Spacewell Paves The Way For Leveraging BIM In Facilities Management

Spacewell Paves The Way For Leveraging BIM In Facilities Management

In September 2020, Belgium-headquartered IWMS and IoT platform vendor Spacewell, part of the Nemetschek Group, announced the release of a new version of MCS, its IWMS solution. This product update brings a new bi-directional BIM integration enabling users to bring together BIM data, IoT data and IWMS data in a single interface. Technicians can now access BIM models in the field and visualize workorders on a 3D model. Spacewell believes this product update will make it easier for facility managers to get value from their BIM data in maintenance and workplace management processes.

Spacewell’s product update reflects the growing ambition amongst facility managers to extend the value of BIM to the full building lifecycle. While BIM is primarily deployed to support building design processes, our analysis identified 11 valuable use cases of BIM within building operational management. For example, BIM can ease the laborious task of populating asset registers and helps technicians to plan for work orders more accurately. Witness, James Cook University linking its campus BIM model with its IWMS, FM:Interact, to retain building asset data, ensuring that security, maintenance, IT and timetabling staff had immediate access to relevant data.

Other software vendors have also been tapping this opportunity. IWMS vendor FM:Systems also offers a live BIM integration with Autodesk Revit models, allowing facilities teams to leverage BIM models throughout the building life cycle. BIM for FM software vendor YouBIM’s solution uploads BIM models to the cloud, offers integration with CMMS/CAFM systems and provides ‘light’ tools for work orders and predictive maintenance capabilities.

Spacewell’s new IWMS to BIM integration will be a welcome update for facility managers eager to get more value from their existing BIM data. However, before widespread adoption of BIM in building operations there are hurdles to overcome. For example, facility management often lack the skills and experience needed to maintain the BIM, and in many cases BIM data models can lack the sufficient details on assets required for maintenance management. For more insight on leveraging BIM in maintenance and operations, read our report Best Practices: Extending The Value Of BIM Through The Building Lifecycle.