Data driven design

Keflavik Airport Expansion

Keflavik, Iceland

Keflavik Airport – Iceland’s international airport – has developed a Major Development Plan (MDP), which will transform the airport’s capabilities over the next two decades.

Buro Happold is bringing its digital expertise as an IM (Information Management) and BIM (Building Information Modelling) lead to the digital coordination of the first phase of this project, which will see a 20,000m² expansion of the Leif Erikson Air Terminal.

Over the next two decades Keflavik Airport is expanding its passenger terminal facilities by 20,000m².

The client’s aim is for the project to be an exemplar of BIM-driven design for Iceland.

As BIM managers and digital strategists, the Buro Happold team has developed a sophisticated digital asset and project management system for the project.

The systems combine into a single digital hub that acts as custodian of all data related to the project.

Challenge

By 2030, the airport aims to expand its facilities, relocating baggage scanning, adding a new east pier and updating the passenger terminal. By 2040, the MDP will see the further extension of the passenger terminal building which will allow for significantly more flights each day.

The client’s vision is for the project to be the prime example of a BIM-driven project in Iceland, continuing the information development and utilisation into the operational phase, with live digital asset and operations systems, maintenance manuals and health & safety files.

This multi-stakeholder project needs a foundation of IM and BIM management strategies to deal with the complexity, taking into account quality management, time management and cost management. The system ultimately would be required to be a single digital hub that acts as custodian of all data related to the project, including time registration, bids and technical specifications, cost estimates, project schedules, spatial data, and models and drawings.

Solution

The Buro Happold team has developed a sophisticated digital asset and project management system, incorporating a range of inter-connecting software feeds, principally from BIM360, Microsoft Sharepoint, Revit DB and Power BI.

We worked with the client to develop an ambitious unified system of references and activity codes, which would be used by all stakeholders working on the project. Our team also developed a range of processes and templates for data gathering, activity directories and data compliance.

We built a digital dashboard to offer manageable data insights on the project as it evolves, which the client would ultimately like to integrate into a Project Control Centre and facilities management toolkit for the wider airport. By dealing with raw data within the system, we future proof the toolkit to evolve as both the client requirements and the software develops around it between now and 2040, when the project plans to complete, and beyond.

We have also distilled complex procedures within the project into a series of clear swimlane process maps. These flowchart diagrams visually delineate who does what on the project and when they will be doing it, the format of the information and how it connects with other stakeholders.

Our experts have also authored the airport’s asset information and project information requirements, as well as co-writing their BIM manuals with the client team. We have worked alongside the client team, project managers, cost managers and design managers on data validation, to ensure the wider team of collaborators is truly integrated in its data management mindset across the project.

Value

Buro Happold’s team brings a great breadth of expertise in BIM and digital management strategy, driving compliance, quality management, asset classification and data uniformity, as well as offering guidance and validation, and acting as a key data guardian and client representative.

As well as bringing deep digital expertise to the project, Buro Happold’s strong relationship-building and collaborative capabilities have allowed us to become a key strategic trusted advisor on this ambitious airport expansion plan.