Heritage building information modelling in heritage projects

Abstract

Most building information modelling (BIM) we see in the construction workplace is aimed at modern construction, with a consistency of materials, from well-established manufacturers complying with a heap of British Standards on manufacture, quality control, record keeping, delivery storage and installation, that make for a known construction that BIM is able to record. But heritage buildings with materials that were often made hundreds of years ago with little or no control are far from the consistency we now enjoy with modern materials. Walls made of bricks may look the same, but a single linear length may well have many variants of thickness, density, colour and performance that are difficult for modern computer aided design (CAD) to record. This paper looks at a way to overcome this problem with a grid aligned to the easting, northings and Y axis, and allow planning to add to this several layers of planning law protection to the buildings from unwarranted alteration and repair. A working model is currently in production using Guys Cliffe fire upgrade work as a current live working model, utilising a point cloud survey imported into a 3D Revit model to record upgrade work and record materials.