Newsletter No 23 • April 2016 Global standards for openBIM Launch of Swiss chapter New chapter to accelerate local BIM uptake A new buildingSMART chapter was launched in Switzerland in January. It has attracted membership of over 100 companies and more than 35 organisations along the whole value chain of the construction industry, making this a chapter with wide reach and influence. Background Although Switzerland is the youngest chapter in the buildingSMART family, Above right: The Monte Rosa Hut, a sustainable it is not new to the organisation, as the and largely self-sufficient lodging in the Swiss Kajima joins SAC country was previously represented Alps, was built using BIM software; the case study by the German-speaking chapter. is reported on the BIM HUB and the Vectorworks Kajima Corporation, the Japanese ‘But Switzerland is a country with website Credit: TBH Editor construction company with operations four different regions, four different ‘BIM uptake in Switzerland is around the world, has joined the languages and at least four different rapidly accelerating,’ confirms Alar Strategic Advisory Council (SAC). types of cultural behaviour, not to Jost, board member and formerly Kajima is the first company from mention the differences between the a member of the German-speaking Asia to join the SAC and is the cantons,’ explains Birgitta Schock chapter. ‘Strong clients like Siemens, second company from engineering who chairs the chapter. ‘Consequently Roche, SBB, Post and Credit Suisse and construction on the Council. we recognised that it was time for are actively developing their strategies The SAC now has representation Switzerland, with all its diversity, to to make use of the BIM benefits. from architecture, engineering and become an independent chapter.’ There are also initiatives from large construction, and software vendors. construction companies which are ‘We believe that digitisation within BIM maturity and benefits broadening the “pull” for BIM in the the industry is gathering pace and BIM is relatively new in the country. market.’ that the key enabling technologies ‘There are not yet a lot of projects ‘We are a small country,’ adds developed by buildingSMART are that can be officially branded as open Birgitta. ‘Knowledge is one of our critical to its future,’ says Hiroyoshi BIM,’ says Peter Scherer, who is resources and a way forward for Koizumi, representative director and responsible for national issues. ‘But our industry.’ executive vice president of Kajima. Kajima has global operations and there is already strong recognition Continues on page 4… of the value of IFC and open BIM wide expertise but is particularly processes at a grass-roots level.’ known for its advanced seismic At least half a dozen projects technologies. Having built the using open BIM are underway, in a first skyscraper in Japan, Kajima range of sectors including healthcare, Corporation has always been ahead commercial and university. One of the times in developing construction project that is attracting attention is methods for safe buildings. the LimmiViva hospital complex in This made it possible for Schlieren, near Zurich – an eight- Kajima to build the first storey building due to be completed high-rise building in Japan of in 2018. reinforced concrete, as well as The benefits of BIM to a small the world’s first building with country like Switzerland are beyond seismic response control. question, as board member Mark Staying ahead of the Baldwin strongly believes. Mark’s times, Kajima has been connection with buildingSMART developing new seismic goes back some six years, having resistance methods such as served as the IUG representative base isolation and vibration for the Middle East chapter during control, new materials such 2010–12. ‘Stakeholders all along as large-space membranes the value chain of our industry will and new nuclear power station benefit from open BIM,’ he says. ‘And construction methods. buildingSMART, with its international Above: the Himeji Castle restoration involved Kajima’s strengths in construction standards and programmes, will help repairing and reinforcing the structure, as well as will make it a valuable member of the replacing the roof tiles the Swiss industry get up to speed.’ Strategic Advisory Council. 1 to keep track as What the intranet can do for us… people move An interview with Richard Kelly between teams, ensure the As buildingSMART has grown, with the addition of new rooms and activities, filing structure the need for improved internal communication has become evident. The isn’t becoming buildingSMART intranet was developed during 2015 and given a soft cluttered launch after the Singapore Summit. Richard Kelly, director of operations, and respond takes questions from editor Betzy Dinesen and explains the rationale and to continuous development of the intranet. improvement With buildingSMART a growing yet break it. We’re a big believer in the requests. We are widely dispersed organisation, the continuous improvement approach to employing a PhD need for an intranet was clear. But quality. You