Entrant details
Role or Job Title on the Project
Project Manager - Digital Collaboration and Interface Management
Employer
Sykehuset i Vestfold HF / Vestfold Hospital Trust, Tønsberg (City), Norway
county based health trust within
Helse Sør-Øst RHF / South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority
Employer Role
Public Sector Owner/Client
Are you or your employer a member of buildingSMART?
Yes - Chapter Member
Submission details
Submitting Party Company Name
Vestfold Hospital
Submitting Party Company Location
Tonsberg, Norway
Submitting Party Role on Project
Client
Submitting Party Company Website
Full Project Name
The Tønsberg Project
Project Location (Country)
Norway
Project Objectives
The Tønsberg Project is an ambitious hospital construction project* determined to utilise existing and new digital tools and methodologies in order to achieve measurable results in design, construction and operation. IFC is mandatory for all BIM exchange.
The Tønsberg Project shall be delivered with:
• functional and construction quality equal to or better than comparable hospitals;
• substantial reduction on project cost. The goal was 10% reduction compared to a project finished in 2005 with corresponding regulatory technical standard;
• a complete handover in an OpenBIM FM documentation system;
• BREEAM Very Good certification.
This project won the Design-category - BSI Award in 2017.
openBIM Achievements
The Tonsberg Project have extensively used several OpenBIM methods and achieved the following:
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Established a FM software solution based on OpenBIM (IFC 4.0) as a BIM master data system (Electronic Building Journal) for building systems- and product/asset's information - for the building lifecycle, for building operational personnel. Identification is based on the Norwegian TFM-number system*, GTIN / SGTIN and GLN from GS1.
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Established a new and efficient method to establish and deliver FM information based on OpenBIM, by extracting automatically FM information/documentation – from the contractors supply chain and external product database (CoBuilder).
TFM = Norwegian Building Structuring Reference Designation and Identification system.
openBIM used
IFC 2x3, IFC4, ifcXML, bSDD, BCF, MVD, mvdXML, COBie
openBIM or open standards used other than those listed above
This project initiated the usage of SGTIN* in asset identification (RFID and datamatrix), and has established both a Norwegian and English Guide together with GS1 Norway and Statsbygg - on how to use SGTIN as a unique asset identifier, from production to end-of life cyclus.
This guide has already been translated to several other languages within GS1 - including mandarin, where they have started to use this in some of their large projects (according to GS1 Norway).
We have built the scanning of RFID into our FM solution, where we will be able to scan assets RFID and receive the SGTIN and connect the corresponding FM-information to be shown for the FM personnel.
So even though we have not been able to use this technology to the ambitions in the beginning of our project, we have left a clear footprint - where new projects can follow.
We requested the GTIN from all delivered products; however, the building industry has not been ready for this change - especially at the sanitary, piping and ventilation area. For these products we have used other product identification awaiting GTIN/SGTIN.
When our IFC objects are tagged with GTIN - then we have the possibility to automate the FM information collection process, which will be a huge step forward for the building industry as a whole. We have established a working process, all we need is the design group to tag the objects with GTIN throughout a project and to have external product databases which have the GTIN and the FM information needed (the external product databases are currently lacking some information - Product Data in properties).
SGTIN and GTIN: Serialized Global Trade Item Number
Software used
EDMmodelServer (including EDMweb, EDMissueDB, EDMcatalog, EBIMconnect) - by Jotne EPM Technology AS
Solibri Model Checker
BIM Collab
ArchiCAD
Revit Structures
MagiCad
Tekla Structures
Novapoint
dRofus
CoBuilder
Map Portal from Norwegian Map Authority (Statens Kartverk)
GLN database - by GS1 Norway.
- in addition som software related to design and construction phase of the project.
Strategic Alignment
South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority has for more than 10 years been focusing on using OpenBIM. The regional strategy have focus on digitalization, in order to make the property area more efficient - and to be able to support the core hospital business in a better way.
The Tønsberg Project is a pilot for our regional health authority and Sykehusbygg (Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency) in order to establish a FM-BIM solution in OpenBIM, where the hospital building operational personnel have immediately and easy access to the model and all FM information.
We have achievedto make the FM-handover process much more efficient.
Highlights
- This is an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) project
- Client demanded OpenBIM (IFC-format) for file exchange and the delivery of both IFC files and native files in the FM information delivery.
- Current achievement is close to 10% reduction of cost compared to a project that was completed in 2005 (achieved the project goal), which is substantially lower than other comparable current hospital projects.
