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Case Auckland Airport: The role of the client in improving building information quality for Asset Management purposes

Auckland Airport's BIM Manager, Karl Fitzpatrick, shares some insight into how the use of openBIM and Solibri helps streamline the quality control and coordination of large scale Building Information Models from a client's perspective.

Tune in to our monthly webinar series Customer Insights to hear how our customers use Solibri to find solutions to problems or challenges, improve quality, and increase efficiency. Learn best practices and get ideas from other users. 

Webinar content:

  • Case Auckland Airport - The role of the client in improving building information quality for Asset Management purposes. Karl Fitzpatrick, BIM Manager at Auckland Airport.
  • Q&A: Going through audience questions.

Case Auckland Airport - The role of the client in improving building information quality for Asset Management purpose

As BIM Manager at Auckland Airport in New Zealand for the past three and a half years, Karl is responsible for driving the client-side strategy and adoption of digital technologies and processes to help improve Building Information Management across the full asset lifecycle. Prior to Auckland Airport, Karl worked in Helsinki for several years as an Architect and BIM Manager on largescale healthcare projects, giving him experience from both the client and supplier side of the equation. Karl strongly supports the use of open standards, such as IFC, and is an active member of the BuildingSmart International Airport Room. The work he has been leading at Auckland Airport, was recently recognized as a global award winner in the Asset Owners category of the buildingSmart International awards in 2020.

Further Questions and Answers

Did you have COBie as a deliverable for this project?

Karl Fitzpatrick: No, not at this stage. It is something that is being considered.

How do you connect Solibri QTO to PowerBI? With excel data extraction? You find a way to manage data in PowerBI directly with the progressive updating of the IFC models for a more direct control? 

Karl Fitzpatrick: At the moment we only use Excel. But once the ITO is set up and Power Bi is pointing to the same file location, it is simply a matter of updating the file. Only one ore two extra clicks than an automated approach.

How many individuals are part of your BIM team at the airport and what is their particular role?

Karl Fitzpatrick: At the moment we are just one. At most we have been 1 full time model technician, and a part time person undertaking laser scanning to help us verify the accuracy of some models. We also use external suppliers as needed.

Who & how long did it take to define your AIDM?

Karl Fitzpatrick: This was defined within our spatial information team in an agile manner alongside some external suppliers. We first released a draft to actual project teams after a 6 month period of putting it together and then we received feedback that we then incorporated into the official release. We are doing an update as we speak, as a short sprint.

Is Solibri the Main Tool you organize your data or do you have your own CAD Program in which you import all the IFC from other planers?

Karl Fitzpatrick: Solibri is our main tool for viewing and making sense of the data. It is much easier than working in the native files, when we don't need to edit data, just play with it.

Do use local coordinate system for model in Solibri?

Karl Fitzpatrick: All models are located correctly within the authoring tools. As we are not beyond the limits of what Solibri can handle, it opens them with no issues.

It is possible to display point cloud in Solibri too?

Solibri: Currently Solibri does not support any point  cloud file formats directly, so they would need to be converted to IFC format in order to import them into Solibri.