Practical Delivery of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Integration of Design & Estimating

Nick Allen Architect Director Metz Architects Alan Windley QS Business Development Manager Nomitech

using IFC to generate cost deliverables in accordance

with the

RIBA Plan of Work 2014

understanding the traditional design process

The Design Process site analysis

The Design Process gathering clients ‘brief’

The Design Process stakeholder engagement

Post it’s : stacking diagrams : adjacency bubbles

The Design Process concept sketches

The Design Process concept development

The Design Process RIBA stage 2 concept design

export model to mainstream BIM authoring tool

The Design Process RIBA stage 2 concept design to detail design RIBA stage 3

It’s only now, we really start thinking about populating the design with data !

The Design Process RIBA stage 2 concept design to detail design RIBA stage 3

It’s only now, we really start thinking about populating the design with data !

NOW …..using well structured information to inform the design process

Client Facility Requirements

Structured Brief (COBie / IFC / CSV)

Room Adjacencies Disposition. Form

Concept Design RIBA Stage 2

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Quarter1

Spatial BIM Concept Design Plugin - SketchUp

using well structured information to inform the deign process

Structured Brief (COBie / IFC / CSV)

use IFC as a method of harvesting & manipulating the data for

the new building

Client Facility Requirements

Structured Brief (COBie / IFC / CSV)

Quarter1

Spatial BIM Concept Design Plugin - SketchUp

Client Facility Requirements

Structured Brief (COBie / IFC / CSV)

Room Adjacencies Disposition. Form

manipulate clients spatial requirements

Quarter1

Spatial BIM Concept Design Plugin - SketchUp

Client Facility Requirements

Structured Brief (COBie / IFC / CSV)

Concept Design RIBA Stage 2

Room Adjacencies Disposition. Form

Quarter1

Spatial BIM Concept Design Plugin - SketchUp

Drop 1

Client Facility Requirements

The Design Process but …… site analysis & concept

The Design Process straight into data

Structured Brief (COBie / IFC / CSV)

Quarter1

Spatial BIM Concept Design Plugin - SketchUp

Client Facility Requirements

The Design Process straight into data

Structured Brief (COBie / IFC / CSV)

Quarter1

Spatial BIM Concept Design Plugin - SketchUp

Client Facility Requirements

The Design Process using COBie to gather clients requirements

alternative …..use COBie

The Design Process using COBie to gather drop 1 data

….. then convert COBie to a .csv file using AEC3’s ‘AEC3 Transform1’ tool kit

Contact, Facility, Floor (including elevation and heights), Space (including areas), Zone and Type (specifications and materials) , Component (occurrences) and System (functional groups)

The Design Process spatial BIM generated in Sketchup from COBie

….. Using import of .csv file to SketchUp

The Design Process Quarter 1 define, spaces adjacencies and stacking

random distribution of spaces based upon spreadsheet…. no actual drawing involved

The Design Process Quarter 1 define, spaces adjacencies and stacking

automatic room renumbering, room area, net and gross floor areas.

The Design Process Quarter1 site massing in context

……. do all of this, live with the stakeholders – on the fly

The Design Process export spatial BIM via IFC to BIM tools

RIBA Stage 1

The Design Process develop concept design toward stages 2 & 3 in sketchup

The Design Process Quarter1 automatically generate baseline walls, floor slabs and roofs for generation of ‘component’ elements

The Design Process Classify ‘components’ of project to BCIS classification

The Design Process Classify ‘components’ of project to BCIS classification

The Design Process Classify ‘components’ of project to BCIS classification (or other)

The Design Process Classify ‘components’ of project to BCIS classification

The Design Process export to view in Google Earth

Massing studies to context / adjacent buildings

The Design Process

Concept Design RIBA Stage 2

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The Design Process IFC Export to COBie

Concept Design RIBA Stage 2

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The Design Process IFC Export from SketchUp to Solibri

The Design Process Design Development in BIM Authoring Tool

Concept Design RIBA Stage 2

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AND FINALY…………….

Drop 1

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Integration of Design & Estimating

Alan Windley

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AND FINALY…………….

Here we start with the model provided by Nick and just showing spaces (RIBA Stage 1).

The Design Process to Estimating IFC Export to CostOS

But we can interrogate the IFC content by switching on the other elements.

All the content is now clearly visible to allow us to associate pricing information and at any level of granularity you require. It may be as simple as cost per m2, m3 etc or down to labour, plant material resource level dependant upon the cost data you have available.

Here we have isolated the slabs ready to associate cost data. Note: we are associating cost data to the model entity and not simply abstracting quantities to assign to an existing described Bill or Line item!

In this example, we are associating BCIS cost data down to labour, plant material level. Alternatively, this could be simple rate data from your own historic database of costs.

The cost data now associated and whose relationship is maintained.

The priced Cost Plan/Bill/Estimate begins to take shape and the elements priced clearly visualised.

Whilst we isolated all the slabs to give us a total volume/area, the information in the IFC allows us to isolate and visualise the cost of each individual slab.

We continue to identify more elements and associate cost data. In this case, the doors, and in my case, BCIS cost data again.

The Cost Plan/ Estimate growing and in an industry standard format (in this case SMM7)

So add in the walls. For early phase cost plans you can simply select all walls and attach high level cost data dependant on the level of information you have. In this case, the walls have been tagged as different types so you could have isolated each type and associated relevant cost data.

Walls added and priced.

This model contained 78 individual wall areas but we can still visualise the quantities and the cost of each area.

Most common question! What if, especially in the early phases, we don’t have much idea of the specification? i.e., the Architect does not put that detail into the model!

We can use parametric cost assemblies to make our assumptions and offer value engineering opportunities. So we’ll handle the ‘walls’ situation slightly differently this time.

Instead of associating specific cost data, we associate a cost assembly, in this case a wall component.

This allows us, in the absence of detailed information, to make our assumptions, in a sense, no differently to traditional cost planning methods.

All the cost data dependant on your assumptions is associated to the wall elements and added to the Cost Plan

When more detail becomes available, you can simply modify your assumptions and visualise the impact on cost. This really is now design working hand-in hand with cost.

What about coding structure? Regardless as to how the Architect may have classified elements to measure and price, items can be cross coded against any chosen structure, within the same estimate.

e.g., SMM7, NRM 1, BCIS Elements, Uniclass etc.

Why is associating cost important rather than merely abstracting quantities? Design progression and revisions!

When a revised model becomes available, the revision can be loaded side by the original and changes identified.

Because the costs were associated originally, we can get an immediate indication of the impact on quantities and cost.

Leaving us just to commit the changes to update the Cost Plan

So from even the earliest of models, the design process can work hand-in-hand with the estimating process utilising IFC.

Practical Delivery of Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Integration of Design & Estimating

Nick Allen Architect nick.allen@metz.uk.com Alan Windley QS alan@nomitech.eu