At Siscín we work with all disciplines on both the 3D
visualisation side of our business and on the BIM consultancy side of our
business.
Often we hear the comment “civil engineers are not using BIM”.
Just because they are not using Revit it
does not mean they are not using BIM.
Revit is a product to support building design not Civil
design.
The Wikipdia definition of BIM is“Building
Information Modeling (BIM) is a digital representation of physical and
functional characteristics of a facility. A BIM is a shared knowledge resource
for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during
its life-cycle; defined as existing from earliest conception to demolition”
The modern day Civil software’s on the market such as Civil
3D, Bentley products, Novapoint and many more all answer that definition of BIM
or CIM (Civil Information Modelling) is a term I’ve heard used recently.
During early stages of a project you hear a lot of talk
about the Building aspect of the project but the Civil aspect also needs to be
taken into account. At the BIM kick off meeting the civil BIM team need to be
included, plans need to be put in place about integrating the Civils with the
buildings. If Revit is the preferred software for building design plans need to
be put in place as Revit and Civil products use coordinate systems differently.
The Revit shared coordinate system need to be coordinated with the world
coordinate system of the Civil products. The process of sharing data between
the different system needs to be documented in the Project Execution Plan.
When the BIM coordinator gets the initial survey and the
concept model, they can start setting up the project base points. Coordination is
very important between both the Civil team and the Building team. As the
Building team are developing the buildings the Civil team will be developing
the site, including calculating cut and fill, drainage, trench’s etc.
Constant communication need to be continued between the
building team and the Civils team, similar to what goes on with the building
team. This continuing dialog may not be just between the Architectural team and
the Civils team. If district heating, electrical services, ducting are running between buildings or other assets on the site, communication will be needed between
the MEP team and the Civils team. The MEP team will need to use trench’s
provided by the Civils team or link into site drainage.
Remember the goal of the BIM project is to deliver a virtual
model of the whole project not just the buildings.
If you have any questions on anything in this blog or
any other blog please feel free to contact me at dan@siscin.ie.
Dan Deery is a director of Siscín is a company specialising in
BIM Consultancy, 3D modelling Animation and Visualisation. Siscín have worked
on many different projects across the world. For more info on Siscín and their
services check out their web site on www.siscin.ie.
