CU1905

CAD User 

MAY/JUNE 2019 

VOL 32 NO 03 

ARCHICAD 23 

Curved beam and segmented column 

design, voids and other new features. 

Don't be Deflected 

Minimising deflections in 

concrete slabs with Tekla's 

Structural Designer 

WWW.CADUSER.COM 

A National Digital Twin 

Testing Infrastructure Asset 

Management at 

Cambridge University 

From 2D to BIM 

Vectorworks' 'Build to rent' BIM 

project at Pontoon Dock 

INDUSTRY NEWS • CASE STUDIES • HARDWARE & SOFTWARE FOCUS • PRODUCT REVIEWS • FEATURES

BIM Product of the Year 

ARCHICAD 2322 delivers delivers a quantum design leap tool in 

BIM improvements performance by and speeding also up introduces everyday 

design enhanced and editing design processes workflow and processes. ensures 

uninterrupted These represent workflows significant for performance 

the most 

frequently improvements used tasks. With well brand-new as productivity tools to 

increase enhancements modelling to accuracy, its core enable design fast processes editing 

and as well streamline as to multidisciplinary error-free, interdisciplinary 

collaborative 

design workflows. coordination. 

For further information on ARCHICAD 22 

To see the new ARCHICAD 23 contact 

contact GRAPHISOFT at graphisoft.com or call 

GRAPHISOFT at graphisoft.com or call 

01895 527590. 

University Library Freiburg, Germany, DEGELO ARCHITEKTEN, www.degelo.net, Photo © Barbara Bühler 

Irina Viner-Usmanova Rhythmic Gymnastics Center in the Luzhniki Complex, Moscow, Russia - CPU PRIDE www.prideproject.pro

CONTENTS 

MAY/JUNE 2019 

CONTENTS 

A NATIONAL DIGITAL TWIN 10 

A dynamic digital twin was created at 

Cambridge University's Institute for 

Manufacturing to test the challenges and 

issues associated with developing a digital 

model of infrastructure assets 

FROM 2D TO BIM 16 

A new 'Build to Rent' development at Pontoon 

Dock on the DLR provides a perfect illustration 

of the way processes are involved in a typical 

BIM project using Vectorworks software 

throughout 

ARCHICAD 23 20 

The latest version of Graphisoft's flagship 

architectural design application, ARCHICAD 23, 

introduces some interesting tools in Beam and 

Column design, and Void and Recess creation 

INTELLIGENT COMMUNITIES 26 

IES has launched new cutting-edge technology 

that connects distributed energy networks, 

renewables, master plans, building design, 

operation and retrofit, with the aim of building 

Intelligent, and well-informed, communities 

NEWS................................................INDUSTRY NEWS....................................................................................................6 

• SMART UPDATES FOR 3D REPO • EPIC GAMES ACQUIRES TWINMOTION 

CASE STUDY....................................SURFACING UPGRADE.........................................................................................14 

• TOPPESFIELD EXPLAINS THE BENEFITS THAT IMPLEMENTING RE-FLOW HAS PROVIDED ON AND OFFSITE 

SOFTWARE FOCUS.........................POWERPROJECT XV...........................................................................................18 

• MARK DIXON AT ELECOSOFT TALKS US THROUGH THE LATEST ITERATION OF POWERPROJECT 

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS....................DON’T BE DEFLECTED......................................................................................22 

• CALCULATING SLAB DEFLECTIONS WITH TEKLA STRUCTURAL DESIGNER 

SOFTWARE FOCUS.........................SETTING THE STAGE FOR INNOVATION.........................................................24 

• CREATING A UNIFIED DEFINITION FOR THE EXCHANGE OF DATA FOR THE OPERATION OF INTELLIGENT LUMINARIES 

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS....................GOING MODULAR..............................................................................................28 

• KENNY INGRAM OF IFS MAKES SOME INTERESTING PREDICTION ABOUT FUTURE CONSTRUCTION TRENDS 

SOFTWARE REVIEW........................MYCONSOLE.......................................................................................................30 

• MYCONSOLE CAN HELP YOU MAKE BUSINESS CRITICAL DECISIONS FASTER WHEN IT COMES TO WINNING TENDERS 

TRAINING MAP.................................AUTODESK TRAINING.......................................................................................32 

• YOUR GUIDE TO AUTODESK TRAINING 

MASTERCLASS................................Q & As WITH EASYBUILD..................................................................................34 

• EASYBUILD'S CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE PLATFORM FORMS THE BASIS OF OUR NEW Q & A SERIES 

May/June 2019 3

COMMENT 

Editor: 

David Chadwick 

(cad.user@btc.co.uk) 

News Editor: 

Mark Lyward 

(mark.lyward@btc.co.uk) 

Advertising Sales: 

Josh Boulton 

(josh.boulton@btc.co.uk) 

Production Manager: 

Abby Penn 

(abby.penn@btc.co.uk) 

Design/Layout: 

Ian Collis 

ian.collis@btc.co.uk 

Circulation/Subscriptions: 

Christina Willis 

(christina.willis@btc.co.uk) 

Publisher: 

John Jageurs 

john.jageurs@btc.co.uk 

Published by Barrow & 

Thompkins Connexion Ltd. 

