Independent Architectural & Urban Lighting Consulting

BIM uses, exchange milestones, model formats, responsibilities and the Level of Information Need are agreed before modelling starts — in the BEP and the information delivery plans. This is also where the standard the scheme will be calculated against, and its target values, are settled. ISO 19650 provides the frame.

Architectural, structural, ceiling, MEP and landscape models are received and checked: levels, grids, shared coordinates, units, zoning and phasing. For lighting the ceilings and MEP matter most — that is where a luminaire most often conflicts.

Before a single family is built, the data schema is fixed: type code, photometric file in IES or LDT, lumen output, colour temperature, colour rendering, beam angle, IP rating, mounting, finish, status and revision. In Revit these are Shared Parameters, so the same fields survive across families, tags and schedules.

Revit families are authored with photometry attached and the light source defined, with type and instance parameters and type catalogues. Where a manufacturer provides no BIM family, we model it from scratch from the datasheet and the photometric file, so the model stays complete.

Luminaires are placed in the model and given their identity, and the scheme is calculated — in Revit-integrated plugins or in DIALux and Relux. Illuminance, uniformity, colour rendering and glare are checked against the adopted standard; for exterior schemes, so is light spilling beyond the target area.

Luminaire families are distributed across the client model, discipline models are linked and federated, and the whole is issued through the common data environment with controlled status, revision, metadata and classification. Publishing is a transition between WIP, Shared and Published — not sending a file by email.

Lighting is tested against ducts, sprinklers, structure, ceiling grid, cable routes and maintenance access. Beam obstruction is checked separately — a beam or a duct that is not a geometric clash can still take away half the light. Issues are owned and tracked as BCF.

Luminaire schedules, placement plans, technical drawings, mounting details, quantities and calculation reports are extracted from the model. It closes with the as-built model, the final schedule and the asset information for facilities.

Before the first family is authored, the data schema, naming, Level of Information Need and the standard with its target values are signed off. Without them a calculation has nothing to be measured against.

At every WIP → Shared transition the model is checked, not glanced at: duplicate type codes, missing photometric files, empty parameters, wrong hosts and levels, and any gap between the model and the luminaire schedule. Written as an IDS specification, the check runs automatically against the IFC. Clash detection does not replace this — a clash-free model can still miss the standard.

Before asset information is handed over, the model is reconciled with what was actually installed: substitutions accepted on site, revised locations and the final luminaire schedule.