingsof t-waretobeunawareofwhichmodelingsof twarewasused.

ImprovedgriponqualityABCF f ile contains informationaboutissuesinthemodel,thestatusoftheseissues,thepersonresponsible,recom-mendedor suggestedactions,andofcourse whether act ions are done ornot.TheKUBUSBCFManagerplug-insforRevitandArchiCADelevatecoopera-tionintheOpenBIMprocessestoanewlevel.Youwillgeneratefewererrorsandyou will achieve f lawless communica-tion.Theplug-insareavailableforAu-todesk Revit2014 andbothMac andWindowsversionsofGraphisof tArchi-CAD17.

FirstresultsInit ial experience shows that the useofBCFprovidesamuchimprovedwork-

flowaswellaseliminatingtheneedto transfer largeBIMfilesovertheInternet.BCF focuses on the pro -cessandhowtocooperatewithdifferentBIMsoftwareinstead of just address-ing the features of onespecifictool.

16 CASE STUDY

AtypicalworkflowwhenusingtheBCFManagerforRevitorArchiCAD

1.In Solibri Model Checker – Check and exportAfterrunningthedesiredchecksinSolibriModelChecker,createapresentationoftheissues,as-signteammembersresponsibleandsuggestionsonhowtosolve.ExportthepresentationtoaBCFfile.

2.In Revit or ArchiCAD – Lookup and investigate the issuesOpen the BCF f ile with KUBUS BCF Manager. Asimpledoubleclickonanissuetakesyoudirectlytotherightviewinthemodelwithinthemodelau-toringsof tware.ThisshowstheobjectsinvolvedinthesamewayastheywereselectedinSolibriModelChecker.Neverbeforehaveyouabletoun-derstandanissuethatfast!

3.Solve and comment – Or assign to somebody elseFixtheissue,documentyourchangesandsetthestatusto‘Solved’.Ifsomeoneelseisresponsiblejustassign the issue to thatperson. Youcouldalsoask formore information.ChangescanbesavedtotheBCFfileagain.

4.Create new issues – For team membersWithBCFforRevitorArchiCADyoucancreatenewissueswithjustoneclick:thecurrent3Dviewisgrabbed and turned into an issue with image,viewpoint, selected objects, etc. Just add yourcommentandassignittothepersonresponsible.

5.Send in your changes and additions – Save back to BCF filesWhen you are done with the issues, save themagainasaBCFfileandinformtheprojectmanag-erorotherteammembers.YouprobablyneedtoprovideanewIFCversionofyourmodelaswell.

6. Check again in Solibri Model Checker – For the next revisionYoucanupdateyourpresentationinSolibriwiththenewBCFfilesaddingcomments,viewpointsandevenimportyournewlycreatedissues.Allin-formation isactualandcompletesoprovidesagreataudittrailofwhodidwhatandwhen.

For more info about the KUBUS BCF Manager for Revit and ArchiCAD: www.kubusinfo.com

17BIM

JON

ATH

ANW

IDN

EY

Sol

ibri

LLC

Following the practice that weestablishedInthefirsttwois-suesof theSolibriMagazine,we want to use this space to

keep you up to date with this mult i -year,butmoststrategicprojectthatisunderwayintheUnitedStates. Inourlast issue (2/2012) we outlined f ive(5)goalsandplanneddeliverablesforPhase II of the AutoCodes Project. Inaddition to providing you with a prog-ressrepor tonthosegoals,wewillalsoinformyouofnewactivitiesandinitia-tivesthathavebecomepar tofthisef-for t.

Goal 1 – Developing Protocols for Model Authoring – Focus on Retail and Health-care – This has evolved into the de-velopmentofModelGuidelinesfortheAutomatedCodeCheckingUseCase.Af ive month research project was justcompleted(August2013),resulting ina repor t enti t led ‘An Overview of Ex-istingBIMStandardsandGuidelines’.Thisresearchwasanecessity,ifjusttoavoidduplicationofef for tandpoten-tially the creation of confusion in themarket,withregardtorequiredmodelcontent.Thisreport,alongwithBuildingCodes,StandardsDevelopingOrganiza-tions(SDO)andSubjectMatterExperts(SME)willserveas the foundation forthe creat ion of a Baseline ModelingMatrixandeventually aModelGuide-line.Thisguideline iscriticalbecauseitisfocusedentirelyonwhatcontentisrequiredinaBIMtosuppor ttheauto-matedcodecheckingprocess.

Goal 2 and 3 – Developing a Process Transformation Protocol to assist plan review organizations in their evolution from paper-based processes to 2D/BIM

The Autocodes project continues to generate momentum as it moves deeper into Phase IIFROM THE US: AN AUTOCODES PROGRESS REPORT

digital processes. Current Status–Thisisstillunderwayandiscurrentlyinter-twinedwithour3rdGoal,thedevelop-mentofathree(3)hourcoursefortheInternationalCodeCouncil ( ICC).Thiscourse has been developed, and nowdelivered four (4) t imes, at major ICCevents and is scheduled for severalmoredatesinthecomingmonths.Thecourse consists of both a visual pre-sentation and a par ticipant’s manual(whichcanbeusedtomeetGoal2asaseparateoffering)andhasbeenap-provedby the ICC forContinuingEdu-cation Units (CEU’s) in for ty-two (42)states,todate.

