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1 PRE Bui l te nv i r o nme ntpr o c e s s Re E ngi ne e r i ng Resul t srepor t Thef i r s tr es ear c hpr ogr am of RYM Oyc r eat edt ot al l ynew pr oc edur esandbus i nes smodel s f ort her eales t at e,c ons t r uc t i on andi nf r as ec t or s. Thenewmodesar eus er c ent r ed ands uppor t edbypr oduc t model bas eddat amanagement ov ert heent i r el i f ec y c l eoft he r eales t at e,i nf r as t r uc t ur esand c ommuni t i esi nques t i on. Theadopt i onofnewbus i nes s pr oc es s esal l owsas i gni f i c ant i nc r eas ei npr oduc t i v i t yand qual i t y. Got o r ymr epor t. com/ pr e f ort heonl i ne ver si on 1

3 Table of Contents 4 About PRE 5 Facts and Figures 7 PRE Partners 8 Scientific International Evaluation 15 Key Results of the PRE Program From the Industry s Point of View 19 Self-Assessment 20 Success Stories 38 Work Packages 54 Analysis of the Results 60 Results Cards 206 Publications 3

4 PRE Results Report About PRE BIM is Revolutionizing Construction Practices with Finland Leading the Way The just finished PRE program of RYM Oy, the SHOK company for the built environment, strengthens Finland s position as the global leader in BIM (Building Information Management) research and introduction. BIM can improve construction quality, productivity and customer service radically. The PRE (Built Environment Process Re-Engineering) program carried out in involved 37 companies and 6 research institutes. With support from Tekes, they invested a total of about 21.8 million in the development of new BIM (Building Information Management) based procedures and business models. Significant results were achieved in the development of technologies and concepts supporting open BIM-based cooperation models and distributed management and sharing of information. The globally pioneering research by Tekla and Aalto University was made in this field of development. Requirements, instructions and a data transfer format for modeling were created for the infrastructure sector, all of which together speed up the breakthrough of BIM. BIMbased tools and processes were also developed and tested in practice which can improve supply chain management and work safety considerably in every kind of construction processes. An interactive operational model based on knotworking was created in cooperation with the Institute of Behavioural Sciences at University of Helsinki and the SimLab of Aalto University to enable effective utilization of BIM at the most important phases of construction management, design and building. BIM allows more effective land use planning, visualization of design solutions and zoning. The BIMCITY research projects included various city modeling experiments and used augmented reality tools in the visualization of design alternatives. Mobile work has transformed the principles and practices of work environment management. The NewWoW work package studied the impacts of the change and created new tools for improved efficiency and productivity of offices. The driver company of the work package, Rapal Oy, is taking advantage of this cutting-edge know-how in its rapidly growing US subsidiary. The program consists of six thematic work packages (driver company in parentheses): 1. Model Nova Use of BIM during property s life cycle from the owner s perspective (Senate Properties) 2. NewWOW Changing nature and requirements of knowledge work and their impact on management of an organization and spaces (Rapal Oy) 3. BIMCON BIM-based product data management in the delivery chain of industrialized building (Skanska Oy) 4. DRUM - Entity data models and standards (Tekla Oyj) 5. Infra FINBIM Future innovation-based delivery chain of the infra sector (VR Track Oy) 6. BIMCity Platform for dissemination, evaluation and development of community-level built environment digital models (FCG Oy) 4

5 PRE Results Report Facts and Figures Public Funding Cost Distribution by Work Package 5

6 Financial Summary 6

7 PRE Results Report PRE Partners Companies Arkkitehtitoimisto Perko Oy AX-Konsultit Oy CGI Oy Consolis Technology Oy Ab Destia Oy FCG Finnish Consulting Group Oy Finnmap Consulting Oy Finnmap Infra Oy Granlund Oy ISS Palvelut Oy Lemminkäinen Oyj Liikennevirasto Micro Aided Design Oy NCC Rakennus Oy NCC Roads Oy Parma Oy Progman Oy Pöyry CM Oy Pöyry Finland Oy Rakennustieto Oy Ramboll Finland Oy Rapal Oy Ruukki Construction Oy Saint-Cobain Weber Oy Ab Senaatti-kiinteistöt Sito Oy Skanska Oy Solibri Oy SRV Yhtiöt Oyj Tekla Oyj Terramare Oy Tietoa Finland Oy Vianova Systems Finland Oy VR Track Oy WSP Finland Oy YIT Rakennus Oy Research Partners Aalto-korkeakoulusäätiö Helsingin yliopisto Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu Oy Oulun yliopisto Teknologian tutkimuskeskus VTT TTY-Säätiö 7