know – plan, do, check, student, Juan how did you define requirements? improve. These first ten people tested Echeverria, on a part-time basis The main requirements were that it it really well and we made several at the moment had to make people’s lives easier improvements to its usability in those to help with the so they can work together more first few weeks. administration and first-line support. efficiently across the planet to deliver Once I was confident that the This is sufficient for now. solutions for a common cause. system was good enough to stand We are gradually giving team However, it also had to be scalable wider use, we started inviting in leaders administration rights as and capable of managing many other users. This was done on a well, so they can manage their own different teams so that people weren’t team-by-team basis rather than, say, team structures. I’m doing this in a drowned out with information but alphabetically. controlled way when we are sure could find what they need for their We now have over 200 people that people have got the right level particular activities. on the system with more being put on every day. Who knows how big it of capability in order to maintain the Can you tell me something about the will get? quality of the system. development process? Have you received feedback? In the wider context of internal communications and of enabling Richard Petrie – our CEO – and I set Yes, lots. Feedback is a gift and we the working groups to progress their ourselves a summer project. When actively encourage it. It’s an essential projects, how do you see the role of you are busy running an organisation part of the continuous improvement the intranet in the future? on a day-to-day basis, it is difficult to cycle. We are encouraging people find time for the big developments to use [email protected] for It is central to it. We want the intranet unless you give yourself a challenge. requests and feedback. to be the core of the working structure We originally thought that we could of buildingSMART. develop a system ourselves with What would you say are the top three some technical help; in retrospect benefits of the intranet? this was naive. But we knew that Collaboration, information-sharing and Tips for using the intranet the German-speaking chapter were efficiency. • Provide full and accurate profile pleased with their intranet and Rasso information – people need to know [Steinmann] introduced us to the team What does the management of the who you are and where you work from Plattform – a company attached intranet entail? And are you looking • When you write a news story, to the University of Mannheim – who for improvements? remember that only the title and had developed their intranet. When During this initial period, it has been the first part of the abstract will be we met them, we found that they quite time-consuming to ensure that displayed, so make them informative understood our needs immediately. everyone who is invited in is given a • Hover your mouse over an icon to That said, our needs grew as we meaningful and informed introduction. see the auxiliary text – most icons have text as well came to understand the layers of our Also, because we are populating it • And if there’s more than one green work structures and the capability of rapidly from empty, there has been a arrow, use the auxiliary text to see the system. I think we pretty much lot of work to do to make sure people what each arrow does managed to keep within our six-week have the correct access rights for • When you create an item, it will plan to have a trial system ready to their teams. This won’t be completely inherit the access right from where roll out. correct, by the way, so again we urge it is created, eg a news item created Can you tell me about the launch? people to tell us if they don’t have the in the ISG will inherit the group’s Why did you opt for a ‘soft launch’? access rights they need. access rights • Add [email protected] to We launched immediately after the The volume of effort will tail off as the rate of new introductions eases. your ‘safe senders’ list, so that Singapore Summit with ten volunteers emails from the intranet reach your However, there will always be a need who were asked to use it and try to inbox correctly

2 A common construction market for Europe CEN to adopt IFC4 The European Committee for Standardization, CEN, brings together the standards bodies of 33 European countries. Through its Technical Committee 442, it supports and coordinates the harmonisation of BIM within Europe. ‘CEN standards have a stronger connection to European legislation than ISO standards,’ explains Øivind Rooth, who chairs the committee. ‘In the future we believe that CEN standards that relate to IFC will link directly into European directives, which form a framework for the construction industry in Europe.’ One important development is the adoption of IFC4, published as ISO 16739, by CEN. ‘This process has started and if the TC support it, IFC4 will be a CEN standard by the end of 2016,’ says Øivind. Following the committee’s business plan, TC 442 is establishing collaboration with relevant technical committees and organisations. BuildingSMART International has been accepted as a liaison organisation and CEO Richard Petrie attended the committee’s second plenary meeting in February 2016. As CEN develops and publishes BIM-related standards, it will provide a tool to achieve the EU’s goal of a common construction market in Europe – and ‘this will help us to create a green construction sector,’ concludes Øivind. Multimodel Container Flexible tool developed in Germany University of Dresden – came together with the aim of defining a Work by the German-speaking chapter has built on national research to create generic version of the Multimodel a technology for efficient work with multimodel data which has resulted in the Container and utilising it in various specification of the Multimodel Container (MMC) – a valuable new tool that application domains. allows a variety of applications to be brought together during a building or The definitions developed by the FM project. German buildingSMART group are Background In design and construction, now available on GitHub as MMC all project information cannot Interest in multimodels goes Version 2.0 (https://github.com/ conveniently be kept within a back some seven years. In 2009, BuildingSMART/MMC). single model. Although software the German Federal Ministry of The work put into the two versions applications already allow the different Education and Research set up the is answering real industry needs building models (eg architectural, IT project Mefisto to explore possible – this is not ivory-tower academic structural and building services) to scenarios, create solutions and make development. Version 1 has already be coordinated and integrated with recommendations. ‘The basic idea of been implemented by four German information on scheduling (known the Multimodel is to combine selected vendors of project management as 4D) and on risk, quality and costs engineering and management models software, namely RIB Software, (known as 5D), there is considerable in a single and reusable information gibGreiner, Dr. Schiller & Partner and variety among these applications. resource,’ explains Sven-Eric Tragwerk Software. Version 2.0 is In practice, there is no standardised Schapke, former operative project now also expected to be adopted in exchange of multimodels. coordinator at Technical University other areas such as asset and facility of Dresden. Going forward: the management. MMC Multimodel Container Multimodel Container Conclusion The MMC integrates different Multimodels provide a flexible application models, exposing their instrument to combine building Building model interdependencies in separate ‘Link information models and other Models’. This allows application application models and efficiently models to be combined based on reuse distributed project information Operation model their metadata and retain their original from design, production and data format, whether standard or operations. To use multimodels Cost model proprietary. By the time the Mefisto in project collaboration, the project closed in 2012, it had buildingSMART German-speaking Project schedule developed MMC Version 1.0 and chapter has now published proved its application in construction the Multimodel Container LM1LM2 simulation and controlling. (MMC) Version 2.0 and invites It was at this point that the buildingSMART members to explore Container metadata German-speaking chapter stepped further applications of multimodels in different domains and countries. LM = Link Model in. Several members – think project, RIB Software, gibGreiner, Dr. Schiller For more information visit Structure of multimodel: Implicit dependencies https://github.com/BuildingSMART between different application models are explicitly & Partner, Tragwerk Software, AEC3 expressed in a generic multimodel Deutschland and the Technical 3 … Launch of Swiss chapter New leader for Implementation Support Group Continued from page 1 Jeffrey Ouellette, senior product specialist­ – architecture industry of A network of chapters Vectorworks, Inc., has become chair of buildingSMART’s Implementation Chris Groome, secretary/business Support Group (ISG), having taken over from Rasso Steinmann in early March. manager who manages the chapter Rasso is now chairman of the German-speaking chapter. programme, helped the chapter Jeffrey is not new to the group. He started attending ISG meetings in 2009 through the process of gaining and became deputy chair in autumn 2011. As ISG chair, he wants to encourage buildingSMART membership and is uptake of IFC4 by software vendors. ‘Our highest priority for 2016 is to foster enthusiastic about its prospects. ‘The the implementation and certification of IFC4 across the range of products that new chapter has the reach and the have already been involved in the IFC2x3 certification process,’ he says. insight to allow it to become a major ‘At the same time, my personal goal is to expand ISG membership and player in rolling out collaborative