How Building Information Modeling is transforming …

TÜV SÜD

How Building Information Modeling is transforming constructionIncreased project safety and improved profitability for building owners and investors

White paper

AbstractModern construction projects, such as tunnels, bridges and rail tracks, are more complex than ever, as architects, engineers and builders integrate state-of-the-art materials and technologies into designs to increase usability, maximise resource efficiencies and promote sustainability.

The most advanced building planning and development technologies are therefore required to successfully navigate the decision-making process and to avoid costly and potentially harmful choices. To meet this need, the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry is turning to digitisation, particularly in streamlining and optimising processes and product data.

This white paper discusses how the application of building information modeling (BIM) can increase efficiency and reduce construction costs during the planning, design and execution process, while also improving overall project quality and utility. The paper will also discuss how TÜV SÜD is helping building owners, investors and asset holders effectively adopt BIM as an essential standard to design, plan and operate assets over their entire lifecycle.

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Tobias SchmidtSenior Consultant, BIM expert, TÜV SÜD AdvimoTobias Schmidt is Senior Consultant and BIM expert at TÜV SÜD Advimo. He is responsible for BIM strategy development and BIM implementation for building owners, and addresses strategic, tactical, operational and technological aspects of BIM. Prior to TÜV SÜD, Schmidt was Head of BIM at Caverion, one of Europe’s largest lifecycle experts for technical building infrastructure, where he led the BIM transformation across all countries and across technical disciplines. Previously, Schmidt worked at BPS International, where he served as Director of BPS Technology and as business development officer for the “BIM it!” team, where he implemented BIM in all lifecycle phases of buildings in BPS’ medical and commercial real estate portfolio.

How Building Information Modeling is Transforming Construction | TÜV SÜD

Contents

1 THE ORIGINS AND GROWTH OF BIM 3

2 WHAT IS “BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING”? 4

3 THE BENEFITS OF ADOPTING BIM 6

4 HOW TÜV SÜD CAN ASSIST IN BIM DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION 8

5 ADDITIONAL BENEFITS OF WORKING WITH TÜV SÜD 9

6 HOW CAN TÜV SÜD HELP YOU? 10

About the TÜV SÜD expert

3TÜV SÜD | How Building Information Modeling is Transforming Construction

The origins and growth of BIM

For more than 30 years, project management techniques using advanced technologies and tools have been employed in a variety of industrial segments involving the manufacturing or production of complex products. For example, in the mid-1980s, aircraft manufacturers began integrating material stress simulations and operational performance benchmarks into fleet design and development processes to improve product quality, increase product safety and reduce development costs.

During the 1990s, the automotive industry implemented a parametric and lifecycle-focused design and build environment, creating digital databases common to all suppliers that facilitated the exchange of specifications and allowed manufacturers to better meet the demands of individual consumers. Following in the 21st century, the ship building industry began exploring the use of digital prototyping, making it possible to construct and evaluate virtual equivalents of ship shells and engines to optimise the design and construction process.

The formal introduction of BIM as a modeling process for construction projects coincides with the release in the early 2000s of software products and systems designed to create digital representations of the building process. Once created, these models could then be easily shared by architects and project designers with contractors and subcontractors, enabling them to validate design assumptions and to add further, discipline-specific details. In this way,

a final project model would represent a single, unified development plan that accurately reflected all the unique aspects of a complex project.

The advantages of BIM have quickly been embraced by AEC firms, which have widely adopted BIM technologies in the ensuing years. To illustrate; TÜV SÜD discovered, during a BIM ROI and profitability analysis for a major client, that a properly implemented BIM process can meet the targeted ROI by the end of the schematic design phase. It was realised that a single Euro investment in BIM can potentially result in savings of up to 8,60€ until the beginning of the operational phase of high-rise projects. Furthermore, three-quarters of contractors reported a positive return on their investment upon the adoption of BIM technologies and methods.

The potential value of BIM technologies has also not been lost on governments around the world that either require or encourage the adoption of BIM in government-funded construction projects. In the United Kingdom, for example, the use of BIM in public projects became mandatory at the end of 2016. Since 2006, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) has required that new buildings designed on behalf of the agency’s Public Buildings Service use BIM at least in the project design stage. In Singapore, the country’s Building and Construction Authority (BCA) implemented the world’s first BIM electronic submission system for regulatory approval of building projects in 2008.