35 Station Square, Petts Wood, 

Kent BR5 1LZ 

Tel: +44 (0) 1689 616 000 

Fax: +44 (0) 1689 82 66 22 

SUBSCRIPTIONS: 

UK £35/year, £60/two years, 

£80/three years; 

Europe: 

£48/year, £85 two years, 

£127/three years; 

R.O.W. £62/year 

£115/two years, £168/three years. 

Single copies can be bought for £8.50 

(includes postage & packaging). 

Published 6 times a year. 

© 2019 Barrow & Thompkins 

Connexion Ltd. 

All rights reserved. 

No part of the magazine may be 

reproduced, without prior consent 

in writing, from the publisher 

For more magazines from BTC, please visit: 

www.btc.co.uk 

Articles published reflect the opinions of 

the authors and are not necessarily those 

of the publisher or his employees. While 

every reasonable effort is made to ensure 

that the contents of editorial and advertising 

are accurate, no responsibility can be 

accepted by the publisher for errors, misrepresentations 

or any resulting effects 

Comment 

Attaining level 42? 

by David Chadwick 

The correlation of concepts in IT is a 

fascinating subject in its own right, 

and the very latest, exemplified by the 

two key players in the industry - Bentley and 

Autodesk - focuses on future trends within 

the industry. Bentley's recent Future of 

Infrastructure Symposium was closely 

followed by Autodesk's release of its white 

paper entitled The Future of Construction. 

In both cases the technologies that are 

dominating the construction industry were 

presented with a view about the way each 

of the industries is changing. 

The principal themes demonstrated the 

use of ContextCapture, virtual and 

augmented realities, artificial intelligence 

and machine learning, and how they are 

becoming integrated within the design, 

construction and operation of buildings and 

infrastructure. The subplot, is of course, the 

development of the Digital Twin concept - 

the integration of all technologies involved 

to create a digital copy of a project that 

mirrors the physical entity - linked bilaterally 

by structural surveys, sensors, engineering 

changes, maintenance schedules and 

anything else that involves the structure 

during its projected lifespan. 

It's all part of Industry 4.0, the fourth 

evolutionary stage of man and science. Its 

essence is the integration of technology 

within any complex process from the above 

to manufacturing, facilities management 

within the food and drinks industry and, I 

would suggest, the basis of a modern 

healthcare system, which could do away 

with the voluminous sheaves of notes that 

accompany anyone of a certain age 

through the NHS. 

At the Bentley Symposium we were 

shocked out of our complacency by the 

brief presentation by Keith Clarke, Chair of 

UK Future Cities Catapult, who pointed out 

that over the next 50 years or so population 

increases, primarily in the Third World, are 

going to consist of huge numbers of people 

aspiring to become 'middle class'. 

Assuming we have cracked the most 

critical issues of feeding and watering such 

vast increases in population, modern 

communication facilities and social media 

present an achievable lifestyle of a similar 

quality to that enjoyed by more advanced 

countries. To satisfy that demand, Keith 

said, would require the construction of 

another half a dozen Europe's on the 

African and other Third World continents. 

42 is, as you probably already know, the 

answer to the huge algorithm - Earth, its 

inhabitants and its many creatures - that 

was set up to solve the meaning of Life, 

The Universe and Everything in Douglas 

Adams' book, the Hitchhiker's Guide to 

the Galaxy. It's a shame he never lived to 

see the introduction of the concept of 

Digital Twins, which in its ultimate form 

creates an environment for a deeper 

understanding of processes and 

consequences in all of the areas in which 

it is being adopted. I am not so sure that 

we have the intelligence though to unravel 

an opaque answer like 42! 

It does however underline that people are 

the most critical element in any sort of 

future planning. The last couple of months 

alone have shown how the demographics 

of the world are changing. In the UK 

political parties and allegiances are being 

torn apart by the contradictions of Brexit, 

and the ease with which social media can 

be used to raise issues, gather adherents 

to causes and stage demonstration is 

sharply illustrated by protest groups like 

Extinction Revolution and other 

environmental protagonists. 

Future plans, therefore, will have to 

consider how the impact of technology, 

finite resources and increased urbanisation 

will affect people's life and work patterns, 

create social upheavals, reduce travel 

opportunities - you can probably add a 

couple of your own here. If we want to plan 

the future, we need to better understand the 

role that we will inevitably play in it. 

4 May/June 2019

THE ULTIMATE 

SOFTWARE FROM 

SKETCH TO BIM 

Vectorworks Architect is the versatile solution 

that will save you time and allow you to sketch, 

draw, and model in a fully integrated BIM workflow. 

TO LEARN MORE, VISIT VECTORWORKS.NET/UK/ARCHITECT 

VILLANOVA ICÔNE | DESIGN BY HAMONIC+MASSON & ASSOCIÉS

News MayJune pg6.qxd 11-Jun-19 9:57 AM Page 1 

INDUSTRY news 

SMART UPDATES FOR NEW 3D REPO UPDATE 

3D Repo has just released 

the latest version of its 

cloud-based digital construction 

platform. Newly added 

features include data validation 

using Smart Groups, 

native Revit file support, 

updates to SafetiBase (Health 

& Safety Issue Tracker), API 

key access, and additional 

rendering options. 

The latest update has a 

strong focus on democratising 

otherwise difficult data 

operations, along with timesaving 

features to increase 

overall productivity for all 

users of the platform. The 

newly added and highly anticipated 

Smart Groups feature 

is one of the most updates to 

the platform in recent times, 

giving users a simple way to 

validate the data and group 

model elements. 

