GCC Groupe: simplebim® helps tackle BIM management challenges on the French aquatic centre project

Company overview

The independent French construction company GCC Groupe is made up of 52 organisations operating in France and Switzerland. Split across three divisions — Construction, Energy and Property Development — the organisation works on a wide range of residential and commercial projects.

Sustainability and innovation are at the heart of the business, with digitising construction processes as the key driver.

The challenge

The group's technical engineering department includes five experienced BIM professionals, tasked with supporting project teams across the company and developing digital engineering skills within the business.

Working with IFC models from multiple sources, the team often found significant differences in model quality, as well as in the levels of BIM experience among stakeholders. Cleaning, standardising and merging the IFC files took a lot of time.

Moreover, digitising handover documents is increasingly becoming a client requirement. Project teams previously relied on paper versions of documents, which were hard to share and consult. Tracking changes was also difficult.

GCC's swimming pool project at the Bernisette aquatic centre in Viroflay is a case in point. The team needed a solution to simplify IFC processing and make it easier to digitise the handover documents required by the client.

The solution

The GCC team discovered that simplebim® would allow them to process IFC models from multiple sources, standardising data and removing unwanted data.

It would also allow them to fulfil their contractual obligation to digitise handover documents, by establishing IFC models as a "gateway" to building information.

With support and training provided by simplebim®'s French distributor, CADatWORK Learning, the GCC team was able to implement the digital model data-management method.

Benefits

Simplified BIM management with simplebim®

Despite the multiple sources and varying quality of the IFC files received by GCC from its partners, the process of importing and editing models became easier and less time-consuming with simplebim®. The team was able to check each model and remove unnecessary data to lighten the models. simplebim® also allowed them to standardise data across all IFC files, opening up new possibilities for using the models.

Moving and merging capabilities

Once the models were cleaned and standardised, the GCC team was able to adjust the positioning of the models so that each IFC file shared the same coordinates. This meant they could be merged to create a single, multi-layer IFC model incorporating every discipline in the construction process, from steelwork to heating, ventilation and air conditioning. Each discipline could then be filtered according to the user's needs.

Making digital transfer easier

Merging the IFC files made it easier to produce digital transfer documents, a contractual requirement for the Viroflay project. Cleaning, standardising, moving and merging the IFC models allowed the team to create a list of all the elements making up traditional handover documents, then generate a classification tree in a spreadsheet. This allowed them to cross-reference the classification tree with the objects in the models.

The idea is to use the model as a directory for finding information, no longer through a file structure but by selecting the object or element of interest in the digital model. The model thus acts as a "gateway" to the handover documents.

Added trust and competitive advantage

Not only did simplebim® save GCC's technical engineering team time by making it easier to work with IFC models, but simplebim®'s capabilities also gave the team confidence. Although it is a small team working on several projects, they know that with simplebim® they will be able to respond to client requests quickly and easily.