8 PRE Results Report Scientific International Evaluation Summary The just finished PRE program of RYM Oy, the SHOK company for the built environment, strengthens Finland s position as the global leader in BIM research and introduction. BIM can improve construction quality, productivity and customer service radically. The PRE (Built Environment Process Re-Engineering) program carried out in involved 37 companies and 6 research institutes. With support from Tekes, they invested a total of about 21.8 million in the development of new BIM (Building Information Management)based procedures and business models. PRE strengthens Finland s position as the global leader in BIM research and introduction Arto Kiviniemi Professor, University of Liverpool The most significant results from the viewpoint of international research were achieved in the Model Nova work package coordinated by Senate Properties. An interactive operational model based on knotworking was created in cooperation with the Institute of Behavioural Sciences at University of Helsinki and the SimLab of Aalto University to enable effective utilization of BIM at the most important phases of construction management, design and building. Internationally notable is also the DRUM concept developed for distributed data management and information interchange by Tekla and Aalto University. The globally pioneering research of Tekla has made it the leader in international Open BIM development. The most significant PRE results nationally were attained in promoting the introduction of BIM in the infrastructure sector. The InfraModel format for open data exchange was developed in Finland for that purpose and general infrastructure sector BIM requirements are under preparation. Utilization of BIM in property use and maintenance has been studied little in the PRE program and generally in BIM studies across the world. Since the potential benefits are very big, it would be very useful to start strong research program in an Asset Information Management. Introduction PRE (Built Environment Process Re-engineering) was the first research programme of RYM Oy in Its aim is to create totally new procedures and business models for the real estate, construction and infra sectors. They will be more user-centred and supported by product model-based data management over the entire life cycle of the real estate, infrastructures and communities in question. The adoption of new business processes allows a significant increase in productivity and quality. The PRE programme consisted of 6 work packages each led by an industrial partner: WP1 Model Nova Use of BIM during property's life cycle from the owner's perspective, lead Senate Properties WP2 NewWOW Changing nature and requirements of knowledge work and their impact on management of an organization and spaces, lead Rapal Oy WP3 BIMCON BIM-based product data management in the delivery chain of industrialized building, lead Skanska Oy WP4 DRUM - Entity data models and standards, lead Tekla Oyj WP5 Infra FINBIM Future innovation-based delivery chain of the infra sector, lead VR Track Oy WP6 BIMCity Platform for dissemination, evaluation and development of 8

