Bangalore, January 18, 2017: The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) serves Los Angeles, California, USA, and its neighboring cities. It is the largest community college district in the United States and one of the largest in the world, educating more than 3 million students over the past 77 years. In the early 2000s, the state initiated several bond programs called Proposition A and AA and Measure J to expand the capacity and efficiency of the district while targeting a zero-energy usage. The propositions called for designing and constructing 50 new buildings and remodeling many other buildings. Proposition A and AA were traditional design-bid-build projects, while Measure J introduced a design-build with the requirement to take a BIM approach to designing and constructing the buildings.
Some of the unique challenges of the Measure J project included a large number of participants needing access to the same information across the project lifecycle. LACCD used more than 200 public and private firms for the construction and project management alone. To ensure collaboration, LACCD needed all its data to be managed in a common environment, adhering to standards and specifications that could ensure a successful project. For this USD 6 billion project, LACCD is leveraging Bentley’s ProjectWise to ensure collaboration and project performance by integrating people, data, standards, and processes throughout the project
lifecycle. This strategy meant that all stakeholders, including architects, engineers, designers, construction managers, and consultants would have access to a single repository of information.
To maintain consistency, LACCD published Measure J BIM standards for models, drawings, specifications, photographs, and all other project information in 2011, and used ProjectWise as the connected data environment. i-models enabled the information flow of the BIM models and standards, ensuring data was exchanged without losing integrity or accuracy. Additionally, LACCD used Bentley Navigator for BIM review and issue resolution, which provided a 3D environment where project participants could better understand, review, and share feedback on a variety of ongoing designs. This strategy reduced time and costs and equated to a 12 percent savings in labor and USD 12 million in cost savings.
The BIM methodology allowed LACCD to incorporate solar energy and use low-cost electricity during off-peak hours, and helped reduce energy and ensure all buildings achieved at least a LEED Silver certification. LACCD could also confidently manage its documents and data as it adopted ongoing asset management strategies.
James Conway-Juarbe, maintenance and operations standards coordinator, LACCD, said, “Bentley’s ProjectWise provided us with the capability to coordinate over 3 million documents totaling 5 terabytes of data to give 500 project participants the latest controlled information on which to base confident action. The repository provides the base of documents for ongoing asset management.”
Image 1 Caption: Bentley Navigator was used for BIM review and issue resolution.
Image 2 Caption: Standards were managed in ProjectWise as the connected data environment.
Image 3 Caption: ProjectWise provided LACCD and over 500 project participants with access to the same models and data.