CloudBIM: Exploring the Feasibility and Potential for Cloud Research in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction Sector

The AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) industry is a highly fragmented data intensive project-based industry depending on a large number of very different professions and firms, with strong data sharing requirement across lifecycle stages from concept design to demolition. The process of designing, re-purposing, constructing and operating a building involves not only the traditional disciplines (Structure, Mechanical & Electrical, etc.) but also many new professions in areas such as energy, environment, waste, and assisted living with large data sharing requirements. In this context, data management support for the project lifecycle tends to be fragmented with a lack of an overall (project wide) data management policy. Additionally, data sets relating to a particular project can often be stored in: (i) local computers of designers/architects - often with limited network connectivity, persistence and availability; (ii) independently managed, single company-owned archives - where access is dictated by a company specific policy or by a charging model; (iii) shared archives owned by a consortium, often in the context of a particular building project - based, at best, on access policy associated with the project. The CloudBIM proposal explores the feasibility and potential for utilizing Cloud capability to address data storage and processing needs of stakeholders in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) sector, with a view of delivering a cloud platform for research. CloudBIM will involve close consultation and interaction with major participants in the area to assess stakeholders' perceptions about outsourced, virtualized Cloud storage for supporting multi-site, multi-team collaborative projects. A prototype cloud platform (based on CometCloud - www.cometcloud.org) and associated governance model will be developed and made available to the AEC research community. The project will deliver several reports based on a number of people-based activities, involving BRE (Building Research Establishment) and MBEKTN (Modern Built Environment Knowledge Transfer Network), along with a prototype using real project case studies BIM (Building Information Model) data to be provided by Bentley. A key outcome will be to spur a wide range of research-oriented activities through a strategic roadmap aimed at the exploitation of the resulting CloudBIM platform.

CloudBIM will engender key paradigm shifts in the design, construction, and operation of Buildings by: a. Migrating from ad-hoc means for managing distributed and fragmented data to the wide adoption of a sound governance model that factors in trust, privacy, ownership, and right issues. b. Migrating from owned or leased data and software infrastructures to virtualized infrastructures maintained by a dedicated application service provider. c. Promoting the adoption of new software business models based on Software as a Service and Pay-per-Use paradigm. d. Migrating from file-based exchange and sharing of data to higher order services centered on virtualized shared data repositories. e. Migrating from loosely managed elementary business processes to dynamic management of long-lasting processes. f. Supporting full mobility of Construction stakeholders by using the network as opposed to the desktop as the interface to data. Common impact benefits for industry include: 1. Addressing growing data storage and computing needs: AEC companies, including architectural and engineering firms, have large data management (and computational) needs that can be assimilated to the gaming industry. AEC applications require a lot of simulation, analysis, rendering, and 3D modelling across a wide range of disciplines (architecture, structure, energy, fire, acoustics, etc.). CloudBIM provides a prototype in this area. 2. Virtual and non-collocated collaboration around the same Building model: there is a need to accommodate the standard industry practice of hiring a wide range of consultants to help design a building. Construction projects are fragmented in nature as they involve a wide variety of companies (with a majority of SMEs) that are required to work together on the same data. CloudBIM will enable multiple parties to collaborate using Cloud infrastructure and will investigate the feasibility (in terms of data privacy, data oursourcing) of undertaking this. 3. Company IT infrastructure cost consolidation: the AEC sector is dominated by SMEs that do not have the capacity to invest and maintain advanced data storage and computing hardware solutions required by BIM technology. Virtualization is a key strategy that will lead to increases in hardware and network performance, coupled by cost reductions, enabling the use of the Software as a Service model, more suited to the nature of SMEs in the AEC sector. 4. Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, and Security: the cloud strategy will keep project BIM data and corporate and client information in the cloud where it is backed up and replicated.