Why BIM for Facility Management Gained Popularity WorldWide?
BIM is used throughout the lifecycle of a construction project. Every aspect and each dimension of Building Information Modeling is utilized as projects transit through 4D BIM (Construction and Scheduling), 5D BIM (Costing), 6D BIM (Sustainability Optimization) and last but not the least 7D BIM – i.e. Facility Management.
Facility management is an important part of an AEC project. It is implemented once the construction phase is over.
Facility management involves considerations for occupant comfort, energy efficiency, space management, maintenance and operations within the built environment.
Facility manager ensures that the built environment performs efficiently and functions as required.
Benefits of BIM for Facility Management:
BIM is integrated with computer aided maintenance management system to develop a robust maintenance plan. It is used to improvise and create a robust O&M tracking tool.
Spatial data is fed into BIM to improve space management within a facility.
Facility managers effectively use building information models to identify the conflicts due to changing space requirements.
BIM is crucial in helping facility managers achieve the set energy efficiency goals.
Additionally, BIM is also a useful tool for facility managers, and allows them to efficiently plan and execute any type of repair and renovation work within a facility.
All above mentioned benefits have made BIM for facility management extremely popular worldwide.
Facility management is considered to be a non-core activity and is often outsourced. Conventionally, facility managers were provided with CAD drawings, drafts or as built drawings to plan their FM strategies.
However, as BIM is increasingly implemented in construction projects, facility managers are equipped with building information models.
7 Applications Of BIM for Facility Management
How BIM experts enable facility management?
- BIM experts identify the parameters that are needed to keep a track of the lifecycle of a building and its elements
- Further they create new parameters and add them to building information model elements such as different fixtures, rooms, equipments etc.
- Now formulas are built to calculate, keep a track and report the indentified facility management metrics.
- Schedules for reporting and easy entry of parameter values for model elements are created.
- When all these steps are done, the model is now ready and it displays the facility management plan views using color fill legends to support managers in understanding and carrying out facility management operations
Applications of 6D BIM for facility management include:
Access design performance in relation to spatial requirements: Using BIM, managers can analyze the existing spaces and compare them with complex spatial standards and regulations. Further, any critical decisions related to the spatial improvements and other design improvements that affect the operations and management of the facility can be brought to notice and iterated after significant analysis and approvals by all the responsible stake holders. Hence a building can be designed such that it allows easy and efficient facility management.
Creation of as built physical conditions and assets of a facility: BIM is also used to record the structural, architectural and MEP details of an as built structure to serve as a detailed documentation of these disciplines of an existing building. An as built model for facility management is also created from the design, construction, 4D coordination models, and subcontractor fabrication models. This makes BIM a valuable resource which provides complete facility information that can be linked to operations, maintenance and asset data of a facility to enable better management. As the facility is repaired or renovated for changes are made to fulfill spatial requirements, these changes can be updated in the BI model so that it contains accurate information about the maintenance history of a building.
Preventive maintenance scheduling for effective management: BIM allows tracking and maintenance of all the information about a buildings structure, architecture and equipments, thus enables cost effective, timely and efficient maintenance program management.
Analysis of the systems and energy utilization within a facility: A BI models allows facility managers to predict the performance of equipments and systems and also predict the energy performance of a building, which they can further compare with the actual performance. If found that the performance is not as predicted, BIM for facility managers supports planning repairs, modification in operations and proposing systems and material changes to ensure that system and energy performance of a building remains the best.
Asset management: BIM record model can be linked to the building assets database, and is used to support decision making and planning pertaining to the facility management issues. The implications of upgrading or changing the building assets can be gauged accurately using BIM further quantity takeoffs of the assets can also be produced for financial reporting and cost estimation.
Management of existing and evolving spatial requirements: Allocation and management of resources and spaces within a facility based on the requirements is a process enabled by BIM. This is because it furnishes an FM with detailed space information both for new buildings and for retrofits (for renovation, refurbishments and repairs)
Disaster planning and management: Emergency responders such as fire department, technical rescue, police and emergency medical service to name a few can get access to critical information about a building using BIM. This enables them take informed decisions and hence deliver better response and reduced safety risk to occupants. BI model can be used effectively to locate the emergency area within a building and to gauge the other surrounding dangers, thus enables planning the best way out, to counter a disaster.
BIM for Healthcare – Promoting Facility Management, Safety And Green Design Through Technology
Healthcare facilities are becoming bigger and more complex, and this provides developers with ample reasons to use BIM for design and construction of healthcare facilities.
