BIM Tools Used in Maintenance of Buildings and on Conflict Detection

The development of a building design requires the participation of several parties involved in different disciplines, and a efficient conflict analysis between disciplines is essential to guarantee a well-developed design. The building information modeling (BIM) methodology and tools associated with it present themselves as an excellent asset to support the process of conflict analysis, as they make it possible to merge all disciplines in an integrated virtual environment. In addition, a good maintenance depends on the analysis of the anomalies detected during the inspection of the site and the BIM model is a good tool on the support of maintenance activities, due to their ability to store enough information in one digital model. The aim of the research work was to implement the benefits provided by BIM on a software tool used as support to maintenance of buildings and to evaluate the practical capabilities of the BIM concept in the conflict analysis between building services, namely, the water supply and drainage systems design, and the architectural and structural design. This work contributes to demonstrate the advantages of BIM in the conciliation and coordination between different specialties, as well as the benefits of its application in maintenance activity.