UC alumnus advances virtual design in construction

Building information modeling (BIM) is becoming a cornerstone of the construction, architecture and engineering field. BIM is a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a facility (National BIM Standard). BIM serves as a knowledge resource for collaborators on a construction project, informing decisions throughout the life cycle of a project, from conception to demolition. This modern approach to construction, along with other virtual design practices, is revolutionizing the construction industry.

University of Cincinnati alumnus Chris Mealy (construction management ’09) has seen this revolution take place first-hand. From a UC student on cooperative education (co-op) rotations to a full-time employee in the Operations Technology Solutions Department at Messer Construction, Mealy has been at the forefront of innovation and change.

Today, BIM is becoming a standard in the field; however, it wasn’t always this way. When Messer started implementing BIM into their construction process more than 12 years ago, it was one of the first companies to commercially employ these methods. “We were definitely innovators and leaders in that front,” says Mealy, who was working as a student on co-op with Messer when it first established its virtual design and construction department in 2008.

Mealy describes BIM as a risk mitigation tool that provides technology and supporting services to all aspects of Messer’s building process, from business development and sales support, to design and construction, to facility maintenance and management. “We really try to equip our teams in the field with the tools, technologies and processes to help make their jobs and lives easier,” he says.

Looking back, Mealy thinks he should have known construction was the field for him all along. “I grew up wearing a hardhat,” he says, noting his long family line in construction. Both of his grandfathers were in the construction industry – one as a house builder in Florida, another a long-time employee of Bovis Lend Lease, now Lendlease, an international property and infrastructure group.

As a construction management student at UC, Mealy spent all six of his co-op rotations with Messer. His first three rotations were out in the field, one with a 13-story Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) research tower construction project, a hospice care facility in Edgewood, Kentucky, and another with a CCHMC’s behavioral science center renovation project.

In 2006, he got his first taste of BIM. At that point, only a handful of projects in the entire country were using this tool. Mealy conducted a three-month research trial to determine the benefits and returns on investment of BIM for Messer. Several months later, he applied that knowledge to a casino construction project in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, one of the first coordinated BIM projects for Messer.

Early senior year, Messer offered Mealy a full-time job in their newly formed Virtual Design and Construction department, and Mealy jumped at the opportunity. “I saw virtual design and BIM as the future of construction, and I wanted to be a part of that,” he says.