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PROJECTS AND CONTRACTS
In a nutshell, what is BIM?
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an
information-centric process of collating and
managing pre-defined outcomes in the form
of digital data that gets accumulated during
the different stages of a building’s lifecycle
by all the professionals involved – from
initial planning to facilities management to
de-commissioning.
Various software applications and
processes are used to create an intelligent,
shared, digital 3D model that is used to
represent this data.
How has the support for it been
in South Africa?
South Africa has a strong existing and
rapidly growing set of professionals, both
capable and willing to share their knowledge
to an eager architecture, engineering and
construction (AEC) industry.
We have workshops, talks and forums at
all major build and AEC events, and a newly
formed BIM Institute, which is leveraging
knowledge from leaders in the industry and
assisting the industry drive to BIM.
There are freely available international
protocols and documents covering all
aspects of the BIM process for each discipline
and player involved.
What are the difficulties
with introducing BIM into
South Africa?
Initially BIM has been used and managed by
the design professionals (architects and engi-
neers) who benefit directly. It is doing well
in South Africa and the number of firms with
BIM capacity is growing at a healthy pace.
However, many owners and property
managers currently are unaware of the
potential gains from the BIM process.
For example, if an owner used a BIM
model to keep a live record of asset manage-
ment data and then wanted to move offices,
they could use the model to move any associ-
ated element on a virtual plan. Owners need
to start questioning what can be delivered by
professional teams on their projects beyond
the traditional drawings.
We also need the adoption of a common
SA BIM standard, based on international
standards, to aid our AEC sector in its ability
to better share, create and manage all
this data and related documentation in a
commonly accepted manner.
How is this system applied to
your work within Arup?
Arup is an international design, engineering
and business consulting firm working on
many of the most innovative and complex
planning, building, infrastructure, transport
and civil engineering projects in the world.
We have an ethos of testing new technologies
– these may cost us, but the lessons learnt
outweigh pure profits.
Embracing learning and innovation leads
to the pushing of boundaries. When we saw
how BIM makes our internal systems more
efficient, has the ability to reduce risk and
construction issues and helps us push new
boundaries across our disciplines, it made
sense to adopt BIM as our default method-
ology for producing design work.
Various governments and organisations
that Arup works with, specify BIM on
their projects. This cemented our commit-
ment to this way of working and under-
standing projects.
One of the reasons why the
BIM system has not been more
widely used is because of the
cost. How expensive is designing
a building with this?
It’s difficult to put an exact cost on using
BIM – it depends on a wide variety of factors
including the level of BIM required, the
complexity of the project and the maturity of
the BIM team involved.
This cost also needs to be considered
in conjunction with the value using BIM
provides. Significant lifecycle cost saving
opportunities are unlocked because we
are able to visually represent additional
information like time, cost, design specifica-
tions, sustainability and maintenance infor-
mation – remaining pertinent for the life of
the building.
This ability is showing substantial
savings throughout the process from design
through to facilities management, ultimately
improving design, performance and reducing
risk throughout the construction and finance
management aspects of the project.
Can the system be applied to
any building?
As long as the architects and engineers are
on board, a level of BIM can be used on any
project. A less complicated building simply
needs less data and has fewer deliverables
and requirements than a larger and more
costly building.
Buildings with repetition, such as
franchise offerings (banks, food franchisers,
hospitals, store franchisers etc.), have the
most to gain from using high level BIM. This
is because the repeat business warrants
more effort be put in earlier to the systems
and integration of aspects such as costs,
specifications, manufacturer codes, lighting,
finishes, construction and procurement
sequencing on these projects, etc.
What are the advantages of BIM
for ‘green building’?
BIM excels in green build. The high end
technical CAD tools used in BIM have abilities
to geo-reference the project and model
accurate live weather and thermal data to
libraries of materials and content used
within projects.
This allows for optimal building orienta-
tion, better reports, accurate design checks,
including how the design impacts carbon
energy loads, lighting and active or passive
heating and cooling solutions.
For the outcomes of good green
building design, it is essential that all the
designers get involved early (before the
concept designs are completed) so that each
specialist designer may add his/her portion
PUSH BOUNDARIES
across disciplines
Wilhelm du Plessis
spoke to Nicholas Karassavas, Arup’s
CAD and BIM manager. He has an architectural and strong
multidiscipline technical background and speaks with
authority about BIM in the South African and global context.
Nicholas Karassavas, Arup’s CAD and
BIM manager.
30
CONSTRUCTION WORLD
SEPTEMBER
2016