The state of North Carolina was seeking space for the new Sea Life Aquarium and the attraction found a home in the Concord Mills Mall in suburban Charlotte. The city of Concord is situated in the heart of NASCAR country and the state was looking to re-purpose an existing space that once served as a high end Go-Kart venue.

The shell is compromised of complex attributes including curves/angles and existing structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Anticipating significant challenges, the architect and contractor wanted to verify the as-built conditions prior to the renovation. A decision was made to utilize 3D scan technology in order to document the existing elements. The scan data would then be compared to the existing record drawing/model to identify any discrepancies.

Scanning provides concise, accurate, detailed intelligence in a very short amount of time. The scan data can then be modeled utilizing a BIM authoring tool, such as Autodesk’s Revit, hence the term Scan-to-BIM (STB). It also provides information to validate the information contained within existing record drawings. By using STB, all of the stakeholders involved (i.e. owner, architect, contractor, engineer, etc.) certainly realize a savings in time, a reduction in change orders and also project risk/liability. In the end, this ultimately equates to a significant savings in project costs and time.