SJSC “State Real Estate” (SRE), supplementing the BIM design and construction requirements developed in 2019, has developed the next step - “asset information requirements” - an assistant for building owners to use BIM in the building management and maintenance process. This is the next stage for the building information modeling (BIM) technologies to be used in the full life cycle of a building - not only in the design and construction stages, but also in building management, informs Renārs Griškevičs, Chairman of the Board of SRE.
The guidelines developed by the SRE are intended for public use. In order to update and adapt it to the needs of the industry, professionals of the industry are invited to make suggestions until 30 April this year, and ask questions by sending them to the e-mail address bim@vni.lv. The developed Asset information requirements documentation can be found here.
The guidelines define the information needed by building owners and the management team to be able to manage properties efficiently and with high quality. They can be used as a task for the manager, who manages the building, and they explain how the data of the building should be supplemented and updated in the building management cycle. Based on the project information model, an Asset information model is created, which contains graphical and textual information that can be combined with a real estate management system for more efficient building management.
“Until now, we have had to face the opinion that the BIM model is only necessary in the design and construction phase, thus not paying attention to management needs or leaving the solution of certain issues to others. The beginning of use of digital twins requires the availability of up-to-date information throughout the life cycle of the building. “Asset information requirements” will facilitate modern and transparent management building maintenance, improving quality and ensuring the more efficient use of public funding. We will evaluate the recommendations of construction and real estate management professionals for the improvement of these requirements in order for them to gain wide application and make work more efficient in the industry,” reveals Renārs Griškevičs, Chairman of the Board of SRE.
Global experience shows that the use of BIM technologies helps to reduce the cost of construction projects by 15-20% (for design and construction works) and in general builds up 10-17% of financial savings throughout the life cycle of the building.
“For some time now, BIM has been a daily routine for many; it is the direction in which we are going. In order to use BIM as efficiently as possible, the data contained in the BIM model must be structured and stored in such a way that it can be used in building management. The “asset information requirements” developed by SRE ensure that unnecessary information or too much detailing is not developed during the development of the BIM, which is not required further in construction or management. We hope that the requirements developed by SRE will be the basis for the wider setting of BIM requirements in public procurement from the customer’s side, as well as wider implementation of BIM to increase the competence of construction and building management companies, ”says Ilze Beināre, Deputy State Secretary for Construction and Housing in the Ministry of Economics.
In recent years, SRE has gained practical experience, for example, using BIM technology during the construction of the prosecutor's office at Aspazijas bulvāris 7 in Riga; by using BIM, the quality of the construction project was improved, timely identifying more than 200 problem areas , which allowed uninterrupted and timely construction works, eliminating shortcomings that would cost the state more than 150,000 euros.
Already in 2019, gaining confidence in the benefits of BIM, common BIM requirements for construction procurement were developed for the Latvian public sector. While last year, the implementation of the requirements developed by SRE was launched in the new construction procurements of the capital company.
Currently SRE already implements 14 projects with BIM components, among them, BIM models are being developed for the Concert Hall Lielā Ģilde, the Castel part of Riga Castle, the New Riga Theatre and the historic Gūtšmits House in Ventspils, modernisation of the Latvian-Russian border crossing point “Grebņeva” and elsewhere.
SRE is currently implementing 118 infrastructure development projects worth approximately 180 million euros and working on 25 new project ideas. The company provides professional real estate management and administration for approximately 450 real estate properties with 1200 buildings of 1.1 million square metres and more than 4000 land properties with an area of 10 million square metres. SRE was founded in 1996 and its sole (100%) shareholder is the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Latvia.
