City Scale Building Information Modelling – State of the Art Research

Future Cities Catapult has identified significant opportunites in the advancement and further deployment of Building Information Modelling (BIM), and using the data emanating from it for uses other than those which it was designed for (the Architecture, Engineering and Construction sector), including but not limited to:

• Accelerating the planning system;

• Enhancing the transparency of the planning system;

• Enabling detailed visualisation and interrogation of existing building, district and city-scale data;

• Enabling detailed visualization and interrogation of future development pipelines scenarios on a district and city-scale

• Driving efficiencies in the existing building stock; and

• Linking with other data sources and data systems in the urban environment.

With BIM Level 3 now heavily promoted by government on one hand, and a strong push to create ‘smart cities’ through digitization, data analytics and further transparency on the other, the synergy between these two areas presents significant opportunities. However, whilst the takeup of BIM, and advancaments into BIM Level 3 is steady in the construction and transport industry, other city systems lag behind using analogue and two dimensional data systems and visualisation.

1. As part of the Future of Planning programme, Future Cities Catapult wishes to commission research to understand the current state of the art, potential scenarios for the evolution of BIM, the likely skills required to support the evolution of BIM and the technical interoperability of BIM with other digital city systems.

The research will:

• Develop a picture of current leading practice in the use of BIM levels 1 & 2 by UK and global companies, SMEs and Local Auhotrities, in particular but not limited to uses in city planning;

• Develop potential scenarios for the use of BIM level 3, 4 and 5 in the future city;

• Develop a minimal-BIM framework – our early insights into BIM for smart city use cases suggest that 1) the creation of partial BIM models for existing buildings will be important 2) that not all components of a BIM model will be necessary or useful for this;

• Conduct a technical assessment of the interoperability of BIM with other digital city systems, including but notlimited to:

• oIoT standards and frameworks;

• o3D visualisations models and frameworks;

• oOther software architectures including; and

Conduct a light touch assessment of the potential to use BIM models as part of UK planning system, in particular where data contained in or visualisations of BIM models relate directly or indirectly that required by planning applications or the development of local plans.

The successful Bidder may wish to employ a combination of:

• Desk Research;

• Interviews;

• Workshops with Future Cities Catapult and other experts.

Additional information: To express interest in the requirement and download the RFP please visit www.fccprocurement.org.uk. New suppliers will be required to register. The reference for this opportunity is AEHP-5XFFGB.

All communication must be routed through this portal.