Case Study: WeZig Building - Final Master's project

About the Client                                                             

 The Problem

It consisted of a real ISO 19650 project simulation exercise with an Open BIM approach. Managing all data related to the project’s design, costs, safety, clash detection, scheduling, sustainability, and facilities management used by architects, engineers, owners, and builders.

 The Solution

The project delivered in accordance with ISO 19650 and open BIM principles consists of the following:

The final Master's report, BEP, project presentation, and defense.

Delivery of the Design phase, pre-construction phase, operation phase and the asset information model.

 The Project

The WeZig final Master's project by the group known as the "A-Team" brought a diverse, global group of multi-disciplinary construction professionals with a passion for BIM and ISO 19650 together to create and deliver a project that is a practical application of all of the core principles and best practices that make up these technologies and concepts.

The final project was based on the WeZig building in Barcelona, Spain, and focused on the construction and operation phases.

One of the first challenges the group had to solve was how to deliver a project like this effectively, and the solution came in the form of cloud-based technologies ranging from Trello to Slack, Zoom, and Plannerly to AutoCAD, Revit, and other BIM-specific tools.

Every stage of the process was carefully mapped, monitored, and recorded in order to ensure compliance with the EIR (Exchange Information Requirement) set by Zigurat, the client.

During the course of this project, like any real-world project, the goal was not to avoid problems - which is often impossible - but to identify and address potential problems as early as possible, using the advanced planning and predictive tools built into BIM. Clash detections were a key part of the project and process and were run frequently to ensure that the team could take appropriate steps to limit their impact on project outcomes.

To marry the design and planning elements of the project, the team implemented 4D planning, which allowed direct integration between the 3D models of the building and the project schedule. In the real world, these kinds of integrations help to ensure that every element of the project plan and digitization are updated simultaneously, which ensures that different parts of the project team are always working with the latest available information. It also enables optimizing the installation schedule, saving time and resources.

Quantity take-off, another critical part of the preconstruction and construction phases of the project, was completed with Solibri Office, which again is an integrated tool that allowed the team to push and pull data as necessary.

Because ISO 19650 is at its heart a system for effective construction project data management systems, our goal was to ensure that we complied with its core principles, which are sequential approval of information, building a single source of information, security and access control, and standardization of information. By keeping those principles as the focus of the project and applying them to every process phase, we ensured the successful delivery of the project.

At the project planning phase, we spent time developing the naming convention to be used for all files, the Common Data Environment (CDE) structure, and the workflow processes to ensure that all information was standardized, easy to archive, and easy to retrieve as necessary.

Next, the team spent time analyzing the client's requirements for the final delivery, verifying project requirements, and preparing the initial setup. Then, the various members of the team assumed their individual roles, checking in with other team members at the sprint review meetings to ensure that the design phases were progressing as planned and without major conflicts between the structure and the services integrated into the building design.

Finally, the team executed the operations phase of the building, using the COBie information exchange data standard for maintaining the building's assets. As built packages, asset information, and design documentation required for project handover were generated using Open BIM principles and procedures set up by the team.

 Project Video

 The Conclusion

Tackling a complex commercial building project like the WeZig building in an educational setting allowed the team to use all the skills they've gathered related to BIM in their specific niches in the construction professional space, and the best practices and structure envisioned in ISO 19650.

Using these methods and the modern construction planning, modeling, and management tools that are now available to construction professionals, we were able to successfully plan and execute the project, generate all the necessary reports, and avoid conflicts and clashes effectively, even though our team was scattered around the globe.

It proved to every member of the team that you can manage a project effectively with ISO 19650 standards and keeping an OpenBIM approach by using agile managment. These workflow processes can transform every aspect of collaboration and execution on any kind of project.

Whether teams are all local or include members in different cities, locations, or time zones, OpenBIM and ISO 19650 standards can be streamlined to ensure that every project gets from concept to completion as efficiently and profitably as possible.

 Project Duration