During BIM ROI and its profitability analysis for a major client, TÜV SÜD discovered that a properly implemented BIM process can meet the targeted ROI by the end of the schematic design phase and that a single Euro investment in BIM can potentially result in savings of up to 8,60€ until the beginning of the operational phase of high-rise projects.

4 How Building Information Modeling is Transforming Construction | TÜV SÜD

What is “Building Information Modeling”?

Major building construction projects are typically expensive and highly-complex undertakings, involving multiple parties and thousands of personnel. From inception to completion, a construction project easily spans a period of several years. Therefore, it is not surprising that construction undertakings are fraught with challenges for everyone involved, typically resulting in project delays, cost-overruns and other setbacks that ultimately compromise their anticipated return on investment (ROI).

The problems often begin with a lack of transparency during the project conception and design phases. Project disciplines work solely within their individual environments, resulting in unsynchronised processes, and schemes and plans of different quality. This leads to conflicts that are only identified once

construction has begun and results in costly and time-consuming rework. In addition, making design changes with traditional construction project planning tools is a labour-intensive process that is prone to additional errors that can go undetected. Furthermore, an asset that is established “as-built” instead of “as-planned” can result in unexpectedly high maintenance costs throughout the operation phase, further compromising the anticipated ROI.

The use of building information modeling helps to minimise these risks. The term BIM is generally used to describe the process of planning and managing a major construction project through the creation and use of a software-based, multi-dimensional, digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of that project. In addition to basic geometric

dimensions such as width, height and depth, BIM models also incorporate data on scheduling, costs, facility management and key performance indicators for the operation phase and ROI analysis. These multiple data dimensions are represented and maintained in a digital database as single “source-of-truth,” where changes made to any single element trigger changes to related elements.

This integrated approach fosters the immediate identification of potential conflicts during the project design phase, allowing parties of the project to address them well before construction commences. It also enables project participants to create multiple “what-if” scenarios to evaluate alternative approaches, thereby enabling more active collaboration throughout the project. Moreover, BIM facilitates the effective


management of an infrastructure project throughout the entire lifecycle and can also contribute to the realisation of larger project goals, such as improved energy efficiency, healthier environments for occupants and users, and increased environmental sustainability. In this way, an intelligent BIM-based model is not just a new level of design documentation, but rather serves as the “digital backbone” of the physical asset that can support the monitoring, management and optimisation of the construction and operation cycles.

At TÜV SÜD, BIM has become an essential digital lifecycle management methodology within the AEC sector. Through our active participation in BIM mandates and BIM projects, TÜV SÜD has witnessed how the method of “digital building prototyping” can unveil

the full potential of BIM through the simulation and optimisation of a construction project before it is constructed and commissioned, enabling a vision of its future performance during the operation phase.

At the same time, our use of BIM is not limited solely to the creation of three-dimensional BIM models. Instead, the term BIM represents both “building information modeling” and “building information management,” which accurately characterises its use for both synchronising and continuously updating systems and human knowledge across the entire lifecycle of an asset. The information collected and maintained in a robust and well-constructed BIM model also typically includes those that derived from a variety of management systems, including computer-aided

facility management systems (CAFM), building management systems (BMS), computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. This multi-dimensional approach allows BIM to be effective in optimising both the quality and performance of an asset.

Finally, the “I” in BIM safeguards transparency, actuality and accuracy of knowledge that is essential to create a common vision, understanding and optimal workflows across the disciplines of building owner and architects, engineers, project managers, construction teams, auditors and facility or asset managers. BIM models do not just document processes but rather serve as a central point of collaboration and communication, where requests, discussions and reports are embedded.


The benefits of adopting BIM

The adoption of BIM offers several significant advantages to investors, owners and asset managers involved in major construction projects. In a recent survey of contractors who have implemented BIM, the three leading benefits identified included: 1) the reduction of project errors and omissions; 2) an increased collaboration with project owners and design firms; and 3) an enhanced image of their firm among current and prospective clients. Clearly, these are important considerations in evaluating the potential benefits that can be derived from an investment in BIM technologies.

In our own analysis of previously digitised industries and audits of BIM adopters, TÜV SÜD has identified additional important drivers of increased profitability resulting from the adoption of BIM technologies. In total, the six most dominant drivers include:

Better asset quality and usabilityWhen used for digital prototyping for buildings and infrastructure assets, the use of BIM methodology helps to keep design and construction activities focused on the key performance indicators (KPIs) as defined by the investor or asset holder, and to embed lifecycle analytics and operational metrics into the earliest stage of a project.

