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GSA Goes Macro BIM
How Uncle Sam’s Landlord is
Using 5D BIM Technology
for Feasibility Studies

Beck Technology
Innovation in all Dimensions

The federal government will soon undertake what the General
Services Administration, the landlord for all federal buildings,
calls the largest public building project since construction of the
Pentagon during World War II: consolidating the Department of
Homeland Security on the campus of the former St. Elizabeth’s
Psychiatric Hospital, a National Historic Landmark in
Washington, DC.

Planning is also in the works for renovations to the 43-year-old
Robert C. Weaver Building, the home of the Department of
Housing and Urban Development.

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Building in the New Normal case study: GSA Goes Macro BIM

Consolidating DHS Employees

The $3.4 billion, 4.5-million-square-foot DHS Campus project
represents the federal government’s first significant presence
in the District of Columbia’s neighborhoods east of the
Anacostia River. After its completion in 2016, the effort will
bring together up to 14,000 of the region’s 26,000 Department
of Homeland Security employees — now scattered in 70
buildings at 40 different sites — on the St. Elizabeth’s Campus.

The first project in the complex, the new $435 million
headquarters for the United States Coast Guard, is set to
begin construction in September. When it breaks ground, the
first of three phases of campus construction expected to be
completed by 2016 will begin.
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Before any design decisions were made, a detailed feasibility
study was performed using macro BIM software. Macro BIM
describes a category of software that integrates conceptual 3D
modeling with cost estimating, integrated development pro
forma and space estimation and calculation. Developed to
address the limitations of "micro” building information modeling
solutions, “macro” solutions aide early decision making, in the
planning and conceptual design phases.

Dallas-based Beck Technology’s consulting group created cost
models for the feasibility study using its in-house developed
macro BIM software known as DProfiler.

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Because DProfiler macro BIM software offers of a database
connection to RSMeans’ latest quarterly construction cost
estimates for every zip code in the US, it can estimate costs for
hundreds of different building products. RSMeans includes
over 120,000 line Items and over 20,000 conceptual
assemblies that can be applied to components within a project
to determine a budget.

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Repurposing St. Elizabeth’s Campus

Working under global property developer Jones Lang LaSalle,
international architecture firm HOK and Beck Consulting
developed cost models for JLL’s feasibility study of the existing
St. Elizabeth’s Campus in 2008.

Seven different design concepts, all including multiple phases
of construction, historic preservation, anti-force protection,
renovation and rehabilitation were expressed in the macro BIM
model.

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.

Aerial view of the proposed DHS site,
the former St. Elizabeth’s Psychiatric
Hospital
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“We were brought on board to assist with HOK’s conditions
analysis as well as the seven new concepts they came up with
on how to repurpose that campus for DHS,” said Brent Pilgrim,
director of modeling services at Beck Consulting. “We used
macro BIM to capture not just all the costs associated with the
buildings that would be renovated —there are 100 different
buildings on the St. Elizabeth’s campus—but also which ones
would be demolished and what costs were associated with
that.”

JLL took that model information and put into their pro forma to
evaluate which of the seven design concepts was most viable.

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“We (HOK) did our normal analysis on the project and then
Beck used their software to create the seven concept
alternatives and developed costs that were plugged into JLL’s
pro forma,” said Tim Barry, senior consultant for HOK Advance
Strategies. “Both capital and operating costs were included, so
construction and ongoing operation was known before ground
was ever broken.”

To accurately document and communicate the cost of the
various design solutions, hundreds of pages of cost data were
produced from the model as a backup to support higher level
costing assumptions in the executive summary of the study. All
supporting programmatic elements, including paving and other
civil costs were saved with detailed cost information in the
model and in the accompanying cost summary.
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Color Coding to Enhance Communication

3D cost models were also used for conceptual visualization
and phasing plans. Simple massings and color coordination
mirrored the 2D architectural feasibility sketches created by
HOK and assisted in communicating the different components
of the study to GSA officials, local officials, members of
congress and other stakeholders.

The green buildings in the campus plan were coded to be
demolished, the pink buildings renovated with no additional
square footage and the yellow buildings show one or more of
the concepts where entirely new buildings or ones with
additional square footage were proposed.

