Sector 09 / 18

BIM for oil & gas and the chemical industry

Process plants with a high density of piping, from refineries to petrochemicals, federated in a single coordinate system.

At a glance

B1P Group provides BIM management and modelling for process plants: refineries, gas processing, petrochemicals, storage facilities. We write the information requirements for engineering contractors, set the coordinate system and component coding, federate the piping, structural, electrical, instrumentation and civil models and coordinate clashes; at handover the component data passes to the client's maintenance management system.

The sector

What do we do in a process plant?

In industrial plants the client has different suppliers for each discipline, each with its own design software: piping, structural, electrical and instrumentation, civil. Our job is to make those models work together: common information requirements, a single coordinate system, component coding consistent with the plant tags, federation in Navisworks and clash coordination.

On plants in operation we start from the point cloud of the laser scan survey: it describes racks, piping and equipment in their actual position, and the revamping model is built on top of it with no surprises during the shutdown.

Typical projects

Extensions and revamping of existing plants
Gas treatment and compression plants
Process units and storage facilities
Pipe racks, structures and technical buildings
BIM modelling from laser scan surveys of plants in operation

Rules and formats

What changes compared with building projects?

The decisive rule is coding: every component in the model must carry the plant tag (line, equipment item, instrument) by which the operations team knows it, otherwise the model cannot communicate with the maintenance systems. The second is a coordinate system common to all suppliers, set in the information requirements.

ISO 19650 remains the reference for information management; exchange uses IFC and the native formats of the plant design software, with conversion rules written into the plan.

Typical deliverables

What do we deliver?

Deliverables vary with the stage and the contract; these are the most common.

Phase	Handover	Who it is for
Set-up	Information requirements for suppliers, coordinate system, component coding, common data environment with approval workflows	Industrial clients
Coordination	Federated plant model, clash register, coordination meetings, reports	Clients and engineering contractors
Existing assets	BIM modelling from laser scan surveys of units in operation, existing conditions model for the revamping	Clients and contractors
Handover	Component data exported in the maintenance system format, with plant tag coding	Clients

References

Why are there no project names here?

Projects in this sector belong to the clients: we do not publish names, locations or images of the assets. In our offers we list projects of the same type and, with the client's consent, someone who can confirm our work.

Why we do not publish our projects

Related services

Which services do we provide in this sector?

Frequently asked questions

The questions we are asked in this sector

Do you work with plant design software other than Revit?

Yes: suppliers use their own piping and instrumentation tools; we set the exchange rules and federate the models in Navisworks, with conversions written into the plan.

Do you work on plants in operation?

Yes, starting from the survey of the operating plant, carried out by the appointed surveyor with a laser scanner and, where needed, a drone: we support the client in BIM modelling from survey data and derive from it the model of the existing plant on which the revamping is designed.

Does the data reach the maintenance management system?

Yes, if component coding was set in the requirements: at handover we export the data in the format required by the client's system.

Contact

Do you have a process plant to coordinate?

Tell us about the units, suppliers and systems: we will propose requirements, coding and a coordination plan.

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