by Shane Henson — July 17, 2013—BAM Facilities Management, the facilities management arm of BAM Construct UK recently launched a live deployment project at UCL Academy in London to bring building information modeling (BIM) to every stage of a building’s lifecycle. The findings that will come from this project could benefit buildings across the globe.
In February, BAM announced that it had completed the software and data systems to prove that BIM data can be automatically transferred into FM software (CAFM). This collaborative project used FSI’s Concept Evolution along with Autodesk’s Revit and BIM 360 Field products. It also leverages the combined skills of both organizations together with the entire BAM team from design, construction and facilities management. Now BAM plans to deliver live BIM in operation at UCL Academy.
According to BAM, the UCL/BAM collaboration aims to deliver an ambitious range of project goals, including detailed data specifications, development of a detailed BIM Protocol for 6D, and ultimately the functionality to enable a maintenance engineer to use BIM in his day-to-day work. Once completed, this will mean that BAM will be able to demonstrate every dimension of BIM, at all stages of the building lifecycle.
“This project will show the actual day-to-day costs and benefits of implementing BIM in a real operational FM environment, in an existing building. This will give building owners and managers greater control over their buildings, the assets in them, and the costs of these, than they have ever known before,” says Kath Fontana, managing director of BAM FM. “This level of deployment of 6D has never been done. We have to break new ground and still have lots to learn. There is no blueprint for this, so we don’t expect this to be simple or easy.”
Fontana added that the UCL Academy project is expected to complete by the end of the year. It forms one of five projects the company is planning as it develops its market-leading position on BIM.
