Electrical Installation Design using BIM Software

Afonso Manuel Reis Silva

Key information

Authors:

Afonso Manuel Reis Silva (Afonso Manuel Reis Silva)

Supervisors:

Duarte de Mesquita e Sousa (Duarte de Mesquita e Sousa); Fernando Miguel de Araújo

Published in

06/26/2024

Abstract

In an industry that has historically been one of the slowest to digitalize its processes, architects and civil engineers are adopting a methodology to fight this trend: the Building Information Modelling (BIM) workflow aims to gather every piece of information about the components of the building, across all disciplines, in a three-dimensional model. But there seems to be some resistance from the side of electrical engineers to adapt their usual workflows to this new way of developing projects of buildings. This work presents an overview of the typical way in which electrical installations are currently designed, and explores how the BIM methodology can impact each task. After developing a project for the electrical installation of a hospital, the main reasons identified for the delay in the BIM adoption were the investment needed in training the professionals to use the software, a lack of willingness by the clients to match the higher bids that such projects must have to be profitable, and a natural reluctance of more experienced electrical engineers to change the workflow they are used to and know produces satisfactory results. It is important, however, that these challenges are overcome as soon as possible to be able to meet the Portuguese laws that are scheduled for 2030 that will make it mandatory to deliver a BIM model for every project of a building.