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LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION? Watch a video that outlines the Dunn Dashboard at: forconstructionpros.com/video/12097595/video-what-is-the- dunn-dashboard.
BIM + collaboration = big savings Web-based BIM programs are saving firms on time and money, especially when used collaboratively by all project teams.
By Liisa Andreassen Correspondent
understand what was expected of them, and BIM helped to achieve that. “The CLSB project team was a pioneer in its early adoption of digital document collaboration, web-based BIM collaboration, and field technology,” says John Jacobs, chief information of- ficer at JE Dunn Construction. And, while BIM programs are not new, as they get more so- phisticated, they’re gaining more ground. Most large-scale ar- chitectural projects involve some combination of BIM model- ing and CAD, but it’s rare to see more than 100 team members working exclusively from the same set of BIM plans. “CLSB was one of the first fully collaborative BIM efforts where all key players were involved in a process that really en- hanced the overall value these technologies added to the proj- ect team,” says Trent Nichols, vice president and national BIM director for JE Dunn Construction. The primary BIM programs used on the building were Au- todesk, Revit, Autodesk Navisworks, and SketchUp. A separate team was responsible for designing each mechani- cal system – plumbing, electrical, and ventilation systems. The clash-detection feature of the 3-D BIM model identified de- sign conflicts – things like a pipe designed to intersect with a duct – before construction began, when changes were rela- tively easy. The plumbing teams were then able to change their
S till trying to find a reason to start automating paper pro- cesses? How does $10 million in savings sound? Digital technology helped JE Dunn Construction (Kansas City, MO), a 3,000 person firm, and SERA Architects (Portland, OR), a 100-person firm, keep this tidy sum in the bank when they ap- plied a combination of custom and off-the-shelf collaboration software to put the design and construction teams and all sub- contractors on an all-BIM process to complete a complex build- ing in Portland, Oregon. JOINT PROJECT, JOINT SAVINGS. The two companies collaborated on the building and design of the 650,000-square-foot Collabora- tive Life Sciences Building – a research center for the Oregon Health and Science University, Oregon State University, and Portland State University. Through the use of BIM and digital collaboration, they cut $10 million in construction costs from the $295 million budget. CO Architects (Los Angeles, CA), a 100-person firm, served as the project’s design architect and SERA was the executive ar- chitect. JE Dunn Construction was responsible for delivering the goals of each party. BIM REDUCES RISK. The CLSB team had a complex design, and with complexity comes risk if a clear communication plan is not in place. Each of the project’s subcontractors needed to
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