9 community-level built environment digital models, lead FCG Oy I was asked to evaluate the results from the international perspective; how well has the programme achieved its aims in the global context, which are the most important results of the programme and which are issues where I see potential for improvements in the future research activities and programmes. Evaluation method and limitations The evaluation is based on several sources: 1) Work package presentations in the PRE Result Seminar 18th November 2013 in Finland, 2) result cards, i.e. short result reports of each project in each work package and programme web site[1], 3) self evaluation report of the work packages, 4) evaluation report of the research, practical and knowledge contributions, 5) list of publications, and 6) a short Google Scholar study of the visibility and impact of the publications in PRE programme, finalised on 6th June My own professional background is in architectural design and my main research competence is related to integrated building information modelling (BIM). In addition, I have been personally interacting with some projects in WP1, WP3 and WP4, which naturally has given me more insights of those projects. However, I believe that the interactions reflect rather the international activity and visibility of those projects than just my personal interest areas. Nevertheless, these limitations should be noted when interpreting this report. Observations and comments of work packages WP1 Model Nova Use of BIM during property's life cycle from the owner's perspective In the Model Nova work package (New Business Model based on Process Network and Building Information Modeling) the potential of BIM has been studied from the standpoints of behavioural sciences and business processes. Benefits are sought for the entire life cycle of the built environment and across the value network. In general this Model Nova package is in my opinion clearly the best work package of the PRE programme in the international research viewpoint. All in all this work package has published almost 50 % of all publications of the programme and 80% of the journal articles. Model Nova package is in my opinion clearly the best work package of the PRE programme in the international research viewpoint. "Knotworking" and "BIM Meets Social Sciences" themes in the Model Nova work package has produced excellent results and the Finnish research in these areas, especially CRADLE in Helsinki University and SIMlab in Aalto University, is in the international forefront. This is a truly multidisciplinary theme creating new insights of the drivers, barriers and impacts of the changes in technology and business environment in the AECOO (Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Owning & Operation) industry. There has already been two international workshops around the theme "BIM Meets Social Sciences. In addition Aalto University's SIMlab has collaborated with Stanford University's CIFE (Center for Integrated Facility Engineering) which is clearly one of the leading research institute in this research area. WP2 NewWOW Changing nature and requirements of knowledge work and their impact on management of an organization and spaces The NewWoW (New Ways of Working) work package is aimed at providing understanding of the changing nature and demands of knowledge work and their impacts on facility management and productivity of organisations. New work space solutions have been developed using BIM in response to the increasing interactiveness and project nature of knowledge work. 9

10 The central themes were 1) demands of work and changes in it, 2) impact of ways of working and work space arrangements on productivity and sustainable development, and 3) use of BIM in management that support new ways of working." WP2 is very different in almost all aspects compared to all other work packages. Based on the available information it seems that WP2 concentrated quite strongly to direct business development of the participating companies. NewWoW is aimed at providing understanding of the changing nature and demands of knowledge work WP2 has very few projects and based on the result cards it has not published very actively; 4 conference papers and 3 book chapters. On the positive side, all publications are in English and this is the only WP that has written chapters on books, which are academically stronger merits than conference papers. In addition, the collaboration with the Stanford University (Renate Fruchter) is an indication of good international level in project #5 (The success of a new concept to support distributed work the office of choice). WP3 BIMCON BIM-based product data management in the delivery chain of industrialized building The aim of the BIMCON work package was to create a comprehensive product data management system for industrialised building based on the use of BIM in the integration and management of data of the parties to the supply chain. The goal was to improve the organisation of the operational process of construction which will increase the productivity and profitability of supply chains. WP3 continues the long and strong Finnish research and development efforts related to the use of BIM in construction. It has not opened any totally new research issues, but continued to gain new knowledge in the impacts of BIM in constructability, productivity, safety, sustainability and supply chain management....new knowledge in the impacts of BIM in constructability, productivity, safety, sustainability and supply chain management The international collaborators have been Georgia Tech and Brescia University, from which the former is without doubt one of the globally leading research institutes in BIM area and the collaboration with them indicates high academic quality. WP4 DRUM - Entity data models and standards The aim of the DRUM (Distributed transactional BIM) work package was to develop transaction-based data transfer methods and technology that enable utilisation of BIM in actual building processes. The key themes dealt with include software architecture that supports transaction-based data management, transaction distribution systems and application interfaces. "Semantic Linking of Building Information Models" and the work related to it has been from the technical viewpoint a refreshing new proposal to solve the model server problems currently preventing efficient sharing of BIM data. Using common web technologies would bring much more interest and potential resources in the research and commercial BIM development. One of WP4 presentations, "Web-based BIM distributed sharing and utilization of building information", in the PRE programme Result Seminar in November 2013 was in my opinion the best presentation in the event. The research provided a fresh view into solving current technical problems in the centralised model server development. In addition, the work did not start from scratch but was built on the previous work in the development of IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) standard. 10

