Home > What is BIM?

The BIM

BIM (Building Information Management) is a process of managing all of the information about a building, from its design to its rennovation or demolition.

By definition, BIM is the process that enables construction professionals to collaborate, by providing and using reliable and coordinated digital information. All of the building’s data is then centralized in a unique digital model allowing calculations.

3D digital models are used to model the building from its design to its maintenance, including its construction.

BIM models facilitate the exchange of information between construction stakeholders. This process makes it possible to detect conflicts between the models produced by these actors to reduce the risk of errors during the execution of the work or, in a later stage, during maintenance.

BIM thus contributes to better construction quality, better control of budgets and deadlines.

BIM: Building Information Model or Modeling or Management?

Even if the 3D model is the central point around which all the information revolves, limiting BIM to the model or to the process of building the model would be reductive in our eyes.

At TASE, we therefore decided to join the current of thought according to which the M of BIM stands for Management.

It is indeed the management of all the information related to the construction of a building, so as to better organize work and collaboration.

The 3D model, also called 3D model in architecture, occupies a central role in the modeling process. This allows a much better management of information and creates added value.

We therefore use the following terms:

  • 3D model
  • Modeling process
  • Information management.

An industrial evolution

The use of 3D is not new in architecture, although the sharing of centralized smart models is fairly recent. By sharing unambiguous information between players, we promote a new collaborative process, a source of added value.

Thanks to BIM, industrial practices are applied to the construction sector; in collaboration and data management; that other sectors have been practicing for years.
On a global scale, construction needs are such that it is necessary to do better, faster, potentially cheaper and with the ambition of better quality.

BIM has a positive impact on the way construction actors work, allowing better control of all the tasks of the Art of Building.

The advantages of BIM

Anticipating problems using the model before they occur on-site improves quality and reduces costs and lead times.
In addition, working on shared models, collaborating transparently in a participatory process generates many other advantages:

  • You have a unique overview of the project.
  • Site coordination is optimized.
  • Planning of technical work is facilitated.
  • Identification, management and resolution of concerns and / or conflicts take place before construction.
  • It is easy to retrieve design-to-manufacture data.
  • The profitability of the project is improved.
  • The management and maintenance of the building are optimized throughout its existence.

Shared models

The information extracted from smart digital models can be graphic or geometric, such as plans, but also data, such as forms.

This information can be easily modified, adapted according to the evolutions of the project, thanks to the management of intelligent parameters, which allows various analyzes and simulations in order to optimize the realization of the project.

A limited or controlled risk of error

Designing and drawing in 3D already reduces the number of de facto errors, whereas previously, plan, section, elevation views could provide different information.
Since the BIM models contain all the data, it is easier and safer to draw the necessary plans, sections, section views, elevation views and 3D perspectives from them.

Problems solved before they happen

Thanks to BIM, it is also possible to carry out checks as early as possible in the project study and to detect problems from the design phases in order to resolve them before they reach the construction site.
When modifications are considered, BIM makes it easy to control the impacts on the budget and deadlines, so as to validate or not these modifications and to measure their consequences.

Are you involved with BIM?

The main innovation of BIM, unlike a traditional approach, is to understand the data of all the actors involved in a project.

It is therefore intended for:

  • Contracting authorities / Promoters
  • Project management assistants
  • Design offices
    • Architects
    • Stability engineers
    • Special technical engineers
    • Control offices
    • Surveyors
    • Acousticians
    • Health safety coordinators
    • Others
  • Companies / Installers / subcontractors
  • Operators

BIM implementation

BIM is a collaborative approach that is put in place from the start of studies, upstream of programming. This process, therefore, starts long before the model.

It follows the progress of the project and applies to the different phases of construction or renovation or maintenance.

The BIM manager and interdisciplinary collaboration

This working method is most effective when all the actors are committed to applying it and collaborating.

Thus, people are appointed and are responsible for ensuring the quality of the models and the effectiveness of the collaboration between each specialty:

  • The BIM Manager is the BIM right arm of the project owner
  • The BIM Coordinator is the BIM referent of the project management for the project owner.

In addition, the different actors participate in the drafting:

  • BIM Vision, which describes the MO’s vision, expressing the client’s needs in relation to BIM.
  • The BIM Protocol, which describes the procedures for collaboration between interested parties.
  • The BIM Execution Plan, which integrates the needs of the different parties in terms of data exchange.