BIM CASE STUDY | SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN Can a single BIM model be used from design to operation? Schneider Electric was keen to find out if true BIM was achievable at two flagship new buildings in Grenoble. The companys Bertrand Lack describes the not inconsiderable challenges to Andrew Pearson S TPle is on target for LEED Platinum status chneider Electric promotes itself as a company leading the digital transformation of energy management and automation. So when it set out to construct twobuildings at its site in Grenoble, France, it wanted them to achieve new standards for digital construction and low energy in operation and, of course, to be a technological showcase for its products. The buildings, which will accommodate more than 2,000 employees, are being constructed sequentially. Building one, TPle, was completed last year and has a floor area of 12,000m2. We decided TPle would be a flagship building in terms of energy performance that would also achieve the highest levels of user comfort through having a smart user interface, says Bertrand Lack, director of strategy and innovation for the building division at Schneider Electric. Lessons learned from the design, construction and operation of TPle will be used to inform the design and construction of the second building, the 28,000m2 XPle. TPle has achieved 80 Leed points (under Leed Version 3) putting it on target for Leed Platinum status, the highest level for energyefficient design. Schneider Electrics goal for XPle is for it to be the first building to exceed 100 Leed points, with a target of 102 under the more challenging Leed Version 4, for which 110 points is the maximum score possible. The use of building information modelling (BIM) was fundamental to the low energy and operational aspirations for the design, construction and operation of TPle. It wanted the project to be 100% BIM: from developing the design concept, through its construction and on to its operation in use. Operational BIM In fact, Schneider wanted to use the 3D BIM visualisation model in conjunction with its building management systems to drive the operation of the building. We see a great advantage in connecting the database of static data in the BIM model to the dynamic building automation systems, says Lack. When the project was first mooted five years ago, it proved extremely challenging to acquire sufficient information from the BIM model for use in building management and automation systems, to enable facilities managers to interrogate and operate a building in real time. There is a real gap between the BIM used in the design stage and the BIM used in operations, says Lack. For this project, Schneider worked with Autodesk under a memorandum of understanding, to develop the BIM model so it would better connect to its building-automation software. As part of 24 February 2019 www.cibsejournal.com CIBSE Feb19 pp22-24, 26 Schneider Electric.indd 24 25/01/2019 16:12