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3D cost models , color coded for conceptual visualization and phasing plans. Green
buildings would be demolished; pink renovated. GSA Goes Macro BIM

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In the final tally, the GSA promised to restore 52 of 62 historic
structures on the site and demolish relatively few of the
buildings on the campus. It won approval in January from the
National Capital Planning Commission, a hybrid local-federal
agency that must approve all federal projects in the capital
region.

Funded partially by the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (known more familiarly as the stimulus bill) consolidating
DHS’ activities is expected to save the taxpayers $163 million
over the next 30 years.

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The HUD Building: Making Brutalism Less Brutal

In March of last year, HOK and Beck Consulting was awarded
a contract for the feasibility study of the Robert C. Weaver
Federal Building, the 1.2 million-square-foot home of the
Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Built in 1968 and designed by famed modernist architect
Marcel Breuer, the HUD Building currently is home to 3,000
federal employees with 700 more scattered through the district
in leased offices. Although it is a historic building, its modernist
style is something that’s became dated in its only 43 years of
existence.

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HOK and Beck Consulting did an in-depth occupancy study to
fully understand the number of people in each department
within the organization. The existing space was modeled and
all occupancy information captured. Then HOK performed an
analysis which revealed the current space planning as
deficient.

The renovation proposes a maximized space plan
demonstrating that, with new workstations and space
configurations, all 3,700 employees could go back to the HUD
building and eliminate the cost of those leased offices to the
taxpayers.

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Robert C. Weaver Building, the home of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development. Macro BIM model shows color-coded space analysis. GSA goes Macro BIM.
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“Beck and HOK were brought in again to do our feasibility
study,” Barry said. “The intent was, again to completely
integrate our problem-seeking methodology. GSA asked us to
merge that with the latest BIM technology. We were
developing analyses that showed the conditions and capacities
of the building. As we developed alternatives, we were able to
model them and use the software to generate costs for the
different alternatives. This was at a macro level for the whole
building and at a micro level for the demonstration project.”

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The team had adequate as-built information in terms of
infrastructure, interiors, and other conditions from the facilities
management staff in the Weaver Building. There are several
long corridors and rabbit warrens of spaces with no natural
light in the current configuration.

The goal is to open it up, utilize the space better for the
workforce and make it a more interesting and exciting place to
work. HOK used Ecotect to do a daylighting study of the
proposed renovation.

“HUD is trying to change how they work and collaborate as an
agency,” Pilgrim said. “If they’re going to do that, they need a
workplace that reflects that attitude.”

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Weaver building’s interior atrium and renovation concepts to
enhance work environment and collaboration. GSA Goes Macro BIM
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In November, the Beck Consulting/HOK team presented their
findings in a cabinet-level briefing to Shaun Donovan, U.S.
secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The project is
dependent on congressional approval to move past the
feasibility study stage.

Soon, a 25,000-sf demonstration project inside the Weaver
Building will give Donovan and other stakeholders a glimpse of
what a fully-renovated Weaver Building might look like on the
inside. A second briefing is currently being planned.

Pilgrim said the HUD project showed what macro BIM software
can do for a complex, existing building project beyond costs
and conceptual design.

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“It was exciting for us because we got to use DProfiler in a way
it was meant for but isn’t always used for,” Pilgrim said. That’s
the kind of stuff we love, working with BIM on that nascent
portion of the project and knowing what the architect is
thinking, what concepts they’re exploring and documenting
and how space-planning relates to phase planning and
building information.”

“It was intended to be an experiment,” said Stephen Hagan,
FAIA, director of project innovation, engineering division at the
GSA. "GSA awarded 10 BIM IDIQ contracts at the national
level. Each was for $6 million a year for five years, so we will
definitely build on this experience."

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About the Author

Jeffrey Yoders is a writer, covering news, technology and BIM
for the AEC industry. A former Senior Associate Editor of
Building Design + Construction, he is a chair at-large of the
Associated General Contractors of America's BIM Forum. Jeff
has won four American Society of Business Publications
Editors awards.

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Want to learn more about macro BIM?
Watch a short video, a webinar or contact Beck Technology
today:

www.beck-technology.com
Beck Technology, Ltd.
1-888-835-7778

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GSA Goes Macro BIM: Using 5D BIM Technology for Feasibility Studies

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GSA Goes Macro BIM: Using 5D BIM Technology for Feasibility Studies