Converting Building into BIM with Laser Scanning

1. Clark Construction is committed to a well planned preconstruction phase on their projects.
2. They hired Direct Dimensions to help build a BIM of an existing hospital heating plant.
3. Laser scanning is an enabling technology for BIM, IPD, VDC and the coming AEC revolution.

Clark Construction Group, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, is one of the largest general contracting companies in the United States and one of their primary tenets is their commitment to a well planned preconstruction phase. This is what some people in the industry are referring to as VDC – Virtual Design and Construction.

VDC is often paired with IPD – Integrated Project Delivery.  The concept behind IPD is that the owner, architect, engineer and contractor sign a single contract that effectively ties all parties into the ultimate success, or failure of the project. The goal of IPD is to deliver a project with zero change orders.

To meet this high standard a tremendous amount of advance planning and simulation has to take place. Enter BIM – Building Information Modeling, the third critical component of the coming AEC revolution. In order to effectively simulate the construction phase of a building, you have to have a model, and the more intelligent the model the better. In today’s world it also has to be in 3D.

Since something like 80% of building construction is retrofit, in order to obtain the as-found 3D geometry, as well as other information like connectivity and material type, the most cost effective means of acquiring this data is 3D laser scanning. (It took a while, but we finally got there).

When Clark Construction needed 3D geometry on a $350 million dollar hospital project they went to one of the industry’s most experienced firms – Direct Dimensions. based in Owings Mills, MD to obtain the input for their BIM of the hospital’s existing heating plant.

There is no question that VDC, IPD, and BIM are going to revolutionize the building construction and AEC industry. Laser scanning is an important technology enabling this radical change.