"The great thing about this 

feature is that it opens up the 

data validation process to all 

stakeholders regardless of 

their knowledge of software or 

licensing limitations of other 

software" says founder & CEO 

of 3D Repo, Jozef Dobos. 

3D Repo also now includes 

native Revit support, meaning 

users can now upload Revit 

files directly to the 3D Repo 

platform where they can be 

managed in an online database 

and used in federations 

for design coordination. "This 

is a great addition to the platform 

as it is going to save 

users potentially hours of time 

when federating models with 

each design iteration. Where 

previously users would export 

to IFC file format before 

uploading, now you can simply 

upload files directly from 

Revit" said Dobos. 

3D Repo's SafetiBase feature, 

a collaborative way to 

share and use health and 

Safety information and project 

risk data within the model has 

also had an update. Key 

updates include a full audit 

trail of changes for each risk, 

additional post mitigation risk 

options, ability to add and 

track residual risk and support 

for multiple markups. 

SafetiBase conforms to the 

specification for 'collaborative 

sharing and use of structured 

health and safety information 

using BIM' (Publicly Available 

Specification PAS 1192-6). 

3D Repo now also offers API 

Key to its users. Making the 

authentication process easier 

when integrating custom 

workflows or making API calls 

from other software. The platform 

now comes with additional 

rendering options to 

enhance model presentation 

for better visualisation. 

www.3drepo.com 

VERIFICATION FOR APPROVED DOCUMENT Q 

BSI has launched a new verification 

scheme to help 

non-manufacturer installers of 

windows and doors demonstrate 

compliance with 

Approved Document Q. This 

new scheme provides installers 

with independent verification 

that they fulfil this aspect of The 

Building Regulations by 

assessing their organisation's 

capability to supply and install 

products that meet PAS 24: 

Enhanced security performance 

requirements for doorsets and 

windows in the UK. This is one 

of the routes to compliance referenced 

within Approved Document 

Q for England and Wales 

covering security in dwellings. 

By assessing an organisation's 

capability to provide 

compliant products, this verification 

scheme enables the 

installer to achieve a certificate 

in their company name, verified 

by BSI that can be handed 

to those that require compliance 

evidence. 

www.bsigroup.com 

A BETTER WORKING ENVIRONMENT BY DESIGN 

Oasys GSA 10.0 is the latest and 2D entities, e.g. the intersection 

of columns with slabs. 

release of the powerful 

and popular suite for advanced • Imperfection analysis: GSA 

structural analysis and design. 10.0 enables the engineer to 

GSA provides a comprehensive analyse a model with imperfections 

toolset for model creation, 

without changing the 

analysis, design and results actual model geometry. 

visualisation, and is compatible • Design codes: GSA 10.0 

with leading BIM solutions used adds support for concrete 

by engineers and architects. design to the AASHTO code 

The latest release improves and the updated and ASCE 7- 

the tools for model creation, 16 seismic code. 

enabling engineers to move • Faster slab reinforcement 

away from working directly with calculations: A new option to 

the analysis model towards calculate reinforcement and to 

working with the design model store data in user modules 

of the building. Key new features 

allows for much faster calcula- 

include: 

tion and display of results. 

• Slab and wall members: The • Multiple instances of GSA: 

GSA design layer has for some Opening a new model will 

time provided beam and column 

automatically open a new GSA 

members. The addition of session, so that only views 

new slab and wall members and tables associated with a 

allows a more-complete definition 

single model are displayed in 

of the building structure and a single session. 

for the interaction between 1D www.oasys-software.com 

6 

May/June 2019

MODEL 

CHECKING 

FOR 

QUALITY. 

Use Solibri Model Checker to guarantee the quality 

on your construction projects. As the industry moves 

on from clash detection and geometry checks our 

solution offers: 

• Second Generation Clash Detection 

• Model version comparison and reporting 

• COBie validation and export 

• Instant and visual BIM data mining 

• Customisable and user defined rulesets 

• Supports collaborative workflows 

• And much more... 

TRIAL 

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TRIAL AT SOLIBRI.COM 

AND START SAVING TIME & MONEY RIGHT AWAY.

INDUSTRY news 

VECTORWORKS CERTIFIED FOR IFC4 EXPORT 

Vectorworks, Inc. has 

become the first architectural 

software developer to achieve 

IFC4 Reference View 1.2 Export 

Certification (Architectural Reference 

Exchange). The certification 

comes from buildingSMART 

International, the worldwide 

authority driving the transformation 

of the built asset economy 

through creation and adoption 

of open, international standards. 

The new IFC4 certification 

means Vectorworks officially 

meets the export criteria for the 

International Organisation for 

Standards ISO-16739. This 

standard gives users a publicly-defined 

and accepted 

EPIC GAMES ACQUIRES TWINMOTION 

standard to serve as the basis 

for contracts. 

"The IFC file format gives 

focus to the standardised 

exchange of data when sharing 

information among different 

software systems used in the 

building industry, said Rubina 

Siddiqui, director of product 

marketing at Vectorworks. "In 

the past, IFC was more 

focused on the technical side 

of data, making it difficult to 

navigate for architects and 

designers. The alignment with 

familiar and accepted standards 

of ISO makes IFC more 

relatable for architects." 

www.vectorworks.net 

Abvent Group has sold Twinmotion, 

a leading 3D 

immersion software for architects 

and designers, to Epic 

Games, the creator of the hit 

video game Fortnite and 

Emmy-award winning Unreal 

Engine software. 

