Bouwdata

The earlier I get involved in the process, the more I realise that different denominations and approaches to construction cost by different partners hampers our efficiency in construction more seriously than it might first appear. This starts with the board launching a new project but ends there as well with feedback on the return on their investment. And so it is in this ‘loop’ that things go wrong with the board losing the thread. Herewith a proposal to counter this..

Years ago, I attended a one-on-one workshop on Excel with Henk Vlootman. He contrasted the concept of ‘list’ with the concept of ‘system variable’ with regard to database thinking – necessary to work correctly with Excel. The former are valid for every project, the latter are defined per project and applied consistently within this project.

It is therefore important to define the ‘system variables’ for each construction project, from the beginning and to use them consistently by everyone and throughout the building life cycle.
The only classification system that complies with ISO 12006-2:2015 Building construction – Organisation of information about construction works – Part 2: Framework for classification and pays attention to ‘identification’ is Cuneco Classification System (CCS) from Denmark.

However, like any theoretical system, it needs some ‘tweaking’ to be fully workable in practice.
CCS ignores the fact that a complex can be implemented in multiple stages, each of which, moreover, may have its own financial model. Therefore, in addition to the term ‘Stage’ that RIBA plan of work 2020 introduces (and constitutes a ‘list’ because it is the same for all projects), it is important to have a system variable that identifies it.

The associated coding could then start with [P]# followed by a unique number and unambiguous description of the subproject or ‘ phase’.

E.g. on one side of the hospital a GP night duty center is being renovated and at the same time a brand new polyclinic is being built on the other side of the site. This then delivers e.g.[P]#HWP on the one hand and [P]#POLI on the other. Whether the associated costs fall under ‘activation’ or ‘use’ is best defined in another parameter but is an issue beyond the scope of this article.
The next distinction we wish to be able to make in the data flow concerns the building we are designing, building or maintaining. CCS calls this “entity ’ and uses [E]# for this purpose .
E.g. our GP night duty center consists partly of a modification of the building in which the emergency department is located and partly a piece of new construction. We are therefore going to have [E]#SPOED and [E]#HAP. We could also call this [E]#HWP but there is a good chance that in verbal communication, there will be confusion because one is talking about the entire GP night duty center sub-project and the other is talking solely about the GP night duty center new building. Especially when it comes to money, the discussion can then become unnecessarily acrimonious.

Next in the list, are the storeys. CCS uses ‘storey’ for this and the code should start with [S]#. Important question: where does one stop and where does the other start? From the Netherlands, where they are more advanced with BIM than we are, they place the boundary at the bottom of the bearing plate. Consequently, the foundation belongs to the lowest building layer. Building layers below the ground are usually labelled [S]#91, [S]#92, … The roof slab with corresponding waterproofing on top of the 1st floor therefore belongs to [S]#02.

Inside a building, we may also want to be able to delineate a grouping of spaces because e.g. these are going to be paid for by doctors where other spaces are part of the hospital’s overhead. CCS calls this “zone ’ and uses the code [Z]#. In our example, this could then be e.g. [Z]#DRS and [Z]#ZH.

Of course, we also want to be able to work ‘room by room’ and control data but also the associated money flows per room. A room surrounded by walls is called a “built space ’ in CCS, where the code starts with [B]#. However, in e.g. an open landscape office and certainly during the use phase, one also wants to be able to define the separate workplaces. For this, CCS uses the concept of “activity space ’ where the code starts with [A]#.

Certainly as we gradually will draw more and more data flows from the BIM model for further processing, it is important that we all, including the board of directors that finances the whole thing, name things in the same way. It is therefore particularly strongly recommended to lay down these lists in the BIM protocol / execution plan and limit freewheeling as much as possible.

#innovation #BouwData #henkvlootman #5DBIM #CCS #BIMprotocol #BIMuitvoeringsplan