Barry McAuley, PhD Post-Doctoral Researcher 086 014 4853 bmcauley@cita.ie www.bicp.ie
BICP Case Study: Clinical Education and Research Centre Background The Clinical Education and Research Centre (CERC) is a development, which comprises of a 3,442m2 four storey building which accommodates and supports the comprehensive education, training and research needs of the University of Limerick (UL) Graduate Entry Medical School and the UL Hospitals medical community across all disciplines. The cost of this was shared equally between UL and the Health Service Executive (HSE). The building incorporated a 150seat Lecture Theatre, Tutorial Rooms, Library, Academic and Administration Offices, Student Common Room, Research Laboratory, Computer Lab and a Clinical Skills Laboratory. A decision was made to develop the project from inception utilising PAS 1192-2 to a BIM Level 2 standard. This required all members of the design team to conform with a BIM Execution plan (BEP) from the outset. This was based on the Employer’s Information Requirements, which was developed to provide a framework for the progression of the project right through to handover and facilities management. This forward planning ensured that the project team was focused on understanding and meeting the Client’s end user requirements.
buildings on a heavily contoured site. The mass models were of significant benefit to illustrate and test the site strategy for early design decisions, and allowed for potential future developments. The ability to prepare basic internal 3D views to illustrate spatial strategies to the client and end-users was invaluable in allowing the effective and confident progression of the building design. The tender documentation included a federated model consisting of an architectural, structural and MEP model. This was made available to tenderers to help inform the level of development of the design coordination. The tender documentation sets out clear requirements to tenderers for the construction and handover stage. Figure 1 provides a CGI of the proposed building.
Design Stage The Design Team consisting of Coady Architects (Lead Architects), Kerin Contract Management (Project Managers), MRG Consulting Engineers (Structural/Civil Engineers), JV Tierney & Co (Services Engineers), Edward Cotter Partnership (Quantity Surveyors) and Linesight (PSDP) were appointed in April 2013. The Design Team initially worked with ArcDox to establish the various processes required to ensure that the collaborative benefits of working in BIM Level 2 were leveraged. The early design strategies of the building were directly informed by early 3D massing models particularly given the context of the existing
Figure 1: CGI of CERC
Construction Stage John Sisk & Sons Ltd were the successful tenderer as they demonstrated they had the procedures in their pre-BEP plan to meet the client’s requirements. An assessment form was used to gauge the level of BIM capability of sub-contractors. A BIM Engineer was on site to ensure that BIM processes and technologies were been adequately applied. This professional was also in charge of training and offered an invaluable assistance to sub-contractors.
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Regular coordination meetings enabled the identification of issues at an early stage. These were discussed and a solution agreed amongst all parties well in advance to prevent this delaying the construction programme. Through daily white board meetings on site, BIM was incorporated to demonstrate the locations of works at a particular time. All new staff at site inductions were shown the 4D construction sequence model linked to the construction programme (see figure 2).
Operational Stage An Asset Information Model (AIM) was requested as a deliverable to the client at handover. This was in turn directly linked to Zutec’s FM provider’s software, to enable the client to manage the building’s maintenance and interact with the Safety File information. Further, it will allow the HSE to assess the future efficiencies that may be possible by facilitating a more accessible and flexible system of facilities management (see figure 3).
Figure 2: Site Logistics
Figure 3: Zutec (AIM) Asset Information Model
Planned vs current construction progress was reviewed using the project information model. Weekly BIM co-ordination meetings were held in order to eliminate clashes in the virtual model before the works started on site. This resulted in the quantity of changes on site being reduced by more than 50% in comparison to projects of similar scale and complexity.
Conclusion
Site Engineers used the BIM model loaded onto the Leica Geosystems iCON Robotic Total Station to set out the site. A suite of cloud-based platforms were used to enhance collaboration, reporting and documentation. This included Zutec onsite which is a cloud-based Site management tool which enable the site team to record snags onsite scanning barcodes located in each room. The BIM process also enabled the development and manufacture of a number of systems off site in a mechanical services workshop.
Benefits and sustainable gains have been seen across the project. The model served as a central part of user consultation meetings which helped the Client in making decisions to improve the quality of the building design. The project team have seen efficiencies including faster production of information, through better understanding of the project using 4D construction sequencing and 5D quantity take-off. As a result of the BIM process the Client reported that they can use the data-rich AIM to enhance their FM practices. Acknowledgements Cillian Kelly (Sisk), Enda Geraghty (Sisk) Case Study prepared by Dr. Barry McAuley (CitA/DIT), Dr. Alan Hore (CitA/DIT) and Prof Roger West (TCD). Published: June 2017
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