11 Using common web technologies would bring much more interest and potential resources in the research and commercial BIM development This work in the cross-model linkage using distributed web technologies has already led into two international LDAC (Linked Data in Architecture and Construction) workshops and strongly growing international interest and collaboration. In addition, as a part of WP4 Tekla has taken a leading role in the international development of Open BIM and collaboration platforms for the industry. WP5 Infra FINBIM Future innovation-based delivery chain of the infra sector The vision of the Infra FINBIM work package was that in 2014 the big infrastructure owners will order only BIM-based service. The aim was systemic change where traditional sequential thinking is replaced by intelligent BIM-based service production that considers the entire life cycle and all sub-areas, actors and functions. The Infra FINBIM work package is an outstanding example of the radical change in the markets. Efficiency and productivity can be increased significantly when highly advanced technology is exploited fully. Participation of the biggest infra client (Traffic Agency) and leading sector companies in the research program created sufficient critical mass for bringing about a change in the sector. An outstanding example of the radical change in the markets WP5 has really changed the way the Finnish infra-sector collaborates, not only in the research and development, but also in their work practises. In my opinion WP5 has created on the national level the most important results of the PRE programme both in the short and long term. However, compared to the national impact it has only limited international merit. WP6 BIMCity Platform for dissemination, evaluation and development of community-level built environment digital models BIMCity (Simulation platform for IFC based technologies and solutions) aimed at 1) defining and creating a common functional environment for land use and construction databases, 2) establishing information model as a way of conduct in land use planning (e.g. building inspection, planning, interaction with concerned parties), 3) improving exchange of information between different sectors of planning and thus accelerating processes concerning land use, and 4) developing an open environment for business concepts serving land use and construction. Work in BIMCity was strongly based on pilot projects, which represent different levels of planning starting from regional dimensions through city plans down to construction of individual buildings, as well as interaction and data exchange between these levels." BIMCity was strongly based on pilot projects, which represent different levels of planning The documented goals of WP6 are somewhat more open than in the other work packages. The publications include relatively many "non-traditional" documents, i.e. videos in YouTube and other platforms, but also a reasonable amount traditional conference papers. There is also one master's thesis. However, as stated later in this report, lack of journal publications is a general short-coming in the whole PRE programme. International collaboration or participation in the development of international standards would have been extremely important. General observations of the PRE programme 11

12 The programme team has classified the impacts of the projects into four categories: 1. What is the behavioural change of end users (human/organizations)? 2. What is the resulting systemic change in customer interface and value network? 3. How the latest technologies foster the change of the whole branch's business paradigm? 4. What is the change of the business models of Built Environment? The categorisation was done by the PRE management team for all 58 projects in the PRE programme. As Figure 1 indicates the work packages have quite clear differences in their focus, which indicates good programme structure. In total the main focus of the PRE programme is slightly in #3 (How the latest technologies foster the change of the whole branch's business paradigm?) which is recognised in 50% of all projects. The second emphasis is in #2 (What is the resulting systemic change in customer interface and value network?) which is recognised in 41% of all projects. All aspects are naturally important, but my opinion, supported by the international interest in WP1 results, is that the social science and value network aspects of BIM need more emphasis in the further research. Figure 1: Impact categories of projects by work package Figure 2: PRE programme results by project phase Figure 2 represents the results of the PRE programme categorised by lifecycle phases. Almost half of the results are related to design phases (47.3%) and only 4% are related to the use and maintenance. This indicates the persistent problem that has been in the global BIM research for almost for two decades; BIM is still seen as a technology for design and construction, and the research related to the operation and maintenance is almost totally missing, although it is much more important part of the lifecycle of built environment. This problem has created a wicked circle; it is difficult to convince the owners and end-users of the importance and value of BIM and because of that they are 12

