Page 38 - School Planning & Management, September 2017

BUSINESS { MANAGING K-12 EDUCATION }
Solving Construction and Operating Problems With BIM
Building Information Modeling can help
manage building construction, operations and maintenance. By Michael Fickes
schedule and budget,” notes Gajbhiye. “If you use BIM to solve problems before con- structing and installing systems, you can use more prefabricated products — which really speeds the work and holds down costs.”
All in all, BIM can enable designers and builders to deliver more projects on time and on budget.
More and More BIM Projects
BIM benefits are leading designers
to apply the software in more and more projects. “BIM is our standard process now,” says Nick Cameron, director of Digital Practice in the Chicago offices of Perkins+Will. “It has been part of our pro- cess for over 12 years — across the board, for any building project.
“When we start a project, we create
a digital execution plan, which includes guidelines about the level of detail we want in the BIM model.
“We also work with partners that use BIM. For instance, we work with structural engineers who can share models of beam sizes, grid sizes and other structural ele- ments,” he says.
Are clients asking for BIM in contracts?
Generally speaking, BIM is not contractual yet, continues Cameron. “We don’t see BIM written into many contracts — maybe one in 20 or so,” he says. “But this is likely coming. At Perkins + Will, we are discussing internally how this will evolve over the next 10 years.”
Joe Eichenseer, director of building lifecycle solutions with Baltimore-based IMAGINiT Technologies, agrees that con- tractual requirements for BIM are coming. “It isn’t standard for school contracts to require the use of BIM yet, but it is trend- ing in that direction,” he says. “In fact, it is more common for a school to require BIM than commercial developers.”
Who are the most active BIM users? According to Eichenseer, government and education are the most active BIM users, today. The federal government is probably the most active user, he says, then comes higher education and K-12 schools, fol- lowed by commercial developers.
BUILDING INFORMATION Modeling (BIM) is proving itself as a school design, construction and
operations tool. Skilled BIM users — on the design and construction teams — can eliminate silos, improve budget manage- ment and keep building schedules on track. After construction, BIM can help manage building maintenance.
Construction silos emerge when design- ers and contractors work on their own individual pieces of a project without col- laborating among each other. “Construc- tion work should be collaborative, but it all too often is not,” says Andy Gajbhiye, BIM manager with San Antonio, Texas-based Joeris General Contractors.
“Lack of collaboration between the design team and contractors results in lots of Requests For Information (RFIs), which lengthens schedules,” continues Gajbhiye.
BIM Promotes On-Time Delivery
K-12 schools, of course, must open on
a certain day, and contractors must finish before that day. To be sure, workers may be finishing up small details — perhaps
a touch-up paint job here and there. But there can be no hammering, sawing, drill- ing and shouting when school is in session.
Fueled by BIM, effective collaboration smooths out projects and promotes on- time delivery.
“Another piece of this is managing the
38 SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / SEPTEMBER 2017
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ILLUSTRATIONS COURTESY OF JOERIS GENERAL CONTRACTORS