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First step towards BIM for the medical center in Brest

IFC model of the Morvan Hospital, part of the Regional University Medical Center of Brest, viewed with the eveBIM software of the CSTB

The Regional University Medical Center (CHRU) of Brest enlisted the help of the CSTB to take advantage of the opportunities offered by BIM for operating its buildings and facilities. In 2016, the CSTB carried out an audit of the technical software being used at the time by the CHRU, and assessed the possibility of combining them with a BIM database. A first step in the digital transition.

The Regional University Medical Center of Brest manages a large building stock, spread across 7 different sites. Its management would like to use BIM to accelerate and optimize its future development and extension projects, and especially to maintain and operate all of its sites more efficiently and sustainably, while reducing costs. Finally, it would like to use BIM as a decision-making and support tool for innovative services, both for professionals and end users.

With this aim, in 2016 the CSTB was tasked with defining the stages of the digital engagement process of the CHRU of Brest - from optimizing current IT tools to deploying projects with BIM.

Relevant combinations

First, all of the business software programs used at the hospital were analyzed. The aim was to understand to what extent BIM could add value to their daily use. The audited hospital departments were in the following areas: information technology, biomedical, maintenance (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, electricity, plumbing, etc.), works, quality and logistics.

On this basis, the CSTB precisely identified the software packages that could benefit from being paired with the digital model, and which uses could be optimized thanks to BIM. Among them, the possibilities included:

  • viewing up-to-date models (instead of outdated drawings);
  • locating the various utilities and technical facilities in the hospital;
  • accessing all of the technical documentation and asbestos diagnostics from within the digital model
  • or combining the digital model with operating systems (computerized maintenance management systems, or CMMS, and building management systems, or BMS).

Digitizing the existing building stock

If it chooses to use BIM, the CHRU of Brest will have to digitize its existing property assets in the IFC format, on a case-by-case basis. This BIM modeling will provide it with a digital platform. In the long run, the stakeholders will then be able to share and modify displays of the buildings and related data, using a viewer such as eveBIM, developed by the CSTB and provided to them free of charge.

Prospects for BIM

By making the digital model the common denominator between the management tools of its various real estate and facility assets, the medical center will optimize its management and develop new functions adapted to emerging needs, both current and future.

Using digital technologies to meet the operating requirements of the CHRU of Brest also represents a valuable experimentation opportunity for the CSTB. It is developing its know-how in multi-scale BIM in an operational context, thereby supplementing the expertise it has gained from BIM projects it has conducted in renovation (Faro Airport in Portugal, Epaurif university campus in Ile-de-France) and construction (new hospital in Ajaccio, Ecocity district in Champs-sur-Marne).

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