I attended the BIM4Heritage Annual Conference on the 27/28
June this year and, I have to say, it was one of the more enlightening and
educational experience I’ve had for a while.
Prior to the event I had a pretty well-defined idea of what
technologies were relevant to FM (Facilities Management) in the BIM (Building
Information Modelling) context. For
example, I had thought of laser scanning as a nice way of generating 3D images
of buildings but, was of little use to FM in real terms as it rarely captures objects
that are enclosed in voids such as ceilings and floors etc.
This is of course true when we are hoping to capture
building services equipment such as fan coil units, fire dampers and other
‘hidden’ items that we traditionally associated with the hard FM set up in a
building asset.
So, here is my first learning point:
Context matters
When considering the care and maintenance of Heritage
assets, a point cloud scan
can be essential. Not necessarily to aid
the maintenance process but, to capture the site/object as it exists at a point
in time. The recent disasters of Notre
Dame and the Glasgow School of Art are testament to the value of a good
accurate and up to date point cloud scan.
Neither of these sites had a full laser survey completed prior to the
disaster and consequently, some information was inevitably lost.
Picture courtesy of NBC News
Laser scanning can also give the asset custodian the ability
to track changes over time, whether this is after a disaster or simply
deterioration over time.
In a traditional FM setting, the value of a point cloud is
limited to a nice to look at object that is of limited value during
operations. In a heritage setting, this
resource is elevated to a ‘must have’ piece of the ‘Golden thread of
information’ we are currently obsessed by.
Picture
courtesy of technologyreview.com
The fact is that laser scans still must be painstakingly
re-modelled in architectural design software if we are to resolve the images
into separate objects with attached meta data.
A process that is still time consuming and expensive although, as
technology improves, data processing in both visual and actual terms is
becoming more efficient.
Damage at
the Rennie Mackintosh Building, Glasgow.
Image courtesy of the Mirror.
I saw the value of BIM information and data being used in
new and interesting ways throughout the two days. I feel much better equipped to think outside
the box – we often fall into patterns of behaviour and use of conventional
wisdom when we stay in our own little worlds for too long.
It’s generally accepted that FM is coming slow to the BIM
party despite sterling efforts from some quarters. The work that BIM4Heritage has done during
the last 3 years is impressive. Visit
their website here www.bim4heritage.org
for more information. Whilst the FM
sector has produced some laudable work, it tends to have come from the
membership organisations via working groups and has been limited in depth (this
is largely because BIM has not fully made the transition into the Operate and
Maintain phase yet). I think the key
difference is that the BIM4Heritage group has gripped BIM by the scruff and
used the available technology to ‘do stuff’.
They haven’t waited for someone to say ‘hey, here’s BIM 4 FM, it’s all
sorted for you, just use it out of the box’.
That is never going to happen folks.
Learning point two:
If you don’t make it happen, it will happen to you.
There is so much innovative technology out there and so many
bright people in the FM industry that I wonder why it is such a hard sell to
get BIM and other workplace tech in use across the sector. BIM in the FM sector is going to be driven by
client request. The days of the big,
lumbering giants of FM delivery providing a standard, off the shelf service are
numbered. FM needs to adapt to change,
use technology where it is beneficial and start to innovate from within.
At FM180 we are constantly looking for new solutions that
will help deliver the workplace experience of the future. Whilst that is important, we also need to
understand how that tech can be used in other contexts. I see new ideas and technological solutions
appearing in the marketplace on an almost daily basis. Much of this tech is geared towards the
corporate property world or technical FM.
Thinking outside the box, I can see applications for these technologies
and processes in other areas such as heritage.
I have no doubt that both examples given had some form of fire
protection in place but, it clearly was not effective enough to ward off the
disaster.
Sensor technology is now readily available in multiple forms
and types. A basic search of the RS
Components website (there are others) reveals over 20,000 items for various
applications.
Source www.rscomponents.com
So, what is my point?
Sensor tech is not new, software applications are not new however; we
still seem to struggle to bring disparate sources together easily to form
cohesive and effective solutions to common problems.
For example, if the systems available at my two examples had
been ‘enabled’ enough to identify the build-up of heat/smoke from locally
placed sensors on vulnerable structures and those sensors had a communication
link with a system that could use that data to make a decision, perhaps the
damage could have been reduced if not avoided.
Ok so, the sensor tech is not going to stop something
happening but, it could tell a system or someone that a problem has
occurred. The next logical step is for
locally placed ‘intelligent’ equipment to be informed and be able to do
something about it. We must be realistic
here though. A loss of connectivity
(common during fire and flood) can remove the technological advantage. We therefore also need to consider physical
interventions (automatic fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems, absorbent
barriers, intumescent strips are all examples) as part of the arsenal.
That said, we seem to be relatively poor at learning from
the past, until the next incident triggers a limited response for a time. Note that the ‘Golden thread of information’
is becoming a buzz word around the information piece following the awful Grenfell
disaster but, after many of the cladding tests are forgotten, have we really
come up with any innovation to stop the same thing happening again?
Source:
Maxwell, Ingval - Fire and Flood in the Built Environment - 2015
Trying to get back on piste, the point is that technology
can make a real contribution to monitoring, managing and preserving our
heritage assets. Whether it be a detailed
point cloud showing surface level details and relief, HD photogrammetry giving
precise records of construction, surface and layout, drone footage of
inaccessible areas or BIM models developed in a 3D virtual world with AI
providing ways of generating individual stones on a medieval building. All is possible. The value of our heritage assets is
incalculable. What seems to be missing at present is an effective ‘ecosystem’
mentality. More often than not we see
single application promising the world which is rarely realised. A more realistic approach is to consider the
bringing together of several applications and data sources to form a cohesive
and accessible tool that can be used to help us make decisions, take action and
project outcomes.
Learning point three:
You are only limited by your imagination.
The answers are out there, we just need to be more effective
at joining the dots. Think out of the
box, define what you need and then seek out the way you are going to deliver
the vision. Sure, it helps to be tech
savvy, but if you can explain clearly what you need to achieve, someone will be
able to help realise the solution.
One of the observations made during the conference was that
we lack effective case study material.
Whilst it is true that we have plenty of case studies of previous
disasters, we are really talking about examples of the use of BIM and other
technologies as exemplars of heritage management and preservation during the
operate and maintain phase (which in this setting is considerably longer than
traditional FM is used to).
We are therefore offering up a challenge to the Heritage FM
and Asset Management folks out there[1]. Take us up on a free consultation about your
heritage asset, the information you hold and the challenges you need to overcome,
and we will provide you with an unbiased report on possible solutions that
could make your job easier.
Learning point four:
If you only ask questions internally, you’ll only get the
answers you are expecting.
I am now completely converted to the idea that Heritage
needs technology. Having always had a
strong interest in the sector but, never the opportunity, bringing two subjects
that I am passionate about is a chance too good to miss. If this sounds interesting to you, drop us a
line at info@fm180.com or send us a message
on Twitter @fm180ltd, @fm180steve or via LinkedIn.
