A consultants workflow – Case study

To us, It’s more than just work.

Introduction

•Revit was first used at WGE Melbourne office in 2008.

•A project at Tullamarine Airport to re-route ductwork around an upgraded baggage conveyor was a catalyst for the early adoption of Revit.

•The project produced good coordination prospects for future jobs and the experience allowed a strategy to be put in place for implementation. It would take a further 3 years of persistence and hard work to develop the workflows, families and templates.

Team Structure & Workflows

• Set up to encourage traditional draftees to up skill

their engineering capabilities and for graduate

engineers to become BIM proficient from day one.

• MEP templates automate the set up of projects

• Integration of engineering design within Revit.

• Delivering Revit models and documentation to the

required level of development (LOD).

• In-house Revit workgroup and development team

• Standardisation of parameters across all national WGE

offices.

• We share our models (with a disclaimer).

Key Issues

• Lack of Industry workflows and standards.

• Lack of good manufacturers content suitable for the

Australian construction industry.

• Bastardising models with cocktail of in-house created

templates and families and those available from

manufacturers websites or others.

• No consistency of CONTENT, SHARED PARAMETERS

hence WORKFLOWS.

• Time and effort creating generic and manufacturer families.

• Time and effort for little appreciation from contractors without

modelling capabilities.

• Over detailing and really only

pleasing architectural aesthetics.

• Overall effect on productivity

and profitability with respect to over

detailing.

Key Issues

Possible Solutions Snapshot

• Industry Workflows

• Industry Standards

• Manufacturer

Content (Aust , NZ)

• Collaboration

Natspec BIM

BIM MEPAus, ANZRS

BIM MEPAus

Sharing content

Workflow - Case Study

• Project Name

• BIM Management

Plan Deliverables

• Mechanical

Contractor / Model

Author (MDS)

Regional Hospital

Redevelopment

MEP Design, Visualisation,

Clash Detection

• Authoring Tool

• Template used

WGE

MDS

• Coordination Tool

Revit 2013 – WGE and MDS

WGE template cross-bred with BMA.

MDS template cross-bred with BMA

Navisworks Manage 2013

Workflow - Case Study

WGE - Designing with BMA

• WGE template was cross bred with the BMA template to

take advantage of industry standard:

• Ductwork fittings, accessories and duct

systems

• Pipework fittings, accessories and piping

systems

• Insulation and lining

• Annotation

• Manufacturer content

• Schedules

WGE - Designing with BMA

• Documenting with the BMA content:

• Generally well defined Duct systems and Pipe

systems.

• Lack of manufacturer content 2 years ago.

• Good view templates, but needed some modifications.

• Impact on productivity did not really factor in the design

documentation at the time.

From the Contractor

From the Contractor

• WGE model had well set-up family information within

• MDS use an in-house created template cross-bred with

BIMMEPAus for production of workshop documentation

• MDS used the WGE modelled information as a basis for their

workshop documentation

• WGE did not model existing services. MDS modelled these

including existing structure.

From the Contractor

• The design structural steel model was used well into MDS

documentation and modifications to the shop model were

required once the ‘workshop’ steel model was made available.

• Fittings/accessories in the WGE model were replaced with

MDS content to provide ‘constructible’ details e.g. step-in’s at

duct fitting, annotation etc.

• Equipment models/families in the WGE model were replaced

with approved contractor alternate make/models. Some

selected equipment needed to be modelled from scratch.

From the Contractor

• Pipework within the WGE model was indicative and valves not

shown on pipework.

• Equipment families require ‘shared parameters’ to allow

automatic scheduling within Revit.

• Coordination clashes between mechanical, electrical,

hydraulic and fire were evident within the WGE model. Other

trades did not provide ‘workshop’ documentation to allow

further coordination.

Navisworks Model Comparison

Advantages of Workflow

• Good design = Minimal

rework

Advantages of Workflow

• Design to

Shop

drawings

to As-Built

is a

proven

virtual

reality

workflow.

Advantages of Workflow

• RFI’s

Advantages of Workflow

• Reviewing shop drawings

BMA Template Wish list

• Generic families for Engineering consultants.

• To issue the parameter text file.

• Schedules to be included in the template.

• Multi-discipline template

• Workflow to allow for 3D scanned models.

• Engineering view templates to verify design.

• Content add-in for Revit

BMA Template Wish list

• Operations enabled parameters such as COBie or similar.

• Navisworks appearance profile file.

• Better feedback response time. Set up a template forum on

the BMA web site. BMA may consider setting up a LinkedIn

group and even a twitter account for live feedback.

Overall Experience - Summary

• The template provided the necessary mechanical duct and

piping systems with associated fittings and accessories which

saved some time.

• The template at the time did not have enough manufacturer

content.

• The consultant to contractor workflow was one way and the

contractor was able to use WGE model.

Overall Experience - Summary

• RFI’s raised using revit models and images were a bonus with

the advantage of processing them faster in comparison to

traditional workflows.

• Clients are starting to nominate the use of the BMA template.

• BMA template in its current form has better developed families

and manufacturer content.