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Building Information Modeling, or BIM, is an emerging 3-D design approach capable of immediate retrieval and quick updating of comprehensive project information. HDR anticipated more widespread use of BIM, and in 2006 was one of 100 founding signers of the National BIM Standard Charter. We are already leveraging the cost-savings and high-quality production power offered through the use of BIM.

BIM incorporates spatial relationships, structural geometry, geographic information, material properties and quantities into a single digital model. This model defines the project scope and can articulate phases of a building's life cycle from construction through operation. Multiple users can access design changes, arrange construction phases and study assembly or system operations for a single structure or sprawling complex.

Within the model there is the capability to add customized subsets. Users can include supply procurement details, submittal histories and material inventories. Budgets and cost estimates are precisely planned, and cost overruns become predictable. The model reveals design conflicts before construction begins and if something breaks downs, the model can easily and quickly identify the problem.

Working with a single model preserves information usually lost when plans pass through many hands. Stakeholders can instead assemble a reliable, easily understandable, record of information added, deleted, updated or modified. BIM requires fewer drawings and labor-intensive changes, which speeds the project and cuts costs.

HDR's Integrated Practice Tools Model™ helps our disciplines work together smoothly from planning to design through the delivery of construction documents. HDR's Architecture Building Information Database™ allows us to share information between processes and interface with the model. 

Most HDR projects are now done with some BIM elements with an eye toward allowing new technologies to enable better, more efficient processes.