abstract / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been in use in the Hong Kong Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry as an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tool for more than a decade. However, the increasing usage and rapid development in both the AEC industry and academia point to the potential multiple applications, impacts and much broader potential benefits that may be generated from BIM implementation. The current frequently used BIM applications have advanced the project performances levels and consequential benefits of relevant stakeholders in different dimensions. However, BIM development in the Hong Kong industry has not been smooth. Attention has been diverted from potential benefits to the barriers and constraints that retard BIM implementation. This has in turn limited the applications, hence not convincing industry participants of their potential benefits in quantitative terms. Furthermore, conflicts between BIM implementation and the existing project processes also retard the smooth development of BIM. A higher level of collaborative working is required for deriving more benefits from BIM. This research aims to develop possible feasible solutions to reduce the conflicts/barriers in BIM implementation and advance current BIM implementation towards more collaborative and integrated working arrangements (IWAs), with expected broader potential benefits in the context of the Hong Kong industry. IWAs in this research refer to: a) organization structures, b) information exchange mechanisms, and c) project processes. An inter-locking set of research methods were applied in this study to achieve the research goal. Literature reviews were conducted to extract and illustrate the basic concepts in BIM and lay the foundation for proposal development. Semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted to explore BIM implementation scenarios in the Hong Kong AEC industry. Two case studies helped to map out BIM implementation processes in real projects in Hong Kong. Finally, a focus group meeting was held to discuss, validate and improve the relevant research findings and improvement proposals. The main outcomes of this research are the proposed short term IWAs and long term IWAs for optimizing overall potential benefits of BIM implementation. The proposed short term IWAs consist of specific measures for participants to address the barriers and conflicts in BIM implementation within existing project processes. The proposed long term IWAs are based on a conceptual framework and processes to build an integrated working environment for BIM. The outcomes of this research can help industry practitioners to overcome current barriers and derive more benefits from BIM by developing specific measures targeting the current scenarios, as well as provide possible directions for moving further forward in the long term. The research outcomes also offer relevant contributions to knowledge by proposing fresh concepts and approaches to creating and developing collaborative working environment for BIM implementation based on relevant principles and guidelines that are in turn derived from Relational Contracting (RC) frameworks. / published_or_final_version / Civil Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

Building Information Modeling“BIM" is becoming a better known established collaboration process in the construction industry. Owners are increasingly requiring BIM services from construction managers, architects and engineering firms. Many construction firms are now investing in“BIM" technologies during bidding, preconstruction, construction and post construction. The goal of this project is to understand the uses and benefits of BIM for construction managers and examine BIM based scheduling. There are two objectives to this project. First is to identify the current uses of BIM in the Architectural / Engineering / Construction / Facility Management industry to better understand how the BIM-based“build to design" and“design to build" concepts can be used by construction managers under the Construction Management at Risk project delivery system. Second, a focus is placed on analyzing 3D and 4D BIM as well as BIM based scheduling. The research was conducted through literature review, case studies, and interviews. First, the research identified the uses of Building Information Modeling for preconstruction, construction and post construction phases. Then, the project examined the uses and benefits of BIM in the construction of a research facility. Subsequently, a prototype 4D Building Information Model was created and studied. Furthermore, the BIM-based schedule was integrated to the 4D model. Finally, the project concluded with an analysis on the use, advantages and setbacks of BIM and its tools.

Innovation implementation within an organization has always been associated with barriers from all aspects. As a key innovation in the building industry, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been adopted rapidly in the design and construction process. Facilities management (FM) which contributed far more values than design and construction however did not seems to catch up with this trend. High cost, poor technology and other factors inherent within organizations were mostly mentioned in research papers and industry to be the key obstacles. This paper aimed to explore and identify the key organizational barriers of the implementation process of BIM in FM. Three case studies on large FM organizations in Hong Kong were reported through in-depth interviews. Two FM software providers were also interviewed to have a comprehensive understanding of BIM in FM interfacing technology. Before the data collection process, two theoretical models were built to guide the data collection and analysis process. The first model was based on the information flow during the BIM in FM implementation process whilst the second model was about the required conditions for such process. FM managers from three leading organizations in BIM implementation in Hong Kong were interviewed. Some published documents from the targeted organizations were reviewed to facilitate the research findings. Soft system analysis was adopted to analyze the barriers which impeded the implementation of BIM in FM. A cross case study was also conducted to strengthen the findings from the three case studies. Two overseas software providers with successful BIM in FM experiences were also interviewed. The technology of BIM in FM is found to be ready for importing the construction stage information to FM software packages. The additional functions based on BIM in FM, however, are still not readily available in the market. The fragmentation between the project and facilities management teams was found to be the most significant barriers for BIM implementation. To overcome such barriers, organizations may consider establishing a coordination platform between the project management team and FM team. It could be the most efficient way when the fragmented organizational structure was not possible to be changed in a short time. A company-wide BIM standard would also be useful to help during the coordination process. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Philosophy