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Greater project efficiencyBy centralising all project-related data and virtualising communication and collaboration, BIM enables real-time access across disciplines and locations, providing all parties with continuous access to accurate and up-to-date project information. In addition, project scheduling is more accurate and easier to monitor, supporting more efficient and streamlined processes with traceable responsibilities and visual coordination.

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Improved information and decision managementBIM supports more effective and more confident decisions by combining virtual inspections and visualised information in a way that facilitates understanding by building owners and investors. This can dramatically reduce the number of changes and corrective actions, greatly improving the likelihood that a project will be completed on schedule and within budget.

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However, it is important to note that these key benefits - expressed in quality, time and cost parameters - are achieved only when the BIM methodology is properly implemented and executed in the three dimensions of strategy, tactics and operation. The quality of BIM throughout a project’s entire lifecycle plays an essential role in maximising these benefits. In projects where BIM has not been properly implemented or executed, we have seen costs increasing by approximately 10 to 30 percent over the initial design budget, as well as an increase of between 40 to more than 100 percent in the time invested during the design stage (for instance, due to (re)programming incorrect data standards or redeveloping BIM models).

Increased transparencyThe transparency of project information generated by BIM makes it easier to identify and resolve discrepancies and errors related to design, materials, construction and documentation. Model checks about spatial, material, cost and schedule issues provides building owners and investors with increased insight into their project, allowing them to communicate more effectively with engineers and architects, thus increasing accountability. Operational safety, regulatory and legal issues are clearly documented so that asset holders have a clear understanding of all relevant matters.

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Uprated sustainability outcomesBIM supports the interoperation between architects, engineers, auditors and facility managers in evaluating multiple energy usage scenarios in the context of other project requirements, and to adjust construction specifications and materials to maximise natural resource efficiencies. This can result in reduced operating expenses as well as a higher asset value (e.g. by supporting a higher level of sustainability certification).

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Overall operational excellenceBIM models can serve as an object-related database for CAFM, CMMS and ERP systems that allow data from actual operations to be fed into and out of the BIM model, allowing for further BIM model refinement and modifications to lifecycle management practices, and generating updated performance benchmarks. TÜV SÜD uses the term BIM-to-computer-aided facility management systems (BIM2CAFM) to describe the strategic, tactical and operational implementation of BIM models in the operational phase.

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How TÜV SÜD can assist in BIM development and implementation

The successful application of BIM technologies in the development and execution of major construction projects requires in-depth expertise and experience in multiple disciplines. A partial list of the requisite disciplines includes: project development strategy, BIM software and tools, digital prototyping, building materials and components, vendor sourcing and procurement practices, operational security, optimisation auditing, and lifecycle management. Additionally, specialised knowledge of industry-specific building practices and norms is also essential in successfully applying the BIM methodology and achieving optimal results.

As part of our effort to aid building owners, investors and asset holders with this multi-disciplined expertise, TÜV SÜD has established several Digital Centres of Competences that provide a wide range of specific BIM consulting and advisory services, including:

BIM is more than simply creating an “intelligent 3D,” but rather involves the development of multidimensional models. TÜV SÜD brings together engineers, commissioning experts and facility managers to fully leverage their knowledge and expertise across the entire lifecycle of an asset.

ENGINEERINGOur extensive engineering expertise extends to every phase of a construction process in a variety of industries. This expertise enables us to provide valuable insight and assistance in each critical aspect of project development and execution.

EDUCATIONFinally, TÜV SÜD’s Academy is dedicated to sharing our BIM expertise through courses and other trainings on various aspects of BIM utilisation.

CONSULTINGBIM strategy and BIM implementation advisory services for both new construction projects and existing buildings. Our early engagement can help to ensure the anticipated return on project investment for project owners and sponsors.

OPTIMISATIONSimulations and digital prototyping are key to maximising the value of any construction project. TÜV SÜD’s engineers are experts in the use BIM’s simulation capabilities and can evaluate alternative building layouts and operational scenarios to increase efficiency as well as occupant safety.

INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORTTÜV SÜD’s Infrastructure Unit offers BIM design, BIM management and BIM optimisation audit services in support of major infrastructure construction projects, including roadways, railways and mass transit hubs such as airports.


Additional benefits of working with TÜV SÜD

TÜV SÜD’s worldwide network of interdisciplinary BIM experts actively collaborate with their counterparts in key locations around the world, including London and Glasgow (U.K.), Munich and Rheinbach (Germany), Dubai (Middle East), South Korea and Singapore (Asia-Pacific). This dynamic helps to ensure that our clients can effectively leverage our global expertise, regardless of their location.