Goal 4 – Continued Testing and Devel-opment of rulesets for Accessibility and Egress –Themajordevelopmentshereare two-fold. Firstly, where the groupwasinitiallygoingtofocusonthemajor‘painpoints’inthesetwoareas(Chap-ters10&11oftheInternationalBuild-ingCode(IBC)),itwasdeterminedthatitwouldbebettertoaddresstheentirechapters.Thisalsorequiresthatrelat-edchaptersmustbeaddressed,when-evertheyarementioned(i.e.Chapters2,3,4,6,8&12todate).Thisismostcommonlydue todif ferences inbuild-ingtypes,occupancyrequirementsandtheomnipresentexceptions.Secondly,theICChasprovidedexcellentperson-nelwithextensiveexperiencetoguidetheSolibriteamaswereviewandana-lyzecodestatementsandwhethertheSolibri Model Checker rulesets bothexecutethechecksproperlyandmeetthe‘intent’ofthecodeitself.Thisisatediousand timeconsumingprocess,but i t adds tremendous credibili t y totheuseofSMC,forthispurpose.

Goal 5 –Beginthetestinganddevelop-mentof rulesets forFire&LifeSafety–Wehavemadeprogressinthisarea,drivenfromthree(3)directions.Firstly,anyreferencestothistopicthatoccurinChapters10&11of the IBC. Sec-ondly,wehavebeenexploringourca-pabilitiestoincludecontentfromOccu-pationalSafety&HealthAdministration(OSHA) Par ts 1910 and 1926, whichspecif icallyaddressConstructionSiteSafety. Finally, we are also in discus-sionswiththeNationalFireProtectionAdministration (NFPA),as theyare in-terested in our progress and how wemightbeabletoengage.

TheAutoCodesProjecthasheldtwo(2)Workshops in2013,most recentlyhosted by Target Corporation at theirHeadquar ters in Minneapolis, Minne-sota.Theseworkshopsallowour taskgroups(currently5)tomakesignificantstridestowardmeetingtheabove-stat-ed goals. Phase II was anticipated tolast 18-24 months, and that remainsthe expectation. Having said that, i tjustmeansthatPhaseIIIwillfollow,asthis use case for BIM is a signif icantundertaking.But,itisaprojectthatSo-libriisuniquelyqualifiedtolead.

Fol low our progress on the web at www.solibri.com

18 CASE STUDY

JON

ATH

ANW

IDN

EY

Sol

ibri

LLC

The main campus of The OhioStateUniversity(OSU),withastudentpopulationexceedingf i f t y - s ix thousand (56,000)

is located in Columbus, Ohio, and isthe 3rd largest university in the Unit-ed States. The Facili t ies Informationand Technology Services Depar tmentis responsible for audi t ing ex is t ingbuildings, which includes maintaining2D plans and conver t ing each build-ing from exist ing 2D designs into 3Dmodels, then conducting an audit ofthespaceswithineachstructure.Cur-rently,morethaneighthundred(800)buildingshavebeen identif ied,equal-

The Buckeye BIM init iativeTheChallenge:Howcanyouconductahighqualityauditofmorethan35Mil l ionSquareFeet,onamajorUniversityCampus?TheSolution:aSolibri ledauditprocess

ingmorethan35millionsquarefeetofspacetobeaudited.

TheBuckeyeBIMInitiativeisaproj-ect that star ted in May, 2013 with aplanned end date in May, 2016. Theorig inal plan called for a team com-prised of students and staf f to con-ductamanualconversion(from2Dto3D)andasubsequentmanualauditofmodelspaces.Anotherprojectdeliver-able was the creation of a UniversityBIMStandard.

Therearecurrentlysevenstudents,all fromtheKnowltonSchoolofArchi-tecture,workinginpaidpositionswithintheFacilitiesInformationandTechnol-

ogyServicesDepar tment, justforthisproject. These students are workingwith staf f personnel (Tracy Palmer –BIM Coordinator, David Pifher – LeadFacil i t ies Space Analyst) , under theleadershipofJoePorostosky–SeniorManagerofthedepartment.

The manual process:Original2Ddraw-ingsweremarkedupmanually(via2Dlaser measurer) for key space dimen-sions ( i.e. Interior leng th & width ofbuildinghallways,largerooms,audito-riums,classrooms,etc.),thenthedatawas entered into a spreadsheet andthen compared to the AutoCad draw-

19CASE STUDY

ings for accuracy. If the results wereaccuratewithintwopercent(2%),thentheAutoCADdrawingswouldbeusedasbackgroundstocreatetheRevitmodel.I f the results exceeded two percent(2%), the entire building would be re-measured.

Inordertosupportthisprocess,thefollowingmaterialswerecreated:• A f if ty-seven (57) page manual on how to manual l y conver t a 2D drawingintoamodel• Atwenty-two(22)pageAuditManual (Howtoconductamanualaudit)

The results (manual process)• Auditswereconductedby full-t ime staf f, and averaged 2-3 days per audit.• Theentireprocessrequiredapproxi- matelyoneweekpermodel.

Therealization(ortheAHA!moment)I t became obvious that there has tobeabetterwaytoachievetheprojectobjectives,and toautomate theauditprocess,withoutcompromisingquality.

IntroducingaSolibri-ledSolutionAf ter two web -based famil iar izat ionsessions, a review of the Universi t yAudit Process Template, and the cre-ationofsomecustomrulesetsfocused

onspaces, f loorsandproper ties, theteamwasintroducedtoaSolibriModelChecker- led audit process. The focusofthiseffor twasonmodelverificationandincludedtherequirementforspac-estocomplywithnamingconventionsthatwerecontainedintheOSUSpaceInformationandManagementSystem.The ult imate goal was to reduce theamountoftimeandlevelofresourcesrequired to conduct audits of all thebuildingsontheOSUcampus.

