Fraser Health Authority (FHA) delivers hospital and community-based health services to over 1.8 million people. Recognizing that BIM can offer rich information throughout the building lifecycle, they sought ways to do more with their building data. Working with Summit BIM on the Royal Columbian Hospital (RCH) Redevelopment Project phase 1, FHA developed a new strategic BIM process that improved project delivery as well as the delivery of facility information.

One of BC’s oldest and busiest hospitals, the three-phase RCH redevelopment will elevate patient-centred care, introduce advanced medical technologies, replace aging buildings, and add more beds to increase the hospital’s capacity by over 50 percent. The expected completion is in 2026.

Summit BIM worked with FHA to develop a set of comprehensive and detailed BIM requirements to drive downstream use of the digital data. The BIM requirements outlined the data and information requirements for each project participant as well as when the data should be received. Rather than waiting for a huge tranche of data at the end of the project, data was delivered and audited at various points in the project.

FHA had three key BIM goals on the project:

• Improve access to information during design;
• Coordinate high-quality design with ongoing virtual coordination and audits; and,
• Ensure that data is ready for harvest by FMO.

Implementing a consistent digital process allowed FHA to:

• Assess compliance with the BIM requirements and ensure that the design met building performance expectations;
• Better communicate design intent with rich visual information;
• Improve clash detection;
• Improve accessibility of equipment for preventative and reactive maintenance; and,
• Dramatically improve the number of assets tracked with associated maintenance information.

The development of consistent BIM requirements was a big step forward in the transition to BIM. This project allowed FHA to refine the requirements and the associated processes as they move forward into other projects.

About the Royal Columbian Hospital Redevelopment Project (Phase 1)
Phase One of the RCH Redevelopment Project is the design and construction of a new mental health building, energy centre (including fit-out), and underground parking structure at the RCH campus in New Westminster, BC.