Aéroport de Québec inc. (AQi) has always recognized the importance of new technologies and has always been a pioneer in promoting the use of digital culture by its employees and partners. We are always on the lookout for the latest technology, and try to use innovation to improve our passenger services, increase our productivity and target efficiency in all our actions.
For the YQB 2018 project, which involves enlarging and improving the layout of our international terminal, our teams used an innovative approach known as Building Information Modelling (BIM). BIM is a new way to manage construction projects, introducing significant changes to the way the industry works and relying to a great extent on technological innovation.
The following video summarizes the BIM approach and explains how it was implemented and applied at YQB.
This is not the first time Aéroport de Québec inc. (AQi) has used the BIM approach in a construction project, and we have been studying its potential for several years. For the YQB 2018 project, we made sure that we could attain our objectives by integrating BIM to the fullest extent possible in our project management model, even going beyond what the industry is currently able to provide.
Since the start of the YQB 2018 construction project, several organizations have expressed an interest in what is happening at the Québec City airport. We are frequently asked to speak at seminars and conventions, and have received numerous requests for site visits.
The reason YQB 2018 is such an attraction for players in the construction industry is that in Québec, until quite recently, BIM was still just a theoretical ideal. No actual project had demonstrated its advantages.
Key facts:
- Since the start of the project, we know exactly what the new terminal will look like, because the architects and engineers are working directly on a virtual 3D model.
- So far, the BIM approach has enabled us to detect almost 2,000 anomalies in the plan, and to correct them in the virtual model. This means that hundreds of problems on the work site have been avoided.
- An old aviation hangar next to the work site has been transformed into a project office, where a multidisciplinary team of over 100 people from six different companies are working on YQB 2018 in the same space.
- The virtual model also includes data on building maintenance needs. For example, by clicking on a given element (elevator, window, ventilation duct, etc.) we can see its life expectancy, warranty and technical specifications.