Award-winning BIM &

Information Management.

Both client side and project side BIM support from a
multi-award winning team, focussed on simple, lean BIM.

BIM Call off Partnerships

Procuring BIM support has never been easier! Choose between project fees, day rates for individual services or tailor-made framework scope and rate agreements. We simply confirm rates and start!

Information Management

Client and project delivery side data exchange coordination and common data environment (CDE) management to CIC BIM Protocol and Scottish Futures Trust SIMP principles.

BIM Management

We help estates clients, government departments and more create effective processes and requirements focussed on maximising lifecycle benefits. PQQ/ITT and delivery content and audits.

BIM Data Coordination & Handover

We help designers focus on design by coordinating their data deliverbles, audit supply chain data quality and enable clients to utilise COBie data by transfering into CAFM systems.

BIM Coordination

Support for contractors, modular builders, designers, PM’s and suppliers in delivering their client expectations providing quality, fully coordinated and populated BIM models and data.

Retrospective BIM

Unlock the value of pre-existing legacy asset data or improve upon present project deliverables through digitalisation and enhanced BIM standards.

Latest Projects

Our lean, quality BIM philosophy helps clients and project teams achieve a greater organisational return on their BIM investment.

Dave Peacock – Head of Services

Book a Chat With Dave

Book a call with our Head of Services, Dave Peacock, for top tier advice tailored to your businesses needs.

Best Digital Business

(2018)

Person of the Year

(2017)

Inspiring Business

(2019)

Top 50 Exciting Companies

(2019)

Top 3 Innovative Company

(2020)

ISO 19650 BIM Certification

(2020)

ISO 19650 BIM Certification

Our multi-award-winning team is here to develop your BIM systems and processes and train your team to internationally recognised ISO standards. We do this in line with our easy-to-follow 5-Step BIM Implementation and Accreditation service. 

Frequently Asked BIM Questions

A simple guide to BIM in relation to asset and facilities management.

What is BIM?

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a collaborative way of working that facilitates early supply chain involvement, underpinned by digital technologies which unlock more efficient methods of designing, creating and maintaining our assets.

BIM provides a digital representation of an asset’s physical and functional characteristics (or portfolio of assets) to support reliable decision-making and management of information during its life cycle.

At its core, BIM uses 3D models and a common data environment to access and share information efficiently across the supply chain, boosting the efficiency of activities around asset delivery and operation.

By helping the entire supply chain work from a single source of information, BIM reduces the risk of error and maximises the team’s innovation ability.

As an AEC industry, we have moved away from purely viewing the graphical elements within models. We now focus on the non-graphical data within models and other project deliverables. The client or contractor can use this data for multiple purposes such as cost/quantity take off, programming, health & safety and asset/facilities management.

BIM is often re-badged now as Better Information Management or purely Information Management (IM).

What is a BIM model?

BIM models – BIM models – provide a visual representation of your estate’s facility. They align your project’s visual element with the built physical reality.

A BIM model is simply a ‘container for data’. It just so happens that all the data within the container is about your building and that the container looks like yours.

Data can be added to any of the objects within your building model. Each building model has its data, but each building is also a master data container containing spaces with its data. Each space includes objects, and each object has data. So, we have data containers within data containers.

Your model provides a visual representation of the rooms within your facility and other elements within those rooms, such as ventilation ducts or boilers.

All these visual elements of your model can be used as containers for storing data. The whole facility – floors, common spaces, zones comprising a group of common spaces and individual components and assets – can be used for storing data.

Some data will only apply to your facility and must only be linked to the master data container. This could be information from the design and construction phase, site investigations or planning consents, usually PDF documents. Information for the whole facility master data container can be easily added to these PDFs – as hyperlinks – and added to Operance.

Each building component becomes its own data container for specific and detailed data. For example, building components, such as an air-handling unit, can contain the name of the manufacturer, a serial number, a warranty start date, a warranty duration, and countless other data attributes essential for the effective operation and maintenance of the component.

What are the BIM standards?

Much of the original 2016 UK BIM Level 2 mandate revolved around published guidance documents, primarily consisting of British Standards (BS) and Publicly Available Specifications (PAS). The PAS 1192 suite of documents (like all PAS documents) was a response to a rapidly developing industry need. In this case, it was produced to provide immediate structure and guidance to BIM.

From 2018 onwards, ISO 19650 standards were introduced to replace the PAS 1192 and BS 1192 standards.

ISO 19650 is an international standard for managing information over the whole life cycle of a built asset using BIM. It contains all the same principles and high-level requirements as BIM Level 2 and is closely aligned with the previous PAS 1192 and BS 1192 standards.

Below is a list of the current ISO 19650 suite of standards:-

BS EN ISO 19650-1: Organization and digitisation of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling — Information management using building information modelling: Concepts and principles.

BS EN ISO 19650-2: Organization and digitisation of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling — Information management using building information modelling: Delivery phase of the assets.

