Building information modeling (BIM) systems generate, manage and store digital files of physical spaces. Users can export, share and manipulate this content with colleagues to streamline projects and avoid errors. The broad adoption of BIM tools across the construction industry has created opportunities to use them when developing or improving warehouses.
BIM improves warehouse design by helping site leaders assess conditions, architectural plans and similar content and make better decisions. Digital tools show users the potential effects of increased demand, higher stock levels and other variable factors. This allows them to create purposeful structures to meet current and future needs. While people cannot predict upcoming events with certainty, proactive contingency planning encourages considering the likeliest outcomes and how a well-designed building elevates responsiveness.
The following case studies examine how real-world companies have used BIM to simulate warehouse operations for contingency planning.
Addressing Unconventional Warehouse Needs
Many warehouses have single tenants. However, such arrangements restrict potential users with small-scale operations. That was the problem faced by Shannon Lerda, an e-commerce entrepreneur whose efforts scaled up so much that they took over her house. She searched opportunities to enter a one-year warehouse lease at locations offering a loading dock and up to 1,000 square feet of space. The business owner quickly discovered a lack of options, noticing a market gap her husband suggested filling.
Lerda tackled it with a new warehouse model in a four-story structure containing 104 tenant spaces from 80 to 1,200 square feet, which she named Elevator. It also has a shipping section, community workshop rooms and market areas. Occupants can rent monthly for rates as low as $350. Immediate interest in this arrangement filled all available units, encouraging the couple to plan a sister location in another state. The differing needs met by one site create excellent opportunities to use building information modeling for contingency planning.
BIM improves warehouse design by showing users the effects of specific changes or how to overcome known challenges. Addressing the requirements of one tenant is relatively straightforward compared to accommodating over 100. BIM platforms let people visualize traffic flows, layouts and more to raise productivity and functionality.
This technology also aids space management, which can become a larger concern as occupant numbers rise. Financially savvy operators can investigate tax incentives that help them perform reasonably priced upgrades. For example, the first-year bonus depreciation allows a 40% deduction on the expenses of qualifying assets initially used in 2025. Such perks apply to essentials including industrial shelves, assisting business owners who are trying forward-thinking warehouse models or updating existing facilities.
Maintaining Safety and Functionality During Tailored Improvements
Successful construction projects require ongoing collaboration. Because BIM tools provide cloud-based storage of essential files, crews can quickly retrieve the applicable documents and inform themselves of recent changes. This convenient information access reduces rework and eliminates mistakes that may cause buildings to fail inspections.
Builders and related professionals are not always early technology adopters. However, many now recognize building information modeling as essential to their work. As of 2023, 45% of European architects indicated they use BIM, showing its international appeal. Digital files reveal when new decisions clash with existing structures, giving leaders time to adapt.
Boston Dynamics, an Irish construction firm, combined BIM with robotics and got impressive results. After assessing various process needs, decision-makers developed a solution by mounting a laser scanner on a robotic dog. That approach automated information capture and analysis and compared the gathered data to digital models. Leaders determined this method worked best for projects of warehouse sizes or bigger because those enclosed, expansive spaces require the most complicated scans.
Initially, taking them and comparing the results to a BIM model was a manual process that allowed doing about one full scan per week. However, the automated technique grabs at least three scans in the time frame and operates autonomously. Generated reports quickly reveal instances of out-of-specification field installations and recommended resolutions.
The technology collected 100 scans during a trial in 10 hours, helping site managers direct their crews to fix issues faster. Proactively addressing anomalies is an essential part of warehouse contingency planning that reduces the chances of unnoticed problems causing projects to go over budget and finish behind schedule. Besides adhering to its programmed course, the scanner-equipped robot dealt with obstacles by reversing its movement and changing position to capture data, increasing its versatility.
Turning a 133-Year-Old Urban Warehouse Into a Multiuse Complex
Extensive renovations feature many considerations, especially when a goal is to preserve a structure’s historical significance while altering it to meet modern needs. That was the challenge for construction crews assigned to a 133-year-old New York City warehouse named the Terminal Warehouse. Workers relied on BIM and five other building systems during an effort estimated to cost more than $2 billion, which required selecting areas for demolition, planning a six-story addition and reclaiming industrial timber sourced from trees growing 500 years ago.
Teams used BIM modeling, construction surveys and engineering studies to examine the foundation’s condition and necessary steps to prevent facade degradation, stress and other failures. Although the original warehouse was a high-capacity facility, these investigations highlighted how engineers needed to implement more support structures and load modifications in a new section.
The warehouse updates included massive columns and a bracing structure impacting old and new sections. Builders collaborated with architects to situate these supports near load-bearing walls, retaining a desired open-plan layout that supported future usability. Teams also needed to minimize the weight of new floors. They achieved that goal through a special system including a cast-in-place voided concrete slab with integrated plastic hollows.
Although this renovation turned a former warehouse into a structure for retail and office spaces, the case study could urge people who require updated industrial spaces to preserve existing ones rather than building from scratch. That approach improves sustainability while reducing dependence on new materials.
The heritage-filled aspect also increases public interest in the building, especially since many community members oppose demolition. United Kingdom planning officials recently approved demolishing a row of historic buildings to accommodate a new warehouse and housing. However, strategically using BIM tools could preserve structures while meeting new needs.
BIM Improves Warehouse Design Through Information Access
The extensive sizes and carefully planned functionality of today’s warehouses require construction teams to work together to accomplish shared goals. Material from building information modeling tools eliminates confusion by bringing clarity through site-specific data. Ongoing access to that content enables positive outcomes on large, complicated and expensive projects, ensuring client satisfaction and optimizing usability.