13 not interested in participating in the research and development efforts in this area. It would be extremely important to move from BIM (Building Information Modelling) to AIM (Asset Information Management) and focus the future research and development efforts in this area. Publications and citations Figure 3: Distribution by publication language and type, comparison of list of publications and result cards In total the projects in the PRE programme have produced publications depending on the source. Majority of the publications are conference papers ( ), only relatively few are journal articles (5) and book chapters (3), which can be considered as a short-coming in the programme in the international comparison. Table 1: Total number of publications, comparison of list of publications and result cards I also tested several searches using Google Scholar looking for publications which were done in the work packages of PRE programme. This search resulted in total 154 hits, from which only 38 were actually related to the PRE programme. The findings were about 50% of the publications listed in the result cards or list of publications. From these articles majority, 23 articles were written in Finnish (60.5%) and 15 in English (39.5%). The most cited articles in the Google Scholar search were: Kerosuo Hannele, Miettinen Reijo, Mäki Tarja, Paavola Sami, Korpela Jenni and Rantala Teija (2012) Expanding uses of building information modeling in life-cycle construction projects. Work: A Journal of Prevention, Assessment and Rehabilitation, Volume 41, Supplement 1, pages citations (WP1) Abdullah Haris, Rinne Mikko, Törmä Seppo and Nuutila Esko (2012) Efficient matching of SPARQL subscriptions using Rete. Proceedings of the 27th Annual ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, pages citations (Partially supported from PRE programme, WP4) Rinne Mikko, Törmä Seppo and Nuutila Esko (2012) SPARQL-Based Applications for RDF-Encoded Sensor Data. In the proceeding of 5th International Workshop on Semantic Sensor Networks. 7 citations (Partially supported from PRE programme, WP4) The Google Scholar findings support my personal opinion that internationally the two most important work packages in the PRE programme have been WP1 Model Nova and WP4 DRUM. In WP1 the internationally most interesting results are related to the 13

14 Knotworking concept and "BIM Meets Social Sciences" theme and in WP4 to the Semantic Linking of Building Information Models. The results of the Google Scholar search are in clear contradiction with the information in the result cards and list of publications. It seems that about 50 % publications have not acknowledged PRE programme, which makes the programme and also RYM internationally less visible than it should be. It would be important to raise the awareness of RYM and its programmes internationally. Therefore it would be advisable to include the requirement to acknowledge the funding programme in all publications, which is a normal international practice and, as said, mandatory for example in USA and UK. Some of the work packages have not been publishing much in English although the results would be both interesting and important internationally. Although it is clear that communication with the Finnish companies requires publications in Finnish, from the international viewpoint the emphasis of research publications should be in English. Some work packages have produced several Master thesis. This is a typically Finnish phenomenon. In many countries Masters thesis are not allowed as a part of research projects and therefore these results would be ignored in most international evaluations. At least the best results of the thesis should be brought systematically into international forums through conference papers or journal articles in collaboration with the supervisors. The focus in publications has clearly been in conference papers. While presenting new ideas and networking in the conferences is extremely important part of international collaboration, the projects should have produced clearly more journal articles and reviewed chapters in books or complete books. Cross-organisational and -disciplinary authoring could be improved significantly and this could produce more innovative insights. 14

15 PRE Results Report Key Results of the PRE Program from the Industry's Point of View Summary and Future Prospects The successful and broad-based research conducted in the PRE program has helped Finland maintain its position as a global leader in the research and deployment of BIM. In infrastructure construction modeling we have even been able to increase our lead. However, the situation is changing because in many countries, such as the UK, the government is actively promoting BIM as a way to improve considerably the productivity of construction. The most significant results of the PRE program from the perspective of industry were achieved in the development of technologies and concepts supporting open BIM-based cooperation models and distributed management and sharing of information. Requirements, instructions and a data transfer format for modeling were created for the infrastructure sector, all of which together speed up the breakthrough of BIM. BIMbased tools and processes were also developed and tested in practice which can improve supply chain management and work safety considerably. In the future, the results of the PRE program can also be used in many ways in interactive land use planning and reform of work environments. Ilkka Romo Vice President, R&D at Skanska Oy, Chairman of the PRE Program Steering Group In Finland, BIM expertise has for quite a long time been based on the development work of leading software houses and top design and construction sector enterprises. The PRE program complemented and provided new insights for this research cooperation. Nevertheless, effective deployment of the research results is also needed before they can have the desired effect on the productivity of construction and the profitability of companies. For this reason, it is essential that the research results produce concrete product development projects and the companies that participated in the program, and Tekes, play central roles in their launching. On the other hand, sufficient research input in BIM must be ensured also after the PRE program. It is vitally important for the productivity and competitiveness of construction especially when the market outlook is bleak. Introduction and Bases of Evaluation The objective of the first research program of RYM Oy, the PRE program (Built Environment Process Re-Engineering) implemented in , was to create completely new procedures and business models for the real-estate, construction and infrastructure sector. The basis of their development was increasingly user-driven procedures supported by BIM-based data management during the entire life cycle of properties, infrastructure and communities. The aim of the new business processes was to improve productivity and quality considerably. The program consisted of six thematic work packages: 1. Model Nova Use of BIM during property s life cycle from the owner s perspective 2. New Wow Changing nature and requirements of knowledge work and their impact on management of an organization and space 3. BIMCON BIM-based product data management in the delivery chain of industrialized building 4. DRUM Entity data models and standards 5. Infra FINBIM Future innovation-based delivery chain of the infra sector 6. BIMCity - Platform for dissemination, evaluation and development of community-level built environment digital models 15