In a survey conducted in early 2014, it was found that nearly 96% of the 85 respondents used BIM and 74% these BIM users had been involved in healthcare facility construction projects. The survey henceforth, also established that there was a general consensus for the use of BIM as a high valued asset for efficiently coordinating the design, development and construction of a healthcare facility.
Healthcare Facility Management
Hospitals require and house numerous diagnostic, therapeutic and life-support medical equipments. All these equipments can be directly placed into the BIM to document the equipment location after the building is occupied in order to assist facility management.
Building information modeling data can be transferred using standard methodologies such as COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) into the computerized maintenance management system to update the facility manager with all the required details about facility management and operations activities even before the construction process is over.
Availing Regulatory Approvals for Healthcare Building
As hospital buildings are the most complex and the most critical, they need several regulatory green lights to be approved as fit for healthcare. BIM simulates the integrated project delivery model for all the involved stakeholders like owners, designers, architects, developers, engineers. This integrated project delivery model can also be used by regulatory agencies and hence they can involve themselves and present a regulatory point of view across all the crucial decision making processes.
Hence BIM develops a transparency in the construction process and keeps the regulatory body well informed. With BIM, regulatory measures can be implemented faster and with more clarity and hence obtaining regulatory approvals becomes easy.
Aiding Green Building design for health Care Facilities
Health care facilities are occupied by high number of occupants, which include staff members, volunteers, doctors, patients and their relatives. As a result a lot of energy resources are utilized and a lot of waste (toxic and non toxic) is generated each day. Using BIM, it is not only possible to develop a greener health care facility, or may be an NZEB (net zero energy building) but it is also possible to make waste management highly efficient.
To conclude, we can say that BIM is a high value proposition for design and development of healthcare facilities. AEC firms and property owners can develop hospitals and patient care centers that address the current business challenges and support a higher level of facility maintenance and patient care.
Building information models are like bottomless cabinets for documenting information. Integrating facility management into BIM revolutionizes the facility management process.
BIM is used throughout the lifecycle of a construction project. Every aspect and each dimension of Building Information Modeling is utilized as projects transit through 4D BIM (Construction and Scheduling), 5D BIM (Costing), 6D BIM (Sustainability Optimization) and last but not the least 7D BIM – i.e. Facility Management.
Facility management is an important part of an AEC project. It is implemented once the construction phase is over.
Facility management involves considerations for occupant comfort, energy efficiency, space management, maintenance and operations within the built environment.
Facility manager ensures that the built environment performs efficiently and functions as required.
Benefits of BIM for Facility Management:
BIM is integrated with computer aided maintenance management system to develop a robust maintenance plan. It is used to improvise and create a robust O&M tracking tool.
Spatial data is fed into BIM to improve space management within a facility.
Facility managers effectively use building information models to identify the conflicts due to changing space requirements.
BIM is crucial in helping facility managers achieve the set energy efficiency goals.
Additionally, BIM is also a useful tool for facility managers, and allows them to efficiently plan and execute any type of repair and renovation work within a facility.
All above mentioned benefits have made BIM for facility management extremely popular worldwide.
Facility management is considered to be a non-core activity and is often outsourced. Conventionally, facility managers were provided with CAD drawings, drafts or as built drawings to plan their FM strategies.
However, as BIM is increasingly implemented in construction projects, facility managers are equipped with building information models.
7 Applications Of BIM for Facility Management
Using BIM for facility management; users can effectively explore, record and efficiently manage the information about spatial requirements, operations and maintenance of a facility. Facility mangers can, not only track the space related data and evolving requirements, but also manage inventory and lifecycle data, identify safety loopholes and henceforth enforce occupant safety measures, perform analysis of evolving needs versus the related costs and much more.
- BIM experts identify the parameters that are needed to keep a track of the lifecycle of a building and its elements
- Further they create new parameters and add them to building information model elements such as different fixtures, rooms, equipments etc.
- Now formulas are built to calculate, keep a track and report the indentified facility management metrics.
- Schedules for reporting and easy entry of parameter values for model elements are created.
- When all these steps are done, the model is now ready and it displays the facility management plan views using color fill legends to support managers in understanding and carrying out facility management operations
Applications of 6D BIM for facility management include:
Access design performance in relation to spatial requirements: Using BIM, managers can analyze the existing spaces and compare them with complex spatial standards and regulations. Further, any critical decisions related to the spatial improvements and other design improvements that affect the operations and management of the facility can be brought to notice and iterated after significant analysis and approvals by all the responsible stake holders. Hence a building can be designed such that it allows easy and efficient facility management.
