Creating Interactive Facilities Management Capabilities through Building Information Modelling as a tool for Managing the Irish Public Sector Estates

The Irish Government manages estates that are faced with increased pressure on their greenhouse gas emissions, as well as, poorly managed assets that leave it increasingly difficult for an effective Facilities Management (FM) process to be operated. The FM processes represents the most costly stage in the life-cycle of a building and must now take priority in the design process, as the operating and maintenance costs can be up to five times the capital costs, with the business operating costs reaching up to two hundred times the capital costs over the life of the building. In order for Ireland to realise a smarter and better equipped public estate that can respond to increased staffing demands, it is critical that a new dimension of FM be explored through Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM could benefit decision-making in FM task by task and can be used as an FM tool specifically in relation to public estates to integrate "digital descriptions" of a built asset. BIM can increase performance, utilisation and financial information in the maintenance phase, as all the design and built asset information is still present in a single BIM model. The data collation methodology adopted by the authors in this paper included the use of a questionnaire survey that was designed and distributed in collaboration with the Irish Facilities Property Management sector. In addition the UK Government’s BIM and Soft Landings Policy will be investigated together with its applicability in the Irish AEC / FM sector. The research findings will strongly advocate that BIM can ensure a unique FM approach which can reduce life cycle costs and provide the Irish Government with a more enhanced estate.