Requirements for model server enabled collaborating on building information models

The application of Building Information Modelling (BIM) has demonstrated enormous potential to deliver consistency in the construction collaboration process. BIM can define an explicit configuration for digitized information exchange, however the technology to collaborate on models has not yet delivered the industry requirements for BIM collaboration. This research project is intended to provide a fresh review of industry requirements for BIM collaboration and will analyse how these requirements can be supported using a model server as a collaboration platform. This paper presents a review of existing collaboration platforms, with a particular focus to evaluate the research and development efforts on model servers as a collaboration platform. This paper also reports on the findings of three focus group sessions with industry practitioners to identify any problems in the available collaboration systems. The focus group findings identify a number of issues in current collaboration environments which help to understand the main domains of user requirements for BIM collaboration. These requirement domains will be further analysed to identify functional and technical specifications for a model server enabled collaboration platform

A study of BIM collaboration requirements and available features in existing model collaboration systems

Established collaboration practices in the construction industry are document centric and are challenged by the introduction of Building Information Modelling (BIM). Document management collaboration systems (e.g. Extranets) have significantly improved the document collaboration in recent years; however their capabilities for model collaboration are limited and do not support the complex requirements of BIM collaboration. The construction industry is responding to this situation by adopting emerging model collaboration systems (MCS), such as model servers, with the ability to exploit and reuse information directly from the models to extend the current intra-disciplinary collaboration towards integrated multi-disciplinary collaboration on models. The functions of existing MCSs have evolved from the manufacturing industry and there is no concrete study on how these functions correspond to the requirements of the construction industry, especially with BIM requirements. This research has conducted focus group sessions with major industry disciplines to explore the user requirements for BIM collaboration. The research results have been used to categorise and express the features of existing MCS which are then analysed in selected MCS from a user’s perspective. The potential of MCS and the match or gap in user requirements and available model collaboration features is discussed. This study concludes that model collaborative solutions for construction industry users are available in different capacities; however a comprehensive custom built solution is yet to be realized. The research results are useful for construction industry professionals, software developers and researchers involved in exploring collaborative solutions for the construction industry

Model server enabled management of collaborative changes in building information models

The issues and challenges involved in controlling the collaborative changes in a Building Information Modeling (BIM) data repository, in a multi-model collaboration environment, are discussed. It is suggested that managing iterative changes in BIMs is a database problem, exacerbated by the long transaction times needed to support collaborative design progression. This is yet to be resolved in the construction industry and better solutions are needed to support the underlying workflows and computing operations for seamless collaboration on BIMs. With this in mind, this paper proposes the use of the structural and semantic characteristics of BIM objects as a mechanism for tracking changes across co-developed solutions. The creation of object signatures, using hash codes derived from their characteristics, provides a potential mechanism for object comparison and effective change recognition and management

A smart sewer asset information model to enable an ‘Internet of Things’ for operational wastewater management

Real-time prediction of flooding is vital for the successful future operational management of the UK sewerage network. Recent advances in smart infrastructure and the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), presents an opportunity within the wastewater sector to harness and report in real-time sewer condition data for operation management. This study presents the design and development of a prototype Smart Sewer Asset Information Model (SSAIM) for an existing sewerage network. The SSAIM, developed using Industry Foundation Class version 4 (IFC4) an open neutral data format for BIM, incorporates distributed smart sensors to enable real-time monitoring and reporting of sewer asset performance. Results describe an approach for sensor data analysis to facilitate the real-time prediction of flooding

The avoiding late diagnosis of ovarian cancer (ALDO) project; A pilot national surveillance programme for women with pathogenic germline variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2

Background: Our study aimed to establish â € real-world' performance and cost-effectiveness of ovarian cancer (OC) surveillance in women with pathogenic germline BRCA1/2 variants who defer risk-reducing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO). Methods: Our study recruited 875 female BRCA1/2-heterozygotes at 13 UK centres and via an online media campaign, with 767 undergoing at least one 4-monthly surveillance test with the Risk of Ovarian Cancer Algorithm (ROCA) test. Surveillance performance was calculated with modelling of occult cancers detected at RRSO. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was calculated using Markov population cohort simulation. Results: Our study identified 8 OCs during 1277 women screen years: 2 occult OCs at RRSO (both stage 1a), and 6 screen-detected; 3 of 6 (50%) were ≤stage 3a and 5 of 6 (83%) were completely surgically cytoreduced. Modelled sensitivity, specificity, Positive Predictive Value (PPV) and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) for OC were 87.5% (95% CI, 47.3 to 99.7), 99.9% (99.9-100), 75% (34.9-96.8) and 99.9% (99.9-100), respectively. The predicted number of quality-Adjusted life years (QALY) gained by surveillance was 0.179 with an ICER cost-saving of-£102,496/QALY. Conclusion: OC surveillance for women deferring RRSO in a â € real-world' setting is feasible and demonstrates similar performance to research trials; it down-stages OC, leading to a high complete cytoreduction rate and is cost-saving in the UK National Health Service (NHS) setting. While RRSO remains recommended management, ROCA-based surveillance may be considered for female BRCA-heterozygotes who are deferring such surgery

An object model development for the UK automated compliance checking

Approving building designs against existing UK building regulations manually is a time consuming and tedious process. As the architecture engineering construction (AEC) industry moves from 2D CAD drawings to more semantically rich building information models (BIM), the development of automated compliance checking systems for building regulations becomes achievable. The Industry Foundation Class (IFC) has been accepted worldwide as an inter-operability standard and is a well suited format for automated compliance checking. However, whether the IFC data format can fully support the specialized needs of the UK Building Regulations is still debatable. In order to automate the checking of the building regulations they first need to be interpreted from a human readable free text rule into a set of computer implementable rules. This paper focuses on the analysis of the UK fire safety building regulations for dwellinghouses, to determine and subsequently optimize the potential for automated compliance checking. A UK Building Regulation specific semantically rich object model, appropriate for the requirements of automated compliance checking has been developed

Incorporating embodied energy in the BIM process

This paper examines the incorporation of carbon data into the Building Information Model (BIM) process and considers option appraisals that will enable design team members to evaluate both operational and embodied CO2 emissions over the life cycle of a project. The paper is based upon work, funded by the Technology Strategy Board, to develop a toolkit that utilises interoperable standards around a BIM. This allows for architects, energy advisors and others to develop and share design information on CO2 emissions whilst each design team member is free to use their own preferred software solution. At the core of the process is a three-dimensional BIM with links to elemental, system and material databases. The work on the model is described along with its application to a case study on a recently completed new school, built to sustainable standards in the North East of England

Automated compliance checking using building information models

Building designs in the UK are currently checked manually against a frequently changing and increasingly complex set of building regulations. This is a major task for both designers and enforcers, often leading to ambiguity, inconsistency in assessments and delays in the overall construction process. Technical developments in Building Information Modelling (BIM) offer the potential for a new generation of software tools that can automate the checking of compliance with building codes, thus improving the efficiency of building design and procurement. To attain these efficiencies designers must change their working practices and move away from the definition of a building in multiple and disparate documents to a single coherent building model from which the documentation is generated. Theoretically, this building model could contain sufficient information to respond to interrogation at the level of building code compliance, though in practice only a percentage of the required information is normally present. This paper reviews previous research into automated code compliance, identifies the key issues for future development and examines the causes of information paucity for compliance checking in the current generation of BIM tools