Starting us off at number three is Disney’s $4.1BN Chinese theme park.
Led by the Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) team, the Shanghai Park offered a great opportunity
to integrate BIM at a portfolio scale.
In all, over 70% of the buildings were developed in a BIM environment, with efficiencies realised
from running numerous projects concurrently.
The benefit of co-location also meant that the project teams could access the same resources
and support, driving further economies of scale.
Collaboration and knowledge sharing all occurred within an eco-system of BIM-enabled projects.
This allowed lessons learnt and best practice to be shared across the project portfolio,
driving improvement across the park’s buildings and proving that it is in fact a small world
after all.
A key benefit of BIM on a project of this scale was to help integrate WDI with over
140 different disciplines involved in the project, including many local design firms
and contractors.
Adopting BIM from the outset meant that the number of RFIs raised at the tendering stage
in one of the park’s areas were significantly reduced.
Instead of WDI’s average 3,000, they received just 360.
Shanghai’s Disneyland also saw the use of 4D BIM for construction planning and programming
as well as immersive testing through a large video wall developed from the accurate design
proposals in the graphical models.
The WDI team were able to test visitor experiences and special effects virtually before progressing
with elements of the park.
The design of Phoenix Television’s new 65,000 square meter headquarters in Beijing is completely
unique.
The building’s non-linear form – developed by the Beijing Institute of Architectural
Design (BIAD) – demanded an advanced approach from the project team and originally led them
down the path of detailed 3D modelling.
Quickly seeing the benefits of integrating non-graphical information and sharing it in
a common data environment (CDE), the team progressed to working in a BIM environment
and cite that process as the key to mitigating a number of risks, saving time and increasing
quality as compared to more traditional methods.
It wasn’t all plain sailing and the project team admit that they struggled initially against
long established drafting conventions and deliverables.
They were forced to concurrently research and develop numerous unconventional workflows
to provide data interoperability and seamless information exchanges.
The result is an iconic building on Beijing’s skyline and a powerful information model that
can be relied upon for facilities management scheduling and analysis.
The building’s security, safety controls, energy consumption and FM activities are all
built upon data from the information model provided at handover.
In at number one is China’s new tallest building: the 128-storey Shanghai Tower.
Developed on a former golf course site, the $2.4BN, 632m structure is the jewel in the
crown of China’s financial centre and the highest profile example of China’s BIM adoption
to date.
US architectural firm Gensler were commissioned to lead the design-team and worked in BIM
environment from the outset.
BIM implementation was overseen by a core team of just three people who monitored its
impact on overall project delivery and schedule conformance.
Greater control and mitigation of rework contributed to a reduced construction schedule of just
73 months for the 576,000 square meters of floor space.
There aren’t many buildings like this around so comparisons are difficult; but that is
about 30% faster than similar structures.
As you might expect, closer integrated working and improved collaboration were also cited
as key benefits of the BIM process.
San Francisco based Gensler – leading an extended team of structural and service designers
around the world – shared their models in a common data environment (CDE), enabling
all parties to communicate within the virtual context of the project.
On the graphical side, the tower’s twisting outer skin would have been near impossible
to convey with 2D techniques and the team saw considerable benefit from being able to
visualise and understand their project and its surroundings in three-dimensional form.
The Chinese construction industry is vast.
It was valued at $2TN in early 2015, although it’s experienced more than its fair share
of economic turmoil since then.
Projects of the scale and prestige that we have showcased in this video are great influencers
for wider BIM adoption across the country.
The Chinese central Government are drawn to BIM by the efficiencies it offers.
They have seen overseas examples from the UK and US, and have benefitted from that expertise.
Like many Governments though, they have not gone as far as mandating BIM.
They simply encourage it – and in a vast provincial nation like China, that has bred
fragmentation and many regional authorities have developed their own standards and mandates,
all differing significantly from those of their neighbours.
As with other markets, the challenges to BIM adoption on the ground are almost purely cultural
in their nature.
China’s industry focuses very keenly on the capital cost of delivery and there is
a reluctance to make the early time and software investments that BIM requires.
Compounding matters, Chinese designers are typically paid on the number of drawings they
produce and the idea of creating just one model somewhat horrifies them.
For all the barriers faced – which I’m sure will sound familiar to viewers in some
other markets – BIM is being met with a high level of enthusiasm in China.
The general trend is towards BIM adoption and at a much higher rate than markets like
the UK.
Recent research found that BIM use amongst Chinese Architects is set to increase by 89%
in the next two years, and by some 108% amongst Chinese Contractors.
In many ways the UK had the challenge of finding its feet with BIM as something of a pioneer,
with few other nations to look to.
Other countries are able to build on that lead and implement at a faster rate, even
if that implementation is sometimes more fragmented.