Bridging the gap – information management platforms across the lifecycle of buildings

Bridging the Gap is a collaboration project led by NTNU with partners from KLP Eiendom, NCC Bygg, Multiconsult, Pir2 AS. It investigates the development of digital platforms and particular digital twins in terms of organizational issues such as diverse practice perspectives of what is a digital twins based both on cultural and disciplinary perspectives. It considers standards as both influential but also unclear in terms of aiding digitalization as there are many and different disciplines use of different standards which has the potential to lead to information inconsistency. Collaboration and cultural issues are important as all practices across the industry must cooperate in order to create consensus in what are digital twins and what processes lead to good data exchange at different points of the lifecycle. The future is important and strategizing for digitalization today and for next 10 to 30 years needs consideration if buildings are to be represented both in a digital format and a physical format as building life-cycle is often calculated to be at least 50 years. The work centers around a case study Teknostallen which is a partially renovated and new building project due to be complete in 2025. The building is highly technologically developed with aim of being BREEAM excellent and WELL platinum. The case study enables research to ground ideas being developed over the last 2 and half years. Key findings from this work are as follows: Barriers, possibilities and benefits in digitization for facility management • The industry must work together to achieve the future visions, but the future vision is difficult to achieve without real collaboration efforts. • The industry has no uniform definition of what a digital twin is, and there is a lack of a definition for digital twins that everyone can agree on • The advantages of digital twins for facility management are obtaining real-time information, preparing services and effective decision-making processes, while the challenges relate to resource-intensive maintenance of the twin, information management, change management/resistance and organizational culture. Standards for information, data capture and storage for FDV/FM and use • The ongoing building phase shift in the implementation process for digital platforms indicates a significant increase in competence regarding standards in the industry. • There is a lack of an overarching method for the implementation of central standards that will create the basis for increase competence. • The need for expertise is most pressing on the part of the building owner who is viewed as responsible to develop the technology and create a demand in the market. Process /Organization/ Information • Use of a tool in Bridging the Gap where companies involved in the Teknostallen project evaluated each other on culture and collaboration. The results of this evaluation opened up dialogue on collaboration efforts and expectations different companies had of each other and how to proceed. One criticism was that this evaluation occurred at close to a key milestone of Teknostallen project and would have been more valuable to have engaged a tool earlier in the building project process FM needs of today and the future • New norms originating in a sustainable outlook are pushing for increased data quality beyond lifecycle thinking for data delivery. • IT competence vs. disciplinary competence and skills are often discussed, but the balance of what should be prioritized is not clear. • Aligning Facility Management practices with digital platforms has the potential to increase integration of different systems but is reliant on organisations having digital strategies for facility management. • Within a workshop with facility managers from Multiconsult and KLP the central influence of the user in the shaping of data and application was highlighted • Key data needs in the above mentioned workshop and an additional facility management network survey are data environmental awareness and material cataloging particular for material reuse as well as environmental certifications. Below is some edited comments from some of the industry partners of Bridging the Gap: Multiconsult's participation in the research project is anchored in the company's management through Multiconsult's internal routines for decisions and prioritization of efforts within R&D (Multiconsult) Good cooperation with all the actors in the Teknostallen project, where we get to see that experience and knowledge from operation must be the basis for all the actors in the project, especially in an early phase, and that efficient operation is largely about being able to use good models from the project . (KLP Eiendom Trondheim) The distinction between phases for development - construction - facility management must be overcome in the understanding of building projects by all parties (Pir 2 AS)

As the project aim to examine the development of digital twins from the perspective of FM feeding back to design and construction, WP1 takes a starting point of examining barriers, possibilities and benefits in digitization / digital twin for to FDV / FM and use both from the FM discipline and in the broader AEC perspective and examining these barrier, possibilities and benefits in the context of the reference project(s). WP2 will go deeper in terms of mapping the standards that are currently available for data handover and where they fit in terms of application of FM specific standards as well as standards linked to Digital Twins. WP3 will examine the collaboration process of coordinating data within the reference project(s) and defining a framework on how collaboration can occur for digital twin through feedback and feedforward loops which can be further systematized in LCA. WP4 will examine FM use and non use of data as well examining the scope of linking databases using in FM which will lead to strategizing for digital twins. Research will be conducted through key research partners, engaging students within relevant courses and master thesis and through the research focused work of PhD/Research assistant- all in partnership with non-research organizations. The research questions will lead to the following innovative solutions: • Mapping of relevant standards for data handover and interoperability • Identifying gaps in standards that need to move toward digital twins for FM linking to LCA • Process framework on feedback and feedforward loops from operation to design for knowledge exchange and systematic participation (focus on LCA) • Roadmaps for digitalizing FM (FM 2.0) toward 2030 and 2050 • Strategies for FM toward further digitalisation and digital twins