Services engineers
Mechanical services of a typical floor using Revit® Services Image courtesy Arup
Arup are the services engineers of 1 Bligh Street project — responsible for the mechanical, electrical and fire services, as well as being the façade design consultants. While the engineers used Revit® MEP (services) to model a typical floor, it was not used to produce the documentation. Services documentation was done in AutoCAD® and AutoCAD® MEP®.19 As recognised by the services engineers and the rest of the 1 Bligh Street team, mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) services were not part of the BIM model. Arup’s project director identified the tight program and the complexities of producing services documentation using BIM as the two main reasons that prevented MEP services being included in the BIM model.
Today, for MEP services BIM requires more time to document than traditional methods. Project Director, Arup
1 Bligh Street was the services engineers team’s first BIM project, and at the time it lacked the content (families) required for the model. As opposed to the view of the architects, the services engineers felt that the out-of-the-box content included was poor, and developing it would take a considerable amount of time with an already tight deadline. We have to draw every component. The data in a chiller is totally different from the sort of data that you get out of a concrete slab. There is much more involved in getting everything right, you need to have all your data correct first. Project Director, Arup
Nevertheless, Arup did some isolated simulations, including a thermal simulation, to calculate the sizing of the air conditioning equipment. In parallel, the project director is also concerned that BIM could be perceived as a potential threat for MEP subcontractors. As described, one of the advantages for MEP subcontractors is that, when they receive a design from a consultant, they can increase their profit by modifying what the consultant has proposed in a way that achieves the same
19 AutoCAD® MEP®, refer to http://tinyurl.com/AutoCADMEP
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National Guidelines for Digital Modelling: Case Studies