Connecting the job site with the BIM process

The development of Scan2bim technology has been long awaited in the AEC world. This technology uses a laser scanner to document a 3D scan of the existing physical conditions in a model, which is then used for the development and maintenance of the project. As such, this valuable tool is being used on job sites worldwide, providing contractors, architects, coordinators, and all other stake holders a powerful tool for the construction process.

In Denmark specifically, LE34 is the largest provider of surveying and land management services. They offer customizable packages to clients and projects from various sectors, including urban planning, infrastructure projects, and property development. Their in-house specialties include laser scanning, volume surveying, data processing to augmented reality, as-built documentation, and many others.

Charlotte Metz is project leader at LE34 and an early adopter of issue management. She started using BIMcollab’s BCF Managers back in 2016. Since then, BIMcollab has grown together with LE34, and in the last years has become LE34’s most commonly used issue management tool in scan2bim projects.

Before BIMcollab was implemented, numerous Excel files and screenshots were shared within the team. Updating and tracking issues was a very time-consuming task with low added value to the coordination process. The BCF managers help us communicate fast and accurate.

Working with multiple teams and often exchanging models requires an effective and tested BIM workflow. Charlotte explains below how BIMcollab assists LE34 in coordinating complex projects by connecting different teams and their tools by monitoring the project performance and quality.

BIMcollab provides an opportunity to monitor the model quality even from the simplest parameters like the number of issues present in the project. Based on previous BIMcollab projects, we have developed a monitoring criteria: an amount of issues per square meter, based on categories, a result which is then ranked as not-so-good, good, and the best.

As a land surveying company, LE34 delivers point cloud and scan2bim 3D models for As-Is and As-Built documentation for the AEC industry. Fun fact: BIMcollab Zoom Viewer is a free model viewer that can load point cloud and IFC files! Download the Viewer version of Zoom here.

Specifically, LE34’s team uses BIMcollab on all of their scan2bim projects. For this type of projects, accurate coordination and review of the point clouds with design models from different disciplines is critical for creating a comprehensive federated model.

In this process, LE34’s team acts as coordinators for all the disciplines and models, ensuring the most effective BIM process is achieved on every project. Centralizing the issues for the entire team ensures that each team member is actively involved and up-to-date, and that tasks can be easily managed per team and discipline. The Filter issues feature available in both the BIMcollab web-app and all BCF managers, helps the team to highlight pressing issues, so that they can focus their time and attention on the highest priority tasks.

The BCF Manager is the way we ensure clear communication is happening within the entire modelling team. Issues which are created in one modelling tool are shared with a few clicks, and appear the same for the rest of the team in their preferred software, so there is no loss of data, and the resolution times are optimized.

With BIMcollab supporting the coordination between the real-world site conditions and the digital BIM models, providing fast and accurate communication with the list of all issues visible for all members and a clear audit trail of actions taken, Charlotte herself concludes:

We consider BIMcollab’s tools essential for maintaining the quality of our projects. A tool without which I could not do this kind of work.

All quotes are by Charlotte Metz – Project leader from LE34.

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