Since 2001, Senate Properties has carried out a number of pilot projects to develop and study the use of building information models. Based on feedback from these, Senate Properties has assessed product model technology to be sufficiently ready for putting to use in ordinary project work, and the company has decided to require models meeting the IFC standard in its projects as of 1 October 2007.

BIM Guidelines

The scope and aim of modelling

The modelling of projects is not an end in itself; instead, its main aim is to ensure that the scope, cost and practicality of the project conform to the objectives. In the first phase, models will be required in ordinary projects and only for some of the design jobs of the project. The requirement for modelling will apply both to construction and to renovation projects. The only projects excluded will be those for which no significant advantages are seen in modelling. In the first stage, tens of projects will be modelled, the total volume of which is estimated at hundreds of millions of euros.

The obligatory part will be limited to modelling and visualisation of the starting scenario and architectural design as well as to the monitoring of the scope and costs performed on the basis of the models. In the architectural design, modelling will be applied throughout the process, starting with the presentation of alternatives based on space models and ending with the tender documents for the contracting stage. In the project planning stage, the main emphasis for modelling will be on supporting the investment decision by comparing alternatives’ scope, costs and lifecycle attributes. To facilitate cost control, type data in conformity with the room schedule for spaces will be added to the model. The quantity and scope data obtained from the model in the draft stage will be used to support the production of the building element estimate. Efforts will be made to secure the energy budget of properties by simulating the building’s energy consumption before major decisions and by harnessing these results in monitoring the energy consumption of the building during its occupation stage. Efforts will be made to model structural and HEPAC systems in the detail design stage, but the requirement for these models will be decided on a case-by-case basis. The use and data content of the models will be binding requirements in design agreements.

Further development

The level of modelling required from 1 October 2007 is just the first step in going over to the broader use of models. Senate Properties will develop modelling requirements together with property owners in the Nordic countries, the USA and the Netherlands. The aim is to go over to all-embracing, integrated model-based operations in designing, building, and property servicing and maintenance in the next few years.

More detailed instructions

Senate Properties will draw up detailed modelling guidelines by 1 September 2007. The guidelines will specify the data content requirements for models to the participants in the project at each stage of the design. The guidelines will comply with the main lines specified in the ProIT project, applied to decisions to be made in Senate Properties’ investment process. In the first phase, all design software packages which have passed IFC 2x3 certification may be used for modelling.

Aulis Kohvakka
Managing Director, Senate Properties