How to use Revit Model as Facility Drawing?

[anouri]

Hi,

we have been using AutoCAD drawings for our facility plans. We are switching to revit and we like to convert everything to Revit models. Everything is good so far. The problem is we have no clue to have only one Revit model in out facility network and use that model for all ongoing projects. I was wondering if anyone has done anything similar to this and could share his/her thoughts.

Thanks

[David_W_Koch]

Welcome to the Discussion Groups.

Can you give us a little more information about your facility and how you intend to use the Revit model(s).  Is it a single building, of relatively modest size, or do you have a sprawling campus with multiple buildings (whether they are all joined together or not)?  Are you intending to just use the Revit model as the starting point for new projects going forward, or are you also looking to leverage the model for facilities management use?  Will all of the future work be done in-house, or will you need to share the model(s) with outside design consultants and/or construction firm(s) for the future work?  What type of facility is it?  The advice for a speculative office building with mostly business office tenants may be different than that for a hospital or a utility-intensive manufacturing facility.

[MKEllis]

As well as everything that David has said, it is worth starting from the other end as it were.

What data / asset information do you want to collect and use ? How do you want to collate and manage this data ? the answers to those questions can help you to work up a brief that in turn will help to structure the model.

If these are existing buildings it may be better to start with fairly simplistic models and data, then as refurbishment / extension works are undertaken in the short and lng term, the model / data can be further refined as new assets are built in (ie you may have limited data on exactly what existing doors are in terms of material, condition, supplier, colour refs, fire rating, acoustic rating etc. but if replacement doors are added in the future you are likely to have far more specific data).

We have gone through something similar with a couple of clients, and in most cases they needed to take a step back to assess what it was they were after. It is easy to jump in and model / survey buildings with no objective as to what you want to get out at the other end.

[anouri]

Our office is specialized in healthcare industry. We have been using AutoCAD since AutoCAD existed. Below show how we have been using AutoCAD drawings for our facility plans and ongoing renovations and we like to know what way is the best to use Revit instead of AutoCAD:

We have a complete AutoCAD plans from all floors and buildings for all different Hospitals in our network. We grab a copy from the floor plans and paste it to new folder for new projects. We update the facility plans after we are done with the renovation and remodeling projects. It means, we constantly updating the facility plans back and forth. The idea is that we use a Revit model for each hospital and use those models as a central file for ongoing remodeling and renovation projects. We hope this would help us to save time updating the facility plans.

This is the reason I started this question to find out what is the best to do so. We have already started creating simple models for each hospital but there are some ideas in the office to do the same thing we have been doing with AutoCAD. I personally don’t agree with that and I like to use Revit to simplify the steps we have been doing with AutoCAD.

I was thinking to use the Revit models from the facility plans as a central file and link them to new Revit files for new projects. The new Revit files will have sheets, notes, and details only. It happens all the time that multiple projects are going on for a single hospital and we are kind of confused how we should do the room and door schedules. Our company is an architectural and engineering company and we really like that all trades work on the same model to save time and costs.

I am sure people have done it and after years, they found out the right way doing such thing.

Please share your thoughts on that.

[kwg06516]

I can see a problem with your intended method.  I'm just starting out in Revit myself but already I'm looking at setting up building models for major clients where do lots of small jobs, just like we do now in AutoCAD.  However I would only use these total building models as as-builts, existing conditions only.  For each project I would copy out what I need to do that project and later incorporate those changes back in or simply replace the as-built model.  I would get into trouble quickly if I started modeling a project in the main file only to have the client back out at the last moment.   And what about projects where the client wants to look multiple alternate layouts?  I don't think you can work from just one central model unless there's a way to create multiple proposal phases.  Is there?

[MKEllis]

Healthcare clients in the UK are one of those driving the uptake of BIM, they see Revit as part of a toolset to catalogue existing / new buildings and assets. As such, a Revit model could provide a strong basis to providing a database of everything from construction, areas, volumes, plant, finishes, equipment etc. Here there is an emphasis on providing a specific data format (COBie UK 2012) where assets produced in Revit can be exported for analysis and interogation in something like Excel.

The reason I point this out, is that if there is a similar potential wherever you are, then you may want to talk directly with your clients about what they need, and therefore whether you would setup your models in a specifc format (particularly naming standards) to allow for this export. COBie for example really benefits from standardisation in naming and the way that families are setup.

In our experience, healthcare clients are at the coalface in unlocking the facilities management power of BIM and Revit - that may or may not be the case wherever you are.

Good luck