- The project is currently on schedule and on budget.
- BREEAM Very Good certification has been achieved for the Psychiatric building – handed over in 2019. We expect the same for the Somatic building - finished next year.
Project Website
Project and Stakeholder Logos (compiled into one .ppt/pptx file for upload)
Project Address
The Tønsberg Project
Halfdan Wilhelmsens Alle 17 and Haakon V gate 17
3116 Tønsberg
Norway
Project Type
Institutional
Size of Project
This is a Hospital project.
Project period 2016-2021
45 000 m2 divided in two parts:
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12 000 m2 Psychiatric building for Acute care, Outpatient, Offices.
Delivered in May 2019. Two buildings.
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33 000 m2 Somatic building - for ER-department, wards,
outpatient. To be delivered in Q4 - 2021. Two buildings.
3MRD NOK - (ca 330 Million USD)
The new OpenBIM FM tool are in the beginning of a process to be used on the rest of our hospital area - maximum ca 200 000 m2. We have started to investigate how to bunch load / transfer existing electronic documentation to our slim-BIM of existing building area (also in IFC-format).
Detailed description of the project
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE BUILDING PROJECT
The Tonsberg Project is the last stage of the Hospital Development Plan in the Vestfold County initiated in 1990, which included demolition of existing old buildings and building new buildings – while at the same time the hospital should not have any reduction of health care production. This sequential building process has given a lot of challenges and are more expensive compared to a green field development.
The Tonsberg Project is divided in two parts, 1) Psychiatric building (two buildings) and 2) Somatic building, which were developed in two stages since part of the old psychiatric building was within the footprint of the new somatic building.
High ambitions for the project required change to the traditional way of working. Therefore, the client selected a new contract model that had proven suitable for complex hospital projects in other parts of the world. – The Tønsberg Project is the first project in Norway that uses the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) model. This is a collaboration model with early involvement of the construction contractor where there is a common incentive model; the project success is the governing factor for the success of all parties involved. There is a shared risk-reward for all project participants, a joint responsibility for mistakes and omissions during design and construction i.e. all project participants are in the same boat and has the same goals as the client. The experience with the IPD model has proven to be very good.
OpenBIM has been the foundation of all the design work, and to achieve this - the client invested in a VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) platform. All the main design tools where available in VDI for the project design personnel, even though they came from several different companies. This enabled an integrated platform to all users, and the possibility to automate some of the BIM processes. The Client requested that it should be developed a BIM Execution Plan (BEP) for this project, based on the RFQ-documents in the first competition.
A building site 8 m from a hospital in full operation has been challenging, but has worked well due to close communication, good understanding and flexibility from both parties.
Illustrations of the project in Appendix 09.
DESCRIPTION OF THE OpenBIM FM INFORMATION PROJECT
In the original mandate to the Tonsberg Project it was described that we should have an FM BIM solution based on OpenBIM. According to the BIM-server contract between our regional health authority / Norwegian Hospital Construction Agency (Sykehusbygg HF) and Jotne EPM Technology AS, our project is the pilot to establish this FM Information module – which the Vestfold Hospital originally initiated.
Our goal was to establish a Facility Management information BIM system, where BIM-objects are directly connected to information about the objects and building systems - based on OpenBIM IFC4 structure and properties, and thus establish an Electronic Building Journal.
FM information collection process has been a problem for a very long time for most building projects in Norway. We wanted to streamline this process with digitalisation and automate the process as far as we could. In order to achieve this - we have focused on the usage of GTIN. Reference to Appendix 04. Even though we got the process on place in the BIM-server, the building industry has not been ready for this change due to lack of GTIN in some part of the different disciplines – especially piping/ventilation, and the digitalisation of properties information is generally not available in external product databases. This process has started now in Norway with buildingSMART Norway in the lead, and our project will give feedback to this process to establish Product Data Templates as a part of the FMie initiative. Example is given in Appendix 03.
Since our hospital has previous OpenBIM projects, where we have requested and received COBie – this COBie import is included in the contract with Jotne. We started the process of establishing the different import/export Excel-sheets in Q2-2020, but this process is not finalised. It does not have the same hurry since this has been connected to the existing buildings.
One of the main issues in the start was how to identify the objects in a way that both the design personnel, construction personnel and hospital building operational personnel could recognise. We chose to use the Norwegian TFM-number system* which is widely used throughout Norway.
(TFM = Norwegian Building Structuring Reference Designation and Identification system: Each object has a PSet with all the information elements (separate properties) divided in three main groups: Location, System and Component).
