Detailed design and BIM

Most BIM models are just visualisation

They show what the building will look like but are worth little during construction, because the contractor’s workflows were not considered when they were made.

That is the difference between a good-looking model and a genuinely usable one.

Our models are built for construction

• the structure is part of the concept from the start, not added afterwards,
• we run clash detection in 3D during the design, so problems do not first appear on site,
• we build the model so the contractor can work from it without asking.

BIM basics · Clash detection in practice.

What the detailed design contains

The content is set by legislation: every direct piece of information and instruction needed for construction and for producing the shop drawings. The content of the detailed design.

In practice:

• architectural part: build-ups, connections, schedules,
• structural part: design, layouts, connection drawings,
• discipline parts: mechanical, electrical, fire,
• quantities and an unpriced bill.

Why it pays even where it is not mandatory

• comparable tenders: everyone prices the same content,
• fewer variations: the questions are settled at the drawing board,
• evidence in a dispute,
• manufacture: for a prefabricated structure the shop drawings cannot responsibly be produced without it.

Level of development

Not every element is produced at the same detail — nor does it need to be. In LGS, though, the whole frame is manufacture-accurate, because manufacture works directly from it. Levels of development.

What you receive of it

The contractual deliverable is the drawn documentation; handing over the model is a matter of separate agreement. What we hand over · Drawings or model.

The point

A model is usable when the contractor can work from it. If it is only good-looking, that is a rendering, not BIM.