Design & Coordination
Design coordination is a term that is used to describe the integration of designs prepared by different members of the project team to create a single, unified set of information that can be constructed without clashes between components. Effective design coordination can help to reduce costs, delays and disruption that can be caused by problems on site and the need for remedial or abortive works and redesign.
Clashes may be ‘hard clashes’ for example where the route for pipework runs through a steel beam. They may also be ‘soft clashes’ which can be the result of construction tolerances, too little space to install or maintain a component of the building, lack of consideration of health and safety requirements, too many workers being programmed to carry out works in the same space at the same time, and so on.
This process can be accomplished by leveraging technology to coordinate using BIM. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an intelligent 3D model-based process that helps us coordinate a building digitally. The design team will work with each trade to coordinate their portion of the project and integrate it into a centrally managed model.