Progress report• The22pageAuditManualhasbeen distilledto5pages• The average model audit takes 5 hours(ascomparedto2-3days)• AND,eachauditdeliversconsistently highqualityresults!• Theentireprocessnowtakes1day (ascomparedto1week,atamini- mum)• Approximately2.5Mf t2ofspacehas beenaudited,todate

Benefits• Theabilitytoauditasmanyas850 buildings• Anewobjectiveisestablished–to re -audit the OSU Medical Center, with theSolibri- ledprocess, if just to see what was missed, or how accuratetheinitialauditwas• Whatusedtorequirefull-timestaff 2-3 days to accomplish, can now bedonein5hours.Thatrepresents

savings ($),andmakes itpossible for students to be involved in the audi t ing proces s ( in the Sol ibr i Model Checker) , thereby reducing thecostperaudit(bothintimeand theactual laborcostoftheperson doingtheaudit)• Muchhigherqualityonaconsistent basis,andreliability

When Joe Porostosky was asked todefinethegreatestbenefitof thisau-tomated process,he replied, “Signif i -cantly reduced time to perform an audit, and higher quality models as a result of automated rule checking. Both are huge for us.”

Our thanks to Joe, Tracy and David for their contributions to this ar ticle, but more importantly, for believing enough in Solibri technology to adopt it as a so-lution to a very real world challenge they were facing.

20 CASE STUDY

CMB is one of the largestconstruction companies inthe Italian market, workingboth in infrastructure and

civilbuildings(mainlyhospitals).CMBhasbeenactive inconstructionsince1908.

In recent years the CMB businesshas moved from simple constructioncontracts,bothpublicandprivate, tomorecomplex formsofcontracts, likePPP and Concession contract. Since2000,CMBhasbecomemoreandmoreinvolved in the design, construct ionandfacilitymanagementprocesses.

CMB’s interest in the whole sup -ply chain of design, construction andfacil i t y management processes hadcontinuedtogrowsubstantiallyandin2012themanagementofthecompanydecidedtomeasuretheimpactofBIMbystar tingacollaborationwiththeUni-versityofBresciaandsomeofthemostimportantsoftwarecompaniesinvolvedinBIM.

During 2012 CMB developed a se-r ies of tests for f ield BIM and laserscanning and developed par ts of 3Dmodelsbasedonprojectsmanagedinthetraditionalway.Attheendof2012CMBdecidedtostar tits“pilot”projectoftestingsomeofthemainaspectsofBIMimplementationwithinthemanage-ment of a hospital project: CMB BIMPilotProject.CMBdecidedtostar tthepilotprojectasa“parallel activity”,andcontinuedtousethetraditionalmeth-ods for the real management of theProjectwith theaimof trying tomakecomparisons between the tradit ionalandBIMmethods.

TheCMBBIMPilotProject isbasedon a Hospital Refurbishment and Ex-tensionProject:theSanGerardoHos-pitalinMonza,closetoMilan.

Case history: CMB BIM pilot projectCMB BIM Pilot Project is almost at

the end of i ts f irst phase (120 days)withalotofinterestingresultscomingfrom the tests developed. These re -sultsincludetheconstructionofthe3Dmodel,quantity takeof f,coordinationofdesigns,developmentof2Ddeliverablesandmodelchecking.

Among other sof twaretested and utilized in thepilotproject,andthankstothe collaboration with theUniversityofBrescia,CMBdecided to tes t Sol ibr i ’sproductformodelcheckingandcodechecking,inorderto measure a ser ie s ofbenchmarks in theDesignValidationprocess.Provid-ing an optimized and well

coordinateddesignhasbeenoneofthemaingoalsoftheCMBBIMProject.

CMB is currently analyzing the re -sul t s bu t the management of thecompany is already schedul ing im-provements to i ts processes and the

ARO

LDO

TE

GO

NC

MB

S.r.

l

June2013, Ana lys is o f c i rcu la t ion for a whee lcha i r

21CASE STUDY

measures being tested as a secondphaseoftheBIMProject.

SolibriModelChecker–solutionformodelcheckingandcodecheckingThankstoProf.AngeloCamilloCiribiniand his students of the University ofBrescia, CMB had the oppor tunity oftestingSolibriModelChecker(SMC)intheDesignValidationProcess.

ThankstoSilviaMastrolembo,aCivilEngineerjustgraduatedattheUniver-sityofBrescia,SMChasbeenusedtocheck the3Dmodeldevelopedby theBIMteam,inordertoanalysethequal-ityof themodel (modelchecking)andthecompliancetocodes(codecheck-ing) such as accessibili t y for peoplewithsomeformofdisability(e.g.,peo-plewhousewheelchairs).

“We tested Solibri and its way of of-fering automated reports”(thefollowingfiguresareabstractsfromtheCMBBIMPilotProject).

Conclusions“The CMB BIM Pilot Project is still in a development phase but we cer tainly can say that the use of Solibri Model Checker has al ready demonstrated a power ful and ver y wor thy t r ibute to the process of design and model validation.”

June 2013, to le rances: an example o f in teg-rated des ign: the insta l la t ion mode l bu i l t incompl iancewi th thes t ructura l one.

June2013, a pat ient in a whee lcha i r cannot make a 360 ° rotat ion, as requ i redby law, dueto insuff ic ient space.

June2013, ana lys is o f in ter fe rencebetweenducts andp ipes

22 BIM

The au tom a t ion o f c omp l i anc echecking has allowed WeWork’s teamto monitor key per formance metr icsthroughout the project. They are nowabletoverifydesignrequirementslikeacceptable storefront sizes, corridorwidths,andtenantexperiencerequire-mentsondemand.Modelchecksalsodirectlydelivercriticaldataonprogramvalidation,cost,energycode,occupan-cyrequirements,andquantitysurveys.PriortoCASE’sinvolvementandwithouttheassistanceofSolibri, these taskswouldbetime-consumingandasare-sultwouldnotbeaddressed–leavingroomforuncertainty.Modelchecksarenowdonemultiple timesperweek in-steadofjustatmajormilestones.Thisgives WeWork’s team a much higherlevelofconfidenceinthedataderivedfromthemodels,whichinturnprovidesaccesstocriticalprojectperformancemetricsmuchearlierintheprocess.

