UAB “Veikmės statyba” was founded in 2005 and performs the function of general contractor and project management and technical supervision of the facility. The company works using innovative construction technologies (BIM as well) and has assembled a professional team of construction engineers, technical workers certified construction managers with many years of work experience and high qualifications.
We talk with Gytis Jurgelevičius, the BIM manager of Veikmės statyba, about the company’s BIM processes, and how advanced methodology helps ensure smooth planning, smart cost management, individual customer needs and quality control.
The evolution of BIM
The BIM path at Veikmės statyba started with setting clear goals and planning the greaeng possible use of BIM in internal processes, communication, and information exchange.
“Each of us understands more and more every day and sees real benefits in business processes based on BIM. The further we go, the bigger puzzles we face, but the results motivate us to move forward,” Gytis Jurgelevičius answers the question about the reasons for using BIM in the company’s processes.
UAB “Veikmės statyba” BIM manager Gytis Jurgelevičius
The first step was to provide all the employees of the company with the basis of basic knowledge and unify the terminology, to start talking to each other in the same terms. In the second step, it was aimed that all parts of the project provide not only ordinary PDF or DWG drawings, but also BIM models.
Design quality
“Without precise BIM model quality requirements, we saw how different designers’ models differ in quality. Therefore, we had to create the basic model development rules needed to ensure the quality of the BIM model, interdisciplinary compatibility, information and quantity acquisition. Gytis tells about the beginning of BIM in the company .
The BIM manager notes that design companies in Lithuania are of very different levels. There is a particularly big difference between those who work only in the Lithuanian market and those who have experience working with Scandinavia, Switzerland, Germany: “The latter assess the minimum quality of the project, the costs and possibilities of BIM model creation quite differently. With these companies, it is already possible to solve completely different problems and find new good experiences during the project. However, there are still companies that view BIM-based project development as just additional work.”
The interviewee also faces the problem that many companies do not have their own internal BIM specialists: “Often, the quality of the BIM model in design depends on how much the designer himself knows how to use the software, knows BIM, and how much time he has left from direct design work. “
“Looking at all BIM issues from the point of view of the past, everything is really moving forward little by little, common understanding and good experiences using BIM in various project processes are increasing. “
BIM benefits, challenges and plans
Among the biggest benefits provided by BIM, the BIM manager mentions the improved quality of design work and communication: “we better and earlier identify and analyze problems between different parts of the project. Communication is becoming more and more model-based, so there are fewer “gray areas” when communicating with our subcontractors .
The company is constantly looking for opportunities and means to raise the quality of BIM to an even higher level and to standardize the work in different projects. Such challenges are much more complex, because they are related not only to established internal procedures and habits in project management, but also to the general IT literacy of people in other companies.
Further plans include not only improving skills, better mastering the tools and methods already in use, but also linking BIM models with construction schedules (4D).
“We can already see how much real benefit it can bring us. I really believe that we will enter a new stage, when we will use BIM model information for construction work planning and scheduling (4D), subcontract management, financial management (5D) ” – said Gytis Jurgelevičius about future plans.
Solibri software
” Veikmės statyba” UAB uses “Solibri” software for BIM model analysis, quality assessment and quantity calculation .
“In BIM models, we have significantly fewer collisions and higher quality attribute information, so we spend less time, resources and costs on project adjustments and problem solving on the construction site ” – the main benefit of Solibri was named by the BIM manager.
Gytis Jurgelevičius compares Solibri software with alternative programs: “Solibri focuses mainly on BIM model quality analysis, design error detection and information retrieval from the model.” Meanwhile, with Navisworks, in addition to conventional geometric intersection analysis, model-linked project planning can be performed. Also, this software supports an infinite number of file formats and has integrations with online platforms.
However, Solibri performs its functions in much more detail and depth. “Solibri ” , in addition to the geometrical analysis of intersections of elements, can check whether the required distances are maintained between elements, whether all the necessary elements that are provided in the project are modeled in the premises, whether there are no impermissible elements in the premises, whether all the premises have doors, whether their direction of movement is appropriate, etc. Such capabilities allow you to raise the quality control of both the design and the BIM model to a whole other level.
In addition to the fact that Solibri works efficiently and quickly with IFC files, the interlocutor mentions another important function of the software – obtaining information from the model: ” Usually programs count the quantities of elements and can provide attribute information of these elements. At Solibri, we have an additional option to receive data that is related to other elements.
For example, we have an explanation of the rooms, which we add information on how many and which doors and windows are in each room. Solibri is able to understand element relationships by itself, without additional attribute information: a room is associated with one door and two windows. Solibri has many such connections, so it’s only a matter of imagination and experience to what extent they can be used in the daily life of ongoing projects.
The more different sections we can analyze the project on the basis of the BIM model, the better quality information we get. Project analysis and development in the digital space ensures a smoother work for us on the construction site. “
Prapared by Laima Natkeviciute