LCADesign

LCADesign & GreenTag Brochure

BIM is sometime known as either Building Information Modelling or Building Information Management. It is the next generation CAD tool that is driving a new wave of productivity throughout the industry and is being implemented by major corporations, universities and government.

Major clients are using BIM because of the benefits it provides in using a single building model to automate processes such as quantities take off, cost surveying, structural design, MEP design and simulations such as buildability, clash analysis, thermal, daylight, artificial lighting, ventilation and smoke design. It also underpins a new generation of virtual facilities management tools and now integrates with life cycle assessment of the whole of life impacts of buildings and products.

BIM allows the same model to be used seamlessly between different software programs and consultants using a standard 'interoperability' file format called '.IFC'. This means it is a simple process for any architect or designer using programs such as ArchiCAD or Revit to save a model in .IFC format and open it in any other IFC compliant program.

One such program is the unique Australian life cycle assessment (LCA) modelling software LCADesign™ developed by the CRC for Construction Innovation (now relaunched as the Sustainable Built Environment National Research Centre). This rapid building eco-profiling software is a world first and cuts the time to undertake whole of life LCA of buildings using generic materials and products literally from years to a matter of hours.

LCADetail™ is a subset program that is used by GreenTag™ to undertake its life cycle analysis of products. So for the first time, when an LCA is conducted, the output is not just a report with graphs and massive data tables, but a live BIM file of the product LCA impacts that can be used in LCADesign to enable Brand and product specific LCA to be undertaken.

Ecospecifier has the global exclusive rights to use LCADetail™ for a green building product related rating system and to use LCADesign in Brand specific format. GreenTag™ certified product BIM files will be loaded into 'LCADesign for Ecospecifier [Australia]' early 2011, preparing the BIM world in Australia for the ability to use specific project design and product specifications for cost effective, rapid ecoprofiling of the whole of life impacts of buildings including embodied impacts of materials, operations (energy and water consumption are entered manually from those simulation programs), maintenance and cleaning for the first time ever.

In a carbon constrained future world, GreenTag™ and LCADesign™ will be an unbeatable team, helping quantify and minimize the carbon (and other) impacts of existing and future products, buildings, infrastructure and cities.