CC3001

CASEstudy
COBie on trial
Are we delivering the right sort
of COBie for the users of the
data - the client?
Delivering BIM Level 2? If you are
involved in UK Government
projects you should have been
delivering native models, PDF drawings
and COBie since last April, but to
comply with the spirit of COBie you
should be providing standardised
structured data that can be used by the
clients when you hand over the project,
which should allow them to maintain the
asset throughout its entire lifecycle.
Many contractors claim to support
COBie and have delivered digital
information to clients, proving their
compliance with the aims of BIM - but
how much of the information supplied
can be utilised by real users on real
projects?
Attempting to address this problem,
Rob Jackson of Bond Bryan Digital, a
brand of Bond Bryan Architects and
early BIM adaptors and enthusiasts, got
in touch with William (Bill) East of Prairie
Sky Consulting, the inventor of COBie, to
collaborate on a project built around a
small dormitory scheme on a
fictitious site adjacent to the University of
Illinois, USA, with the aim of
demonstrating that design software can
deliver reliable COBie.
In the past, vendors have undergone
COBie trials to demonstrate their ability
to deliver COBie from their own tools.
However, this exercise was about
demonstrating that users could provide
suitable information on a 'real' project to
suit the user, rather than the vendor.
This required developing the design
models from two dimensional drawings
and schedules.
Although the site itself is fictitious, the
models are based on a project that has
actually been built. Originally called
Barracks 101, it can be seen as a set of
redacted PDF drawings and COBie
files on the National institute for
Building Sciences (NIBS) website. It
lies under Project 4, but the information
is limited and design data modified to
make it generic.
The project was selected deliberately,
16
January/February 2017