The overall principles of the handover process are described in Appendix 01 - Technology Map and Appendix 02 - Handover Workflow.
To develop a new software solution in parallel with the building project has not been easy, since we have been pulling resources from the building process. However, this close connection has given us hands on feedback on what was functioning and what could be done better. Due to lack of resources from Jotne – this process has also taken more time than originally expected.
Detailed description of openBIM on the project
Appendix 01 - Technology Map - Project and Handover and Appendix 02 - Handover workflow describe the overall picture of how OpenBIM (IFC2.3 from the design tools and IFC4.0 in the BIM-server solution) has been used.
The detail of how IFC has been used in the FM information solution (Catalog) is shown in the Appendix 06 and Appendix 07, where you can "open up the hood and look into the engine department".
Appendix 06 shows the BIM server data model using IFC4.0 exclusively for BIM masterdata and bSDD for BIM reference data. Other data supporting enterprise, project and documentation has been modelled as IFC extensions, meaning that all data can be exported as a legal IFC file or through the EBIM open API. The main purpose is to create an open repository for all data needed in the building life cycle by consolidating multiple imports BIM data from various BIM authoring tools in both Ifc2x3 (because no certified applications were ready) and IFC4 format (ASCII and XML). System performs change management (merge) to ensure that no data used/needed in procurement/facility management is overwritten. BIM masterdata scope is both types and instances for space, systems with components and specific solutions. Solutions can either by custom-built or trade products or a combination. BIM masterdata support multiple classification systems and is therefore used as “TFM * master” which is used for unique identification of maintained system and products by a majority of building owners in Norway. Enterprise data, project data, workorder data and document data is modelled as IFC extensions since current versions are not sufficient and no certified applications exist. This is available to bSI for future model extensions.
Appendix 07 shows the process of import, validation and consolidation of BIM from various sources with reference to BIM server data model. This is a configurable and automated solution. It supports user-defined rul-sets defined in mvdXML or ISO 10303-14 Express-X.
TFM = Norwegian Building Structuring Reference Designation and Identification system
By using OpenBIM - we have achieved the following:
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Development and deployment of BIM master data using IFC4.0 for the entire project and hospital organization to ensure the exact handover, information ownership and longevity of data. This has been achieved with a catalog solution for requirements, system and product register / asset information database.
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o Modelling of locations, systems and components to capture building and system functions needed to understand design intent and requirements. The Norwegian TFM system has been used to classify everything that need to be maintained and is mapped to IFC4.0.
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o Modelling of solutions either being trade products or assembled from trade products. GTIN and SGTIN from GS1. Definition of products, classification, attributes and documentation is using buildingSMART data dictionary from bSI with IFC4.0 as one context.
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o Modelling of unique location codes using GLN (or SGLN) from GS1
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Established Facility Management processes working directly on the IFC4.0 master data and multiple classification systems such as the Norwegian TFM-number system *)
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Established Area Management processes according to Norwegian Standard 3940 for calculation of areas and volumes of building.
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The supply chain information from the main contractor (Skanska) and Sub-contractors have been forwarded to an external product information database (CoBuilder), and the information about the delivered products have we been able to extract automatically from CoBuilder by Jotne BIM-server and established as a commercial product database within the Jotne Catalog BIM-server. Reference to Appendix 05.
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o The contractors and suppliers have also worked directly in the Catalog system to upload documents / information for a product and linked it to a BIM-object
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o The information is available on mobile solutions (mini iPad) which is easy to navigate and gives the operators direct access to all FM documents and information in the system.
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o The handover process has been radically changed by this new and may be considered as a model for the future.
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The level of information we have able to establish in this system (Electronic Building journal) is shown with one example in Appendix 4, stored in the IFC format – however not in a strict form as from a Product Data Template, but we are working on this together with bS Norway
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The FM information is available for the hospital building operating personnel – in the field, by using OpenBIM. Due to security issues we have two factor authentications - in order to access the system on the App.
In order to establish a solution as needed we must include FM information connected to systems and / or objects which is not modelled, both in relation to commercial trade items and location. The solution has been established in the EDMmodelServer with the corresponding tree structure, but these items has not been visualised in the web GUI or in the App – yet.
