DECEMBER 2022CONSTRUCTIONTECHREVIEW.COM9stage. This collaboration can and does play a critical role in ensuring that the design, construction and operation of the built environment is the very best that it can be. For example, by bringing their unique insight into likely usage patterns and understanding from other buildings, facilities managers can play a key role in advising on the design of environments and systems that will improve occupant wellbeing or improve energy usage and sustainability. Without this early involvement, key considerations may be overlooked.Centralising data stores can also be useful here, as well as incorporating complementary technologies such as digital twins. By placing high quality data in a centralised location which all key stakeholders can access, BIM can provide the basis for Digital Twins that can then be used to test and predict how the asset will operate under different conditions; an increasingly important function as we design and build buildings and infrastructure that must cope with changing climates over the coming decades. This ability to test and retest how systems react to different conditions, or to hypothesise about how people may use a building in certain circumstances, will play a major role in optimising energy usage and improving user wellbeing in the future. Getting smarter about smart buildingsBuildings continue to become smarter with all new and improved sensors for measuring factors such as temperature, air quality, and building occupancy. Having this data means we can further optimise the running of the building. However, before systems can be optimised, we need to understand their baseline operating efficiency. BIM provides this through accessible high-quality data on a building's systems, allowing facilities managers to compare real world usage patterns with best case scenarios. As a result, facilities managers are able to effectively optimise operations to improve building usage, energy efficiency, and a whole host of other factors.BIM is not a silver bullet for all the potential problems facing the built environment, but it can help make significant improvements to operations and efficiency across the entire lifecycle of our buildings and infrastructure. Used effectively it provides the means with which to bring all stakeholders to the table to drive collaboration and improve the ways in which we design, build, and operate the spaces in which we live and work. As the industry tackles ever more complex issues and circumstances arising from increased urban density, pollution, and climate change, whilst also being tasked with creating spaces that improve health and wellbeing, that collaboration is going to be critical to the sectors future success." By creating an exact digital footprint from which informed decisions can be made, BIM can help facilities managers optimise the management, energy usage, and refurbishment of physical assets
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