It is becoming increasingly relevant that designs address sustainability requirements. The objectives of any sustainable design are: to reduce resource depletion of energy, water, and raw materials; prevent environmental degradation caused throughout the building lifecycle; provide a safe, comfortable and healthy living environment. Currently, the sustainability of a building is judged by standards codified in a rating system. (1) Although compliance with a sustainability rating system is not mandatory, increasingly, it is becoming a goal that many designers and authorities would like to achieve. However, there are impediments to the pervasive use of sustainable design rating systems. 1. Certification is expensive. ( 2 ) It is labor intensive, involving large volumes of data aggregation, information accounting and exchange, which, can be a deterrent to designers and the design process. 2. Ratings systems are periodically reviewed; as our understanding increase and technology improve, sustainability requirements on designs become more extensive and, sometimes, more stringent. (3) 3. Sustainable building design rating tools are not readily integrated into the design process whereby the design solution can be developed by different disciplines. 4. The design information model associated with a building may not contain the data (attributes) necessary to evaluate its design. 5. Information is disparate and distributed—requiring it to be supplemented, augmented from various sources, and managed for the different stages of a building design process In practice, designers tend to employ commercial (and reasonably stable) design tools, making it imperative to develop an approach that utilizes information readily and currently available in digital form in conjunction with rating system requirements. This research focuses on supporting sustainability assessment where designers need to evaluate the information in a design in order to fulfill sustainability metrics. The main research objective is an approach to integrating sustainability assessment with a design environment. This comprises: identifying informational requirements from rating systems; representing them in computable form; mapping them to information in a commercial design tool; and assessing the performance of a design. An overall framework for organizing, managing and representing sustainability information requirements is developed as the demonstrator. Case study of an actual project demonstrates the flow of information from a commercially available building information modeler and a sustainable building rating system. The process developed bridges sustainability assessment requirements with information from the model for preevaluation prior to submission for certification. Contributions include a technical implementation of sustainable design assessment for pre assessment through a process of identifying information availability, augmentation, representation and management focused on two credits (Reduce indoor water use and Minimum energy performance) over evolving rating standards, namely (LEED 2.1, LEED 2009 and LEED v4). These contributions are intended to enable designers, stakeholders, contractors and other professionals to communicate strategies and make informed decisions to achieve sustainability goals for a project from design through to operation. (1) Design choices are validated, by measuring design performance against criteria specified by the rating system. See Chapter 2: Research Background. (2) “Shame on you for perpetuating this myth that green design costs more even if integrated properly. LEED certification does, but green design need not.” (Kats, 2010) (3) “Sustainability is not static–it is iteratively changing, based on knowledge that connects science and design.” (Williams, 2007)

Traditionally in the Architectural / Engineering / Construction industry, the design and construction phases are conducted by multiple professional and trade disciplines having minimum interaction among them along a rather sequential process. These parties bring their different objectives to the project that are not necessarily aligned with the overall project objectives. Design professionals do not necessarily work together giving little or no consideration for the requirements or constraints of subsequent functions such as construction and operation and maintenance of the facility. Design documentation that communicates the design intent to the builder, contains errors and inconsistencies, are incomplete or are simply difficult to read. This results in poor designs that have to be changed or modified during the construction phase and even during the long-term facility operation, thus increasing total cost and time of execution. It has been established that the decisions made at early stages of the design process have the highest impact on the project lifecycle cost and facility performance. For that reason, new project delivery systems, software tools and lean principles have emerged in the industry enhancing collaboration among project participants and reducing the existing gap between the design and construction phases. The increased use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) allows project participants to generate, manage and share information through a 3D digital model to better collaborate, communicate and understand the design intent. Still, design and construction professionals do not necessarily share their models and collaborate in an integrated fashion to accrue the benefits of an early involvement during design. This research uses the Axiomatic Design (AD) methodology to analyze some essential aspects of the design process to propose an improved process that seeks to produce better designs by adding value and reducing waste. Axiomatic Design is a systems design methodology using matrix methods to systematically analyze the transformation of customer needs into functional requirements, design parameters, and process variables. In AD, design principles or design Axioms govern the analysis and decision making process to develop high quality product or system designs. This research proposes an integrated, BIM-based design approach embracing compliance with the two AD axioms. Axiom one, the Independence axiom, seeks to maintain the design adjustable and controllable, and implements lean principles, BIM processes and tools following the concepts established by a BIM Project Execution Plan. Computer simulation techniques, the development of metrics and the calculation of Axiom two, the Information Axiom, are used to assess the benefits of an improved process.

