Valerie Hendel, PCS Structural Solutions
On December 3, 2020, PCS Structural Solutions announced the promotion of Dan Horne to director of BIM. Dan oversees the firm’s Building Information Modeling (BIM) teams at the Tacoma, Seattle, and Portland offices. His goal is to make sure the BIM team is working collectively and consistently. PCS is a fluent user of BIM technology: the firm started using Revit Structure 3.0 in April of 2006 and never looked back. In 2011, PCS adopted Revit as the standard working platform for all internal projects moving forward.
“Client service is extremely vital for PCS’s success,” says Horne. “We are invested in the quality of work we do as well as in our client relationships. We want to be easy to work with, build relationships with our clients on a personal level, and provide exceptional service and deliverables to all team members. We share a lot work between offices every day, so this is critical for our team to all conform to PCS standards.”
BIM and Collaboration
As the BIM team hums along, we’re reminded of the critical role that they have in tackling project inefficiencies and cementing partnerships among project teams. Collaboration is highly valued by project owners and provides team partners with the best opportunity to impact cost and collectively tackle goals. Increasingly, owners are selecting teams who are highly effective communicators—they know they get the best value from a team that can perform well together.
BIM facilitates effective work flow, enabling rapid information sharing among multiple team members. “The key for our team is to minimize down time in the field, so identifying and resolving clashes before construction begins is another one of our team’s main priorities,” explains Horne. “In whole, we set our standards very high as a BIM Team to make sure we are producing high quality structural models as well as top notch contract documents.”
Team Culture
The very nature of BIM is collaborative, and the BIM department embodies the value. “We think sharing the knowledge is crucial for our team’s development, and we have one of the most well-rounded groups I have ever been a part of,” says Horne. That spirit is integral to a dynamic group of individuals who always have an eye to the future of their craft. BIM has been evolving for decades and provides a tremendous opportunity to affect efficiencies. Where are we seeing BIM impact?
Healthcare campus modeling. With this approach, the team identifies design conflicts with existing structures early in the design process. This allows the whole team to address these conflicts before having to react to them. The information has an impact on coordinating site shoring along with new design element integration to existing structures. Facility directors have immediate access to these virtual 3D campuses instead of digging through archive files and drawings for the information they need. The models become enormously valuable in resiliency planning and can be used for aid in emergency response and seismic assessments.
Material takeoffs/quantities. These can be very simple or complex depending on the project. The BIM team can break materials down into different categories such as differing material grades for steel column/beams, etc. This information allows the design team to follow the budget more precisely. Material quantities are also used for carbon footprint evaluations, measuring embodied carbon in the project’s parts and labor. The models then serve as the owner’s records.
Implementation of prefabricated systems. PCS’s BIM team has worked with multiple contractors and sub-contractors to produce drawings and models of prefabricated wall panels using both metal stud and wood construction. The information allows the sub-contractors to mobilize early in construction and stay ahead of schedule. This strategy has resulted in significant cost savings and value to projects. PCS has freed up budget for project enhancements from prefabrication schedule savings.
Support multi-trade shop drawing coordination deliverables. The BIM team talks directly with sub-contractors to produce and coordinate trade-specific coordination drawings and models. This reduces the overall trade labor cost by minimizing downtime in the field. “We attend weekly Navisworks clash-detection meetings with all subs to resolve design issues that arise,” says Horne.
Point cloud/laser scanning utilization. Laser scanning can be described as a three dimensional as-built which allows the team access to information that otherwise would be too time consuming, or in some cases, almost impossible to get. Creating the model from a point cloud is more efficient when existing documentation doesn’t exist and the typical tape-measure-in-hand as-built process alone isn’t sufficient. The BIM team uses models generated from 3D scanning to map existing buildings, which are then used to refine seismic bracing systems (or other system) that will fit within the existing space.
BIM for the future
“We want to make sure we’re staying on the front edge of our industry. We make sure we’re adapting appropriately to our clients’ needs and industry changes,” says Horne. “Continual training for our team is absolutely vital to our growth.”
What innovations are on the landscape and on the horizon for BIM? Our team provided some insights.
The industry is transitioning heavily to Autodesk BIM360 because of the flexibility it allows. PCS has fully integrated the approach into our internal processes. This approach integrates the design team’s models/contract documents into one location instead of having them hosted on individual firm networks. Owners, contractors, and design teams all have access to published documents / models when they need them instead of waiting for information to be shared by each discipline.
The design team can utilize this platform in many ways: It is very flexible and can be customized for each specific project. For example, some projects require live-linking, which allows each team member to see instantaneous changes between disciplines when needed. Clash detections are also starting to be managed in this platform as well. It allows for the whole team to address clashes and make sure they are managed and resolved prior to when the construction process begins or the contractor gets involved.
As the pandemic causes disruption to the AEC industry, BIM has added a healthy measure of resiliency. Structures are designed as collaborative works. By having these models, we are able to adapt our spaces to accommodate social distancing standards, HVAC upgrades, ingress and egress, etc. That was a use case that we weren't aware of just last year. We can adapt our living spaces to accommodate today’s climates giving us the ability to quickly explore different scenarios digitally that we just can’t do as quickly in the analog world.
We feel there may be a transition somewhere in the future affecting how our deliverables will be submitted and reviewed. We could definitely see the industry transitioning to submitting our models with the contract documents as our deliverables. This would allow the trade partners the advantage to navigate the buildings to understand all of the systems at a higher level.
Keep Watching BIM
It’s clear that BIM has given traction to the collaborative work model in the AEC industry. What’s exciting is discovering its agility at work under tremendous social/environmental pressure, and—not to be understated—its ability to help keep people connected and build community.
PCS Structural Solutions. Connected teams. Bold solutions.
