We’re currently collaborating with The Crown Estate on the refurbishment of 10 Spring Gardens in St James’s, London, creating high-quality office space.

Our client’s ambition is to embed sustainability, circular economy, biodiversity and placemaking initiatives at the heart of the refurbishment and, like on many other projects, utilise the benefits of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to facilitate these goals by creating a digital twin for the building.

As an ambitious and forward-thinking organisation, The Crown Estate is already adopting BIM on many of their projects. They have developed their own Exchange Information Requirements (EIR) and Asset Information Requirements (AIR).

BIM models will be used by the facilities management team through the life of the building to drive operational efficiencies for both cost and carbon with a strong drive to create a very sustainable product. Once the building is complete its digital twin will also be used to monitor environmental performance and to collect information for NABERS sustainability rating.

We’re therefore delighted that, as well as being the project architect, Orms also been appointed as BIM Information Manager for the project.

What services are we offering?

Our inhouse BIM Information Manager reviewed The Crown Estate’s documentation and produced the project’s BIM Execution Plan (BEP). This was based on an existing template. We also conducted design team BIM capability assessments to ensure there was adequate knowledge and resource among the team to deliver the project vision.

We also carry out regular clash detection on the project and report on coordination progress. We run BIMTrack – a cloud collaboration tool used by all consultants to streamline design development and manage design issues more efficiently.

BIMTrack is a great interface, allowing the client and all team members to have easy access to the tool with dashboards illustrating design progress, including number of issues raised, in progress, closed and their importance and urgency.

Our BIM Information Manager also regularly reviews all consultants’ models for compliance with EIR, AIR and BEP. Checks include review of asset information contained in the models, 3D geometry completeness, presence of Uniclass 2015 information and compliance with file naming standards to name just a few. The findings are reported monthly to The Crown Estate’s BIM advisor.

How can Orms BIM team help your project vision?

The Crown Estate is a client with a clear BIM strategy and has developed documentation to support BIM implementation across its portfolio. However, if you are still considering your options, and want to understand how BIM can help drive a better result for your development, Orms’ BIM Team are well placed to be your trusted advisors.

We support clients in developing EIRs, AIRs and execution plans that will improve collaboration, ensuring efficient working and the reduction of wasteful activities through the adoption of BIM standards and workflows. It’s our belief that a well thought-out BIM strategy can be a fundamental tool in optimising your project outcomes.