Sustainable facilities management through building information modelling

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an approach to improving the efficiency of the building process and potentially providing the key data set needed by facilities managers to operate buildings in a more sustainable manner. Whilst the design/construction phase of BIM is well advanced, the facilities management phase is not. Although attempts to develop similar facilities management models have been tried before, they have failed because of the complexity of data analysis and the inadequacies of the available computing technologies. However, the BIM concept could overcome these problems and provide the basis for a new information model for sustainable building operation and management. This paper will present the initial stages of a three-year project to develop a BIM solution to support the sustainable facilities management of a multiuse commercial building. The paper summarises the theoretical application of BIM to facilities management and presents the results of a small questionnaire survey and stakeholder workshop to ascertain facilities managers understanding of, an attitudes towards, BIM. The paper concludes that, whilst BIM isn't currently widely used by facilities managers, they are aware of its development and its potential applications in facilities management. The paper also concludes that facilities managers generally perceive BIM to be a potential facilitator to their work rather than an inhibitor.