With the rapid evolution of 

real-time visualisation, Abvent 

developed Twinmotion to 

become one of the world's 

leading architectural and urban 

planning software solutions, 

offering groundbreaking exploration 

and 3D immersion technologies 

for BIM models. Epic's 

global reach will give Twinmotion 

the universal exposure that 

it needs to grow further. 

"Abvent has been a leader in 

embracing real-time technology 

to help AEC professionals 

easily deliver stunningly 

detailed, lifelike representations 

of their designs using Twinmotion," 

said Marc Petit, General 

Manager, Unreal Engine, Epic 

Games. "We're thrilled to continue 

building this stellar and 

intuitive product to make highend 

visualisation even more 

accessible to the global architecture 

community." 

www.unrealengine.com/ 

twinmotion 

ISG LASER SCANNING BOOSTS BIM DELIVERY 

Global construction services 

company ISG is 

using the latest 3D modelling 

technology to boost its BIM 

capabilities. By introducing 

Pointfuse laser scanning software, 

ISG has speeded workflows 

with rapid scan-to-BIM 

modelling whilst maintaining 

high levels of accuracy. 

Traditionally this laser data 

processing could take up to 

three days to 3D model a single 

floor, however, using Pointfuse 

ISG has reduced this to a 

matter of hours. The use of 

Pointfuse has also increased 

the range of the point cloud 

outputs with applications 

including clash detection and 

visualisation. 

"Scan-to-BIM modelling was 

previously seen as undesirable 

by the construction industry 

due to the time taken to complete 

and the risk associated in 

doing so," commented Ben 

Callan, BIM Coordinator in 

ISG's UK Fit Out business. 

"However, using Pointfuse we 

have further improved our ability 

to push out point cloud 

data; accelerating analysis and 

modelling output and defining 

this output with improved tolerances 

and levels of detail. This 

ultimately enhances our BIM 

offering as a business." 

ISG had already recognised 

the benefits of capturing accurate 

site or as-built conditions 

using a Faro M70 laser scanner 

to capture and analyse 

point cloud data to support 

BIM delivery and 2D design. In 

order to understand the potential 

of Pointfuse, ISG benchmarked 

the software against 

traditional means of modelling 

to determine which method 

was best for the business. 

Using Pointfuse ISG accelerated 

its 3D model output, 

reducing the time taken to 

produce a model from 

between 2-3 days to just four 

hours per floor. Offering selectable 

geometry Pointfuse has 

also removed ISG's reliance 

on the complete point cloud 

for modelling, allowing users 

to work with only the data they 

require for a specific application, 

realising additional time 

savings and efficiency gains. 

"Using Pointfuse we can create 

intelligent 3D mesh models 

in a fraction of the time," 

continued Callan. "This accelerated 

modelling and reduced 

risk of error contributes to a 

direct reduction in costs when 

compared against traditional 

methods of modelling and 

point cloud data analysis." 

http://pointfuse.com 

8 

MayJune 2019

CASE study 

A National Digital Twin 

A dynamic digital twin was created at Cambridge University's Institute for Manufacturing to test 

the challenges and issues associated with developing a digital model of infrastructure assets 

IfM building, Cambridge University 

Bentley Systems recently hosted a 

small conference at their Digital 

Advancement Academy in London 

with the grand title 'Future Infrastructure 

Symposium.' It consisted of two contentfilled 

days looking at the latest 

technological advances in construction, 

and hearing predictions from those 

involved in planning for the future. The 

digitisation of infrastructure assets 

obviously played a significant role 

throughout the course of the symposium, 

covering a wide area of subjects with talks 

given by senior members of the teams 

delivering projects like HS2. 

One of the most interesting 

presentations covered the development 

of a national digital twin to fulfil the 

requirements of a report produced by the 

UK National Infrastructure Commission, 

entitled 'Data for the Public Good', with 

the aim of providing 'high-quality, 

standardised data on all our infrastructure 

assets, along with the ability to share this 

securely, and to enable the UK's 

infrastructure to be viewed as an 

interdependent dynamic system.' 

As you will most definitely be aware by 

now, as the term is increasingly being 

adopted within a number of hi-tech 

industries, a digital twin is a computer 

model that mirrors and simulates an asset 

or a system of assets and their 

surrounding environment - providing and 

sharing information about its current 

design, state, condition and its history. 

Digital twins in whatever field can be used 

to gather and organise data about an 

asset and its environment and use it to 

optimise its performance. 

The presentation was given by Ajith 

Parlikad, a Ph.D. research fellow at 

Cambridge University, the location for the 

digital twin pilot demonstrator project, 

assisted by Bruce Hutchinson, a senior 

consultant at Bentley Systems. Funded by 

the Centre for Digital Built Britain, the 

project is to develop a dynamic digital 

twin of the IfM (Institute for Manufacturing) 

and its West Cambridge campus. The aim 

is to demonstrate the impact of operating 

a digital twin on facilities management 

and the wider productivity of a project. 

Actually, the name national digital twin is 

a bit of a deception. No one is aiming to 

create a single digital twin, but a 

federation of many twins representing 

assets and systems at all levels brought 

together to generate the greater picture. 

