Hopefully your holidays were good! We’ve start this new year by contemplating new services and trying to get a pulse about interest.
We are in the process of developing another division in Cornerstone for another stream of revenue. I think the acronym that we may use is FIMM (Facilities Information Modeling & Management). Please allow me to explain as follows:
Several years ago, I had talked to personnel at Lancaster General Hospital about document management for their facilities and in 2009, we began those services. We are in the first year of an annual contract to provide facilities documentation and management services for the 3 million square feet of Lancaster General Health’s facilities. We begin by organizing and scanning in all hard copy record documents of the facilities from the time they were constructed and subsequent renovations and/or additions. Our firm is beyond CAD and has fully integrated BIM (Building Information Modeling) into our practice. We utilize Autodesk’s Revit Architecture (http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=3781831&siteID=123112). We are modeling, starting with the structural grid and core/shaftways and then inputting all the spaces within the facilities in the third dimension, building the model with changes that had been constructed over time. Eventually, we will incorporate the three dimensional building systems for HVAC, electrical, plumbing and fire protection.
This info can be viewed by LGH facilities and leasing personnel via a free download viewer which will allow them to sort the data in both two dimensional and three dimensional views. The database will include spatial (usages, room names & numbers, dimensional info, etc.), leasing and cost center information. The facilities personnel will be able to check square footage beyond the way it is sorted in the database and measure the room sizes. Notes and comments can be added, as well as, much more information can be input.
When a project is completed in the future, whomever was architect will need to provide electronic record drawings as part of the close out of a project and we will incorporate it into the BIM modeling. When new projects begin that involve a renovation or addition to an existing building, we will provide electronic record documents in the format the architect requests them. Of course, we always enjoy when it is our firm that is selected, but regardless whom LGH will use on a given project, we will provide the record documentation in the format the architect needs it. We still have a long ways to go to get all their facilities documented, but know the end product will serve them well.
Several weeks ago, our Revit Administrator, Rick Carter, attended an information seminar hosted by the School District of Lancaster (SDL). Synergis (http://synergis.com/files/solutions/building/bim.shtml) was part of the morning’s input and is the vendor we use for software, support and training. The resource person mentioned to Rick that Cornerstone is way ahead of the curve in Central Pennsylvania and has more fully integrated BIM into our business than any other firm so we believe we are well positioned to provide these services. The SDL is using anywhere from four to twenty staff, at any given time, to input and develop their 2.5 million square feet into facilities management documents. We have one fulltime Revit draftsperson and one part manager to oversee the LGH project.
Bottomline, if this kind of service may be of interest to you, I would like to invite you, and whomever else you feel appropriate to a demonstration of the software and capabilities in our office, and then as our guest to The Loft Restaurant to further discuss.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if this is of interest,
Dale R. Yoder, AIA
PRESIDENT
C O R N E R S T O N E D E S I G N - A R C H I T E C T S
Responsively and creatively designing facilities of significance!
48 - 50 West Chestnut Street, Suite 400
Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603
E-Mail: dyoder@cornerstonedesign.com
Main 717.435.1800 | Direct 717.435.1808 | Fax 717.435.1801 | Mobile 717.629.5130