Bradley BIM-Revit Resource Portal

New York City Department of Buildings Approves First 3-D BIM Site Safety Plans

Turner Construction released their ground-breaking BIM Site Safety article in May 2012.

Turner Construction Company Received Approval for Building Information Model (BIM)-based Site Safety Plans

3D BIM Site Safety Plans Enable Building Inspectors to Take Virtual Tours of Construction Projects and Review them in Real Time on the Construction Site. Continue Reading >>

In August 2012, Turner Construction, provided a BIM Design-Build Healthcare Success Case Study for the Fort Benning Hospital at our DBIA - Federal Sector Conference in Washington DC.

The Turner Construction case-study, shared how they used the hospital BIM model to provide a dramatically safer construction process for their workers. In addition, the revised process increased the Turner Construction worker's output twelve-fold; thereby improving the construction schedule.

Description of Improved MEP Hanger Installation Construction Process:

Turner Construction is using a BIM-based construction process; that delivers a dramatically faster process for installing MEP hanger inserts; while providing a substantially safer work environment for construction workers.

The BIM process has enabled sub-contractors to connect geographically-position (GPS) technology and BIM facility files to create a way-finding, installation system. Turner teams collect hanger point locations; from the GPS coordinated BIM file (In the Office) for layout in the field.

Traditionally, MEP hanger inserts were installed from the underside of the deck; after the concrete topping was poured. We used a ladder (Less safe), drilling up into the underside of concrete. One worker could install approximately 20 holes a day.

The GPS \ BIM-enabled process, empowers a crew of 3 workers to install (From top of metal deck and walking with no ladder needed– (Safer) to install 750 hanger inserts\day.

Installation is much faster and safer – Simply walk to a hanger insert location using the GPS device --and screw in the threaded rods for pipe hanger racks, cable tray, electrical conduit racks, etc.

This is an excellent example of a time-saving, safer, and more efficient process to install 100,000+ hanger inserts into metal deck before concrete topping is poured.

Martin Miller (left) and Jeff Bauer (center) from Turner Construction

The Design Build Convention in New Orleans provided a great opportunity to engage the Bentley MicroStation representatives on the technical details of their FREE i-model plug-in for Revit.

Consider this option for for transferring and integrating Bradley Revit Family Library components into your Bentley MicroStation projects.

The US Army Corps of Engineers has been a major legacy Bentley client. USACE now includes Revit in their 2012 BIM Road Map of products. I am checking with my USACE BIM Practice Team contacts, to verify if the i-model plug-in may be an acceptable tool for their USACE Bentley deliverable.

For non-USACE projects, contact your project member(s) that are using Bentley on your team regarding the feature/functionality of i-model plug-in. The family model(s) that are exported from Revit to a Bentley format, are individual blocks; similar to an ADSK file.

I am confirming, whether these Bentley models can be edited by Bentley. The advice I received earlier today; indicates they are not editable in Bentley. Your project partners should be aware of this functionality in case it becomes a limitation for them.

WHAT is the i-model plug-in for Revit?

The i-model plug-in for Revit lets users save their Revit models to an i-model file from within the Revit application

The i-model plug-in for Revit allows users to save their Revit models in a way that lets users open them in MicroStation, Bentley Navigator, AECOsim Building Designer, and many other Bentley building products, retaining the Revit properties information from the Revit model.

The plug-in is designed to help teams working in a mixed Bentley/Revit environment to be able to reference Revit models into a MicroStation-based design workflow for coordination purposes, interference detection, and similar tasks.

The i-model plug-in for Revit works with the 2010-2013 versions of the Revit products, including Architecture, MEP, and Structure, and includes support for the 64-bit versions.

HOW does the i-model plug-in for Revit Work?

1. Select and Download the i-model plug-in (app) for your Revit software version.
2. Close Revit and Install the i-model app on your system
3. Start Revit and the Bentley i-model pull down menu appears in your Revit software.
4. The i-model plug-in exports the family content that is displaying in a Revit PROJECT file. (*.RVT) Does NOT work from a Revit family file. (*.RFA)
5. For example, if you have a Revit family, with 5 family types; ALL 5 family types MUST be placed and displaying in the project file prior to exporting.

Bentley i-model for Revit Features

1. One-step process that does not require MicroStation or other Bentley applications
2. Integrated with Bentley Navigator for redlining, clash detection, and other federated information workflows
3. Works with multiple versions of Revit products

Current List of Bentley Apps for Revit

Visit Bentley iWare Apps for Information Mobility Page | Apps for Revit Users

i-model plug-in for Revit | Publish i-models from Autodesk Revit for open infrastructure information exchange

i-model plug-in for Adobe Reader | Leverage i-models for intelligent 3D PDF

ISM Revit plug-in | Coordinate, change, and synchronize structural data

RAM Structural System - Revit Link | Achieve interoperability between RAM Structural System and Revit Structure

Related Bradley BIM Articles:

Download Complete Bradley Revit Family Library (1000 Families) – Download All Options

Download Bradley Revit Family Library From Autodesk Seek Building Product Manufacturer Revit Library

Bill East posted links to these COBie online training and videos (as of August 2012) in the COBie LinkedIn Group

June 30, 2013 marked 2 major milestones created by the Bradley Revit Family Library (1,000+ Revit Families);

1. the Bradley Corporation Bradley BIM Initiative celebrated its 4-year milestone of serving a global community of architects, engineers, contractors and facility owners with the Bradley Revit Family Library.
2. More than 2.5 million Bradley Revit family models were downloaded from the Bradley Revit Family Library from January 2013 - June 2013.