In addition to our extensive BIM experience, TÜV SÜD can also provide supply chain management services for major construction and infrastructure projects, including procurement management, quality assurance and quality control services, and construction monitoring. With offices in more than 850 locations worldwide, we can offer global supply chain management support virtually

anywhere around the globe, assuring clients a seamless, cost-effective and trouble-free experience.

TÜV SÜD is an independent, third-party that provides objective, performance-oriented consulting and advisory services. This neutrality ensures our alignment with the interests of project owners and investors, giving them confidence in our advice and counsel.


How can TÜV SÜD help you?

The use of BIM in major construction projects has the potential to reduce the incidence of scheduling delays and cost overruns, thereby helping project owners and sponsors achieve their anticipated ROI. BIM can also contribute to the creation of

smarter, more efficient buildings by significantly enhancing their quality and operational performance, and supporting efforts to make buildings and other infrastructure projects around the world meet the economic and environmental imperatives of the 21st century. For these reasons,

embracing BIM is mandatory for those seeking to remain competitive.

For more information about TÜV SÜD’s BIM consulting and advisory services, [email protected]. Or go to www.tuv-sud.com/bim.

FOOTNOTES[1] “The Business Value of BIM for Construction in Major Global Markets,” a SmartMarket Report by McGraw Hill Construction, January 2014. Available at http://www.icn- solutions.nl/pdf/bim_construction.pdf (as of 12 May 2017).[2] “BIM adoption and implementation around the world: Initiatives by major nations,” blog posting on the website GeoSpatial World, April 5, 2017. Available at https://www. geospatialworld.net/bim-adoption-around-the-world/ (as of 12 May 2017). [3] See Endnote #1, “The Business Value of BIM for Construction in Major Global Markets.”

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GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS AEC – Architecture, Engineering and Construction BIM – Building Information Modeling GSA – General Services Administration BCA – Building and Construction Authority ROI – Return-on-Investment CAFM – computer-aided facility management systems

BMS – building management systems CMMS – computerised maintenance management systems ERP – enterprise resource planning KPI – key performance indicators BIM2CAFM – BIM-to-computer-aided facility management systems 3D – 3 dimensional

TÜV SÜD | How Building Information Modeling is Transforming Construction

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The information contained in this document represents the current view of TÜV SÜD on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because TÜV SÜD must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of TÜV SÜD, and TÜV SÜD cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This White Paper is for informational purposes only. TÜV SÜD makes no warranties, express, implied or statutory, as to the information in this document. Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of TÜV SÜD. TÜV SÜD may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from TÜV SÜD, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property. ANY REPRODUCTION, ADAPTATION OR TRANSLATION OF THIS DOCUMENT WITHOUT PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED, EXCEPT AS ALLOWED UNDER THE COPYRIGHT LAWS. © TÜV SÜD Group – 2019 – All rights reserved - TÜV SÜD is a registered trademark of TÜV SÜD Group.

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All reasonable measures have been taken to ensure the quality, reliability, and accuracy of the information in the content. However, TÜV SÜD is not responsible for the third-party content contained in this publication. TÜV SÜD makes no warranties or representations, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of information contained in this publication. This publication is intended to provide general information on a particular subject or subjects and is not an exhaustive treatment of such subject(s). Accordingly, the information in this publication is not intended to constitute consulting or professional advice or services. If you are seeking advice on any matters relating to information in this publication, you should – where appropriate – contact us directly with your specific query or seek advice from qualified professional people. TÜV SÜD ensures that the provision of its services meets independence, impartiality and objectivity requirements. The information contained in this publication may not be copied, quoted, or referred to in any other publication or materials without the prior written consent of TÜV SÜD. All rights reserved © 2019 TÜV SÜD.

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Add value. Inspire trust.TÜV SÜD is a trusted partner of choice for safety, security and sustainability solutions. It specialises in testing, certification, auditing and advisory services. Since 1866, the company has remained committed to its purpose of enabling progress by protecting people, the environment and assets from technology-related risks. Through more than 24,000 employees across over 1,000 locations, it adds value to customers and partners by enabling market access and managing risks. By anticipating technological developments and facilitating change, TÜV SÜD inspires trust in a physical and digital world to create a safer and more sustainable future.

Find out more about TÜV SÜD’s BIM solutions www.tuvsud.com/bim

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