Consultant BIM Academy has completed development of a series asset information models for a major new smart city in the Far East.
Forest City is a pioneering development consisting of four large man-made islands on the straits of Johor, Malaysia, with a total land area of 1,386 ha.
Developed by Country Garden Pacificview, the smart eco city has been designed to accommodate an estimated 700,000 residents and offer international buyers luxury homes in a multi-layered urban planning concept in lush green surroundings. The ambition and complexity of the vision for this integrated city makes it unique, with challenges that have not yet been tackled in real world scenarios.
BIM was an essential solution to digitise the project, enabling the creation of asset information models for the built infrastructure, commercial residential and other complex buildings within the project. This results in an end-to-end solution that collects and maintains city and building information throughout the lifecycle of the city.
BIM Academy’s expertise on similarly complex projects made it the ideal partner to develop and create a digital asset information model (AIM) for Forest City. The project was developed as a proof of concept and delivered within the greater Forest City smart city development, with the intention of replicating the approach across the entire site.
BIM Acadermy provided a coordinated multi-disciplinary 3D geometry model of building fabric, structure and services
Dr Wei Zhou, deputy director of digital engineering at Country Garden Pacificview, said: “We invited BIM Academy to help us because we know they scoped and delivered the Sydney Opera House BIM4FM project successfully. This practical expertise is what we needed to facilitate our AIM project delivery at Forest City.”
BIM Academy was commissioned by Country Garden Pacificview to develop a strategy for, and then create, a digital AIM for the Landmark Building within the development. This comprised a coordinated multi-disciplinary 3D geometry model of the building fabric, structure and services, combined with non-graphical data on the maintainable assets of the fabric and systems.
User experience and operational efficiency were fundamental to the success of the entire development, so the Landmark Building required a holistic digital information model for improved management of the building and infrastructure in use.
BIM Academy worked closely with the project management, modelling and construction teams on site in Johor and developed the BIM protocols which enabled the structured development of coordinated 3D geometric models and data for the Landmark Building (Phase 1), which will allow their integration with future FM systems (CAFM and CMMS) following handover.
Peter Barker, managing director at BIM Academy, said: “This will deliver high value in terms of operational efficiency and enhanced user experience on a city scale. We worked closely with Dr Zhou’s team throughout the process, supporting the establishment of the Digital Engineering Centre to ensure successful delivery in the long term.”
Forest City is a pioneering development consisting of four large man-made islands on the straits of Johor
Zhou added: “We have seen rewarding results for our smart city development and we thank BIM Academy for supporting us. We sincerely hope BIM Academy will continue its commitment to deliver best practice for creating our wonderful world.”
Following completion of the project at Forest City, BIM Academy, from its SE Asia hub in Hong Kong, has been asked to support other clients in the application of digital information modelling to achieve efficiencies during design and procurement, as well as achieving operational productivity gains through the creation and handover of reliable, coordinated project data.
Other clients include Hong Kong University of Science and Technology on a new performance facility at their Clearwater Bay Campus, CLP Group (China Light and Power) on a major renewable energy facility in New Territories Hong Kong as well as BIM management support on the major Kai Tak Sports Park and 4D construction and logistics simulation on the prominent Lyric Theatre in West Kowloon Cultural District.
BIM Academy has appointed former military plant foreman Andrew Johnson as project manager. Johnson brings a wide variety of experience, including designing and developing digital transformation programmes for industry clients.
