The Challenge
When a global financial institution selected us to coordinate the BIM for their headquarters redevelopment, we faced one of the most demanding fit-out projects we have encountered: 18 floors of Grade-A office space, nine months to substantial completion, and a client operating in the highly regulated fintech sector.
The scale alone was significant, but the complexity ran deeper. The bank required seamless integration of modern fintech infrastructure — IoT-enabled devices, trading floor connectivity, and a sophisticated building management system (BMS) — without disrupting live operations in adjacent areas of the building. Every floor had a distinct programme of works, and the interfaces between structural, architectural, and MEP systems had to be resolved before a single contractor arrived on site.
Adding to the challenge, our client had a zero-tolerance policy for programme slippage. In a working financial environment, any delay cascades into compliance risk, business continuity exposure, and significant commercial cost. We understood from the outset that our BIM workflows would need to be proactive rather than reactive — resolving coordination issues in the model before they became construction problems on site.
Our Approach
We began with a series of workshops with the client's project managers, programme directors, and key mechanical and electrical contractors. Our goal was to build a shared understanding of the project's scope, sequence, and risk profile before we committed anything to the model.
From these workshops, we produced a BIM Execution Plan (BEP) aligned with ISO 19650 principles. The BEP defined level of development (LOD) requirements for each trade, information delivery milestones, model authoring responsibilities, and a naming and classification convention that all parties agreed to follow. This document became the contractual and technical foundation of the project and the reference point for every information query raised over the nine-month programme.
Our coordination strategy was structured around a weekly clash detection and resolution cycle. Rather than waiting for design sign-off before running federations, we ran rolling clash detection from the moment each trade model reached LOD 200. This early detection approach meant that by the time the design was formally issued for construction, the vast majority of coordination issues had already been identified and resolved. It also gave contractors confidence that the information they were building from had been rigorously checked.
Technical Implementation
We built the project's Revit model in three federated streams: architectural, structural, and MEP. Each stream was authored by a specialist team and issued into a common data environment (CDE) on a weekly basis. Our coordination team federated the models in Autodesk Navisworks, running systematic clash checks across all 18 floors every Tuesday, with a resolution log issued to all parties by Thursday.
The clash matrix we used covered five primary categories: hard clashes (physical object intersections), soft clashes (clearance violations), 4D time-space conflicts, accessibility compliance gaps, and coordination issues flagged by contractors as construction methodology risks. Each category carried a defined escalation path and resolution deadline, so nothing sat unresolved past a single weekly cycle.
For floors with particularly dense MEP plant — primarily the basement plant room, the rooftop mechanical level, and the two main IT server floors — we ran additional model coordination sessions with the relevant subcontractors present via screen share. These live sessions reduced the cycle time for resolving complex multi-trade clashes from the usual five-day window down to a single session, allowing us to maintain programme momentum on the most technically demanding parts of the building.
We integrated Dynamo scripts throughout the project to automate repetitive modelling and data management tasks. Our scripts handled room data sheet population, sheet index generation, and automated LOD compliance checking, saving our team an estimated two to three hours per floor per weekly cycle. Across 18 floors and a nine-month programme, this automation freed up meaningful capacity that we reinvested into higher-value coordination and stakeholder communication work.
The integration of the client's fintech infrastructure required close collaboration with their specialist IT consultant. We coordinated containment routes, server room layouts, and raised floor voids within the Revit model to ensure that structured cabling, fibre runs, and UPS systems were accounted for at the design stage — long before the first cable tray was ordered. We also modelled the IoT device locations and ran clearance checks against ceiling grids and sprinkler layouts to confirm installation access and maintenance clearances.
Construction Phase Coordination
Our involvement did not end at design sign-off. We supported the construction phase with ongoing model maintenance, request for information (RFI) management, and weekly site coordination meetings. When site conditions diverged from the model — as they inevitably do on a refurbishment of this scale — we issued revised model elements within 48 hours to keep the contractor's programme on track.