16 The work packages were made up so that their contents would complement and support each other. The result was a rather comprehensive and representative crosssection of the utilization of BIM at different stages of built environment processes both in building and infrastructure construction. My assessment of the results of the PRE program is based on the information I received from the work package leaders and experiences from the BIMCON work package led by Skanska. Examples of the Results of the PRE Program GOALS New procedures and business models More user-driven procedures Product model-based data management over the entire life cycle of properties, infrastructure and communities Improvement of productivity and quality RESULTS BIM-based knotworking and spearhead alliance cooperation modelnew office space design concepts that support new work methods and efficient use of spacebimbased cost-optimizing design of an asphalt pavement BIM-based cooperation in common spaces Virtual visualization solutions in land use planning Web of Data Technology for distributed data management and exchangemodelling requirements and instructions for the infrastructure sector as well as international standardization based on the InfraModel data exchange formattools that enable use of modeling in calculation of carbon footprint Tools that enable use of modeling in supply chain management quantity survey improvement of work safety assessment of constructability Harmonization of the Lean Approach and Last Planner production control system with BIM tools BIM-based machine control in infrastructure construction BIM-based open cooperation means more effective processes Part of the PRE research and projects focused on the development of processes more from the point of view of social action than technology. A process that exploits modeling cannot become more effective if new technology is used the old way. According to the research results, the biggest benefits of modeling to date have been achieved in the areas of visualization of projects, quantity data and inspection of designs. Efforts were made to expand the field to various implementations of cost and energy simulations. The elimination of activities that do not add value according to the Lean approach and mutual cooperation between the parties were underlined, for instance, by the harmonization of the Last Planner production control system and knotworking with BIM tools. One result of the research work in the PRE program was also a new project type, the spearhead alliance, that requires close cooperation between clients, designers and implementers and efficient and carefully planned use of BIM tools. This kind of an operational model also requires working in shared team premises. This BIM based operational model not only helps improve the management of the overall process but also takes the end user better into account and creates clear added value for the owners in production. 16

17 BIMs will soon be managed and shared online The technologically most advanced R&D took place in the DRUM work package of Tekla and Aalto University. It studied and developed solutions for genuinely distributed information management and sharing in construction projects. It resulted in the concept of an open operational model which allows linking BIMs and sharing of information online quickly in real time. The information sharing is based on the newly developed Web of Data Technologies. The new distributed operational model is more compatible with the distributed organizational model of construction projects and reduces the number of errors in design. Instead of being stored in centralized model servers, information can be found and shared easily online. Web-based BIMs can be linked to any other information available online, building information can be shared openly with users and software developers, and use of the model between work phases can be streamlined and made easier. Dialogue between users and software developers improves the quality of BIMs and promotes innovation and new ways of using the models. BIMs can trigger a leap in productivity in the infrastructure sector The Infra FINBIM work package conducted ground-breaking, goal-oriented and practical research in the development of modeling guidelines, standards and practices of the infrastructure sector. The research results have had a major impact on the wider introduction of modeling in public infrastructure projects, thanks especially to the active participation of the Finnish Transport Agency. Together with a few big cities it implemented several pilot projects during the program to further develop and test the requirements and guidelines of modeling. One concrete research result concerned design and implementation of asphalt pavements that optimize costs by using BIM and machine control automation. The solution is based on laser scanning of an existing surface. The laser scanning method is also useful in monitoring the condition and wear of roads and optimizing the timing of repairs. The wider introduction of model-based machine control makes all civil engineering more efficient and enables a significant productivity leap in the sector. The use of models in infrastructure construction requires developing the compatibility of the design process and tools, as well as data management solutions and related tools. One of the major benefits of model-based design is attained in quantity surveying which becomes more effective and accurate and will in the future enable model-based procurement. Processes must be developed in both infrastructure and building construction so that all advantages of BIM can be used in all phases of the process, from design input data, actual designs and quantities derived from them to construction and the subsequent maintenance phase. In the future, model-based as-built data will be a significant factor in making the maintenance of infrastructure networks more effective. Better control of supply chains and work safety The BIMCON work package tested the applicability of design-build subcontracting of precast concrete panels to the modeling process and tools. This procedure allows the supplier of building elements to adapt designs more accurately to its own manufacturing even if the general COBIM modeling requirements and guidelines of the sector are used. Shared use and synchronization of used software must nevertheless be improved so that both the supplier and the main structural designer can be sure of the compatibility and up-to-dateness of their designs. 17