TrackingissuesviatheBIMCollaborationformat(BCF)A common problem in most sof twareusedformulti-par tycoordinationisthelackofsuppor tfor issuemanagementand issue tracking. Issues are of tenonlygeneratedfromthree-dimensionalgeometry collisions. When the modelisupdated, thegeometry typically re-ceivesanewGlobalUnique ID (GUID)

CASE crafts solutions using Solibri Model CheckerCASEisaBui ldingInformationModel ing(BIM)consul-tancythathelpsthebui ldingindustry identi fy, implementandmanagethetechnologiesandbusinesspracticesthatenablemoreeffectivecoordination,communicationandcol laborat ion.CASEfocusesonapplyinganappro-priatetechnologystrategyinordertoaddressthegoalsoftheprojectandintheirmostrecenteffortstoimprov-ingprojectdel iveryhavebeendeployingSol ibr iModelChecker(SMC).Thefol lowingtextcontainstwoexampleswhereCASEhasbeenexplor ingthel imitsofSMC.

MIC

HAE

LM

CC

UN

EC

ase

Des

ign,

Inc.

Validatingdesignrequirementsandmodel/datacomplianceWeWorkdesigns,builds,andoperatesco-workingcommunitiesforsmallbusi-nesses and entrepreneurs. The suc-cessof theco-workingspacesmeansthebusinesshasbeengrowingrapidlyandwillcontinuetodosotherebysub-stant ially expanding their inventor y.Theinternaldesignteamneededtode-signanddeliverthisspacewhilebeingconfidentthatitwouldmeettheirhighquali t y and per formance standards.Theirexistingmethodsofdelivery lef tmuch room for uncer tainty and failedtosupplythedataneededforefficient

realestateassetmanagementduringtheiroperationsphase.

CASEhelpedWeWorkdesignanewdeliveryprocessbasedonrobustbuild-ing information model authoring andmodel checking. By using Roles buil tinto SMC, the design team now usesclassif ications,rulesets,andinforma-tion takeof fs on every project, whichprovides them with much needed de-sign insightandcomplianceconfirma-tion.Allmodelcontentanddatagener-atedduringdesignnowdriveschecksforspatialcoordination,accuracyandcompliancetowardsWeWorkstandardsand,insomecases,evenlocalcodere-quirements.

23BIM

andthesof twarecanlosetrackoftheissues–of tencreatinganewissueforthenewGUIDand incorrectlymarkingtheoldissueas“resolved”.Inordertoovercometheseissues,CASEhasem-ployed Solibri Model Checker to helpstreamlinetheirissuemanagementandtrackingprocess.

AsBIMManageronaproject,CASEdeployedalternativeweb-based tech-nologiesforprojectissuetrackingandcollaboration. Their project model in-format ion exchange por tal providestheproject teamonlineaccess to the

individualissuesandrelateddetails,inaddition to includingaccess tohigherlevelmetricson issuestatuses, reso-lutiontimes,andbottlenecks.Theex-changepor talalsoallows the teamtosharecommentsonspecificissuesandassigntheresponsibilityofresolvingis-suestoteammembers.

SMC allows CASE to catch issuesper taining to more than simple geo -metr ic clashes and when geometr icupdates occur, the issues are neverlost.Theissuesarethenexpor tedoutofSMCasaBIMCollaborationFormat(BCF) f ile.Capitalizingon these func-tionalit ies, CASE utilized its Sof twareDevelopmentteamtobuildaBCFMan-ager that consumes a BCF – directly

linkingthemodeltotheissuetrackingsystembuilt into theexchangepor tal.CASE customized a popular sof twarebugtrackingplatform,Atlassian’sJIRA,to insteadhelp the teamtrack issueswithin a building information model.Team members now have the abili t yto download specif ic issues from theexchangepor talasaBCFandopen itinsidetheirnativeauthoringsof tware.

CASE’s unique value proposition isan abili t y to work across disciplinesand technologies in order to identif ycoreproblemsanddevelopcomprehen-sivestrategies.Theyworkwithprojectteams to determine the appropriatetechnologystrategyandscopeforeachdeliverable,withtheintenttominimizeredundancyandreworkwhilemaximiz-ingreturn.Theydonotselltechnology–theycraf tsolutions.Of tenthesolu-tionstheycraf t leverageSolibriModelCheckerbothforitsrobustmodelvali-dation methods and for i ts abili t y tointegrate with a variety of workflows.CASE continues to look for ways theycanhelptheirclientsmaximizethepo-tentialofSolibriModelCheckerandex-pects it will continue to be a growingtoolintheirofferingtoclients.

Rulesets are used to va l idate a des ign requ i rement between workstat ions and power, data ,anduser exper ience.

Ru lesets are used to va l idate room requ i re-ments . ITOsare used to generate repor ts forconf i rminggoa ls in e f f ic iencyandcost .

Issues found us ing So l ibr i Mode l Checkerare l inked to an issue t rack ing por ta l us ingCASE’sBCFManager.

24 BIM

Aprocess,notatechnologyWhen speaking at the launch of the‘Model T ’,HenryFord famouslystatedthat “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse”.

Henryunderstoodthatthemotorcarwould completely revolutionize trans-portglobally,butthathisvisionwasbe-yond thecomprehensionof themass-es. He had a dif ferent mind-set andwhenweconceptualizenewprocessessuchasBIM,weneedtoapproachitinthesameway.

In very basic terms, BIM is a busi-nessprocessthatenablesallinvolvedin a project to have access to the in-formation they need, when they needit.Soundssimple,but toachieve thisnecessi tates a completely di f ferentthought process to that tradit ionallyused.Fundamentalessentialsare:• Trustbetweenallpar ties• Willingnesstoshareknowledge• Realizat ion that work under taken willbemuchmorevisibletoothers thanbeforeWithouttheseitisalmostimpossibletodeployBIMeffectively.