Software ecosystem map
openBIM Supporting Evidence
Benefits from using openBIM
The project has benefitted much by using OpenBIM from the design phase as described in our BSI Award Application in 2017 – Design Category (which we won) - to the handover phase, which we are in the middle of now (delivered Part 1 – Psychiatric building, and still building on Part 2 – Somatic building). Since we have done most of the work of choosing and connecting the OpenBIM objects to the commercial / trade items - in part 1 Psychiatric building, it will be relatively easy to deliver Part 2 Somatic building with FM information in OpenBIM, due to we are able to reuse the connections between the object type and the Catalog database – as long as the designers and contractors use the same products and the same TFM component codes.
The real benefit of a solution like this, is not how we can make the handover process more efficient, but how the hospital can utilise the solution in their daily work. The solution has been in test use by the Electro Department of the Hospital and the test users have favoured the solution and they can navigate in the solution very fast. This gives a much more efficient process of finding the information when something is needed, they can literally save a lot of time compared to a traditional solution, as long as the model is updated as an As-Built model – and not merely an As-Designed model. As mentioned earlier we are struggling with this in our project also.
Examples of benefits:
Reducing waste of time for FM operating technician:
Traditional method (our situation now) – estimated time for finding relevant information in a maintenance situation (both planned maintenance and acute maintenance): From 0,5 to 3 hours.
New method (with the new OpenBIM FM information tool) – estimated time for finding relevant information in a maintenance situation: From 5 to 15 minutes – depending of the complexity.
Reduce time in connection with preliminary work together with contractor / craftsmen: Streamlines the display of relevant area, issues, systems and objects. The potential savings varies from different cases, and can be up to several hours per case.
When rebuilding/modification - the OpenBIM FM information solution can easily show the complexity and increase the understanding of the consequences for the hospital's clinical staff. This will reduce the time spent in the planning phase, and can be several hours per case. Provides a better and faster basis for decision-making - regarding whether the issue is to be implemented or not.
(However, the process was new for our project, and we have had several issues with the stability of the solution which was under design development - at the same time as we were adding/uploading product information into the system. This is obviously not a preferred situation and created some tension in the project. We have now divided more the development from the production environment, and this will be further evolved when the solition in 2020 is going to be establish in our regional ICT-platform, and thus be ready for other hospitals to use.)
"We were able to innovate using openBIM."
We consider the solution we have been presented as an innovation, where all relevant FM information about building, systems and products/asset can be stored in IFC format in a database (together with documents/files in PDF/other formats) and be easily accessed for building operational staff – in the field.
"We were able to identify where we need openBIM to develop further."
We need authoring tools to step up their IFC4.0 (and beyond) certification. We also need roundtripping – e.g. that authoring tools can process BIM master data not created by themselves.
We need old and important parts of IFC to mature and being used, e.g. become part of IDMs and authoring tools that are certifying for them: IfcProcess, ifcTask, ifcDocumentation, etc.
Our key finding is that IFC4.0 is better than Ifc2x3 for management of BIM master data for enterprise-wide modelling and for documentation using. We have made a few improvements for document support, but our strongest recommendation is to improve support of enterprise, process, task support so that facility mgmt., issue mgmt., asset mgmt. create their own silos.
We also need improvement in geometry styling and presentation. Current solution is not working and not well supported by the authoring tools.
In our implementation, we have findings whereas IFC4.0 has some shortcomings. We believe a main reason is that IFC has merely been used by design and build processes. As an example, we see that IfcSite is basically supporting one project.
I agree to be contacted about the project BIM uses outside of this awards program.
Stakeholders
Vestfold Hospital (The Tonsberg Project), Tønsberg, Norway,
https://www.siv.no, Project Manager Digital Collaboration (Client/Owner - Project organisation), Inge Aarseth
Jotne EPM Technology AS, Oslo, Norway,
https://www.jotne.com, CEO (Software provider), Jorulv Rangnes
Skanska Norge AS, Oslo, Norway,
https://www.skanska.no, BIM Technician (Skanska - Main Contractor), Pål Trollsås
Vestfold Hospital (Service division), Tønsberg Norway,
https://www.siv.no, BIM Technician (Client - Hospital FM organisation), Kenneth Larsen
Vestfold Hospital (The Tonsberg Project), Tønsberg, Norway,
https://www.siv.no, BIM Technician (Client - Project organisation), Henning Langsrud
Jotne EPM Technology AS, Oslo, Norway,
https://www.jotne.com, Product Manager (Software provider), Gudbrand Skarseth
Vestfold Hospital (The Tonsberg Project), Tønsberg, Norway,
https://www.siv.no, Project Director (Client - Project organisation), Tom Einertsen
