Case studies in BIM implementation for programming of healthcare facilities

SUMMARY: Building Information Modeling (BIM) continues to evolve and grow along with their respective application in practice. One of the key advantages of BIM is that is facilitates the development of detailed information and analysis much earlier in the building process to improve decision making and reduce downstream changes. The increases in cost of construction and combined complexity inherent in healthcare construction projects provides an opportunity to harness the strengths of BIM, and provide much more detailed information early in the development of a healthcare construction project. These case studies present evidence of benefits of BIM upstream in the project lifecycle – such as the programming stage. Two healthcare related projects which implemented BIM in the programming phase are presented in this paper. One project is a trauma hospital in a developing country in conflict, and the other is a medical research laboratory in the United States. Each had unique circumstances, but also similarities which help to identify the strengths and challenges of BIM implementation in healthcare projects regardless of the individual projects’ differences. The paper reviews the application of the BIM modeling process for each project. The benefits and challenges from the process used, and the results found are presented. Challenges included data transfer bottlenecks and apprehension due to a lack of knowledge of parametric tools in general. Benefits included visualization, time saved relative to concept updates, and quantity takeoffs. Some basic framing of the strategic implementation of BIM on a construction project are discussed.