The premier industry body for healthcare engineering in Australia, the Institute of Healthcare Engineering Australia (IHEA), recently asked IIMBE’s Toby Maple and Mark Cronin to address their Queensland Chapter Trade Show and highlight why BIM is important in healthcare.
“We know that healthcare facility managers and engineers are the people who inherit Building Information Models, yet all too often they are overlooked in the construction phase of an asset’s development,” said Cronin, Digital Advisory Consultant at IIMBE.
“However, this should never happen – as those managers and engineers are the people that will be directly involved in maintaining the building after construction.”
Cronin said it was important to talk with IHEA members in order to highlight the importance of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in managing an asset over its lifecycle.
“Typically, the healthcare facility managers who inherit these models have limited awareness of BIM before they are handed a model. At IIMBE we are working to change that,” he said.
Cronin spoke to the group about the power of BIM to enable healthcare facilities managers to make informed decisions about asset maintenance, energy consumption, space use and more, by providing access to drawings, repair schedules, warrant details, location, and carbon impact reports. He also highlighted that BIM plays a critical role in maintaining the safety of a building by providing a Golden Thread of up-to-date building data records, from design to demolition.
“The challenge is that traditionally, one person specifies what’s needed in the BIMs and a completely different person actually uses it after the project is delivered,” explained Mark.
“Instead, at IIMBE we are encouraging IHEA members, along with all managers and engineers of health facilities across Australia, to become involved in the BIM process and proactively volunteer what information is most important to them as long-term custodians of an asset.
“BIM specialists want their data to be useful to those managing an asset over the long term. It is crucial that a BIM is developed so that it is accessible and compatible with existing systems, instead of introducing wasted effort and unnecessary cost. As a result, facility managers and engineers need to be involved in the process from day one. The need for the correct specification of asset information is paramount.”