Until recently the story of BIM hasbeenlargelyviewedastechnologyled.Tradit ional 2D processes focused ontheproductionoflinedrawingstorep-

resentbuildingsandtheadventof2DCADsimplyreplacedthedrawingboardwitha terminal.Thearrivalof3Dsys-tems aided project visualization, butstillhaddrawingproductionatitscore.

InHenry’sparlance,allthetechnol-ogydevelopmentsdidwastodevelopafasterhorse.

Today’s data rich building informa-t ion models are unlike any thing theconstructionindustryhasseenbefore.Theypromisenumerousbenefitsovertraditionalprocesses,butthesewillnotberealizedunlesstheprocessesthem-selveschange.(TheBIMCADtoolswe

seetodayarestillbeingusedprimarilytoproducedrawings).

DatanowandtomorrowCurrently,thevastmajorityofconstruc-tionprojectsproducedatainisolation–forexample,indesign,thestructural,architecturalandMEPdrawingsarecre-atedbyseparatedisciplines.Designofcourse, isonlyoneelementofamuchwiderprocessthat includescost,pro-gram, health & safety, facili t ies man-agement , sus tainabi l i t y, regulator ycompliance and COBie, to name justsomeofthekeyrequirementsofamod-

FEDERATE IN RELATION TO BIM

DatasetsformedintoaBuildingInformationModel,withinwhichtheownersofeachDataSetkeepsomeinternalautonomy,whilefacilitatinginterrogationinacon-trolledandvisibleenvironment.

The changing data market – A UK PERSPECTIVE

Astheconstructionindustry increasesitsknowledgeofBui ldingInformationModel-ing(BIM),thereisagrowingreal izat ionthat i twi l l dr iveafundamentalchangeinthewaythatdataisdeployedacrosstheentire l i fecycleofbui ldingprojects.Thisart icleexploreswhyandhowthechangeishappening,whatthismeanstotradit ionalthinkingandwhyopenBIMisanessentialpartofthatprocess.

DAV

EJ

ELL

ING

SS

olib

riU

KL

td

25BIM

erndayproject.Eachtradeprovidesadataset,whichisinterrogatedinordertoextract the information required toco-ordinatewithotherdatasetstode-velopawiderprojectspecificationthatwill enable the facili ty tobebuilt andmanaged.

It isthereforenotsurprisingthatthedevelopmentandapplicationofsupport-ingtechnologieshasfocusedonbetterandfasterwaysofproducingthesedatasets.

The BIM process requires that dataisbrought together, (federated), toen-ableinterrogationtotakeplaceinamorecontrolledandvisibleenvironment.ThisinfactisthehighleveldriverbehindtheUKGovernmentBIMstrategydefinedasLevel2BIM(aseriesofdisciplinespe-cificmodelswiththeprovisionofasingleenvironment,COBie,tostoreshareddataand information) and Level 3 BIM (themulti-domainorfederatedmodel).

MovingforwardToday,mostbusinessesarestrivingtoachieveLevel2,butsomearealreadyseeing the advantages of moving be-yondthisandarefederatingmodelstoutilize the inherent benefits. Obviousexamples include collision detection,co-ordination,constructabilityandtimelining.

For indus t r y to real ize the vas tpotent ial of open BIM, a change isneeded. Thecurrentpriority fordatacreationwillbecomeoneofdataappli-cation/exploitation.

Knowing that tomorrow’s businessnecessitatesamovebeyondtheneedto create dat amore ef f iciently( a l r e a d y d o n ewellbytechnolo-gyproviders),toan environmentwheredata isfullyexploited, iseasiersaid thandone. Technologyprovidersfaceachallengethatwillbeinstrumen-talinthesuccessofthistransition.

Whatneedstohappen?Dataexploitationisnotnewandmanyother industr ies, including f inance,mediaandmanufacturing,accessandexploitdata togreatef fect.These in-dustries have found ways of federat-ingandqualityassuringthatdata.The

technologytoaccessandexploitdataalreadyexistsandisveryeffective.

Theproblem in theconstruction in-dustr y is that federating and quali t yassuringdatahasnotyetbeenfullyde-veloped. Consequently, existing tech-nologyavailabletoaccessandexploitdataisnotwhollyeffective.

Consideraconstructionprojectasajigsawpuzzle,withtheindividualpiecesbeingthedisciplinespecificdatasetsdescribedabove.The totalproject in-formationisrepresentedbythepictureemergingfromthecompletedpuzzle.

Forthepicturetobevisible,the in-dividualpiecesofthepuzzlehavetobecreatedinsuchawaytoallowthemtofittogether;itisnotsufficienttocollectallthedatainoneplaceandcutoutarandomshape.Fur thermore, thedatain the ‘piece’ has to follow the sameconventionsastheotherpiecesforex-ample,samescale,samecolorcodesand if text isused,same language. Inother words, the in-dividualpieces(datasets), have to abideby three basic rulesand be created sothat:1) contentisinthesameformat2) modelcomponentsfollowthesame namingconventions3) theycan interlockseamlesslywith theotherpiecesConsequent ly, s tandards are need-ed to provide guidance that ensurespiecesarecreatedinausableformat.The nominated standard in the UK isBS1192 and the documentation pro-

duced from thisstandardtocon-trol theprocessi s c o m m o n l yc al led a [ B IM ]ExecutionPlan.

BS1192istheBritishStandardthatestablishesthemethodologyformana-ging the production, distribution andqualityofconstructioninformation,in-cludingthatgeneratedbyCADsystems,usingadisciplinedprocessforcollabo-rationanda specified naming policy.

Note the key words highlighted inthis def ini t ion – they represent thechallengesthathavetobeovercome.

Productionofdatarequiresthatitiscreatedtoasetofrules(e.g.CADstan-

dards) and uses a specified naming policy forcontent.(AnexampleofthiswouldbetheUNICLASSspecification).

