Isala Hospital and Noorderboog, Meppel

MEP BIM coordination for the new Isala hospital and Noorderboog rehabilitation centre in Meppel, the first all-electric hospital in the Netherlands. Sketcho strengthened the BIM team of ENGIE Service…

MEP BIM coordination for the new Isala hospital and Noorderboog rehabilitation centre in Meppel, the first all-electric hospital in the Netherlands. Sketcho strengthened the BIM team of ENGIE Services Noord, coordinating the installation shafts and resolving clashes directly in the project's central Revit model. The hospital was handed over in December 2021 and opened in March 2022.

The brief

Back in late 2020, the Isala hospital in Meppel was being built by consortium TDE (Trebbe, Dura Vermeer and ENGIE), with ENGIE responsible for the building services. ENGIE Services Noord asked us to join their MEP BIM team while construction was already under way: coordinate every pipe and duct in the installation shafts, resolve the clashes assigned to us in Autodesk BIM360 (currently knwon as ACC), and produce the drawings the site needed.

What made it challenging

A hospital carries far more services than a normal utility building, and most of them have to fit in tight ceiling voids and shafts. There is no spare space, so every centimetre has to be used well. On top of that, several parties were working in the same model at the same time.

How we worked

We worked directly in the central Revit model where we coordinated penetration placeholders, RPCs and room components, and placed light fittings per type in line with the lighting calculations. Weekly Navisworks and BCF clash reports came in through BIMcollab and we worked them down. We also prepared issue inventories for every building part, coordinated induction units and ceiling plans, and drew the shafts in detail with sections, 1:20 plans and 3D views.

What we delivered

Coordinated drawing sets for the shafts, with the assigned clashes resolved in the central model, supporting ENGIE's installation work on site. TDE handed the hospital over to Isala on 15 December 2021 and it opened in March 2022.

What we took from it

Each tool in the chain gave us one specific input: the model from BIM 360 (ACC), the clashes from Navisworks, the issues from BIMcollab. Treating them that way is what let us keep working in parallel with the other parties instead of waiting on them.