An Interview with Jason Graham of Walsh Canada:
About Jason: As leader of the Construction Technology program for Walsh Canada, Jason has continuously progressed the application of BIM in construction to establish Walsh as industry leaders in Canada. On the Women’s College Hospital (WCH) project Jason has used the model from 3D coordination to a 6D facility and asset management tool. With the hospital being located on a busy campus, Jason leveraged the model to identify safety and access/ egress issues that optimized Walsh’s logistics plan. Jason is also committed to demonstrating the benefits of BIM to industry peers through his involvement with George Brown College BIM Lab, as well as being a member of the Canadian BIM Council (CanBIM).
BIM Experience
Jason has extensive experience in the field of Virtual Design and Construction using 3D modelling and coordination for over 18 years within multiple industries. Jason’s depth of knowledge has established him as a respected subject matter expert amongst his peers, while also supporting Walsh’s position as an industry leader in BIM, by translating its success in the U.S. to its Canadian operations. In his 5 years at Walsh Canada, Jason has managed its BIM division on all major Walsh Canada projects, as well as the design phase on numerous design-build RFP phases.
CanBIM recently got the opportunity to speak with Jason about how Walsh Canada is applying BIM to their projects.
Women's College Hospital Project
CanBIM: Can you tell us a little bit about the BIM division at Walsh Canada and your role there?
Jason: The Walsh Group has been using BIM in its U.S. operations for almost 20 years. Shortly after being awarded its first Canadian project, the Women’s College Hospital Redevelopment project in 2010, I was hired on as the BIM Manager for the project. Since that time I have led the development of Walsh Canada’s BIM division where I oversee the BIM operations for all of our Canadian projects. I still maintain a hands-on role in building our models while exploring new innovations and best practices that enhance our BIM delivery and add value for Walsh and our project partners.
Organizationally, the Walsh Group has designated BIM as a core methodology and we have a great culture of collaboration across our BIM division where we maintain regular contact to review and discuss the advances we are making in its application. This collaboration was formalized with the establishment of our Construction Technology Forum last year, which brings together construction technology leaders from the Walsh Group as an emerging technology think tank, advisory board, and beta test group.
We are currently using BIM on all of our major projects in Canada, whether or not it is mandated by the project specifications. We commonly will take 2D CAD drawings and build the model from there. Currently we are using BIM at Women’s College Hospital (Completed in March, 2016), Ashbridges Bay Treatment Plant, TTC Pioneer Village Subway Station, Credit Valley Hospital, Humber Treatment Plant, as well as two recently awarded design-build projects: Etobicoke General Hospital and the Enterprise Data Centre at Canadian Forces Base Borden. Our application of BIM on these projects varies according to the profile of the project. We are currently applying BIM in 3D for Coordination, clash detection, site logistics planning, site safety analyses, MEP spooling drawings, 4D scheduling, 5D estimating and cost management/control, as well as 6D building data and asset management.
Women's College Hospital Project
CanBIM: In what ways has Walsh utilized BIM its construction projects?
Jason: Walsh is committed to being an industry leader in Construction Technology. We utilize BIM tools to manage the entire construction process. Walsh’s main focus when it comes to utilizing BIM is coordination and design validation; this is key to resolving all coordination and design challenges within the project before the construction process starts on site. Construction sites are going to have challenges, there is no way around that, but we limit and mitigate those challenges by managing them within the virtual construction process. Walsh also utilizes the tools during different parts of the project lifecycle to enhance our ability to estimate, construct and close-out projects. There is even greater value for our clients at the end of the project as we can now assemble all of the project information into the model that serves as a single source of data they can use to operate and maintain their asset over its lifecycle.
CanBIM: How have you innovatively utilized BIM on projects at Walsh, and can you give us an example?
Jason: The most innovative way Walsh utilizes BIM on projects is that we use BIM and the information that it provides to manage all aspect of a project. A lot of people say they utilize BIM, but I find that it’s just the industry standard to say they use BIM as a tool. An example would be Women’s College Hospital, a 5 year two-phased P3 project (Design-Build-Finance-Maintain) that was just completed in March, 2016. The designers and the trades all used BIM to come together and work out all the typical challenges a hospital project is faced with from design, spatial restriction, MEP, install, safety and over all coordination of items fitting into the building. These challenges were resolved within the BIM model before construction on site.
CanBIM: Since you see the benefits of using BIM for the coordination of construction projects, would you say interoperability of software is important?
Jason: I would say that interoperability is very important when it comes to coordination. We use Navisworks for the majority of projects when it comes to coordination so any 3D model file that can be converted to an .NWC and utilized in the model works for Walsh.
Women's College Hospital Project
CanBIM:
What is the BIM coordination process like when it comes to the actual, on-site construction of the building?
