As-built model for facility management are crucial in maintaining a project’s lifecycle after construction has ended. Despite their importance, they are often overlooked due to the numerous steps and documents required.
This article provides a comprehensive overview of as-built drawings, their creators, and their significance, along with a list of critical items to include in each drawing.
How as-built drawings help in facility management
As-built drawings are a vital component in facility management across various industries. Detailed drawings set in as-built documentation assist with crucial information for ongoing maintenance, renovations, expansions, and compliance. Let’s see some more specific cases:
Maintenance and repairs
As-built drawings work as reference documents for facility managers and maintenance personnel. These are vital blueprints that bring clarity and significant insights into the layout, dimensions, and other necessary specifications of the building system, along with other structural elements.
As-built drawings provide a clear understanding of the construction, which in turn makes maintenance tasks more efficient, allowing effective cost management.
Space planning and utilization
Efficient space utilization is the mainspring of effective facility management. As-built-in diagrams offer a clear perspective and idea of a facility layout, allowing facility owners to maximize space allocations.
The advanced layout drawings also allow managers to make strategic decisions with the clear layout of the seating arrangements, equipment placement space, and office layouts to enhance efficiency and productivity.
Asset Management
Handling assets within a facility requires a diligent group and tracking. As-built-in drawings also play a significant role in this part.
They play a critical role in asset management by providing a diversified view of equipment locations, maintenance schedules, warranties, and other essential information. This enables smooth operations and makes certain of the maximum productiveness of the asset.
Renovations and expansions
During renovations and expansions, as-built drawings serve as an important reference for the construction team, architects, and designers. They help with precise planning and coordination.
This system of as-built drawings tends to eliminate or reduce the chances of disruption, promoting compatibility within the existing systems, due to which projects can be executed smoothly and efficiently.
Code Compliance and Regulation
As-built diagrams are essential for facility members to verify compliance with building codes, safety regulations, and industry standards. As-built drawings serve as a base to ensure compliance and, in turn, obtain all the necessary permits for the construction project.
Facility members can refer to these drawings and make sure that innovations meet regulatory requirements, reducing possible risks and liabilities.
As-Built models for informed emergency planning
In accordance with crisis situations, as-built drawings work as a game-changer. These drawings provide essential information about building layout, emergency exits, and utility shut-off locations.
This allows emergency responders to traverse and diminish the situation successfully. Hence, as-built drawings play a pivotal role in enhancing the safety and well-being of the occupants.
Optimizing Energy: How As-Built Models Facilitate Sustainable Facility Management
These days, facility members give utmost priority to energy efficiency and sustainability, as they have become core criteria for facility management. As-built drawings here allow facility members to identify a possibility for improvement and incorporate sustainable practices.
Members can analyze the depiction of the building in the as-built diagrams and select areas for renovations or retrofits, which may reduce energy consumption and environmental impact.
Documentation and historical record
As-built drawings serve as diversified documents containing the changes over time or the evolution of a facility over time.
They provide a historical account of construction, modification, and customizations in the building during a certain time, which stands as valuable insights for decision-making, troubleshooting, and other future planning regarding the facility.
Hence, these as-built diagrams are important for conserving institutional knowledge and enhancing continuity in facility management practices.
Evolution of Facility Management Practices
Earlier, the facility management relied solely on a set of documents, which also somewhere have as-built diagrams, for their operations and maintenance. However, as the days passed, this method started losing its significance because of the many flaws associated with it.
The documents are often used to be incomplete or maybe incompatible with the facility management software, posing a threat to the facility managers.
The arrival of Building Information Management (BIM) transformed the facility management system completely. BIM provides detailed documentation along with a 3D model representation of a building with detailed database storage mechanisms for property information, which were missing in the old CAD system.
This in turn intensifies collaboration, reduces costs, and boosts productivity throughout the facility’s lifecycle.
As-built BIM for facility management
6D BIM is another innovation or upgrade that increases the capabilities of BIM by integrating facility management data into a centralized relational database. This enables smooth asset management, maintenance planning, and space utilization.
Also explore: How Information Flows In Bim Throughout Facility Operations?
“As-built” modeling with the help of BIM allows facility managers to document-built reality and bring about design modification during construction. This new innovative BIM model serves as a precious resource for directing operations and maintenance tasks and providing all necessary information about building service components.
You would you like to explore: How BIM Could Optimize Facility Management Operations
As-built drawings are not needed anymore for this innovation method, since even in the absence of as-built designs, a 3D model of the facility can be captured on a 3D laser scanning device and converted into BIM models.
Hence, this method can be considered extremely effective in the complete documentation of as-built information with accuracy, authorizing facility members to opt for BIM for efficient facility management.
Conclusion
As-built drawing is a significantly important and valuable tool in modern-day facility management criteria. These drawings impart crucial information that helps in correct decision-making and effective operations, along with maintenance, space planning, and emergency preparedness.
By choosing new and innovative technologies like BIM and as-built modeling, facility members can increase their productivity, smooth processes, and ensure the long-term credibility of their facility.
Further Reading:
- Types of drawings used in building construction – Complete Guide
