When conventional design is not enough

10 October 20262 min readBIM & 3D Design

Five kinds of project where BIM and 3D design make the difference, and why.

Over the past 12 years, Ircon Ltd. has developed a specialised department focused on contemporary design technologies, with particular emphasis on quality, coordination and complex engineering environments.

What BIM is

BIM, Building Information Modelling, means designing a structure as one shared three-dimensional model instead of a set of separate drawings. Every beam, panel and connection in the model carries its own information: its size, its material, its exact position. Drawings, schedules and quantities are all taken from that one model, so a change made in one place appears everywhere it matters.

Five situations where it makes the difference

Ircon Ltd. has applied BIM and 3D design to projects where conventional design methods were not enough for the demands of the work. These are the five kinds of situation.

1. Complex three-dimensional geometryCurved or sloping roofs, canopies and structures are hard to describe on flat drawings. In a 3D model every element can be checked in its true position before anything is made.
2. Specific client requirementsWhen a client sets its own rules for drawings, data or approvals, the model can be organised to deliver exactly that information.
3. Work inside existing plantsNew work inside or next to a working plant has to fit around structures, pipes and equipment that are already there. A model of the existing conditions shows where the new work fits, and where it clashes, before anyone starts on site.
4. International designers and suppliersWhen designers and suppliers work in different countries and with different software, one shared model is the common reference that keeps everyone's work consistent.
5. CAD/CAM for steel contractorsSteel fabricators can send model data straight to their cutting and drilling machines. The model then has to be exact down to every bolt hole, because the steel is made directly from it.

Why it matters

BIM and 3D design have therefore become an important part of Ircon Ltd.'s approach to solving technically demanding engineering challenges.

For the client the gain is simple: a problem found in the model is solved at the desk, before it reaches the site.