Distribution of data requires col -laboration between stakeholders toensure it canbe transferredbetweenthe numerous sof tware technologiestypically used in a construction proj-ect.This inturnrequiresanopenandneutralfileformattoenabledatatrans-ferandinteroperabilitybetweenthosetechnologies.ThisistheroleplayedbyIFCsandtheprocessofinteroperabilityisknownasopenBIM.

Quality isakeystepthatismissingfrom most projects. This is becausequal i t y cont rol/as surance normallytakes place at the specif ic data setlevel.

Tobeef fective ithas to takeplaceat the federated data level when thepiecesofthejigsawproduceafinishedpicture. It is thepicturethatneedstobequalityassured.

WheredoesSolibrifitinthisstory?SolibriModelCheckerisinauniquepo-sitiontocontributetothesolution.

Firstly, i t can federate models andimpor tant ly, quickly respond to anychanges in the developing standardsfor production, distribution and clas-sifications.

Secondly, the core functionali ty ofSolibriModelCheckerisqualityassur-ance.Theabilitytovalidatemodelsforconstructability/complianceandadaptor createnew rulesets fordevelopingapplications, makes it the ideal solu-tionthatprovideshighqualitydata.

Thirdly, the Informat ion Take Of fcapabili t ies of Solibri Model Checkerfacili tate ef f icient and ef fective datainterrogation of the model – the f irststepinthegrowingdemandfordataex-ploitation.

Inordertorealizetheenormousben-efitsofBIM, industryhas toembracedataexploitation–amajorchallenge.By providing the l ink between datacreationanddataexploitation,SolibriModelCheckerdeliversthesolution.

26 SMC9

Wehopeyou’llf indVersion9tobethemost innova-t ive sof tware we’ve de -signed.Itwillcontinueto

HE

IKK

IK

ULU

SJÄ

RVI

Sol

ibri

,Inc

Solibri Model Checker version 9 IMPROVING EASE OF USE AND LICENSE DOWNLOADS

keeptheSolibriModelChecker(SMC)anintegralpar toftheworkflowforanybuildingconstruction.We’realsoconfi-dentyou’llbegettingmorereliable in-

formationondemand,helpingyousavetimeandmaintainingqualitycontrol.

OctoberseesthelaunchofVersion9oftheSol ibr iModelChecker.Thefocusofthislaunchisputt ingtheuseratthecenterofoursolut ion.Localrulesetsareenhanced.Theyarenoweasiertof indandconfiguretosuitapersonalneed.Theusercannowalsoprescribedif ferentrulesetsfordif ferentpartsofthebui ldwheretheinformationneedingtobecheckedincreasesasthebui lddevelops.Italsoal lowsourpartnerstooffermoreeasi lytheirrulesetsforotherstobenefit from.Wealsowanttomakeiteasierforouruserstodownloadorupgradetheir l icensesbyintroducingacloud-basedl icensingsystem.

Sol ibr i So lut ionCenter on thewebwi th some loca l ru lesets

27SMC9

EasyaccessandmanagementWhen discussing wi th par tners andcustomers, we found local content tobeincreasingly impor tant.FortheUK,COBieregulationhasledtoaneedforspecif ic rulesets, classif ications andadd-ons. To help such needs, we areintroducingtheSolibriSolutionCenter.Userswillbeabletomoreeasilyaccessnewrulesetstoaidtheirwork.Intime,itwillalsoallowpar tners toadd rule-sets for specif ic needs (e.g. buildingsitesafety)thatcanbedownloadedbyothers.WeforeseetheSolibriSolutionCenterwillsoonbeaplacethatoffersthe latest downloads for suppor t ingQualityAssuranceandQualityControlprocess.

This s ame So lu t ion C enter c analsobeaccessedwithinSolibriModelChecker. This enables users to focusonthoserulesetsandadd-onsthataremadeavailableforthem.

Cloud-basedlicensingTimeandeffor tcannowbesavedwithourimprovedcloud-basedlicensing.Wenowofferusersandadministratorsdi-rectaccesstolicensesandanyselect-edadd-ons.Infrequentupdatesareen-abledmoreeasilyandyoudonotneedaseparatelicenseserver.Licensescanalsobepurchasedonlineandmaybeusedinstantly.

Similarlyourcorporatelevelcustom-ers will benef i t from more f lexible li -censingoptions.SolibriSolutionCenterallowsourcustomers tomanage theiruserseasilyandnew featurescanbeaddedonthefly.Licensingisnowaonestepandsmoothcloud-basedprocess.

EnhancedrulesystemsWhen discussing with our users, wenoticedtheneedfordif ferentrulesetsdependingonthephaseorlevelofthedevelopmentofthedesign.Intheearlystages,rulesetscancoverbasicqualityneedslikespatialarrangement.Duringlaterdevelopmentphases, ourusersneed more demanding rulesets thatdeal with the complexity of the situa-tion.

Version9allowsself-configurableru-lesets. Thisallowsbettercontrolandmaintenanceofrulesetsandfitsmuchbet ter to the developing need of the Exampleo f se l f -conf igurab le ru leset for apar tment bu i ld ingandpub l ic bu i ld ing.

“Version9putstheuserandtheirneedsattheheartoftheSolibriModelChecker.Thetooliseasiertouse,hasmore,relevantinformationandcanbetailoredtosuitsyourneeds.Withcloud-basedsupportregardinglicensesandadd-ons,webelieveSolibrifurtherstrengthensit’spositionasthemarketleadingsolutionforQualityAssuranceandQualityControl.

28 SMC9

Thepos i t iono f suspendedce i l ing is theactua l prob lem,not theduct in ter fe r ing thesuspen-dedce i l ing

On the r ight hands idea l l re la ted issuesare shown

user.Thesamethingistrueforcheck-ingbuildingcodesaspar tof rulesetsforspecificbuildings(forexample,hos-pitals, residentialorof f icebuildings).Version9canbebettershapedtosuityourspecificuserneeds.