18 Another central research theme was the analysis of designs to assess constructability. A model was developed for assessing constructability during the project from several different points of view. It improves the efficiency of construction and work safety by eliminating structures that are difficult to implement. The improvement of work safety is one of the most important focuses in the construction sector. Consequently, the analysis and design of work safety as a whole was one of the main research subjects. Automatic analysis of the need of fall protections and their positioning in designs were also developed in this context. The utilization of modeling in the improvement of work safety requires further research and development by software suppliers. Modeling can also be exploited in many ways in supply chain management. One tested solution allowed using a model to monitor the different stages of precast concrete panels from design to manufacture and installation on site. The method offers all parties to a project a transparent view of the project schedule which reduces risks and the need of buffer times. The modeling of building elements on the product level has largely been limited to detailed modeling of products related to the frame phase while the interior work phase products have mainly been evaluated generally on the structural type level. With certain architectural design softwares, however, it is possible to go much further. For example, detailed modeling of the surface materials of a bathroom enables clearer specification of commercial products and steering of procurement with the model. Tools for calculation of carbon footprint Calculation of the carbon footprint was also developed in the BIMCON research which expedites and promotes the consideration of environmental issues in design. An overall solution for this purpose is yet to be found, so approaches dependent on the modeling software must still be used. Yet, the research showed that the method works. The researches also addressed company-specific product data management in modeling software as well as more generic data management and the transition through general design, product selection and specification and construction to maintenance and the requirements of the later phases of the life cycle. This approach worked with the products of some companies, such as steel frame structures, but there is no clear-cut general solution for model-based maintenance and life cycle management. Graphic tools for land use planning and refurbishment of work environments BIM also allows more effective land use planning, visualization of design solutions and zoning. The BIMCITY research projects included various city modeling experiments and used augmented reality tools in the visualization of design alternatives. Virtual visualization tools develop rapidly along with new technologies and will in the near future become common methods of communication between design teams, clients and users. They also give residents and other people affected by construction better possibilities to participate in the process and are likely to reduce misunderstandings and related complaints at the zoning phase. The New Wow work package examined how new design concepts of office premises enhance work in offices or offer distance work opportunities. This is only natural since all types of teams need communication, cooperation, or, alternatively, peace and quiet to concentrate on their work. New activity-based concepts are entering the market, making the use of spaces more efficient. The main thing then is the visualization and illustration of solutions in advance with modeling tools. 18

19 PRE Results Report Self-Assessment A self-assessment of PRE took place in the spring The number of participants was 22/23. The average score of the ten questions (see figure) was 5.2. The average score of first three questions, categorized as Quality and relevance, was 5.3. The next four, in Resources and collaboration, scored 5.2. The last three, under Value-Added, resulted in an average of 5.1. Participants were reasonable satisfied with the outcomes. This result confirms the notion that companies and research organisations have been working actively. Work packages and enterprises have encouraged each other in numerous meetings and presentations during the program. The survey was conducted online. 19

20 Success Stories 20