Building Information Modeling (BIM)An arguable technological breakthrough in the construction field, BIM or BuildingInformation Modeling is continuously emerging as the most feasible and reliableoption available in the building construction industry. With the advent of BIM —building design, construction and management has become an easier and costeffective task than ever before.A BIM (Building Information Modeling) is the creation of parametric, orintelligent, 3D models instead of 2D perspective ‘un-intelligent’ drawings. A BIMoperates on a digital database and any change made to this database is reflectedthroughout the entire drawing. This allows everyone involved in the buildinglifecycle – architects, engineers, contractors, developers, and building owners -to sync together allowing them to view the model in different ways and seamlesslyshare information.BIM provides the potential for a virtual information model to be handed fromDesign Team (architects, surveyors, consulting engineers, and others) toContractor and Subcontractors and then to the Owner, each adding their ownadditional discipline-specific knowledge and tracking of changes to the singlemodel. The result greatly reduces the information loss that occurs when a new teamtakes "ownership" of the project as well as in delivering extensive information toowners of complex structures far beyond that which they are currently accustomedto having.BIM produces construction documents that resemble those created by 2D CADDrafting, but are done much faster and contain information about structure,quantities, materials and other data that can be used in both — the constructionand management of a building. Using BIM, designers can analyze the building designin detail and locate human errors, if any.BIM can greatly decrease errors made by design team members as well as theconstruction team (Contractors and Subcontractors) by allowing the use of conflictdetection where the computer actually informs team members about parts of thebuilding in conflict or clashing, and through detailed computer visualization ofeach part in relation to the total building. As computers and software become morecapable of handling more building information, this will become even morepronounced than it is in current design and construction projects. This errorreduction is a great part of cost savings realized by all members of a project.Reduction in time required to complete construction directly contributes to thecost savings numbers as well. It's important to realize that this decrease canonly be accomplished if the models are sufficiently developed in the DesignDevelopment phase.BIM also provides adequate information for building performance analysis andevaluation, which is of vital importance for sustainable building design. BIMprovides accurate and extremely reliable information about the building, thestructure, the materials used, etc including green aspects such as energyefficiency and daylighting.With the construction industry facing recessions, intelligent players are adoptingBIM to provide them with a competitive advantage over their counterparts. Most ofthe organizations using BIM normally have a positive feedback about its effect ontheir business. BIM is being currently employed by professionals on all buildingtypes from the simplest warehouse to many of the most complex new buildings.
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