DEVELOPMENT OF MID TO LONG TERM BIM APPLICATIONS IN FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an integration process used to bridge the various stages of the building life cycle. With the introduction of mandatory BIM e-submission by the year 2015, the use of BIM in the design and construction stages is likely to improve drastically over the next 5 years. With the improvement of BIM adoption in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, the next step to take would be to close the gap between the implementation of BIM in the AEC industry and that of the Facilities Management (FM) industry. With the lack of mandatory requirement for the FM industry to adopt BIM, it is likely that the adoption rate for the next 5 years would still remain at the infancy stage. This research paper is thus aimed at investigating the mid to long term strategies to be adopted for BIM to be applied to FM. The trends of service delivery by FM at the urban level and the ways of how BIM could be a platform to be adopted to aid the management process are identified. This paper also seeks to investigate the mid to long term technologies to be incorporated into BIM to generate greater value for FM services. Observations were made through a case study of Mapletree Logistics Trust and interviews with the Singapore Sports Hub and NUS Office of Facilities Management to understand the current barriers towards BIM adoption so as to resolve them in the recommendations for mid to long term adoption. Recommendations suggested strive to incorporate the policy, process and people concerns of BIM in FM through changing the policy and culture towards BIM, combination of BIM with existing IT solutions and use of Big Data technologies with mobile devices during BIM application.