Creation of as built physical conditions and assets of a facility: BIM is also used to record the structural, architectural and MEP details of an as built structure to serve as a detailed documentation of these disciplines of an existing building. An as built model for facility management is also created from the design, construction, 4D coordination models, and subcontractor fabrication models. This makes BIM a valuable resource which provides complete facility information that can be linked to operations, maintenance and asset data of a facility to enable better management. As the facility is repaired or renovated for changes are made to fulfill spatial requirements, these changes can be updated in the BI model so that it contains accurate information about the maintenance history of a building.
Preventive maintenance scheduling for effective management: BIM allows tracking and maintenance of all the information about a buildings structure, architecture and equipments, thus enables cost effective, timely and efficient maintenance program management.
Analysis of the systems and energy utilization within a facility: A BI models allows facility managers to predict the performance of equipments and systems and also predict the energy performance of a building, which they can further compare with the actual performance. If found that the performance is not as predicted, BIM for facility managers supports planning repairs, modification in operations and proposing systems and material changes to ensure that system and energy performance of a building remains the best.
Asset management: BIM record model can be linked to the building assets database, and is used to support decision making and planning pertaining to the facility management issues. The implications of upgrading or changing the building assets can be gauged accurately using BIM further quantity takeoffs of the assets can also be produced for financial reporting and cost estimation.
Management of existing and evolving spatial requirements: Allocation and management of resources and spaces within a facility based on the requirements is a process enabled by BIM. This is because it furnishes an FM with detailed space information both for new buildings and for retrofits (for renovation, refurbishments and repairs)
Disaster planning and management: Emergency responders such as fire department, technical rescue, police and emergency medical service to name a few can get access to critical information about a building using BIM. This enables them take informed decisions and hence deliver better response and reduced safety risk to occupants. BI model can be used effectively to locate the emergency area within a building and to gauge the other surrounding dangers, thus enables planning the best way out, to counter a disaster.
BIM for Healthcare – Promoting Facility Management, Safety And Green Design Through Technology
Building information modeling has emerged as the most popular tool for design, development and efficient construction of complex buildings. The cost advantages, time saving and more streamlined operations are the clear benefits BIM provides. For building health care facilities, where in addition to cost saving and scheduling it is also important to ensure that facility management becomes easy and higher levels of safety are implemented, BIM is a perfect fit.
Healthcare facilities are becoming bigger and more complex, and this provides developers with ample reasons to use BIM for design and construction of healthcare facilities.
In a survey conducted in early 2014, it was found that nearly 96% of the 85 respondents used BIM and 74% these BIM users had been involved in healthcare facility construction projects. The survey henceforth, also established that there was a general consensus for the use of BIM as a high valued asset for efficiently coordinating the design, development and construction of a healthcare facility.
Healthcare Facility Management
Hospitals require and house numerous diagnostic, therapeutic and life-support medical equipments. All these equipments can be directly placed into the BIM to document the equipment location after the building is occupied in order to assist facility management.
Building information modeling data can be transferred using standard methodologies such as COBie (Construction Operations Building Information Exchange) into the computerized maintenance management system to update the facility manager with all the required details about facility management and operations activities even before the construction process is over.
Availing Regulatory Approvals for Healthcare Building
As hospital buildings are the most complex and the most critical, they need several regulatory green lights to be approved as fit for healthcare. BIM simulates the integrated project delivery model for all the involved stakeholders like owners, designers, architects, developers, engineers. This integrated project delivery model can also be used by regulatory agencies and hence they can involve themselves and present a regulatory point of view across all the crucial decision making processes.
Hence BIM develops a transparency in the construction process and keeps the regulatory body well informed. With BIM, regulatory measures can be implemented faster and with more clarity and hence obtaining regulatory approvals becomes easy.
Aiding Green Building design for health Care Facilities
Health care facilities are occupied by high number of occupants, which include staff members, volunteers, doctors, patients and their relatives. As a result a lot of energy resources are utilized and a lot of waste (toxic and non toxic) is generated each day. Using BIM, it is not only possible to develop a greener health care facility, or may be an NZEB (net zero energy building) but it is also possible to make waste management highly efficient.
To conclude, we can say that BIM is a high value proposition for design and development of healthcare facilities. AEC firms and property owners can develop hospitals and patient care centers that address the current business challenges and support a higher level of facility maintenance and patient care.