A survey of automation technology for realising as-built models of services: Fid-Bau Portal

A survey of automation technology for realising as-built models of services

Dickinson, John / Pardasani, Ajit / Ahamed, Shafee / Kruithof, Steve

As-built documentation is a contractors certified record to what was built and it is extremely important to the owners for the purpose of maintenance, major renovations, and demolition, especially for critical but typically hidden services infrastructure. Unfortunately, the value of the final delivered as-built documents are commonly limited significantly by leaving their creation, as an afterthought, to the end of a project. As-built documentation is also frequently left in the hands of inexperienced workers or apprentices to correlate original drawings, documented change requests and as-built input from the sub-contractors (when it exists). This often results in large un-correlated collections of in-accurate, incomplete information with limited utility for describing exactly what was built which is in direct contrast to the vision of Integrated Design Solutions (IDS). This approach also misses the opportunity of using continuously updated as-built documentation to manage on-going work, coordinate trades and catch deficiencies early enough to avoid expensive rework, another precept of IDS. Partially automating the maintenance of as-built documentation would make it feasible for construction management to use it as a tool during construction and deliver it in a useful form to the client upon completion. This paper reviews some past and current automation technologies used in realising as-built models of buildings with a focus on how they are applied to modelling building MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) services, and includes some opinions on approaches and technologies that show promise in facilitating as-built model creation.