SpinalBIM Suite

Building data for smart building operators

Built as a digital twin of a building, SpinalBIM Suite is a dynamic building information modelling platform. It is the application suite of SpinalCom, a French smart building specialist, and it sits on top of the company's building operating system. The suite is meant to help owners, developers and operators connect the many kinds of data a building produces, so that they can manage the building from one consistent record.

As-built documentation and site work

The suite manages as-built documentation, the record of what was actually constructed, and it is designed to improve collaboration on site. Task automation and site management are part of the offer, so that the information needed for maintenance and operations is kept up to date as work is done. The company says this reduces the gap between the building as designed and the building as delivered.

Working with the drawings and models that already exist

The platform is compatible with a large range of design files. The company says it reads around thirty CAD formats, including Revit, IFC, Navisworks, CATIA, SolidWorks and Creo, so that a project does not have to be redrawn to be used. Its approach is vendor neutral, which means equipment from any manufacturer can be connected, and it accepts data of any type.

An open platform for building systems

The suite can take data from building management systems, computerised maintenance systems, integrated workplace management systems and IoT sensors and actuators. The company says an application enablement platform allows teams to build their own applications on the data, so that a building's owners can create tools suited to their own needs rather than relying on a single fixed product.

The digital twin and the building operating system

The digital twin is the model of the building that the suite maintains. The company's wider offer places it alongside SpinalCore, its building operating system, which handles the processing of building data. The company says the quality of the data is the centre of smart building work, and it describes three pillars: rich, contextualised data models through the digital twin, a controlled and high-quality processing chain through the operating system, and a quality process that governs the people who install systems producing data.

The data problem the company describes

The company cites a figure of 78 per cent for digital transition projects that fail because of poor data quality. Its view is that the building holds a great deal of heterogeneous and unstructured data, and that the central problem is translating it into a common language. Its platform is intended to do exactly that, so that the building can be run on data people can trust.

Property owners, developers and operators

The company names property developers, owners and operators as its audience, and its case material includes a French energy distributor that equipped a new headquarters of around 30,000 square metres with a scalable digital twin. Other named references include large property and insurance groups. The company presents the suite as suited to commercial, industrial, logistics and health projects alike.