Ducts in ter fe r ingwi th thesuspendedce i l ing

ImprovedchecklistsandinformationprovisionGetting more reliable information fortheusercanalsobeseenwiththeim-provedchecklists. Youcannowhave‘remembertocheck’rules.RulesthataretheretohelpremindoftasksthatimproveQA/QCbutmaynotbedirectlyrelated to the BIM f ile at f irst. Com-bining thatwithdeeperanalysisof apar ticularproblemnowwithVersion9allowsmoreproblemstobefoundearlyin thebuildprocess (e.g.anexamplebelow showing air ducts inter fer ingwithsuspendedceilings).

WiththelatestSMCversionyouareable tocheckwhatelse ishappeningwiththecomponentsinvolved.

Like in the example looking for is-sues where the suspended ceiling is

involvedwecandiscover that theac-

29SMC9

Showinga l l components that are re la ted to thesame issueas these lectedcomponent

P ic ture hereis showingasampleo f thesenewhyper l inks createdontheru leset leve l andl inkscreatedautomat ica l l y to issues repor ted. Exampled i rects to ICCbu i ld ingcodewebpages.

tualproblemisthatthesuspendedceil-ing does not have enough clearancewiththeslabontopofit.

Baseduponwhatweseeabove,itiseasierforuserstofindtherealproblemwheninterferenceisfoundbytheSMC.Insteadofrepor tinghundredsofinter-ferences, we are able to f ind the oneproblemthatcausedtheissue.

FasterandeasierissuehandlingTheusernowhasthepossibilitytoau-tomatically include content to issueswrit tenbyselectingthedefaultcontentbox.Theycanthenaddissuedescrip-t ions. This is especially useful whenworking with building codes as mostofthecommentcanbeproducedauto-maticallybySMC.

Youcanincluderulename,descrip-t ion, category name, issue name anddescriptiontodefaultcommentsauto-maticallyfromSettings

Finally,youcannowassociateHyper-linkswith rulesets.Thisenableseasycreations of hyperlinks to BIM stan-dardsorbuildingcode,againallowingfasteraccesstosharedinformation.

Version 9 puts the user and theirneedsatthehear toftheSolibriModelChecker.Thetooliseasiertouse,hasmore, relevant informat ion and canbe tailored to suits your needs. Withcloud-basedsupportregardinglicensesandadd-ons,webelieveSolibrifur therstreng thens i t ’s posit ion as the mar-ketleadingsolutionforQualityAssur-anceandQualityControl.

Definingdefaultcontenttobeaddedtoissuesautomatically

30 BIM30 BIM

DAV

EJ

ELL

ING

SS

olib

riU

KL

td

ThefirststagetrialEight major UK Contrac tors - BAM,Carillion,LaingO’Rourke,Mace,Skan-ska, Willmot t Dixon, Wates and VINCI–agreedtopar ticipateinthetrialwiththe principal object ive : “To validateandcheckthesuitabilityofanIFCfileaccording toa ‘COBieDataDrop’andalsogeneratethecorrespondingCOBierepor tsfromtheIFCfileintheformofan Excel spread sheet.” As an inde-pendentpar tnerRIBAEnterprisesNBSsuppor ted the trial by providing guid-ance on the scope, management andrequiredoutputs.NBSprovidedaneu-tralBIM,designedbyHOKArchitects,tobeusedforthepurposesofthetrialandcreatedusingNationalBIMLibraryobjects.

Duringthetrial,theeightpar ticipat-ing Contractors were free to use anytechnologytheywishedprovidingitwascapableoffulfillingmost/allofthepri-maryrequirements:• importandexpor tIFCdata• check the quali t y of the data for conformance to COBie def init ions andstandardsofaccuracyaswell asotherconformancerequirements suchasBuildingRegulations• Enablerapidandconciserepor ting ofnon-conformanceofmodeldata

The UK IFC/COBie trialsIntheSol ibr i2012magazine,wereportedtheUKgovernment’srequirementstodeployCOBie–ConstructionOperationsBui ldingInformationExchange–forassetreport ingonal l i tsprojectsby2016.ItwasalsoreportedthatunderthedirectionoftheOPENBIMNetwork, leadingcontractorsweretoembarkonaseriesoff ieldtr ialstoascertainhoweffectively IFCcouldbeusedasacommunicationformattoproducethis informa-t ion.Thisreportpresentstheresultsofthef i rststageofthesetr ialsandsummarizestheon-goingactiv ity.

• Create COBie Data Drops in the prescribedspreadsheetformat.SolibriModelChecker(SMC)wasiden-tifiedasasolutionthatcanmeetalloftheabovecriteriaandeachContractorwasintroducedtoSMCandencouragedtoincludeSMCduringthetrial.

IFC/COBietrialreportAn early summary of the trial resultswaspresentedatamajorGovernmentconference in October 2012 and thiswasfollowedbyafullydetailedrepor tfromNBSearlyin2013.Thefullrepor tcanbefoundatthefollowingaddress-es:www.thenbs.com/pdfs/IFC_COBie -Re-port-2012.pdfwww.thenbs.com/topics/BIM/COBie/index.asp

KeyfindingsObjectivesTotestwhetherthebuildingSMARTIFCf ile formatwascapableof suppor tingthecreationofCOBiedatasets.Theob-jectivesofthetrialwereto:• Validate and check the suitabili t y ofanIFCfileforthegenerationofa ‘COBiedatadrop’.• Validateandcheck thegeneration

of the corresponding COBie data- setsfromtheIFCfile.• Uncoveranyissueswiththeuseof IFCforCOBieinrealbusinessenvi- ronments.

