---
title: "3D Building Information Modelling"
description: "The frame modelled with the services routed through it, so conflicts are resolved on screen while they are still cheap."
updated: "2026-09-24"
url: "https://www.petruf.ie/services/building-information-modelling"
---

# 3D Building Information Modelling

> The frame modelled with the services routed through it, so conflicts are resolved on screen while they are still cheap.

A model earns its keep the moment it stops being a picture of the design and starts being the design. Ours carries the elements, the reinforcement, the connections and the services that have to pass through them.

We model projects anywhere in Ireland from our office in Newbridge, Co. Kildare.

## What we do

### 3D BIM Model Coordination

Coordinating and optimising the 3D BIM model across disciplines, to identify clashes, optimise designs and improve project timelines.

### Bill of Quantities

Detailed bills of quantities generated from the 3D model, streamlining cost estimation and material tracking.

### Civil Engineering Models

3D models for civil engineering elements, including roads, drainage and utilities, for precise planning and execution.

### CNC Production Files

Computer Numerical Control files for automated production, improving accuracy and reducing errors in precast element manufacturing.

### Fabrication Shop Drawings

Precise shop drawings for fabrication, ensuring smooth transitions from design to construction.

### Federated Modelling

Models from different disciplines integrated into a unified BIM model, to improve collaboration and reduce conflicts.

### Quantity Take-off Tables and Project Data

BIM tools used to extract detailed quantity take-offs and project data, ensuring accurate tracking and management of materials.

### RC Drawings

Detailed reinforced concrete drawings generated directly from BIM models, ensuring clarity and accuracy for construction teams.

### RC Models, Plans and BB Schedules

Reinforced concrete elements modelled, with plans and schedules for construction and material procurement.

### Structural Engineering Models

Detailed 3D models of structural elements, facilitating accurate design, coordination and analysis.

## The questions that come first

### What is BIM?

Building Information Modelling is a way of designing where the model carries the information, not just the geometry. Every element knows what it is, what it is made of and how it relates to what it touches, so the drawings, schedules and quantities are read out of the model rather than drawn separately and reconciled afterwards.

### Is BIM mandatory in Ireland?

On public works, yes, and the threshold keeps falling. Projects above one hundred million euro have been in scope since January 2024 and projects above twenty million since January 2025, with the mandate widening further to 2027. On private work it is not required, and it is increasingly asked for anyway, because the client benefits are the same either way.

### What is BIM Level 2, and what does it require?

Level 2 is where each discipline models separately and the models are then federated and checked together, to a shared set of standards and naming conventions. What it requires in practice is agreement before modelling starts: who models what, to what level of detail, in what format, and where the files live.

### What is clash detection, and what does it save?

It is an automated check for elements that occupy the same space, run through each other, or leave no room to be installed. Models are exchanged, combined and tested against rules and tolerances, and what comes out is a list of conflicts with a location each. Every one resolved in the model is one not resolved on site with a drill, which is where the saving actually is.

### What is a federated model?

It is the structural, civil and building services models brought together into one coordinated whole, without merging them into a single file. Each discipline keeps ownership of its own model and the federation is what everybody checks against, which is how coordination happens without anyone losing control of their own design.

### What is IFC, and why does it matter?

IFC is the open format models are exchanged in, so a model authored in one package can be read in another. It matters because it is what keeps a project from being locked to one vendor's software, and it is the format clash detection and most client handover requirements are built on.

### What is a common data environment?

It is the single place the project's information lives, with one version of each file and a record of who changed what. Without one, coordination becomes a question of whose copy of the model is the current one, which is a question with no good answer once there are three of them.

### Can quantities and schedules be taken from the model?

That is most of the point of modelling properly. Bills of quantities, take off tables, bar bending schedules and CNC files can all be generated from the model, which means they agree with the drawings because they came from the same source. Where the model is complete enough, procurement and cost estimation get a great deal more reliable.