Investigations in the BICT project of State-of-the-Art ICT for industrialization of House Building Processes

Abstract

The research presented here is part of a project named BICT, "Evaluation of benefits of ICT for the indus-trialization of project and product processes in the construction industry". Its overall objective is to establish a mutual understanding between the construction industry and R&amp;D actors of the needs and possibilities of ICT. The project is a cooperative effort between Swedish and French researchers and industry representatives within the EraBuild program. It includes an investigation of the processes and ICT tools in a representative house building project, together with a study of the State-of-the-Art of ICT for immediate, short and medium term uptake. This paper presents the main results of the State-of-the-Art study with specific focus on: - Visualization and coordination using digital mock-ups of 3D models; - Model based quantity take-off; - Integration of applications for product design; - Reuse of experience based knowledge. The presented study concludes that the use of integrated 3D applications must be introduced early in the project lifecy-cle in order to pave the way for the use of object-oriented information in downstream processes. This requires common standards for 3D based deliveries developed in cooperation between industry and R&amp;D actors through joint analyses of actual information management both in industrialised partnering-like processes, and fully industrial building processes.Godkänd; 2007; 20071009 (thoolo)</p