Abstract/Summary

Building Information Modelling (BIM) enables a holistic approach to facility design, construction, and management. However, present BIM implementation largely focuses on just the design and construction phases of the project lifecycle, with design and engineering teams using BIM three-dimensional information to analyse and predict facility performance. Information modelling can assist building operators in making existing data collection, and asset management processes, more efficient, and can improve maintenance procedures, allowing whole-life costing evaluation. Moreover, the incorporation of operational information within the model, from the earliest stages of design, facilitates end users, who commission/own, manage, and maintain a large stock of buildings, though all lifecycle stages, to optimise future decisions concerning asset management and maintenance. To understand the opportunities of using BIM in assisting building operators to make decisions about lifetime management and maintenance, an educational-based case study is used to review Birmingham City University’s (BCU) use of BIM in the development of the multidisciplinary Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD). The study considers the necessary levels of detail at each stage of the project lifecycle, and the supply chain’s adaptive journey of collaborating within a BIM environment. Qualitative data gained through stakeholder interviews and thematic mapping of associated documents and model structures; highlight several core areas of consideration to facilitate BIM-enabled Facilities Management. This paper discusses a number of successes and challenges, in addition to offering lessons learned for future BIM adoption.