BS EN ISO 19650-3: Organization and digitisation of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) – Information management using building information modelling. Part 3: Operational phase of the assets 

BS EN ISO 19650-4: Organization and digitisation of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM),  information management using building information modelling, and information exchange.

BS EN ISO 19650-5: Organization and digitisation of information about buildings and civil engineering works, including building information modelling (BIM) – Information management using building information modelling. Part 5: Security-minded approach to information management 

These standards and the associated guidance which our team assisted in producing can be found on the UK BIM Framework website – UK BIM Framework – BIM Standards, Guides & Resources

What are the Information Requirements?

For effective management of information needs, the client, acting as the appointing party, must articulate these needs clearly to other organisations and individuals. This is done through their exchange of information requirements, which are essential for guiding the work of others. Establishing a well-defined information hierarchy is crucial, aligning it with the project’s goals, asset(s), and organisation, as detailed in ISO 19650-1 Clause 5. The importance of this process cannot be overstated. Without precise information requirements, there’s a higher risk that the teams responsible for delivery may fail to provide complete and accurate information necessary for decision-making and advancing the project.

There are four primary documents or resources that outline the appointing party’s information requirements:

  1. Organizational Information Requirements (OIRs) – These are concerned with the organisation’s objectives.
  2. Project Information Requirements (PIRs) focus on the asset’s purpose, design, and construction.
  3. Asset Information Requirements (AIRs) – These pertain to the operation and maintenance of an asset.
  4. Exchange Information Requirements (EIRs) are relevant to a specific appointment.

The following diagram, sourced from ISO19650-1, illustrates the interaction and potential application of various Information Requirements.

What is a BEP?

The BIM Execution Plan – is a plan prepared by the suppliers in response to the EIR (Exchange Information Requirements) to explain how the information modelling aspects of a project will be carried out.

The BEP details the project deliverables stipulated by the contract and the information exchange requirements described in a BIM/Information Management protocol.

The BEP has two forms, Pre Contract and Post Contract; the requirements for these documents are identified within the BS EN ISO 19650-2 standard and associated guidance.

  • Pre-Contract BEP – At the tender stage, before a contract is agreed, a prospective supplier will develop a BEP to demonstrate their proposed approach, capability, capacity and competence to meet the EIR in general terms.

  • Post-Contract BEP – Once a contract has been awarded, the winning supplier is required to submit a further BIM Execution Plan. This post-contract document focuses on confirming the supply chain’s capabilities. It may be supplemented with further documentation setting out when project information is to be prepared, who is responsible for organising it, and what protocols and procedures will be used to develop it.
What is a COBie?

Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie) – A non-proprietary data format for the publication of a subset of building information models focused on delivering asset data as distinct from geometric information. (NBS)

In essence, COBie provides a method for exchanging information in a structured format. It is general enough that it can be used to document both Buildings and Infrastructure assets. It is simple enough that it can be transmitted using a spreadsheet.

It is means of sharing structured information. The data is exchanged using spreadsheets to keep the complexity of systems and training to a minimum.

COBie is often described as a subset of an information model. This means it contains a defined and limited set of model information, the data within the model. This is an important point, as the larger set of data for which COBie is a subset of, is your model.

So, it’s a relatively simple approach to produce a COBie spreadsheet from your data model, should it be required. But, you also have the advantage of having a model with a richer and more comprehensive set of data than can be delivered through COBie alone.

Should BIM Data be Maintained?

Everything requires maintenance, including your data as your data model (of your new or existing building/estate) should be considered an asset. Yes, it is a model of your facility, and it is only helpful because it provides a model representation of the facility. But this doesn’t prevent the model from being of value, and anything of value should be considered an asset.

Your physical asset: imagine you have a new building, finished with everything working, fully commissioned and balanced, and your facility is at its maximum value. Nothing has broken, and nothing requires maintenance, cleaning or replacement. Over time, as the facility is used, surfaces will become worn, doors will become damaged, valves will require opening and closing, or they will become stuck.

It’s just the natural way that as time progresses, stuff will stop working or become worn out due to constant use. As more time passes and your facility continues to be used, it will devalue. The only way to reduce this decline in value is to expend money to maintain your assets.

Your digital asset: The same process applies to your data model. The data within the model, the information about the installed assets and the design of your facility will be correct and validated at the time of handover or delivery of the model. This is when your model should provide an entirely accurate representation of the physical (graphical) parts of your facility and the information about the parts and use of the facility.

This data will also start to devalue over time. As the parts of your facility are altered, maintained and replaced, the model representation will begin to differ from the actual facility. The more the information model differs from your facility, the more the model will devalue. The only way to prevent your data model from devaluing is to invest in maintaining the data exactly as your physical facility requires continual investment.

The data should be regularly checked for consistency and accuracy, particularly if you have collected data for the anticipated life of an asset for forecasting future costs for maintaining your physical asset. As you swap or change assets, you will also be required to add new anticipated life data to maintain your data correctly. And unless you are using this data effectively, this would be a wasted activity and a devaluing asset.

OPERANCE