This thesis treats Building Information Modeling, BIM, in the production stage. Briefly described BIM is virtual model of a building object where all information about the object is gathered. All the involved operators in the construction project have access to the model and can gather or share information about the project. There are several ways to apply BIM in the production stage. This thesis primarily deals with visualization of the object, preparation and planning, the ability to take amounts from the model and coordination and clash control. The basic issue was highlighted by Byggdialog AB. The company has a vision about how they want to use BIM in all the different stages in a building project. Byggdialog want their partnering entrepreneurs to develop their BIM usage in the production stage in order to fulfill this vision. Goodtech is one of Byggdialogs partnering entrepreneurs and is the company that has been studied during this thesis. The goal with this thesis was to develop proposals as to how the BIM usage in the production stage can improve. The purpose was to make the partnering entrepreneurs understand why it is important and helpful to use BIM. The intention was also that other partnering entrepreneurs should be able to use this thesis while working with BIM in the production stage. The methods to collect information have been visits to construction sites, literature search, and interviews. The interviewees represented different operators that can affect the usage of BIM in the production stage. This thesis resulted in concrete proposals as to how the partnering entrepreneur can improve their BIM usage. Proposals as to how Byggdialog can ensure that their entrepreneurs are using BIM correct have also been developed. Today the partnering entrepreneur uses BIM to visualize the building object. As a suggestion the entrepreneur should also use the BIM model while preparing and planning their work and in order to calculate material amounts . It’s important that the entrepreneur understand how the model can be used and what kind of information it contains in order to enable these applications. It’s also important that the design phase is carefully executed. Proposals as to how this can be achieved is to educate the staff in BIM and how it should be used, that the partnering entrepreneur participates in the coordination meetings and that the partnering entrepreneur place greater demands on their electrical consultant. In order for Byggdialog to ensure that their partnering entrepreneurs are using BIM correct they should offer them education about BIM and how it works, make the BIMmodel more user-friendly and place demands on how they want BIM to be used in the project specifications. / Detta examensarbete handlar om byggnadsinformationsmodellering, BIM, i produktionen. Kort förklarat är BIM en virtuell modell av ett byggobjekt, där all information som rör byggnaden samlas. Alla aktörer i ett byggprojekt har tillgång till denna modell och kan, genom denna, samla in eller dela ut information som rör objektet. Det finns olika tillämpningar av BIM i produktionen, denna studie behandlar främst visualisering, arbetsberedning och planering, mängdavtagning och samordning och kollisionskontroller. Grundproblematiken lyftes fram med hjälp av uppdragsgivaren Byggdialog AB. Företaget har en vision om hur BIM ska användas i byggprocessens olika skeden. Byggdialog upplever att deras partneringentreprenörer, PE, bör utveckla sin BIManvändning i produktionen för att denna vision ska kunna uppfyllas. Goodtech är en av Byggdialogs partneringentreprenörer och är det företag som studerats i detta examensarbete. Målet med arbetet var att, med utgångspunkt från teorier samt Byggdialogs vision, ge förslag till hur partneringentreprenören kan utveckla BIM-användningen i produktionen. Syftet var att få partneringentreprenören att förstå nyttan med att använda BIM i produktionsskedet. Avsikten har också varit att andra partneringentreprenörer ska ha nytta av denna studie vid användning av BIM i produktionen. De metoder som användes var studiebesök, litteraturstudie och intervjustudie. Intervjuobjekten representerade olika yrkeskategorier som alla kan påverka användningen av BIM i produktionen. Detta examensarbete resulterade i konkreta förslag till hur partneringentreprenören kan förbättra BIM användningen. Även förslag till hur Byggdialog kan säkerställa att deras PE använder BIM korrekt togs fram. Idag använder partneringentreprenören BIM främst för att visualisera byggobjektet. Förslagsvis bör de även använda BIM vid arbetsberedning/planering av arbetet. Partneringentreprenören har också förutsättningar för mängdavtagning ur modellen. För att möjliggöra dessa tillämpningar är det viktigt att partneringentreprenören förstår hur 3D - modellen kan användas, samt vilken information som finns i den. Det är även viktigt att modellen är noggrant projekterad. Förslag till hur detta kan uppnås är genom att partneringentreprenören utbildar sig inom BIM och hur det används, att de deltar i BIM-samordningsmötena samt att de ställer högre krav på sin elprojektör. Byggdialog kan säkerställa att deras PE använder BIM korrekt genom att erbjuda utbildningstillfällen, anpassa BIM-modellen efter användaren och ställa krav i förfrågningsunderlaget.

