Context
Sant Feliu de Llobregat is a mid-sized city located in the Province of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain), about 10 km from Barcelona city. This province has a strong commitment to community, innovation and sustainability. The City Council views technology as a catalyst for ecological change, sustainable growth and public welfare, and is regarded as a model for open government, digital transformation, citizen engagement and smart cities by the public administrations of Spain.
Objectives
The City Council started developing its smart city concept almost ten years ago. Over the past few years, it has implemented the BIM (building information modelling) methodology in conjunction with other technologies to create public value and manage the territory. BIM is the process of constructing a digital duplicate of a real building that enables management, data sharing and communication throughout the building’s life cycle. Using BIM enables cost savings, productivity gains and operational optimisation. In 2018, the City Council approved the BIM strategy, allowing the city to implement BIM and later in 2021, the BIMROCKET platform for comprehensive data visualisation and management. This platform combines a variety of data sources including GIS information, sensor data and BIM models of municipal equipment and infrastructure, to enable the visualisation of 3D territories. The integration of these data sources allows for more comprehensive insights, streamlined analysis and better-informed decision-making when managing the city.
Implementation
In terms of implementation, the City Council has established a BIM office, which is the key government department that has the responsibility for the quality of the BIM method across the life cycle of an asset and manages all the essential cooperation actions. This includes managing all collaboration activities related to the design, construction and operation of urban infrastructure, through both internal management and procurement processes. Nowadays, this office has three employees – one technical expert, one BIM manager and one project manager. During the period 2019–2023, an approximate budget of €50 000 per year was allocated to the digitalisation of existing buildings and different assets in the construction phase.
The project has already had some successful applications, for example, the energy certification of the renovation of the City Hall building was carried out remotely through the BIM ‘As-Built’ model. This model allowed for virtual tours and intrinsic databases, and a lower certification cost.