The client is a prominent developer in Central Asia, known for building premium residential complexes. They are actively advancing their use of BIM technologies to achieve high-quality BIM models that facilitate planning, control, and visualization of the construction process. Their design contractors use Revit for their work.
The current project description:
- 4 high-rise apartment buildings connected by an underground parking facility;
- 11 residential sections planned across 3 construction phases;
- amenities such as a cinema, parking, a pavilion, and a restaurant.
For each residential section and facility, at least 5 distinct models were developed, covering Architecture, Structural, HVAC, Electrical, and Plumbing. Consequently, the BIM coordinator (Digital Project Engineer), needed to integrate over 70 models per construction phase and about 215 models for the entire project.
The issue emerged when the BIM coordinator loaded models from various designers into the federated model. In this project, Navisworks was used, though it could also have been Synchro, Bexel, or another platform. The following issues were identified in the federated model:
- Some models were oriented incorrectly;
- Others did not align in height;
- Some models clashed with others.
These problems created significant inconvenience, requiring extensive time to manually check and correct coordinates across numerous models. Each model had to be opened individually to manually adjust the base point, a highly labor-intensive task. The most frustrating part was that any project update necessitated repeating this process. Furthermore, even small errors, which might not be immediately visible, could later result in significant problems and require the design to be reworked.
The IT-Eneca team found that the incorrect formation of the federated model stemmed from designers submitting models with inconsistent coordinate systems. The issues were traced to several factors:
- Some designers used outdated coordinate information;
- Others had no coordinate data at all;
- Some forgot to transfer coordinate data to their model;
- And some made errors when entering coordinates, as the data was often transmitted in text, pictures, etc.
IT-ENECA identified two critical processes to ensure a consistent coordinate system for all participants:
- Establish a Central Source for Coordinates: This source must be correctly specified, accessible to all participants simultaneously, and kept up to date. Any changes should be promptly communicated to all designers.
- Automate Coordinate Loading: Ensure that the current coordinates are automatically loaded into each of the models (over 200 in this project).
The original coordinate source must meet the following criteria:
- Valid in an absolute coordinate system
- Correct height assignments
- Accurate rotation angles
- Linked to geoposition, terrain, etc.
For this project, the coordinates file was generated by the Plot Planning department using Civil 3D.
To automatically generate the initial coordinate source, we developed the Model Point tool. Model Point creates an up-to-date, error-free coordinate system and provides versioning. It also enables rapid adaptation of files for importing into any designer's Revit model in just minutes.
Model Point transmits the correct location along the X, Y, Z axis and rotation angle for each building, section, and construction site.
Next, these coordinates must be integrated into the designers' working models. The Shared Coordinates solution was developed for this purpose. Shared Coordinates receives the coordinate source, matches the appropriate coordinate file to the relevant model, and automatically assigns the correct coordinate values to each model.
Shared Coordinates ensures that each Designer submits their section for coordination with the correct coordinates already in place.
If project changes occur (e.g., building height adjustments, slab thickness increases, pile length changes due to soil variations), the updated coordinate source can be easily transferred using the ModelPoint plugin and then published to all models using the Shared Coordinates plugin. This update process happens instantly via the CDE (Common Data Environment), which, in this case, was BIM 360. Simply reopen the file, and everything is correctly positioned.
The development of automation solutions resulted in the following:
Model Quality Guarantee: Accurate and clearly published coordinates ensure a correct combined model, maintaining its relevance and usability for managing the construction process.
Saving Labor Costs: The automated process for setting up a unified coordinate system in the common model reduced the BIM coordinator's labor from 10 hours to 2 hours per coordinate change. Given that coordinates were adjusted around 15 times in this project, this saved a minimum of 120 man-hours over the project.
With an average BIM-coordinator rate of $45 per hour, this resulted in savings of $5,400 for the project.
Reduced Burden on Experienced Specialists: The automation eliminates the need for an experienced specialist to manage this task, freeing up their time for other critical activities.