This thesis determines a process to adopt and implement the disruptive practice and technology of Building Information Modeling (BIM) within the architectural-engineering-construction (AEC) community. Specific areas to address include: 1. Define process, adoption and integration as related to BIM implementation 2. Describe why BIM is a disruptive technology today 3. Identify reactive and proactive BIM outcomes 4. Evaluate and select process options for a specific BIM project 5. Describe the roles and responsibilities of participants, or stakeholders, in the BIM process 6. Identify consistent factors that influence BIM return on investment (ROI) at the project and company levels 7. Communicate the BIM process to management, colleagues and project stakeholders 8. Outline a process for BIM adoption and implementation at the project and company levels. The research methodology includes literature reviews and case studies. This research extends key teachings of the University of Texas at Austin Executive Engineering Management curriculum and gives the reader insight into the adoption and implementation of disruptive technologies. / text

The challenge of integrating information from multiple data sources automatically, via computers, has long been of great interest in the area of Databases and Information Systems. It has become more important with the growth of the Internet and proliferation of Semi-Structured information sources. The major obstacle to integrating information from multiple sources lies in reconciling the meaning of data, which is known as Semantic Reconciliation or Semantic Integration. In the design of databases and information systems, the meaning of data that can be stored is usually described by a conceptual model. Thus, one needs to express data or transform data into a comprehensive and uniform conceptual model before approaching the issue of automatic (computerbased) integration. This thesis proposes a conceptual model - the property-based model - as the basis for semantic data integration. The main premise underlying the model is that to identify the meaning of data requires identifying what the data represents in the world. The branch of philosophy dealing with what exists in the world is Ontology; hence, the proposed model is based on ontological foundations. Specifically, it is based on Bunge's ontology as adapted to information systems by Wand and Weber, and on a method for semantic reconciliation proposed by Parsons and Wand. The thesis begins with an overview of research in the field of Information Integration. It discusses the most common type of conceptual models - the Class-Based Model, which includes the Entity- Relationship Model and Object-Oriented Models, and mentions some problems with this type of models. Then the thesis presents the property-based model. Based on the Property-Based model, the thesis proposes and develops a Property-Based Approach to integrating information from multiple sources. The approach uses two main tools, the Property-Precedence Schema (PPS) and the Instance Function (IF). After discussing briefly some practical issues, the thesis introduces a general integration procedure and demonstrates it on a case study to illustrate the usability of the approach.

Building information modeling, eller BIM som det kallas, har länge varit utsett till framtiden inom byggindustri. BIM är ett samlingsnamn för en arbetsprocess där en gemensam informationsbaserad 3D-modell utnyttjas. Denna modell nås av alla aktörer i projektet. BIM skiljer sig mot vanlig 3D-CAD då objekten innehåller digital information i form av beskrivningar, mängder, klassificeringar med mera. Modellen granskas med hjälp av ett visningsprogram, antingen för dator eller mobil enhet i form av surfplatta eller mobiltelefon. I visningsprogrammet ges fri manövrering och möjlighet till lagerhantering och analyser. Åhlin & Ekeroth i Linköping Byggnads AB är stor lokal entreprenör i Östergötland. På denna lokala nivå konkurrerar de med det stora rikstäckande byggbolagen. I ett steg att följa utvecklingen är de initiativtagarna till detta examensarbete som undersöker deras möjlighet till att utnyttja BIM i deras producerande skeden. Det finns enormt många områden under ett byggprojekt där BIM kan underlätta, kvalitetssäkra och avlasta arbetet. Åhlin & Ekeroth i Linköping Byggnads AB står inför sitt första BIM-projekt och de kommer använda visningsprogrammet Autodesk Navisworks Freedom för att samgranska den gemensamma 3D-modellen. Erfarenheterna efter det första projektet under hösten 2012 kommer avgöra Åhlin & Ekeroths framtida satsning på BIM.