Construction is now complete on the U.S. General Services Administration’s Region 4 Building Information Modeling pilot project, a 410,000 sq. ft., $122 million federal courthouse in Jackson, Mississippi. 

Courthouses are complex projects with long schedule durations which generally exceed initial budget and schedule estimates.  When setting the goals for this Building Information Modeling (BIM) pilot, the GSA made it a priority to improve schedule and cost metrics on this project.

For the pilot, Ghafari was hired by the GSA to provide Project Integration, BIM, and Management Consulting services for the design and construction team. When Ghafari engaged the project team, the project was already well into Design Development based on a traditional paper-based approach.  Ghafari introduced the team to collaborative principles of 3D-enabled project delivery by utilizing weekly team-oriented design integration sessions to improve the flow of data, decisions, and work processes among team members.

Weekly integration sessions were held where the latest model data from the project team was assembled into a composite master model for collaborative review of design, constructability, interferences and coordination issues. The weekly reviews provided opportunities to resolve issues while still in the design phase, which reduced the risk of late design changes and quality compromises during construction from issues typically not discovered until after construction documents are complete. When contrasted with individual interpretations of traditional drawings, real-time 3D model review sessions increase transparency in decision making by focusing the team on the right information at the right time to meet milestone obligations.

Building on the success of the Jackson Federal Courthouse project, Ghafari is providing Integration and Management Consulting services for the modernization of the Dr. A. H. McCoy Federal Building, also in Jackson, MS.  The Dr. A. H. McCoy project received a 2011 AIA Technology in Architectural Practice (TAP) BIM award for its innovative use of Building Information Modeling to improve information and workflows in design and construction.
 

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