Jason: When it comes to construction on site, the BIM coordination process should be 100% complete before it’s time to build. Let me walk you through a typical Walsh BIM coordination process before the construction starts.
I will use Women’s College Hospital (DBFM) project as an example for the Walsh BIM coordination process. The design and MEP trades used Revit to create the coordination models and Navisworks was used to coordinate the project. Walsh would have a BIM coordination meeting every week for about 3 hours with members of the design team and the trades. Each week the BIM team would populate the model with their scope of work into the Federated coordination model and the BIM meetings would focus on design coordination challenges going floor-by-floor, that Walsh or the MEP trades would identify. At these weekly BIM meetings, we create an action/goal list of items the individual BIM teams need to complete each week. I just want to point out that within these BIM meetings clash reports are not used to generate these challenges within the meetings. I find that you can’t run a BIM coordination meeting using clash reports for individual pipes going through HVAC duct, you don’t get to the core of the issues. Once all the design challenges are complete by floor than a clash report is run and the trades would use this to clean up the remaining coordination interferences. We would then use our BIM coordination sign-off document for all the designers and trades to sign-off that this floor has been coordinated and essentially locked. Walsh will not allow any trade to install any systems on site until the BIM coordination sign-off document has been signed by the project team for that floor or area. Walsh repeats this process for each floor area until the building is fully coordinated.
CanBIM: What excites you as a Virtual Construction manager in terms of new utilizations of BIM in coordination?
Jason: The biggest thing that excites me in terms of BIM utilization is that disciplines and subtrades are starting to utilize BIM within the construction industry and seeing the benefits that it produces. As for BIM technology that interests me currently are the software’s (i.e. DRfous) that are getting better at managing the database bi-directional communication between the project information i.e. Hospital RDS sheets, Equipment, Rooms, FM data and linking that data within Revit. This allows us to manage all the project stakeholder’s data throughout the lifecycle of the building.
CanBIM: What are some challenges you’ve faced through the utilization of BIM with construction coordination and can you give us an example?
Jason: The challenges I have faced regarding the utilization of BIM when it comes to construction coordination has nothing to do with any technology or software. I find the biggest challenges on some days is managing all the disciplines that are involved in the coordination team BIM meetings. When you coordinate Hospitals and everyone in the construction industry knows that the mechanical shaft and above ceiling spaces are always limited and everybody is vying for space so managing the trades and the designers can be challenging and rewarding. When I train our new BIM project coordinators I always mention to them, when you become a BIM manager the most difficult aspect is not software or technology related its managing people.
When it comes to the on-site installation of systems I find with the trades sometimes the BIM coordination information we have just finished coordinating doesn’t get relayed to the site foreman. This creates a disconnect between the foreman’s work on site and what we’ve coordinated. Sometimes a person on site wants to install a pipe or some other material in a particular way, but they are unable to see yet that there will be ductwork that will clash with their installation. This has happened a couple times and we tell the trades to adjust the work as per the BIM model. The construction industry has amazing tradespeople that are adapting and utilizing BIM in amazing ways.
Women's College Hospital Project
CanBIM: Having said that, what’s the biggest challenge of utilizing BIM on construction projects in general?
Jason: The biggest challenge is to get people to buy into the concepts of BIM and its benefits. It’s not the technology itself, but the utilization of the technology. It’s no different than using a hammer or any other tool. The 3D models can be very visually appealing, but if there is a lack of utilization of information within the model, then it’s just a waste. At Walsh our main focus is for the technology to be utilized on projects to aid in construction coordination process before it hits the site. If coordination suffers, then it affects the field. In the field is where time and money is saved, if all the coordination challenges have been taken care of within the BIM process then it’s all about putting the puzzle together on site. Another big challenge in our industry is where we have an older generation that really appreciates the technology, but they have never used it during their many years of experience. So bridging that gap to communicate the benefits of BIM is a bit of a challenge.
Women's College Hospital Project
CanBIM: Why do you think it was important for Walsh to join the CanBIM community?
Jason: For us, it’s important for Walsh to have a presence within the industry and to support our colleagues in what they are doing with BIM. We can definitely see that BIM is here to stay and what I find with working with BIM is that every company comes together and helps to educate each other about what their struggling with so the industry can change or adapt. With each project that Walsh has, our goal is to perform better than the last and keep up with current utilizations in BIM technology.
We want to be a part of BIM’s progression and hope that we can push other members to advance their application while some others may push us to advance our own. In the end it’s a win-win scenario for the industry as it ultimately enhances the capabilities and benefits of BIM for all industry stakeholders.
CanBIM: Would you like to provide us with some closing comments?
Jason: I would like to thank CanBIM for all the hard work and effort that they are doing within the BIM community to progress the application of BIM throughout Canada.
Women's College Hospital Rendering
Thank you, Jason! Your contribution to the BIM community is greatly appreciated.
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