In June 2009, The Bradley BIM Initiative was launched to provide Revit family models of Bradley's plumbing fixtures and specialty equipment products.

The Bradley BIM Initiative has grown to address the needs and ongoing requirements of Revit BIM-based processes for design and construction organizations.

Here are several ground-breaking milestones achieved by the Bradley BIM Initiative over the last couple years.

January 2011: Bradley began soliciting review and feedback from several government-based entities that were driving BIM standards. This connected Bradley with the US Army Corps of Engineers and the evolving COBie and SPie Initiatives.

• COBie Parameters Coming With Bradley Revit Family Library 2012 Updates

• Visit Bradley Revit-BIM | US Army Corps of Engineers-ISC | Atlanta June 14-17

March 2011: BradleyBIM.com technical customer service blog was launched to;

1. Provide Revit BIM Managers a transparent review of how the Bradley Revit Library components were created
2. Inform and technically assist Revit users to leverage Bradley's lean and optimized Revit family library for their organization's project standards.

April 2011: Autodesk Seek started delivering Bradley Revit Models to Revit users from the Autodesk Seek website and through the Autodesk Seek toolbar within Revit software.

• Download Bradley Revit Family Library From Autodesk Seek Building Product Manufacturer Revit Library

January 2012: The Bradley Revit Family Library exceeded 1000 Revit Family models

• 1000 Bradley Revit Families + 90 Years of Global Project Installations

May 2012: Bradly kicks off a new partnership with e-SPECS to help designers auto-create their specifications as Revit family components are added to the Revit model.

• Bradley Revit Family Library Joins E-Specs Integrated Specifications Program

Bradley is grateful for the ideas we've received from the Revit users; that have provided feedback on their experiences with our Revit Families. Their feedback is documented on our Bradley BIM FAQ page.

Please use the Bradley BIM Contact Us Page to send your comments, ideas and suggestions.

Autodesk, the Revit Software publisher has a Revit-BIM website for facility owners;

• Autodesk BIM Solutions for Owners

Download the free BIM & Revit tools (listed below) from the Autodesk "Owners" website.

While the Bradley BIM Team was building its 1000 Revit Family Library, Bradley surveyed and tested Bradley Revit models with architects, engineers, contractors, owners and their respective associations. Bradley emphasized both efficient Revit modeling techniques and embedding data (Revit parameters) into the models. We documented these processes in the Bradley BIM FAQs Page.

The Bradley BIM Blog lists many of our stakeholders in the (Revit) BIM Industry Links:

The original Bradley Revit Parameters were built for scheduling, extraction and tagging. Bradley realized the embedded data (parameter values, types & formatting) would undergo regular manipulation. Now, Revit BIM data has become the focus of Bradley's 1000 free, pre-built Revit family components.

• COBie Parameters Coming With Bradley Revit Family Library 2012 Updates
• Revit Schedules – Tags | Bradley Revit Family Parameter Testing Process
• Visit Bradley Revit-BIM | US Army Corps of Engineers-ISC | Atlanta June 14-17 2011

Autodesk BIM Solutions for Owners |Tools and Resources:

SEPS BIM Tool
This Revit plug-in facilitates the creation, placement, and validation of medical equipment within a BIM model from the DOD’s Space and Equipment Planning System (SEPS).
Download from site.

COBie Toolkit
This Toolkit includes a Revit template that allows users to create COBie spreadsheets in conjunction with Revit model development. Download from site.

USAF S-File Template
This Revit template helps users meet the USAF Flight Plan requirements for exporting S-File data. Download from site.

GSA Spatial Template
This template assists Revit users in classifying rooms and areas in accordance with the GSA Space Assignment Guide specifications. Download from site.

Related Article(s)

• Download BIM for Owners Articles | Journal for Building Information Modeling – JBIM

We will be updating the Bradley Revit 2009 Family Library to Version, Revit 2011 in 2012.

Mike Vickery (Bradley Government Sales Manager) and I landed in Washington DC late this afternoon.

Bradley BIM will be displaying Bradley's 900+ Revit family library in a Demonstration Kiosk at the Ecobuild America 2011 and National BIM Conference in Washington DC from December 5-9th 2011.

Thursday (June 16) provided another big day of BIM process learning sessions and the USACE-ISC in Atlanta. Late in the day, an announcement was made regarding the use of Autodesk Products (i.e. Revit) for US Army Corps of Engineers CoS Projects.