Automated Master Project Schedule for Construction Incorporating Building Information Model and IFC

Abstract

At the end of a predesign phase of a building design, it is essential for the consulting firm to be able to generate from the BIM design, takeoff quantities and construction activities durations efficiently at a short timeframe to derive the cost budget estimates and schedule for project tendering purpose. However, these efforts require prior construction site experience and knowledge together with their association to the BIM and IFC construction component data to automate a Master Project Schedule. The research and development of the automated master project schedule is the focus of the project which will read IFC data from a BIM application and display the model while the data are distributed to a database repository. The automated project schedule can then be generated with the activities and timeline of each building component presented by floor levels and component types. Finally, the challenges in changes in the construction methods such as precast and/or cast in-situ, and the additional building component information from BIM to IFC that provide a set of data to derive a practical project schedule are discussed while these data can also be used to estimate the bill of materials of building components. The aim of this research project is thus to enable planners to use a platform that holds and manages construction knowledge and applying BIM and IFC standards to generate a master project schedule automatically.