Optimizing Site Layout Planning Utilizing Building Information Modelling

Site layout planning (SLP) is categorized as a non-deterministic polynomial time (NP) hard or complete class problem. Inefficient SLP can lead to congestion, safety conflicts and productivity reductions. Significant attention to the problem is evident in the field of construction management. A number of optimization routines and mathematical models are suggested in past research to reduce costs associated with improper layouts. However, such models are seldom adopted on real-life projects, where SLP is primarily carried out based on heuristics. The two significant inhibitors to the adoption of sophisticated approaches identified in this study are; lack of realism in the mathematical models and the significant effort involved in setting up the model for each construction site. These two inhibitors tend to reflect as reluctance on the part of the project teams to adopt SLP models. In the present study, the first inhibitor is addressed by incorporating realism into the mathematical model for SLP. The SLP is formulated as an optimization problem involving the reduction of transportation cost on construction site with associated constraints. Realism to the optimization model was brought through the modelled travel distances utilizing Building Information Modelling (BIM). Genetic Algorithm (GA) was used to optimize the objective function. The combined model thus incorporates all the site constraints in terms of travel paths as captured in the BIM model thus bringing in more realism into the SLP modelling. This work is preliminary work in developing a fully automated SLP process where the second inhibitor would also be addressed.