It is hoped the project will demonstrate 

the impact of creating a digital modelling 

of the site, and the subsequent analysis of 

infrastructure on organisational 

productivity. It will also provide a means of 

integrating city-scale data to optimise 

services such as power, waste, and 

transport, and evaluating the impact on 

wider social and economic outcomes. 

Principally, though, by establishing a 

'research capability platform' to address 

the challenges of implementing digital 

technologies in depth, the project will 

foster a research community interested in 

developing new ideas and applications 

for ageing infrastructure systems. 

HOW IS IT GOING? 

The IfM is working in partnership with a 

number of companies operating in this 

area, the main one of course being 

Bentley Systems, assisted by Redbite, 

Topcon and GeoSLAM, with the 

development structured along three 

interconnected work packages. 

WP1 focuses on data development. This 

is centered around a 3D geometry model 

of the West Cambridge site, comprising a 

BIM model of the IfM building with 

medium detail and a model of specific 

10 

May/June 2019

CASE study 

The dashboard first view gives a user more comprehensive access 

to all the available data. Users can create custom KPIs and 

dashboards to give maximum value and assist with decision support 

Within the IfM, the Plant room model was created using laser scans 

and photogrammetry. Classified objects are integrated within the 

AssetWise common data environment 

areas created using Bentley's 

ContectCapture that need higher levels of 

detail Bentley Systems provided the 

expertise for the BIM model, whilst the 

ContextCapture detailing scans were 

captured by GeoSLAM. Topcon with their 

drones and vehicle-based scanning 

systems provided low-level detail geometry 

and photogrammetry of the site. 

Redbite is responsible for amassing the 

asset information, tagging the most critical 

components and recording everything 

within a comprehensive asset register - 

supported by the deployment and testing 

of IoT sensors and devices to monitor and 

control the condition and operation of 

critical assets and the environment within 

the IfM. The trial site is not huge - with 

around 50 sensors installed and 

approximately 200 sensors tagged - but 

sufficient to learn what assets are in situ 

and the challenges and issues involved in 

collecting, interpreting and using their data. 

DATA INTEGRATION 

The second stage involves integrating all of 

that data from the numerous data sources 

and developing applications that analyse it 

and link it to the 3D BIM model. Bentley's 

AssetWise operational analytics platform 

was used to store, analyse and display all 

the data as a single reference dataset that 

can be accessed and linked live to multiple 

external systems. A building management 

system was put in place, and the WP 

explored the integration of the BMS with 

Bentley's AssetWise. 

That sounds straightforward enough, but 

the aim of the digital twin project is to be 

able to access information from any 

source, location, device or individual 

manufacturer with their own standards and 

ways of measuring data and to understand 

it, use it and integrate it within the asset in 

a vendor-neutral format. Incidentally this 

overrides some of the shortfalls in IFC - 

becoming, in short, an interoperable, 

common data environment (CDE). 

WP3, the final stage of the programme, 

aims at fulfilling the role of the digital twin 

by using the information in it to develop 

utilisation and maintenance plans for 

equipment within the IfM site - the HVAC 

systems, laboratory and other workshop 

equipment - to find ways of reducing 

energy consumption across the site and to 

create a series of augmented reality videos 

to assist with the maintenance and 

inspection of that equipment. 

All of the sensors feed into the cloudbased 

BIM model, providing snapshots of 

their readings in real-time, signalling their 

status using traditional 'traffic light' 

warnings, to provide anomaly detection, 

signal problems and help develop 

maintenance prioritisation tools. This 

reduces their cost whilst increasing their 

effectiveness. 

As Bruce Hutchinson put it, "The 

manufacturing industries most suited to 

the use of digital twinning could be within 

the oil and gas industry and the 

construction industry. Oil and gas 

companies come with high-value assets 

offshore or onshore. If they fail, they have 

catastrophic environmental and/or 

political implications. 

"With assets often in remote or 

dangerous locations they rely on remote 

devices to broadcast their operational 

data which, however, in offshore oil 

installations could include various data 

sources such as OSI pi, SCADA, OPC 

which do not usually communicate with 

each other. Creating a 3D representation 

of the installation and overlaying the 

operational data onto a model of the asset 

will assist multiple departments within the 

company such as chemistry, drilling, 

subsea through to design. 

"When overlaying the timeseries data," he 

added, "the model staff have the 

information they need to make critical 

decisions. The chemists would know the 

chemical flow through any given section of 

pipeline at any point in time and, using the 

same model, the design team would have 

the information they need to know that if 

they changed the piping design, would 

that affect the chemical flow?" 

JUSTIFYING THE DIGITAL TWIN 

So, here we have the principal justification 

for the creation of digital twins. It is to 

create complete digital copies of a 

building, manufacturing process, or chunk 

of infrastructure - and to use them to 

explore new ideas and processes to 

optimise their functions or to improve their 

performance. A digital twin is an ideal 

vehicle for iterative non-destructive or noninvasive 

research into all aspects of an 

entity's functions and processes. 

www.bentley.com 

May/June 2019 11

CASEstudy 

Surfacing upgrade 

Toppesfield explain the benefits that implementing Re-flow has provided on and offsite for their 

surfacing projects 

Surfacing roads is as complex an 

operation as any other civil 

engineering process. Whether it 

involves laying down Asphalt on a new 

stretch of road, airport runway or 

supermarket car park, or merely 

replacing a stretch of worn out road in 

the countryside, it involves risk, the use 

of heavy machinery, and hard work. 

