BIM, much more than just a modeling tool

What is BIM?

BIM is primarily characterized by a set of working methods and a digital 3D model containing intelligent, structured data. As well as the three dimensions of an asset’s physical and functional characteristics, the digital model can also include a variety of other parameters (relating to time, finance, the environment or heritage, for example).

Above all, it is a technical database consisting of objects defined by their characteristics and their mutual relationships. Altogether, it forms a structured set of information that can be used to design, build and operate a structure throughout its life cycle.

A technological breakthrough and a redefinition of how different stakeholders collaborate, BIM is above all a means for mediating between all the parties involved in the decision-making chain, from the project client to the contractors operating at the site.
The uses of BIM (known as BIM Uses) enable project management to be continuously improved and resources – human, material or environmental – to be optimised.

Building digitally before building physically makes it possible to:
  • Take a wider range of information into account from the design stage (including operating costs);
  • Control overall costs more effectively by optimising construction solutions or anticipating the problems that may arise during the execution phase;
  • Take higher-quality decisions.

These processes developed for each use give architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals the information and tools they need to plan, design, construct and manage buildings and infrastructure more efficiently.

With data modeling and the development of digital models, the work becomes a collaboration between all the construction trades and requires excellent coordination to manage these 3.0 projects. This is the path we have chosen, giving priority to proper training for all, from the project owner to the construction contractors
Alice de Kergariou , Key Project Director at SUEZ Consulting

Our offer

Personalised support for all our customers

As leading pioneers in hydraulic infrastructure modeling since 2011, SUEZ Consulting’s teams make their expertise in BIM management, coordination and modeling available to all their customers, in France and abroad.

We integrate the BIM approach into every stage of the client's project, providing support relevant to the project and the priorities of the local area.

Working closely with all the project stakeholders, we deploy a BIM approach to serve projects based on continuous skills development for our in-house teams.

Our BIM approach: support at every stage of our clients' projects

Credit: SUEZ group

Expertise in BIM process applications to meet our clients' project objectives:

  • Capitalising on our experience in managing complex projects
  • Applying BIM principles to the client's business
  • Sharing the working methods specific to the approach
  • Contacts integrated into our overall approach
  • Guarantees that participants are relevant

Ensuring the efficiency and performance of the projects:

  • Defining goals and BIM uses and facilitating decision-making from the preliminary study stage
  • Supporting coordination and collaboration during the design studies
  • Monitoring schedules and costs during the construction phase
  • Optimising the structure’s operating and maintenance costs
  • Drafting regulatory requirements and keeping in contact with all stakeholders at all times



Our references

RATP – Bus 2025

The “Bus 2025” programme launched by RATP and Île-de-France Mobilités focuses on the ecological transition. The European Commission is supporting this ambition by allocating €23 million in grants to buy electric buses and convert bus depots to electric and biogas operation in Île-de-France. This massive investment will be matched with a further €23 million from the Banque des Territoires, a member of the Caisse des Dépôts group.

In the context of this project, the tasks of BIM design and coordination of the Croix-Nivert RATP site were entrusted to SUEZ Consulting, working as a consortium with OTCI.

The use of BIM for this project responds to three goals:
  • Increasing understanding of the site through modeling on the basis of a point cloud, enabling dimensions and precise characteristics to be deduced;
  • Incorporating a structure and a complex network while conserving existing infrastructure;
  • Preserving the historic heritage of a site in central Paris.

Clermont Auvergne Métropole – Extension of the Trois Rivières wastewater treatment plant

The project to extend the Trois Rivières wastewater treatment plant responds to three goals:
  • Increasing wastewater and rainwater treatment capacity;
  • Achieving better water quality by reducing the wastewater and rainwater discharged during rainy weather and improving the quality of discharge after treatment;
  • Contributing to the development of renewable energy by producing biogas from the plant’s sludge.
Clermont Auvergne Métropole commissioned SUEZ Consulting to coordinate the BIM approach on behalf of the consortium. For this project, BIM makes it possible to:
  • Improve the quality of the design and the construction work;
  • Establish traditional 2D deliverables based on the BIM models;
  • Take advantage of the digital model to produce project reviews and communicate with the various project stakeholders;
  • Produce a preliminary design summary and an execution summary based on the digital model;
  • Use the digital model for communication materials;
  • Produce a digital as-built file that can be used to monitor the planned facility on behalf of its owners.

Saint-Brieuc Armor - Designing and developing a new drinking water plant

The Saint-Brieuc Armor urban district authority, committed to its own digital transformation, commissioned the teams at SUEZ Consulting to incorporate BIM methods into the construction of a new drinking water plant.
The goal is to develop new skills in order to set up 3.0 projects, carry out an organisational transformation and contribute to turning the Breton urban centre into a smart city.

Contact

Logo SUEZ

Laurence GAUTHIER

BIM Unit Director, SUEZ Consulting [email protected]