[caption id="attachment_40115" align="alignright" width="400" caption="Building information modeling is key to the Sutter Health's new hospital under construction north of Santa Rosa hospital and St. Joseph Health System's new pavilion at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, shown above."][/caption]
NORTH BAY -- In less than a decade, building information modeling (BIM) has become a major construction simulation and visualization process, and it's being employed heavily on large hospital projects now under construction in North Bay counties.
Today a growing number of North Bay architects, engineers and contractors -- commonly referred to as the AEC community -- are using BIM when designing new buildings and infrastructure projects.Autodesk bolsters its BIM software line
SAN RAFAEL -- While a number of suppliers offer a range of BIM-related software, the leading North Bay developer is Autodesk of San Rafael, a firm that has been expanding its portfolio of advanced 3D building design software modules since 2002 when it acquired the Revit Technology Corporation. [more]
Those companies and firms say benefits of this advanced 3-D digital design technique are many, resulting in dramatic cost and time savings and positive return on investment, better designs, improved quality of the final product, enhanced project scheduling, more accurate documentation and efficient contractor collaboration.
BIM supports the entire project lifecycle from design and field support to ongoing facility management and maintenance after a building is completed.
According to a 2009 McGraw-Hill Construction SmartMarket Report, nearly half of the U.S. building industry is using BIM -- a 75 percent increase since 2007. The report predicted that in two years the use of BIM would double among structural engineers, triple by mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers and quadruple by civil engineers. In 2010, a similar McGraw-Hill report stated that the use of BIM on sustainable or "green" projects is poised for growth, considering that 78 percent of BIM users who do not currently use it on such projects say they plan to do so within three years.
While digital design models have been used for decades in manufacturing by major firms such as Boeing and Toyota, adoption of BIM in the AEC community is a relatively recent transition. Traditionally, this group has relied on 2-D drawings, blueprints or first-generation CAD simulations.
[caption id="attachment_40116" align="alignright" width="400" caption="BIM model of the second floor of the Queen of the Valley Medical Center showing clashing pipes"][/caption]
BIM's added value centers around intelligent objects built into the software that automatically update design changes simultaneously in all views shared by project teams. For example, if a pipe is to be added that could clash with a steel beam, a visual alarm alerts all involved and reveals the exact location of the proposed clash before work begins.
Data remains consistent among all stakeholders and enables cross-functional project teams to have a clearer picture of the building before it is built -- so mistakes, make-over orders and information requests can be minimized.
"BIM and integrated project delivery (IPD) techniques are being used on all Sutter Health projects, such as the new $284 million Sutter Medical Center Santa Rosa [SMCSR] now under construction, Sutter Health's California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco as well as with projects at other locations such as those in Sacramento, Castro Valley, Palo Alto and at Alta Bates," said Tom Minard, senior facility planning and development project manager for Sutter Health.
"With BIM, we know the cost and the schedule ahead of time and can drive costs down," he said.
Project architectural and engineering firm HGA and general contractor Unger Construction are fully utilizing BIM on the Santa Rosa project, and the subcontractors are closely involved in the process, according to Mr. Minard.
The St. Joseph Health System is deploying BIM at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa for a new 72,000-square-foot, three-story advanced diagnostic and surgery pavilion scheduled for completion in the spring of 2012.
"We're using BIM to calculate our need for materials, to schedule work flow in each section and to reduce negative constructability issues. BIM is an effective cost avoidance tool helping us prevent clashes in the field," said Karen Vegas, director of construction at Queen of the Valley Medical Center.
Jim Bostic, assistant vice president for construction for St. Joseph Health System, said five years ago BIM was available, but not widely embraced. However, he said in the last two years BIM has really gained traction as more contractors and subcontractors use it.