A BIM/FM interface analysis for sustainable facility management

Collaboration amongst project stakeholders in facility management (FM) is one of the biggest challenges in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Supporting the collaboration, building information... [ view full abstract ]

Collaboration amongst project stakeholders in facility management (FM) is one of the biggest challenges in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. Supporting the collaboration, building information modeling (BIM) has the potential to advance facility management activities handled by different stakeholders. A building information model is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility, serving as a shared knowledge resource for FM. Hence, a building information model forms a reliable basis for decision making during the life-cycle of a building. Despite the apparent interrelation between FM and BIM, BIM applications have not been incorporated into sustainable facility management guidelines, which account for considerations pertinent to building life-cycle sustainability. This paper investigates interfaces between sustainable facility management guidelines and BIM applications. Specifically, a German sustainable facility management guideline is presented and juxtaposed against BIM applications commonly used in the AEC industry. The juxtaposition aims to highlight the usability of BIM for implementing sustainable facility management criteria, which could pave the way for incorporating BIM applications into sustainable FM guidelines.