THE BUILDING INFORMATION MODEL IN FACILITIES MANAGEMENT by Ronald O. Méndez A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Civil Engineering May 2006 APPROVED: _____________________________________________ Prof. Guillermo Salazar, Thesis Advisor _____________________________________________ Prof. Fabio Carrera, Committee Member _____________________________________________ Mr. John Miller, Committee Member Abstract The construction industry’s traditional resistance to incorporate change has prevented benefits from technological advancements to accrue. One area in which technology shows potential to benefit the industry is in addressing the existing communication gaps between the designer, builder, and owner. This gap is more evident in the operation and maintenance of a building. At project completion, an owner also receives information of the building. This information is comprised of as-built drawings, operation and maintenance manuals, warranties, and other documents. However, there is additional and valuable information for the owner generated throughout the design and construction process that goes unrecorded or is not passed unto the owner at project completion. The Building Information Model (BIM) is a digital collection of well coordinated information about the design and construction of a building in the form of an integrated database, where information is generated as the digital model is produced. The intent of the research is to explore how the BIM could be used to provide continuity in the flow of information in a coordinated and comprehensive manner from the design and construction of the building to its occupation and operation by the owner. Through literature review, a case study, and interviews with facilities management personnel of four Worcester area universities, it was found that use of the BIM is perceived of modest value because of their current preference for paper submittals, resistance to learning new software, and accessibility by people of all levels in the organization. The Internet is considered to be a tool that could greatly contribute to overcome the resistance of using information generated and coordinated through BIM. Therefore, a ii prototype website was developed using information about the design and construction of the recently completed WPI Bartlett Center. This information was partially generated by BIM and it also contains digitized information about other aspects of the building. The website contains a BIM-generated 3D model and samples of the operation and maintenance manuals, warranties, and submittals. The implementation of a website was found to be promising because of increased access to information, high usability, and variety of content. iii Acknowledgements “Todo lo puedo en Cristo que me fortalece.” Filipenses 4:13 Thank you God for the strength, determination, and hope to complete this work. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Professor Guillermo Salazar. Thank you for all your help, advice, wisdom, and patience throughout my years at WPI. I am in debt to you. I would like to thank everyone who has provided me with input for this thesis. Neil Benner, John Miller, and Professor Fabio Carrera, thanks. I would also like to thank all those who contributed to this. Marshall O’Hearn, Sarwat Basha, John Rathbun, Sean Hoey, Liz Szafarowicz, Angela Martino, Andrew Mills, and Sibora Halilaj, without your collaboration, it would have been a much longer process. I owe special thanks to Greg “G funk” Funk and Matthew “Ziggy” Zagaja for all of the help provided in developing the website in addition to answering assorted questions about software and technology. I would have been in major trouble without you guys. I can’t forget the rest of Stoddard B3 crew. Thanks for helping me out in one way or another. A mi familia, gracias. Mamá and Papá, Lucia and Alejandro Méndez. Thank you for your love, care, help, support, and inspiration. Los quiero. Erik, thanks for being a brother and a friend. To all my friends, thanks for being there. To everyone at Centro Cristiano Betesda, thank you for your support. Lilian, thank you for your love, support, friendship, cheers, and confidence in me. iv Table of Contents Abstract............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ iv Table of Figures ................................................................................................................. vi 1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................... 1 2.0 Background................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 Industry Fragmentation............................................................................................. 5 2.1.1 Interoperability................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Computer Aided Design ......................................................................................... 10 2.3 Building Information Model................................................................................... 12 2.3.1 Parametric Modeling........................................................................................ 17 2.4 Autodesk Revit........................................................................................................ 18 2.4.1 Autodesk Revit Study ...................................................................................... 22 2.5 Autodesk Revit Systems ......................................................................................... 23 2.6 Building Operations and Maintenance.................................................................... 25 2.7 WPI Plant Services ................................................................................................. 26 2.7.1 Current Information Management ................................................................... 27 2.7.2 Fire Safety........................................................................................................ 30 3.0 Methodology............................................................................................................... 32 3.1 Literature Review.................................................................................................... 32 3.2 Interviews................................................................................................................ 32 3.3 Case Study .............................................................................................................. 32 3.4 E-Buildings Interactive Qualifying Projects........................................................... 35 3.5 Outreach to the Industry.......................................................................................... 36 4.0 Survey of Facilities Management Personnel .............................................................. 38 4.1 University A............................................................................................................ 38 4.2 University B............................................................................................................ 41 4.3 University C............................................................................................................ 43 4.4 University D............................................................................................................ 44 4.7 State Building Inspector.......................................................................................... 47 4.8 Summary................................................................................................................. 49 5.0 Proposed Case Study Website .................................................................................... 52 6.0 Conclusions & Recommendations for Future Work................................................... 66 6.1 Conclusions............................................................................................................. 66 6.2 Recommendations for Future Work........................................................................ 69 Appendix A- J. Miller Interview....................................................................................... 72 Appendix B- C. Salter Interview ...................................................................................... 73 Appendix C- N. Benner Interview.................................................................................... 75 Appendix D- University A Interview ............................................................................... 77 Appendix E- University B Interview................................................................................ 78 Appendix F- University C Interview ................................................................................ 79 Appendix G- University D Interview ............................................................................... 80 Appendix H- State Building Inspector Interview ............................................................. 82 Appendix I- Website......................................................................................................... 83 v Table