It's also subject to pressures from 

schedules and deadlines, foul weather, 

local traffic issues, timing material 

deliveries and the process itself. Small 

wonder then that any technological 

advances that can mitigate against 

these issues are evaluated and, if 

proven worthy, taken on board. 

A case in point is Toppesfield, the 

UK's largest independent surfacing 

contractor, which has adopted Reflow's 

Site Management solution, a 

cloud-based application that informs 

field operators, from managers to 

labourers, what they should be doing 

via their mobile devices, where and 

with what, ensuring that everybody has 

carried out their instructions after each 

particular task is finished. 

Re-flow carried out their own survey 

of Toppesfield's operation, as they felt 

it would provide valuable insights for 

other companies wishing to embark on 

the same path. 

BETTER THAN CURRENT 

PRACTICES 

Having confirmed that Toppesfield 

works across all sectors of the 

construction industry, Sam Hennessy, 

Business Improvement Manager at 

Toppesfield, outlined the challenges 

faced by the company. "We lacked 

both consistency and availability of 

information being delivered to the 

office and wanted to make our 

reporting easier and more consistent. 

We were also looking for a solution 

that would be easy for our operatives 

to use, provide constant information 

and better than current practices." 

He said that Re-flow were considered 

because they already worked in the 

same sector, and they stood out when 

compared to others principally 

because of the simplicity of the user 

interface and its design. "The most 

appealing features of Re-flow," Sam 

added, "is the ability to record data 

when you haven't got a data 

connection. We work on remote sites 

12 

May/June 2019

The First Performance 3D Printer. 

Bridging the gap between industrial and desktop 3D printing. 

Industrial Reliability + Precision 

• Match design dimensions 

• Dimensional accuracy of ±0.2mm* 

Fastest CAD to Part 

• Up to 2x faster than desktop 3D printers** 

• Seamless printing workflow 

Maximum Innovation + Minimal 

Investment 

• About ⅓ the first-year cost of ownership 

of an entry-level industrial 3D printer 

• Accelerate your design process and 

reduce risk 

To find out how to get better, faster innovation in your 

design workflow contact us on 0115 9380 380 

or email marketing@artsystems.co.uk 

*± 0.2 mm or ± 0.002 mm per mm of travel (whichever is greater). Based on internal testing of selected geometries. 

**Compared to popular desktop 3D printers when using the same layer height and infill density settings. 

Speed advantage dependent upon object geometry.

CASEstudy 

where we don't have a connection so 

the forms can be saved and submitted 

when we're back online." 

Most importantly, Sam explained how 

the system was trialled and then 

adopted by the company, using 

feedback to fine-tune its operation. "The 

key is that we could modify the forms for 

users in the background without them 

knowing that the changes are taking 

place, posing questions in a different 

format to elicit the required answer. 

"After identifying Re-flow as a solution, 

we created a select number of forms 

which we rolled out to 6/7 users on site, 

just last November. We beta tested 

those guys who really enjoyed using it 

and the information we were getting 

back was good, so we tweaked those 

forms further, and then in the new year 

we rolled it out to the whole team - over 

100 devices. We've been using them 

ever since, so it was pretty much from 

nothing to full blown Re-flow." 

Sam added that since implementing 

Re-flow, the form compliance has been 

amazing: "They come back when we 

need them with the information we 

want on them, on time. It's great! I 

expect Re-flow to save us money 

through the information that we get 

back. Our defect reporting has 

increased by 90%, and we have more 

specific questions set for the defects, 

to identify small faults before they 

become big expensive faults. 

"The two things that have impressed 

me most about Re-flow, though, are 

the support that they've given us, 

especially helping to integrate data 

into our existing database and that 

they've given us a system that 

provides complex information in a 

really simple way. 

"In the future we hope that Re-flow 

replaces all of our site-based paper 

forms. However, we now realise that 

we have underestimated the 

capabilities of Re-flow and that it offers 

solutions to issues we hadn't 

previously identified. We've been really 

impressed with Re-flow and have 

already recommended it to a couple of 

our clients." 

HEALTH AND SAFETY 

John Turner is Toppesfield's 

Compliance Manager. He explained, 

from his point of view, that the main 

problems were the amount of 

paperwork which had to be completed 

by the site crews - daily briefings, risk 

assessments and method statements. 

"We wanted something more user 

friendly and which kept all our 

paperwork in one place, without site 

teams having to carry reams and 

reams of paper about.” 

"After implementation there was 

some apprehension, especially from 

some of the older folks, like myself - 

not always the best with new IT 

equipment - but since we've had them 

in use and trialed them, feedback from 

even the most sceptical people has 

been very positive. Safety tours are 

now carried out on a much more 

regular basis, and instead of 

registering them as last thing of the 

month, we can complete site visits and 

send them off straight away. Done on 

the spot, it’s now done regularly, at a 

steadier pace and without rushing - a 

big improvement." 

FINANCIAL BENEFITS 

Mark Salmon is the finance director at 

Toppesfield. He explained that 

Toppesfield covers the whole country, 

on highways, in retail, aviation and 

ports - quite some breadth to deal 

with. For this reason the flow of 

information from sites was also a 

critical factor, along with its 

consistency. 

