Blog:
Managing the complex data requirements for 40 Leadenhall Street
In the bustling heart of central London, 40 Leadenhall Street, also known affectionately as the Gotham building, is slowly taking shape. Spanning 900,000 square feet across Leadenhall and Fenchurch Street, this high-end commercial building is poised to redefine luxury and convenience in the city. Constructed by Mace, the principal contractor, and with a completion date set for 2024, 40 Leadenhall Street is not just an architectural marvel but a technological powerhouse.
Managing the complex data requirements for 40 Leadenhall Street
The challenge
One of the key challenges faced during the construction of 40 Leadenhall Street was managing the complex information requirements for a building of this magnitude. In 2016, when the project was awarded to Mace to construct, the term “digital twin” was still relatively unknown. It wasn’t until 2019, with a change in ownership, that the project gained momentum.
The challenge was not just in collecting data but determining the right amount of data needed for operational efficiency without overburdening the supply chain. Resurveying the building could be costly, making it essential to strike a balance between obtaining useful data and avoiding information overload.
Smart buildings focus
Arcadis was then brought on board to formulate a smart building strategy and connect various technologies using Glider’s information management platform, gliderbim®. Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), the building’s property managers, would leverage gliderbim® to align operational technology with asset information for new tenants.
gliderbim®, with its ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) process, quickly became the linchpin in managing the complex information ecosystem. Glider facilitated the collation, validation, and structuring of data as a managed service. With over 60 trade contractors onsite, 1,900 models, 31,500 documents, 14 sectional handovers and more than 1,000 maintainable assets, the scale of the project was immense.
The configuration process involved defining asset categories, picklists, model disciplines, roles, and groups, ensuring structured and repeatable data. Templates and predefined rules verified the information, providing an overview of data compliance.
Reporting capabilities
The real power of gliderbim® is in its ability to verify data against a digital plan of works, allowing users to identify incomplete or invalid values. The federated data was stored in a register, ready to be exported in the required format. The platform’s reporting capabilities, coupled with external tools like Power BI, provided comprehensive insights to meet diverse requirements.
At the handover stage, the Project Information Model (PIM) served a different purpose to the Asset Information Model (AIM). The PIM, optimised for construction, was configured into a new workspace for operation and structure for operational efficiency. JLL is able to leverage gliderbim®’s open API to connect the AIM to various operational systems like CAFM, tenant apps, space management, and fault detection and diagnostics.
A solid foundation for the future
40 Leadenhall Street was a complex project, and predicting information requirements in 2019 seemed impossible. How can you predict what data will be required in 5 years by someone who is yet to be appointed to manage the building? By adopting a strategy of maintaining simple but powerful data fields for key components in the information model, the project not only navigated the complexities of construction but also ensured that recipients had the opportunity to fully exploit the data for future operational use. This project has highlighted that effective information management is pivotal in an ever-evolving technological landscape.
Discover more
For more on this project, Lucas Cusack shares his insights in this BIM Plus webinar, recorded on 18 January 2024.
40 Leadenhall is also an award winning project:
Construction Computing Awards – BIM Project of the Year 2023
Building Innovation Awards – Most Innovative Commercial Project 2023