Search

There is considerable interest internationally in developing product libraries to support the use of BIM. Product library initiatives are driven by national bodies, manufacturers and private companies who see their potential. A major issue with the production and distribution of product information for BIM is that separate library objects need to be produced for all of the different software systems that are going to use the library. This increases the cost of populating product libraries and also increases the difficulty in maintaining consistency between the representations for the different software over time. This paper describes a project which uses “software transformation” technology from the field of software engineering to support the definition of a single generic representation of a product which can then be automatically converted to the format required by receiving software. The paper covers the current state of implementation of the product library, the technology underlying the transformations for the currently supported software and the business model for creating a national library in Australia. This is placed within the context of other current product library systems to highlight the differences. The responsibilities of the various actors involved in supporting the product library are also discussed.

The Construction industry accounts for a tenth of global GDP. Still, challenges such as slow adoption of new work processes, islands of information, and legal disputes, remain frequent, industry-wide occurrences despite various attempts to address them. In response, IT-based approaches have been adopted to explore collaborative ways of executing construction projects. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is an exemplar of integrative technologies whose 3D-visualisation capabilities have fostered collaboration especially between clients and design teams. Yet, the ways in which specification documents are created and used in capturing clients' expectations based on industry standards have remained largely unchanged since the 18th century. As a result, specification-related errors are still common place in an industry where vast amounts of information are consumed as well as produced in the course project implementation in the built environment. By implication, processes such as cost planning which depend on specification-related information remain largely inaccurate even with the use of BIM-based technologies. This paper briefly distinguishes between non-BIM-based and BIM-based specifications and reports on-going efforts geared towards the latter. We review exemplars aimed at extending Building Information Models to specification information embedded within the objects in a product library and explore a viable way of reasoning about a semi-automated process of specification using our product library.

As early as in 1995 it was stated that automatic identification of objects using RFID was a promising technology for the construction industry. However, 13 years later the applications of RFID in the construction industry are rare and mostly used in prototype projects or used for theft prevention and access control. Recently maintenance applications have been proposed to hold the trigger needed to launch RFID more widely in the construction sector. Therefore the purpose of the research presented in this paper is to identify the actual user needs for automatic identification in construction operation and maintenance. Research results from a contextual design process are presented and supplemented with practical experiences from implementing an RFID-supported operation and maintenance system. The greatest obstacles for successful implementation of RFID-based O&M systems have been found in structuring working processes and information rather than in making the hardware work. As early as in 1995 it was stated that automatic identification of objects using RFID was a promising technology for the construction industry. However, 13 years later the applications of RFID in the construction industry are rare and mostly used in prototype projects or used for theft prevention and access control. Recently maintenance applications have been proposed to hold the trigger needed to launch RFID more widely in the construction sector. Therefore the purpose of the research presented in this paper is to identify the actual user needs for automatic identification in construction operation and maintenance. Research results from a contextual design process are presented and supplemented with practical experiences from implementing an RFID-supported operation and maintenance system. The greatest obstacles for successful implementation of RFID-based O&M systems have been found in structuring working processes and information rather than in making the hardware work.

During the late years there has been an ever-increasing focus on the possibilities to change the building process to raise quality on the final building products as well as the activities of actors involved in the building process. One reason for this interest is the new opportunities evolving due to introduction of advanced information and communication technology (ICT). The paper focuses on creative changes of the building process powered by user driven innovation activities. An overview of existing user driven innovation methodologies is given as well experiences from the ongoing Virtual Innovation in Construction (VIC) project. One important driving force for change is the opportunity for users to develop and articulate real needs concerning for example different functionalities of a building and its parts, but also on artifacts supporting the actual needs capture and requirements formulation during building design. A general methodological framework and meta ontology for Virtual Innovation in Construction is presented as well as findings from implementation of the method. During the late years there has been an ever-increasing focus on the possibilities to change the building process to raise quality on the final building products as well as the activities of actors involved in the building process. One reason for this interest is the new opportunities evolving due to introduction of advanced information and communication technology (ICT). The paper focuses on creative changes of the building process powered by user driven innovation activities. An overview of existing user driven innovation methodologies is given as well experiences from the ongoing Virtual Innovation in Construction (VIC) project. One important driving force for change is the opportunity for users to develop and articulate real needs concerning for example different functionalities of a building and its parts, but also on artifacts supporting the actual needs capture and requirements formulation during building design. A general methodological framework and meta ontology for Virtual Innovation in Construction is presented as well as findings from implementation of the method.