To improve this, it was decided to 

provide technology on site, rather than 

having to rely on phone calls or emails 

to ensure the same kind of information 

is reaching the office every day 

detailing what they had done. 

Last year, he explained, Toppesfield 

had implemented a new ERP system. 

"The next step was to tie that in with 

site information coming back - but we 

soon realised we needed to partner 

with an app software company. The 

one we chose, Re-flow, has had a big 

impact across the whole business. We 

ask staff to report near-hits, learn from 

potential risks and mitigate them at the 

earliest possible opportunity. 

"Since implementing Re-flow, our 

compliance on reporting defects on 

plant and machinery is at its highest 

ever levels, and importantly, we now 

have clarity around issues submitted, 

and which can be tackled straight 

away. Overall it has been an 

overwhelming success, and we're 

already looking at what other areas of 

the business we can actually use this 

technology for, such as sickness 

reporting or scheduling." 

THE VIEW ON SITE 

Wayne Rust is the Foreman of an 

Asphalt gang. He has found Re-flow 

really easy to use, with its accessibility 

to everyone. "It speeds things up in 

the morning and everyone's on par 

immediately with what's going on, and 

being able to correspond with the 

office efficiently to get problems 

sorted. Before Re-flow, it seemed to 

be just one man doing everything. 

Now Re-flow enables everybody to do 

their own jobs more effectively. 

"We're on top of defects as well, and 

if problems do occur there's a 'paper' 

trail we can download with proof that 

we followed the right reporting 

processes. I think it keeps everyone 

on their toes." 

Charles Twyman, trainee supervisor, 

found Re-flow easy to use as well. "It's 

easy to manage. I've been doing it for 

about 3-4 weeks now and it's been 

quite easy to learn, as it has 

everything in one place. With the older 

system, before we started using Reflow, 

there was more paperwork. Now 

it's sent straight away, pictures 

included, and it takes me half the time 

to send everything off." 

www.re-flow.co.uk 

14 

May/June 2019

CASEstudy 

From 2D to BIM 

A new 'Build to Rent' development at Pontoon Dock on the DLR provides a perfect illustration of 

the way processes are involved in a typical BIM project using Vectorworks software throughout 

For Assael Architecture, what started 

as a humble beginning with two staff 

members grew into an awardwinning 

practice comprising several teams, 

directors, associate directors, and 

managers. With over 20 years of expertise 

in the design of mixed-use, residential-led 

developments in large, urban areas, the 

practice primarily works in major cities 

throughout the UK and is expanding its 

international presence with projects in 

Russia, Bahrain, and Germany. 

Assael's multi-faceted teams range in size 

and scope, and they work on several 

projects at the same time - many of them at 

different stages of the design process. 

"We've become a very versatile practice," 

said Simon Pitt, one of the directors at 

Assael. This reputation has led to a variety 

of interesting partnerships and projects, for 

which the team relies on Vectorworks. One 

of these projects - Pontoon Dock - proved 

the perfect opportunity for the company to 

put its Building Information Modeling (BIM) 

planning and coordination into practice. 

Pontoon Dock started as land owned by 

the Greater London Authority, which 

through a bidding process selected Linkcity 

(a UK-based Bouygues Construction 

company) and Grainger plc to develop a 

scheme that could help relieve pressure on 

London's housing market. The proposal is 

a landmark "Build to Rent" development 

comprising three buildings with heights 

ranging between 5 and 14 storeys, with 154 

private rented apartments and 82 

affordable homes, in response to the city's 

housing shortage. 

Assael's major design challenge was 

balancing the build density on the 

constrained site, which sits between a 

viaduct outside Pontoon Dock DLR 

Station and the Thames Barrier Park. "It 

was quite a challenge balancing the right 

amount of density, being so close to the 

viaduct but also sympathetic to the park, 

which sits next to the river Thames," said 

Pitt. He added that thoroughly going 

through each perspective of the project 

in every part of the design process was 

vital to get that balance right. This was 

made simpler through the use of BIM and 

the design-oriented BIM capabilities 

offered by Vectorworks. 

The Assael team set out a project 

execution plan scaled to match the size of 

each project. "We work with the clients to 

make sure they understand the standards 

of the program we are working to," 

explained Pitt. "We allocate resources on a 

weekly and monthly basis to make sure 

that the key project tasks of the program 

are being met, while saving time and 

unnecessary expenses." 

With this in mind, the practice structured 

its project workflow to follow a workable 

and proven routine: 

Assael issued the architectural model 

near the end of the week (Friday). 

The MEP and structural engineers had 

a few days to download the 

architectural model and update any 

changes to their own models, 

uploading their own IFC files the 

following week (Tuesday). 

Assael downloaded these models, 

combined the discipline models 

together, and performed clash 

detection with Solibri Model Checker. 

The resulting federated model was 

issued with PDF reports within 24 hours 

(Wednesday). 

The federated combined digital model 

is reviewed at the fortnightly DTM 

(design team meeting). All design 

coordination prior to the DTM would be 

done via a web-based communication 

tool called BIMcollab. 

This process was repeated in two-week 

cycles until the model was finalised. This 

systematising of information and model 

exchange worked well, and the Pontoon 

Dock project was the first of Assael's to 

reach BIM Level 2 collaboration. 

