How much more is an information-rich building worth?
- May 5, 2020
Here are some paradigm-shifting thoughts.
BuildEXT and Convergence have collaborated on a unique brownfield office building digitization project, using a precision geodetic laser scanned point cloud to create a high-fidelity BIM model of the existing condition of the CBC office building (now ZenGarden).
This model is the basis for digital fit-out design, where we build up the complete interior design and trade in the virtual space before the construction. Thus, by providing a continuous digital service as the tenants change, our company plans and tracks the interior design changes of the rental properties, including the design of the mechanical and electrical systems.
The result is an as built model that contains not only the exact geometry but also the information content associated with each building element, e.g. technical data, manufacturer and supplier contact details of the machines installed above the suspended ceiling.
The stored information can even be displayed through the camera of a mobile phone, as shown in our video showing the BIM model of the office building and BuildEXT’s office:
Where is the return?
We all remember the days when used car adverts used to appear in the classifieds section of newspapers without a photo:


We could read beautiful poems often without any basis in reality and it even seemed plausible that the car offered was in patent condition, despite the fact that it had been used as a taxi for years… But then we experienced it as a qualitative leap, when the HD-quality advertisement appeared on hasznaltauto.hu.


Unfortunately, this is still not life insurance, because we cannot be sure of the history of a used car.
So we were happy to pay 10-20% more for the car we wanted, for the service history book or the informative history.
But even so, there isn’t a buyer today who wouldn’t have their used car inspected by an independent expert to get an idea of its true condition.
☛ Click here to see what BIM data can be used for in projects.
But what about office buildings or other high-value properties?
In this segment, we are well behind the times. Photographic advertisements are still the norm here, with a few vaguely accurate plans available in good cases, but that’s all the greedy estate agents use to try and sell billions of dollars worth of property.


The result is countless horror stories about blank technical documentation handed over on CDs, systems that cannot be started afterward, and how many years later it was discovered which switch turned what.
The good news is that scan to BIM and digital as-built services provide a solution to this anomaly
A building information model (BIM) created from a high-precision survey is like a 3-dimensional MR image that can be easily synced to the cloud and from which you can query or slice the building at will using an app installed on a laptop, PC, or ordinary mobile phone.
We can give you easy access to this, no special design software is needed, not even the internet. The technology allows you to see the pipes in the wall, and the machines in the ceiling, through the camera of an ordinary phone using AR.


The next step is the uploading and testing of the BIM-connected FM system, which we hope to report on here on the Buildext blog soon.
☛ If you already have an ongoing investment and are interested in how to transform a traditional construction project into a BIM project using plan to BIM and scan to BIM, click here!