What is Building Information Modelling (BIM)?

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a 3D model-based digital design and documentation process that gives AEC professionals the ability to coordinate, construct and manage buildings more efficiently.

BIM allows more efficient and effective communication via access to and sharing of information, for the right people at the right time.

Building information modelling (BIM) is predicated on the idea that a building should be constructed twice: virtually first, physically second.

How do BIM standards help?

To facilitate the efficient exchange of project models and information, modelling practices and datasets must be standardised to ensure a consistent and repeatable representation of the physical, functional and spatial characteristics of a building or facility is achieved. An industry standard creates a high quality, best practice approach that allows tier two and three organisations to adopt, thereby raising their level to open up new collaboration and partnership opportunities. This best practice approach produces wide spread interoperability between organisations and disciplines. Further, BIM standards help project teams identify and select asset information requirements early in the delivery to simplify the design, construction and maintenance of assets.

The success of the BIM process depends on a deliberate and structured approach to the creation and maintenance of digital information. Standardisation of pre-defined parametric data fields ensures that information about a building structure, plant, equipment and fittings is precise enough to accurately represent the physical, spatial and performance characteristics of a building.

The standardisation of data also enables practices and workflows to be developed to ensure that information is shared and applied routinely and consistently throughout the entire construction process, whilst maintaining the integrity of the design.

What is BIM-MEPAUS?

BIM-MEPAUS is a national ‘standard practice’ for BIM – specifically focusing on MEP services throughout the design, construction and operation of a building.

We develop an industry based, best practice methodology for the Australian Construction, building service industry, to assist Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) through:

  • Following reliable, consistent and industry relevant workflows.
  • A structured and consistent approach to data management, modelling practices and analysis.
  • Industry standardisation and lean principals to deliver improved supply chain integration and efficiency.

Exactly what does BIM-MEPAUS produce?

Standards

BIM-MEPAUS aims to publish a set of standards to ensure BIM design models are precise and accurate, practices are applied routinely and consistently, and the sharing of information follows a predictable workflow that provides all parties to a project with confidence in the integrity of both the model, the data and the process.

BIM-MEPAUS standards include:

  • Workflows
  • Guideline documents
  • Specifications for systems, plant, equipment and fittings;
  • Content – Template and Models
  • Product Data Templates

Workflows

BIM-MEPAUS workflows promote the efficient transfer of building information throughout the project lifecycle.  BIM-MEPAUS workflows achieve this by providing a clear pathway for the transfer of BIM models through:

Guidelines

BIM-MEPAUS guidelines provide a compendium of information or series of options to support the use of other BIM-MEPAUS standards including specifications, practices and workflows.

Specifications

BIM-MEPAUS product specifications detail explicit sets of industry requirements to be satisfied by a constructible design model, including coordinated systems, plant, equipment and fittings. BIM-MEPAUS product specifications act to digitalise MEP products, including requirements for 3D modelling, the identification, performance and quality, commissioning and completion properties of both the design and manufacturer models to be used within the Autodesk Revit MEP software.

Content – Template and Models

BIM-MEPAUS content is the three-dimensional representation of the various physical, functional and spatial characteristics of a particular system, piece of plant, equipment or fitting. These models have been designed in consultation with designers, contractors, manufacturers and suppliers to ensure the defined parameters are consistent for the intended application. Content is categorised into:

In addition to the content listed above, we also produce an industry standard BIM-MEPAUS Autodesk Revit MEP Template Add-In to provide a starting environment for projects.

Product Data Templates

BIM-MEPAUS create and provide a standardised and structured data set based on industry defined parameters and attributes. BIM-MEPAUS Product Data Templates (PDTs) assist clients and project teams with a standard dataset for each product to determine the relevant asset information requirements.

The BIM-MEPAUS Parameter and Data Management Tool, provides a single point of truth for BIM-MEPAUS parameters and a CDE (Common Data Environment) for building services and the AEC industry. The value of a structured and consistent approach to shared parameters together with the data workflow reliability benefits from a single point of truth is evident.

The parameter and data management tool contains a list of standardised parameters established through the BIM-MEPAUS industry workshops. It provides open access to the parameter names plus other important parameter attributes. The tool aims to serve three sets of users:

  • Project and component specification authors;
  • Revit modellers; and
  • Data Managers and analysts working off the model.