Design and development of BIM models to support operations and maintenance

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is one of the most significant technological advancements in recent years that has been adopted by the design and construction industry. While BIM adoption is growing, it can be witnessed that adoption is relatively weak within operational and maintenance (O&M) organisations such as estate and infrastructure management, who would ultimately gain the highest value of utilising BIM. While the challenges of BIM adaptation are multifaceted, there is a recurring theme of poor data integration between BIM and existing information management systems. There is a clear gap of knowledge on how to structure a BIM model that allows for efficient use within the O&M phase. Furthermore, there are no standard processes that allow for the exchange from a BIM model into an Asset Information Model (AIM). This paper outlines a process that enables extraction of BIM related data directly from a model into a relational database for integration within existing engineering asset management information management systems. The paper describes the BIM model requirements, development of the extraction platform, database architecture and framework. Furthermore, a case study is presented that demonstrates the methodology. The case study shows that if the BIM model is designed from the start with consideration for the O&M requirements, it can be exploited for development into an AIM. Furthermore, it demonstrates that a structured approach to object classification within a BIM model support the efficient exchange of data directly from the BIM mode