CC3001

CASEstudy
as it was complex enough to
demonstrate the full requirements of
COBie. It is also of a size that would
enable others to replicate the project,
and where knowledge of the design is
limited, encouraging further training to
take place. The architectural model was
created using Graphisoft ARCHICAD
with the structural, mechanical, electric
and plumbing models being developed
in Autodesk Revit.
The architectural and structural models,
provided by Craig Hardingham of MLM,
are complete, but more work is required
to produce the building services models,
to be produced by Headcount
Engineering. The model was exported
from ARCHICAD using the IFC2x3
format, covered by ISO16739:2013
which has been developed by
buildingSMART International.
Bond Bryan have a long history of
using IFC dating back to 2007, and the
company won a Construction
Computing Award in 2015 for their
interoperability work using IFC as an
exchange format on the Bradford
College project. Whilst IFC is not a
requirement of BIM Level 2, COBie is a
subset of IFC, so it is a logical method to
transfer the structured data into tools
that can validate and export COBie.
Using this open standard allows the
data to be validated using free or other
commercial tools. The validation
process is critical though to ensure the
data is correct, otherwise it is simply
'junk in, junk out'.
Whilst Bond Bryan Digital have
developed an expertise around
geometry and data validation, Bill East
was the officiator of the validation
process in this case. Bill has also
recently published a book with Alfred C.
Bogen on COBie Quality Control to
demonstrate in detail how to check and
fix COBie.
The example project model is
compliant with NBIMS-US V3 standard
rather than BS1192. This highlights the
minor differences between the US and
UK versions of COBie, and the COBie
files utilise OmniClass, rather than
Uniclass. Although a structural model
wasn't required to be able to provide the
COBie data, one was produced to
replicate a typical real-life project scenario.
DELIVERABLES
As the fictitious elements of the project
were designed to draw out various
lessons about COBie, and to be able to
present the findings as a guide for
others, a number of deliverables have
been made available in various formats.
All of the information is freely available at
www.prairieskyconsulting.com and Bond
Bryan has shared a GRAPHISOFT BIMx
Pro file that allows users to see the
drawings in the context of the model on
mobile devices.
It wasn't an easy job either, as both
Rob and Bill worked outside standard
work hours to produce a valid model,
with a lot of toing and froing of ideas and
talks with the various software vendors.
Some of these resulted in modifications
to the authoring software. The final
outcome proved that ARCHICAD can
produce a valid COBie file, endorsed by
Bill East, and that it was 100% COBie
compliant. But it didn't stop there.
Following on the success of the
collaboration, and having proved that
ARCHICAD could deliver COBie
compliant models, a book was
published to in August 2016 to share the
intricacies of the process, titled
'Delivering Construction-Operations
Building information exchange (COBie)
in Graphisoft ARCHICAD'.
The book is based around the East
Dormitory project, but also contains
information about the general concepts of
COBie and knowledge gleaned from other
projects. It demonstrates the workflow
involved in creating COBie using
ARCHICAD - a step-by-step guide
following the structure of COBie and typical
design processes. The book also features
a number of tricks and tips, and identifies
some of the smaller issues with creating
models to deliver COBie in ARCHICAD.
ENHANCED WORKFLOWS
Much of the book focuses on explaining
the mechanics of delivering COBie, but
the original precept was that the
processes currently in place weren't
delivering the goods as well as they
might. To this end the book identifies
where improvements to some of these
workflows could be implemented, and
suggests which might be usefully added
to future software releases.
Rob Jackson explains that "COBie's
fundamental aim is to take information
that already exists traditionally and
transfer it efficiently, effectively in a
standardised method, in a 'digital
suitcase' to the people who really need
the data." He adds, "Working with Bill
has allowed us to understand what the
author of COBie's intentions were when
developing the standard. Whilst it was a
real challenge to deliver, it now means
we understand the requirements and the
intricacies much more thoroughly.
Hopefully the book helps others in their
own journeys in moving from an
analogue to a digital exchange of
information with clients."
The model developed for the study was
also shared with a client who wanted to
test their Computer Aided Facilities
Management (CAFM) tool for its ability
to import COBie. For that it needed a
model that was fully valid, and that is
what was provided.
The East Dormitory project continues
with plans to build and share further
models for the project, and Bill East is
working with other collaborators to write
further books, including one on the
Autodesk Revit workflow with COBie.
The work with Bond Bryan is still
ongoing as well, as other models need
reviewing and further design federation
required. Both partners are also
considering setting up training courses
around delivering COBie.
GROUNDS FOR CONCERN?
So, we come to the same questions as
before. Are we successfully delivering
the data requirements of BIM Level 2,
and are we now on the path to BIM Level
3 (Digital Built Britain)? Evidence shows
that most of the industry is still not
producing BIM Level 2 outputs, and
those that are still don't produce files
truly compliant with the standard.
www.bondbryan.com/digital
www.prairieskyconsulting.com
www.graphisoft.com
January/February 2017 17