MethodologyAs a star ting point, a test model wasprovidedbyNBS.TheIFCoutputofthismodel was delivered to vendors. Thevendors re -created the model in na-tiveformatandexpor tedtheresultingdesign in IFC - thedif ferentauthoringtoolsprovidingthreeseparateIFCmod-els.

The t r ial was under taken in fourphases. The contractors carr ied outthetrialusingtechnologiessuppor tedby the Government’s BIM TechnologyAlliance.

OutputsFollowingcompletionof the trial,con-tractorsmet todiscuss issues faced.Despitebeingcompetitors,groupmem-bers were happy to work together toef fect change. Topics included sof t-ware,theimportanceofIFCasanopenstandard, the roleof governmentandchangessought–extendingbeyondtheconfinesoftheresearchobjectives

31BIM 31BIM

TheUKGovernmenthasclearlystat-edthattheCOBiespread-sheetwillbetherequiredformatforconstructionin-formationintheUK.Thegroupsawthisastherightchoice.

Thegroupshared theview that thegovernment is not introducing a re -quirement for any additional informa-tionfromthesupplychain,insteaditisaskingfortheexistinginformationtobestandardised in a well -structured for-mat.Thiswillonlybepossiblethroughcollaboration.

ThesuitabilityofIFC/COBieThetrial identif iedthefollowingareaswherefur therworkneedstobeunder-taken.1. buildingSMART must ensure their cer tif icationprogrammeeffectively enforcesthequalityoftheexpor ted COBiedata.2. TheBIMTaskGroupmustworkwith expertgroupstosupportthedelivery of structured data templates, for B IM l ib r ar y ob je c t s in t he UK market.3. Sof twarevendorsneed to improve theiropenstandard(IFC)importand expor tfunctionality.4. Themarketrequirescompleteflexi- bili t y to choose what systems are usedtogenerateCOBiedata.Inno- vat ion should not be s t i f led by mandatingaprocesstoachievethe requireddata.5. Wi th level - two BIM there wil l be multiplemodels.Datawillneed to l ink acros s them. The sof tware vendors and data providers must co l laborate to develop tools to ensure that this information can eas i l y be coordinated w i th in a project.6. As an open standard, IFC can be backward and forward compatible andsoallowfuturebuilding,mainte- nance and retrof it . IFC can future proofbuildinginformation.Without an open standard, future building maintenance or refurbishment will dangerously re ly on there being currentsoftwaretosupportoldfiles inproprietaryfileformats.7. The fu ture ne e d s o f Fac i l i t ie s Managersarerequiredtoinformthe content of the COBie data drops f a c i l i t y m an a g e m e n t mu s t b e

consideredasearlyasthebriefing process.8. There is currently a lot of manual work that has to be done when creatingtheExceloutput.Ifadditio- nal manual work is required then the industrywants tobesure that theCOBieoutputwillbeusedand valuedthroughtheconstructionand maintenanceprocess.

MicrosoftExcelMicrosof tExcelprovidesaviewofthestructured infoofCOBiedata.Par tici-pantssawthisasthe“lowestcommondenominator”data format.The impor-tantpointofCOBie is that it isahier-archal relat ional data schema – Mi-crosof t Excel is simply one means ofstoringthedata.

The group believed that the COBiedatasetintheformofaspread-sheetissimplyaviewoftheinformationwithinacomplexBIMmodel.TheyalsobelievethattheIFC2x3data-transferschemacould be used to enable communica-tionbetweendif ferentsof twareappli-cations,forexamplebetweenBIMandFMsystems.

IndustryguidanceThe group fe l t that c lear guidanceaboutthecontentofCOBiedatadropsneeds to be provided to the UK con-struct ion industr y. In par t icular, theindustr y needs guidance about nam-ingconventionsandtheclassificationsystemswithinCOBie.The industry islooking for standardisation and guid-anceaboutnamingandclassif icationisapre-requisite for it.Thisguidanceshouldbedevelopedthrough industrywideconsultation.

IFC/COBietrialstagetwoGiven the success of the early tr ial,during2013,thepar ticipatingcontrac-tors (now 11 – Sir Rober t McAlpine,Lend Lease and Brookf ield Mult iplexhavejoined)areunder takingnewworkwithfederateddatafromarchitectural,structuralandMEPmodels. The ‘live’modelshavebeenprovidedbyGatwickAirpor tLtd.

Theobjectivesofthe2013trialsareto:• Use IFCas theprimaryschemafor dataexchange.

• Testvarioustechnologiesandwork flowstoproduceCOBieoutputs.• Ensurethattrialactivitiesincorpo- rate current def ini t ions of COBie data requirement at various drop pointsandCICworkstages(COBie demand matrix) , using the current IFCschema.• Usereallifemodelsprovidedbytrial clientpar tnerGatwickAirpor tLtd• Federate architectural, structural andMEPmodelsaspar tofthetrial• I d e n t i f y p r o b l e m s , u n c o v e r e d duringthetrial,withexistingtechno- log y, standards and workf low (or use of the same) that inhibit ef f i - cientworking.• Review and communicate those problems wi th re levant sources viaofficialandadhoccommunicati- onchannels.• Presenttoindustrythosesolutions deemedtobebestinclass.Theresultsofstagetwowillbepresent-ed at an industry event on November12th2013inLondon.TheywillbealsobepresentedinafutureeditionoftheSolibriMagazine.

Solibri,Inc.Itälahdenkatu21A

00210Helsinki,FINLAND

Email :sales@solibri.com

Phone:+358105486800

www.solibri.com

SolibriLLC17470N.PacesetterWay

Scottsdale,Arizona85255USA

Email :sales-us@solibri.com

Phone:+14803052120

www.solibri.com

SolibriUKLtd.QueenAnneHouse,

35OxfordStreet,Newbury,

BerkshireRG141JG,UK

Email :sales-uk@solibri.com

Phone:+44(0)8448549250

www.solibri.com