Embracing new technology with the BIM Model

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Carly Lupton

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Carly Lupton

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Capability , Digital Transformation , Future Thinking
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See how RLB in Sydney is adapting the use of a BIM Model for a $105 million inner-city construction project.

The journey is just beginning in the use of the BIM Model in the preparation of monthly progress claim assessments. Here’s a snapshot of RLB in Sydney’s early experience.

Contractual Responsibilities

The construction contract entitles the Contractor ‘Built’ to submit monthly progress claims which are assessed by the Quantity Surveyor, RLB, who prepares an independent report. Based on the report, TSA Management then prepares a monthly interim payment certificate.

Investa – the client – can use the BIM Model to assess and present the status of the completeness of the project throughout the construction duration.

Bill of Quantities

In terms of cost, the contract sum is tabulated via a Bill of Quantities. RLB prepares the bill of quantities using the tender BIM Model to extract and check relevant quantities and information.

The tenderers submit their tender price matching the priced bill of quantities document.
The bill of quantities includes itemised trade-based quantities extracted from the BIM Model.

Model, Costs and Program

A Federated BIM Model combines the individual BIM Model design disciplines, including architecture, structure and engineering services. As the Construction Contract is Design and Construct (D&C), the Tender Federated Model is updated to a ‘For Construction’ BIM Model progressively.

The contractor uses Asta Powerproject software to integrate the Federated BIM Model, costs and program into the same platform. The cost for each activity is based upon the agreed items in the Bill of Quantities where the quantities for the items have been extracted from the BIM Model.

Costs and Program durations added to the ‘for construction’ BIM Model

Once the ‘For Construction’ BIM Model is agreed, both the proposed construction program durations and consolidated bill of quantities item costs are added into the matching activity within the BIM Model for the programmed works.

The experience to date on this project, is that the actual preparation of the progress claim involves a combination of the BIM Model technology together with traditional methods. It still has many hurdles, but the journey of embracing new technology is well underway.

Read the full article on page 19 of the 2018 edition of Perspective, a compilation of insights from members of the RLB team around the world.