The use of BIM technology as tool safety in restoration phase of buildings. The case study of the facade of the "Royal Tobacco Factory" in Seville.

BIM technologies, which are rapidly spreading in the construction sector, are able to support all the phases of implementation of the construction process – from conception to demolition – regulating the entire life cycle of the building; however, the use of these, in most cases, is limited to the design phase only. The case described – studied in a degree thesis developed within the framework of the international cooperation agreement for research between the Faculties of Engineering and Architecture of the Universities of Pisa and Seville – explores the use of BIM as a useful technology for programming and managing the safety during the restoration of the façade of an important historic building located in Seville: the “Royal Tobacco Factory”. The building, built between 1728 and 1771, served as a factory for the production of tobacco and cigars from its construction until 1950, when it was used as the seat of the Rectorate and some faculties of the University of Seville. Thanks to the use of Autodesk, Revit and STR vision CPM software, a simulation of all the phases of the work was carried out in order to understand how to reduce the levels of risk. The work process was broken down through the use of the “Work Breakdown Structure”, a conceptual hierarchical structure branched on three levels. This operation has made it possible to obtain a general index of the works that contains the codes used by the software as a basis for the organization of work. On the STRVision CMP BIM platform, it was possible to perform metric computation directly from the Revit model through the “Quantity Take Off” operation. The measures were thus linked through WBS codes with the estimation calculation and the Gantt diagram. Thanks to this type of approach, a 3D model was obtained that contains information not only on the geometry of the building but also on the spatial and temporal organization of the site and on costs. Further research includes the use of Autodesk Navisworks to run 4D simulations to refine the risk assessment and reveal many real issues in advance.