Africa Surveyors September- October Digital issue 2021

BIM FOR CONSTRUCTION
collaboration in an open cloud platform, allowing all
role-players access to important data from anywhere.
This reduces rework because every member of the
team will always have the most current information
on hand. Thus, the preconstruction process will be
more accurate, cutting down on rework later,” asserts
Mrs. Othman
“By taking a BIM model into VR or AR headsets,
one can immerse project participants, down to
the individual worker, in the project delivery
process, to the extent that H&S challenges can
be communicated, thus reducing risk to all the
participants. These interventions reduce the
potential for mistakes to happen which would lead
to project delay and rework. Furthermore, when
clients understand what they require and BIM
models can communicate this to a project team
clearly and unambiguously, it fosters a more positive
culture in the project enabling other issues to be
worked through without the traditional conflict that
is inherent on projects. This generally results in
improved delivery including the key areas of quality,
cost, time and health & safety,” comments Chris.
BIM software allows construction firms to gather
important information relating to their projects such
as cost, availability and price of materials, optimal
schedule, time required to complete the project and
more. BIM aids in the identification of the appropriate
material, location, and techniques to use for various
structures. It enables the construction firms to
create accurate construction schedules and manage
resources efficiently. BIM is available in several forms
such as design software, 4D planning tools and 6D
virtual teams. Many construction firms are now using
these BIM solutions to streamline and complete their
work.
“BIM systems store project information such as
design information, scheduling, cost, etc. Since several
models (structural, MEP, etc) are integrated into one
main BIM model, this helps in clash detection for
effective identification and reporting of interferences
in a project. Improved flow of information and
workflow leads to increased productivity. BIM also
enhances financial risk management and provides
reliable construction cost estimates long before the
construction phase begins. Not only does this give
stakeholders a better idea of how much the project
will cost, but it also helps them discover ways to
reduce costs,” elaborates Mrs. Othman.
BIM is based on the principle of structural modeling
and is a useful tool in decision making. The main
advantage of BIM is that it is designed to manage and
collect building information from different sources
including manual data, digital information, and
structural drawings. BIM software provides critical
information in easy to understand formats which are
then used by the engineers during the design phase.
It is mainly intended for designing buildings, tunnels,
shafts, pipes, insulation, foundations, and structures.
The main use of BIM software is to reduce errors in
the construction process and make projects more
efficient and economical.
As stated by Chris Allen, BIM provides a single
platform of information so communication between
the different parties to a contract are better informed,
thus improving their understanding of a project and
decision making. Poor decisions are a result of poor
information; therefore, improving the quality and
quantity of information available to decision makers
is key to improving this. BIM models incorporate
all the elements of a project including temporary
elements that may have major implications in the
decision-making process.
Mrs. Othman further points out that, communication
and teamwork are the key tenets of a successful
construction project. Of all the many benefits of BIM,
the most important is that it improves collaboration
by bringing all project stakeholders together. This
synergy between owners, consultants, and main
contractors enhances access to quality information
thus promoting and improving the decision-making
process of projects.
“Indeed, BIM is a reality. Not only are professionals
embracing it, but Governments from all over the
world are requiring it for publicly-funded projects and
policies are being developed around BIM. However,
the BIM chain should remain unbroken all through
the phases of a construction project - from project
inception to the eventual demolition of the project,
otherwise data will be lost and the benefits of having
the complete project history in a single BIM will not
be realised,” she emphasizes.
BIM provides the necessary information during
the design phase of a construction project and
can be applied for any type of construction and
is specifically designed to meet the needs of the
structural engineers. BIM software contains a userfriendly
interface, which enables the users to easily
manipulate and modify the models, run the software
in a demo version, and even print out the completed
models.
“As a result, improved coordination of the various
facets of a project can be carried out in a more seamless
fashion. Furthermore, those elements have large
amounts of data attached to them, all in a single
location. The fact that data can be assigned to objects
in the model environment and that the data can
be extracted for upstream or downstream analysis
provides a huge opportunity to enhance the level of
knowledge of decision makers and thus greatly assist
them to make the correct decision more often. Add in
modern computing power and data analysis software
and decision making now has many additional tools
available to enable better understanding of the
complexity and implications (scenarios) that may
play out as a result of decisions made. The ability to
communicate these scenarios to a wider discourse of
project participants (stakeholders) will in turn also
enable greater feedback into the decision-making
process, further enhancing that process going forward.
The key aspect is that the visual nature of the
data enables multiple entities to provide input. This
then results in an enhanced output,” affirms Chris.
BIM is used in many areas of construction such as
structural design, costing, schedule management,
material planning and forecasting, and many others.
BIM also provides a fast, accurate and flexible method
of collecting and organizing necessary information
for a construction project. Most of the BIM solutions
are flexible enough to handle the complexity of
the projects, resulting in less manual work from the
designers and engineers. BIM can also integrate all
the necessary modules into one platform, making it
easy for the project managers to modify information
and resources at a later stage of the construction
project.
www.africasurveyorsonline.com
Semptember-October issue l 2021 21