Shell buildings with multiple (constantly changing) tenant fitouts - strategy?

[patricks]

We have 3 shell office buildings on a site that my company designed about 10 years ago. The tenants in these buildings seem to be in a constant state of flux. The buildings were originally done in CAD back in 2000-2002, but I'm just now working on getting them into Revit as a number of tenants are changing/moving all at the same time right now, and I'm wondering what strategy should I follow for this work and for future tenant fitouts and revisions in this building.

So one building has 6 spaces. Current setup:

Space 1: Tenant A (not changing)
Spaces 2, 3, 4: Tenant B
Space 5: Tenant C
Space 6: Tenant D

Tenant B is moving out of 4, and taking over 5 and 6. Tenant D is moving out of 6 and over to 4. Tenant C is moving out of 5 and into the adjacent building.

My thought process was to model all the shell buildings and structure in a single Revit file, and store that file for use in all tenant fitouts of these buildings. Then for each tenant fitout, link in the shell buildings, and any other tenant fitout models we may have. That sounds pretty good to me.

The problem is that one fitout is going to require cutting a new door into the existing corridor wall of the shell building. I'd rather not have those corridor walls in any particular tenant fitout Revit file, as those walls are common between all tenants. So, what would you do?

[jsteinhauer]

Sounds to me like you should have everything in one model. Are you using this model for more then just tenant fitout (construction drawings)? Are you calculating rent based off of SQFT? Do you create color diagrams for showing tenant allocation?

Best of luck,
Jeff S.

[Mike Sealander]

I am doing this for a university campus. I have a shell (exterior walls, floors, roof and shafts) file, a structure file (foundation and steel framing) and separate "Interior" files for each floor. The tenant improvements occur in the Interior files, with the other files linked in. If I need to make a shell change during a fit-up (put a new window in, or cut a hole in a floor) I do that in the shell file.

[DaveP]

I'm going to have to go with your original plan, Patrick.
I see two problems with keeping multiple tenant projects in the same model.
1.) Phasing. Tenant infill projects are notorious for - shall we say - "Flexible" schedules? Dates are always changing, and if you need to show the existing conditions, you never know at what stage the space next door will be at. The neighboring changes might be before this project or they might be after and you can't change the order of Revit Phases.
2.) Sheet names. You can't have duplicate Sheet Names in Revit, so you'll have to get clever and come up with some sort or naming scheme that includes a unique project ID in the Sheet name. Ditto for Views.
Keeping each tenant project in a separate file avoids both of those issues, although you still have your corridor door problem. You might be able to get around that one with a Design Option.

[patricks]

Yeah I want to have a single Shell file stored in one place that will be used for this and all other future tenant fit-outs and renovations for this building complex. And then each tenant project gets its own project file and Revit file, with the shell linked in. And yes this will be used for CD's.

I think I can get around the corridor door issue by simply duplicating the wall in the tenant Revit file to host the door, and then hiding the wall from the shell file in my plan views. But then I have to do it in every view. And future projects won't have that door in the shell.

I think I'll just place that door in the shell file. Since modifications to the shell building should be very few and far between, I think I can just do them in the Shell file, and move them to the Existing phase as needed.

[DaveP]

That's why I suggested the Design Option
Create an Option, put the Door in the secondary option, and leave the original Wall as the Primary. Then you won't have to change any views except for the one fit-out with the door.

[patricks]

That's why I suggested the Design Option
Create an Option, put the Door in the secondary option, and leave the original Wall as the Primary. Then you won't have to change any views except for the one fit-out with the door.

Design option in the Shell file? The project I'm working on now is a single tenant renovation project (for all the tenants listed above, but all as one project with one GC). And I want that door to be visible in future tenant projects which is why I think it should go in the Shell file.

So yeah even with the design option I would still have to change all the views where that door shows - all floor plans, all RCP's, for this particular fit-out project.