Building Information Modeling

  Asset Management in Public Infrastructure The $20 trillion US economy heavily relies on a vast public infrastructure network from public transport to bridges to electrical grids, water carriage systems, and more. The country saw a historical movement in November 2021 when the government announced a commitment of hundreds of billions of dollars toward building new infrastructure. However, the existing infrastructure is rather overstretched and needs maintenance to be able to support ongoing needs. The report  Well Maintained: Economic Benefits from more Reliable and Resilient Infrastructure  published by The World Bank in May 2021 effectively documents how good and timely infrastructure maintenance boosts prosperity, enabling growth and well-being of people, firms, and economic systems. Estimating (just) the direct costs imposed on firms in low- and middle-income countries, sales losses due to power outages amount to $82 billion a year; disruptions to the water supply in...

  Safety for the Construction Industry: Are we Building it Up enough? The bricks of any building, bridge, or any piece of infrastructure are laid by construction workers. No matter how advanced the technologies are involved on-site or how efficient the materials and processes deployed, the quality of construction will continue to depend significantly on the people who work on-site. Naturally, it is the responsibility of construction companies, firm owners, project managers, builders, architects, contractors, suppliers, and other such stakeholders to take care of the health and safety of the people working on site. Healthy, Safety, Environment (HSE) standards have been much discussed, but unfortunately, the construction industry globally has traditionally scored rather low on this parameter. A high number of fatalities, injuries, and illnesses are reported from all/most construction sites. It is common knowledge in this industry that construction is fraught with risks such as harmfu...

  The construction industry is one of the biggest sectors of the world economy. Its ecosystem comprises of stakeholders such as the designers, architects, engineers, and construction workers. On any given project having multiple stakeholders, the complexities stem from various functions and stages of the project.   Typical challenges faced by AECO projects are - rising construction costs, material procurement delays, budget and time overruns, workforce shortage, health and safety of the workforce, and construction site issues. The volatility of the AEC industry is inevitable. However, the sector can immensely enhance its productivity and efficiency with the help of digital tools and rewiring certain processes on the backbone of technology. Digital transformation is the right step towards achieving faster and more sustainable construction within the estimated time and budget. Digital tools such as Digital Twins paired with IoT can help construction companies get closer to this...

  Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a powerful tool which can usher AEC industry into the next wave of growth. Construction professionals across the world have experienced BIM’s 3D visualization and simulation ability to map the entire construction lifecycle right from the design phase through the project completion and post-construction asset management  Its benefits also include cost savings over mid to long term, faster completion, better project co-ordination and lesser wastage of materials for any project. BIM Adoption   has been on a steady rise for new construction projects. However, construction professionals need to tap more into BIM’s capabilities for reconstruction and renovation.   Building renovation or refurbishment projects could throw in more complexities than new construction. In many cases, 2D CAD drawings of the existing building may not be available and the drawings on paper are the only source of information about the existing buildin...

Building Information Modeling has become an indispensable part of the AEC professionals but remains a mystery to many project stakeholders. Before delving into the details about the common myths, let's take a look at "What is BIM?" What is BIM? The process of creating and managing information for efficient planning, designing and construction through an intelligent 3D model is called BIM. The technology produces cloud-based models integrating structural data for effective design visualization throughout the building project lifecycle from the conceptual design stage to construction and operation. 3D to 8D Dimensions provides brilliant support to the architectural, engineering and construction professionals for virtual building performance. The concept of BIM dates back to the 1970s but was widely accepted in the early 2000s. Currently, It is adopted by leading countries across the globe. The government is also making It mandatory in building projects for streamlini...

  Historically, construction project of any nature or scale was typically visualized in 3D, designed in 2D and built in 3D. In this process, a lot of data and information gets lost in translation. Building Information Modelling (BIM) allows for visualization and design in 3D. The project owner, designer, builder and others involved in the project can clearly see the outcome even before the construction work is commenced on site. Thus, a 3D model of a project is an effective communication tool among the project stakeholders and is relevant from the beginning to the end of the project lifecycle. BIM allows room for changes during the early phases of any project, planning the construction schedule and sequencing activities before work starts on-site. Even the clashes are identified early in the design stage, which significantly reduces on-site clashes. This directly impacts every aspect of the project including duration, cost, materials, risks, safety, energy consumption and oth...

  The pandemic has delayed or stalled several construction projects, owing to the shortage of materials such as structural steel and glass which are procured from Asia. Secondly, working remotely was also not an option for construction workers on site.   In the post-Covid era, both pending as well as new construction projects are expected to come with anticipated growth in the healthcare, commercial, and transportation sectors. The residential projects are seeing an increased demand for multi-family complexes.    President Biden’s vision is to create a robust infrastructure that is safe, environment-friendly and can withstand climate change. The allocation of over USD 1 billion to ramp up the existing infrastructure - including railways, bridges, ports, and highways – certainly fuels this ambition.   So, what would the sector need to prepare itself for? Here’s an example from a public sector renovation project scenario. Traffic interruption during ...