BIM for universities: Three reasons to use it

Using building information modeling for effective and efficient project delivery is not a new idea. At the same time, the integration of BIM into the day-to-day activities of a building owner is more of a new concept.

By Brian Skripac, CannonDesign May 17, 2016

For the design and construction industry, using building information modeling (BIM) for effective and efficient project delivery is not a new idea. At the same time, the integration of BIM into the day-to-day activities of a building owner is more of a new concept. This is especially true with colleges and universities that are beginning to make BIM a priority on their campuses. They are embarking on the creation of their own BIM standards to reap the benefits of this industry—transforming technology and process to reduce the total cost of ownership across the lifecycle of the buildings they own and operate.

Ohio State University (OSU) initially set out to transform their existing campus from traditional, 2-D-based infrastructure to an intelligent, 3-D BIM-based environment with a goal to "enhance planning and communication, resulting in improved quality and speed of decision making."

Capitalizing on the BIM best practices that are developing across the design and construction world, the university quickly realized the value BIM could bring to their project-delivery and operations processes. I will be speaking on a panel on Sept. 23 at OSU to present the development and use of these standards, along with the return on investments that we have experienced along the way with our client including.

1. You will realize more cost savings.

Bottom line, the cost savings is worth the implementation. BIM-enabled university projects can drive a more efficient and collaborative project delivery process, providing positive impacts to project schedules and budgets. Moreover, BIM can be used to drive more sustainable project outcomes, increasing energy efficiency goals being set by institutional owners to generate additional savings. Design can be a useful tool in meeting the overall goals of the university.

2. Everyone will be speaking the same language.

By adopting a BIM standard, owners are able to create a BIM-enabled process where the BIM, and its deliverables can all be developed around a common language. This language and repeatable process drives value by setting expectations from the outset of the project, ensuring all project team members are collaboratively working toward a common goal.

3. Building operators and managers will be more empowered.

Following the project completion and turnover phase, progressive owners can quickly realize the value of this well-structured BIM by automating and expediting the consumption of geometry and data into their facilities-management and operations systems. Historically, this has been a time-consuming and manual data-entry process, which the National Institute and Standards (NIST) has summarized costs owners $0.15 per square foot. Not only is there a direct cost savings generated by this interoperability, but NIST quantifies a reoccurring value of $0.23/square foot/year throughout the building’s lifecycle through ongoing avoidance, mitigation, and delay costs.

If you were to apply this reoccurring cost on a 100,000-sq.-ft building across a 30-year lifecycle, an owner could realize a potential cost avoidance of almost $700,000. Of course, this is only one build. For colleges and universities, this cost savings can exponentially grow across an entire campus.

The formula outlined would be:

$0.23/square foot/year x 100,000 sq ft = $23,000/year … $23,000/year x 30 years = $690,000

-Brian Skripac is CannonDesign’s BIM and digital practice leader, who continually drives innovation by merging technology and practice. He has 20 years of industry experience, with the last 10 focusing on the integration of BIM to transform the design and project delivery process. This article originally appeared on www.cannondesign.com. CannonDesign is a CFE Media content partner.