Lift Industry and BIM: A Long Overdue Adopted and Typically Overlooked Project Enabler

BIM (Building Information Modelling) shall not be a new term for any individual or enterprise working in the construction industry. However, the Vertical Transportation industry still finds the use of BIM as rather “new” despite being mandatory in certain countries for all public projects since a few years. BIM has proven itself as an enabler for different actors inside the construction industry: Investors, Builders, Lead Designers and Facilities Managers can benefit from a faster and more accurate deliverables creation. The digital models of the lifts and escalators are fully integrated and coordinated with the architectural and structural models since the beginning of the project which leads to a quicker design approval and therefore a faster release to manufacture. All this combined with the reduction of the mistakes on site leads to a higher customer satisfaction rate. The use of BIM models during the operational phase is becoming more and more important with the rise and the need to provide Digital Building Twins. BIM Models are the foundation of the Digital Building Twins and therefore these shall be accurate and contain the relevant information for the Facilities Managers. Accurate and up to date models (these need to reflect the current condition of the installed assets) can also serve as a solid foundation to plan modernisation jobs. The rise of drone surveying as well as 3D laser scans could be of great use to modernisation teams looking to install new products into existing buildings.