37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 948AUTOMATED CODE-CHECKING AS A DRIVER OF BIMADOPTIONPoças Martins J. P., Abrantes V.Department of Civil Engineering i Porto University, Portugale-mails: jppm@fe.up.pt; abrantes@fe.up.ptKey words: information, construction, automated, code-checking, designAbstractInformation management in the construction industry is inefficient when compared with otherindustrial activities. Unlike other productive activities, the construction industry is yet todevelop standard formats for the representation of its products, which would allow itsparticipants to communicate efficiently and, in some cases, automatically.Several different information models (BIM) that represent building products partially or as awhole have been developed over the last decades. Their adoption by the community of usershas been, however, scarce.It is believed that the dissemination and adoption of these models throughout the constructionindustry is hindered by a cooperation problem: the cumulative benefits derived fromwidespread BIM adoption are clearly larger than those that can be achieved throughindividual adoption, while the initial direct and indirect costs are considerable. The incentivesfor single users to change work their processes are therefore modest.In this context, automated code checking performed upon designs that follow standardrepresentation formats is regarded not as an end in itself, but rather as a demonstration of theimmediate benefits that can be obtained by the users who voluntarily adopt this kind ofinformation technology.In this paper, an information model and an application developed at FEUP are brieflypresented. These tools perform automated code-checking of domestic water systems forcompliance with the main national regulations.Automated code-checking should not only provide advantages due to simplified workprocesses, but it should also motivate users to adopt building information models, especiallyin the early stages of the construction process.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 319