We produced a series of 4D construction sequence animations for the most logistically sensitive areas: the core lift lobbies, the raised floor zones, and the two occupied floors where works had to be staged around the bank's skeleton staff. These animations were reviewed in client progress meetings and helped the principal contractor sequence trades without conflict. On the occupied floors in particular, the ability to visualise the construction sequence in advance allowed the client to plan staff relocations around contractor access windows, avoiding the kind of last-minute disruption that often affects phased refurbishments in live financial environments.
We also maintained the project's information register throughout construction, tracking every RFI, design change notice, and site instruction against the relevant model element. This created a complete and auditable record of every change made from BEP sign-off to practical completion — a requirement the client's compliance team confirmed was essential for their post-occupancy facilities management handover.
Key Results
We reached substantial completion on all 18 floors within the agreed nine-month programme. Our rolling clash detection and weekly resolution cycle identified and closed out over 3,400 coordination issues before they reached site. Based on contractor feedback and our experience of comparable Grade-A fit-out projects, resolving issues at model stage rather than on site typically reduces reactive remediation costs by 25–35% and prevents the programme overruns that are common on multi-trade, multi-floor fit-outs of this complexity.
The client's project director noted in the post-project review that this was the most structured information management process they had experienced on a project of this scale, and that the weekly resolution cycle gave their team genuine confidence that the construction information was reliable.
The integration of fintech systems was completed without any major design changes post-construction-issue — a result we attribute directly to the early involvement of the IT specialist team in our coordination workflow. The BMS integration was signed off by the client's facilities management team at practical completion, with all IoT device data points correctly represented in the as-built model and ready for handover to their smart building platform.
Lessons Learned
This project reinforced several principles that we now apply across all large-scale fit-out work. Early stakeholder alignment around a well-constructed BEP removes ambiguity before it becomes contractual risk. Rolling clash detection — rather than end-of-design-stage coordination — dramatically reduces the concentration of unresolved issues at information release. And specialist technology integrations such as fintech infrastructure, BMS, and IoT networks must be drawn into the BIM coordination process as early as structural and MEP trades, not treated as a separate workstream that connects at the end.
We also confirmed that Dynamo automation pays its development cost back very quickly on multi-floor projects with repetitive data management tasks. Several of the scripts developed on this project have since been standardised into our core BIM toolkit and deployed on subsequent fit-out engagements.
FAQ
How do you manage clash detection across 18 floors without losing track of open issues?
We run a structured weekly cycle: federated Navisworks models checked every Tuesday, resolution logs issued by Thursday, and a carry-forward register for any issues that need additional design input. Every open clash is assigned an owner and a deadline — nothing is allowed to roll over without a documented reason.
Can you work alongside a client's existing IT and fintech infrastructure teams?
Yes. On this project we embedded the client's IT consultant directly into our weekly coordination meetings and modelled all structured cabling, containment, and IoT device locations within the Revit model so that conflicts could be identified and resolved at design stage rather than on site.
What ISO standard governs your BIM information management approach?
We work to ISO 19650 principles, including BIM Execution Plan authoring, common data environment setup, LOD specification, and information delivery milestone management. For financial sector clients, we also align our information security and access control processes with the client's internal data governance requirements.
Do you provide as-built models and handover documentation?
Yes. We maintain the project model throughout construction and update it to reflect site conditions, RFIs, and design change notices. At practical completion, we deliver a clean as-built Revit model, a full information register, and a clash resolution record — giving the client's facilities team an accurate digital twin from day one of occupation.
Conclusion
This engagement demonstrates what systematic, programme-driven BIM coordination delivers on a high-stakes financial sector fit-out. We resolved over 3,400 coordination issues before they reached site, delivered all 18 floors within a nine-month programme, and successfully embedded complex fintech infrastructure into a Grade-A office environment without programme impact or post-construction remediation.
If you are planning a large-scale office fit-out, a financial sector headquarters project, or any multi-discipline BIM coordination engagement, our clash detection and coordination services and BIM consulting team would be glad to discuss how we can support your project from BEP to practical completion.