participation to include more vendors who support IFC in their products. This working based on open technology,’ ensures that their implementations are of the highest quality and compatible he says. with the work of those who have been part of the ISG and its efforts for some The location of Switzerland is time,’ he adds. significant, as its German, French ISG is a forum of vendors/developers which was created to support and Italian speaking regions will the various implementation and certification activities for buildingSMART seek to establish connections with standards. In particular, ISG promotes the use of Industry Foundation Classes their neighbours. ‘The multilingual (IFC) and the BIM Collaboration Format (BCF) to share BIM data among nature of the country means that it different software products. The group works with the Model Support Group can play a pivotal role in the linking (MSG) to determine the optimal means for specifying data exchanges. ‘As a of developments in neighbouring support forum, we provide a unique opportunity for industry competitors to countries,’ he adds. work together for the benefit of the global market.’ Collaboration has begun. Mark ISG meetings are regularly attended by representatives of the large software is already acting as coordinator companies such as , Trimble, Autodesk and Bentley as well as of the people compliance smaller independent vendors such as Progman, IES and Arkey Systems. programme – in which Birgitta is Meetings are held twice a year in different locations, hosted by a member also participating – and is a member company, allowing local market vendors to take part. of the buildingSMART Building Jeffrey is well known to the buildingSMART community. Together with Committee (BuildCom). Birgitta colleagues, he has created the IFC-Compatible Implementations is leading an initiative to explore Database, which grew out of a Vectorworks research project. the common ground between the ‘From the beginning, I have been a strong advocate for Lean Construction Institute and standards, end users and the vendor community, trying to buildingSMART, in the interests of mediate the needs of all the parties,’ he says. ‘The future improving integrated project delivery. of the global design and construction industry depends on the cooperation of all sides to create, implement and use Conclusion solutions which make everyone’s work more effective and ‘The key to a successful chapter is result in greater value.’ a good leadership which relates well Taking over from Jeffrey as deputy chair is Angel Velez to members,’ concludes Chris. ‘The of Autodesk. Swiss chapter is off to a good start For more information about ISG, contact Jeffrey and we wish them well.’ at [email protected] Visit the Swiss website Visit the implementations database at http://www. http://www.bauen-digital.ch/en/ -tech.org/implementation/implementations For chapter programme information, contact Chris Groome, Rijkswaterstaat joins bSI [email protected] The Dutch roads and water systems authority, Rijkswaterstaat has joined as a standard member. Rijkswaterstaat is a strong supporter of open BIM and has already contributed funding to some of buildingSMART’s infrastructure projects. ‘In the Netherlands we have a significant infrastructure network of roads, viaducts, bridges and tunnel complexes, together with our extensive network of waterways and water systems,’ says Herman Winkels, programme manager of Rijkswaterstaat’s BIM programme. ‘We need optimal data-sharing solutions based on open standards for design, construction and The chapter launch at Swissbau 2016. Delegates included Markus Weber (L), Richard Petrie (3rd L), maintenance. International cooperation is, Birgitta Schock (4th L), Chris Groome (centre) and Peter Scherer (2nd from R) in our vision, essential to achieve this.’ 4 BuildingSMART International Board, executive and contact points Chair Patrick MacLeamy CEO Richard Petrie Board members Tiina Koppinen, Jan Myhre, Dirk Schaper and Rasso Steinmann Contact points Secretary/business manager Chris Groome – [email protected] (Chapter programme and bSI matters generally) Operations director Richard Kelly – [email protected] (including Standards programme and website) Certification Rasso Steinmann – [email protected] (implementation in software and software certification) Mark Baldwin – [email protected] (certification of people) Building Room Jan Karlshøj – [email protected] (also IDM and awards) Infrastructure Room Henk Schaap – [email protected] Product Room and buildingSMART Data Dictionary Roger Grant – [email protected] Regulatory Room Inhan Kim – [email protected] Øivind Rooth – [email protected] Technical Room Leif Granholm – leif.granholm@.com Implementation Support Group Jeffrey Ouellette – [email protected] Model Support Group Thomas Liebich – [email protected] (including IFC matters) User Group Kjell Ivar Bakkmoen – [email protected] (also ISO liaison) Newsletter & communications Betzy Dinesen – [email protected]

Global standards for openBIM

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