"We worked very well with the other two 

main consultants in Level 2: the 

mechanical engineers and the structural 

engineers," said Ben Lam, BIM manager 

and associate at Assael. "Although it was 

difficult at first, it was refined as time went 

on. We were all learning this process; the 

other consultants have been using Revit 

and we've been using Vectorworks. The 

level of exchanging Industry Foundation 

16 

May/June 2019

CASEstudy 

Assael BIM coordination drawing 

Assael site drawing with flow diagram 

Classes (IFC) data has been a challenge 

at times, but we managed to fine-tune this 

process as the project developed to be as 

efficient as possible." 

Assael was committed to constant 

communication, coordination, and 

negotiation to ensure all parties were 

presented with a consistent view of the 

project status. "We all had to sit around the 

table and look at the execution plan, the 

timeline, the model, the model exchanges, 

and the time for federating the model," said 

Lam. He added that these meetings were 

crucial, especially since some collaborators 

were still working primarily in 2D. 

"We definitely spent a lot of time getting 

the model right and not just concentrating 

on 2D information, even though the 

contractors and consultants rely heavily on 

2D data," said Lam. Focusing on 3D 

modeling was important for the Assael 

team to reach their goals and allowed the 

firm to share not only the model, but also 

2D information more easily. 

"Getting the model right and spending 

more time at the beginning has really 

reaped rewards," said Pitt. "And using 

Vectorworks allows us to generate the 

2D information a lot quicker than we 

could before, especially when we 

consider the repeated updating and 

refining of the design." 

To meet the BIM Level 2 mandate, Assael 

had its own workflow adjustments to 

absorb. According to Lam, Vectorworks 

played a big role in this transition. "It was 

quite a natural progression from using 

Vectorworks to get into BIM because we 

have always used Vectorworks' intelligent 

objects like walls, windows, and doors, but 

we had never taken advantage of the fact 

that they were creating 3D BIM objects 

already," he said. "I think our users have 

come to realise they're creating BIM 

models without having to dramatically 

change the way they work. They're starting 

to see the benefit of actually generating a 

proper model from which they are 

generating 2D information and how 

effective that can really be." 

The software also simplified the number of 

steps taken to reach major milestones in 

projects. In particular, Renderworks is one 

of many features that's proved to be a 

game changer. "It's a complete necessity 

here because we use rendering a lot for our 

elevations," said Lam. "Without 

Renderworks, we just would not get the 

correct look and feel to our elevations and 

the associated information. With many of 

our material renders for example, the light 

resources and the shadowing are very 

important for elevations. So, no matter what 

changes we do for the model, the 

renderings for the elevations come up just 

the way we like them to." 

Moving completely to BIM has also 

transformed the firm's design process 

overall. "In four to five years, projects that 

go from initial capacity study through to 

planning are now done as BIM models," 

said Lam. "Everyone uses the 3D aspect 

much more than they used to; they have 

become more proficient in using 3D as part 

of the BIM process." 

He emphasised the importance of 

working completely in 3D. "In the UK, a 

massive part of the design process for any 

project is gaining planning permission," Pitt 

explained. "A vital part of our work is 

ensuring that we get the information right to 

present to planning committees, planning 

authorities, and the general public. When 

we moved towards BIM Level 2 using 

Vectorworks, we also needed to make sure 

the quality of our work didn't drop or was 

compromised in any way. The fact that our 

existing workflow could be adapted quickly 

really helped in the transition." 

For Assael Architecture, the switch to BIM 

Level 2 compliance has been very effective, 

and the results of the Pontoon Dock 

project, along with many others, has set the 

firm up to continue on the path to a 

productive and promising future. "We've 

developed our skills in 3D to develop BIM, 

and everyone is more proficient now in the 

way they use Vectorworks," said Lam. "So, 

it's been a natural progression between 

what we were using primarily as a 2D tool, 

for sections and elevations and plans, to 

develop that to 3D information that was 

already there but not being utilised." 

By fully utilising 3D, creating a BIM 

execution plan, and learning how to 

successfully conduct an openBIM 

workflow process with engineers, 

Assael will continue building future 

homes - and building its practice - for 

many years to come. 

www.vectorworks.co.uk 

May/June 2019 17

SOFTWAREreview 

Powerproject XV 

Mark Dixon, Head of Development for Powerproject at Elecosoft, explains the challenges facing project 

managers and talks through the latest iteration of Elecosoft's leading project management software - 

Powerproject XV 

Laptop mock-up 

Progress appearance 

Elecosoft's Powerproject has been 

voted the Construction Computing's 

best project management/planning 

software for five successive years and has 

been chosen by over 90 per cent of the top 

100 UK construction contractors. It is widely 

used around the world by all sizes of 

business from start-ups to multinationals. 

The software is designed for simple or 

complex tasks from house renovations to 

Europe's tallest buildings. For over 30 years, 

it has been used for iconic projects such as 

The Shard in London, the Victoria and Albert 

Museum in London, Hong Kong 

International Airport, The Reichstag Dome in 

Berlin, Warsaw Metro in Poland and the 

Jumeirah Park in Dubai. 

Planning efficiently for a construction 

project is becoming an increasingly difficult 

but essential component for project 

managers. Having a robust project 

schedule ensures smoother communication 

across various team members, managers 

and senior executive involved in a project. 

However, for a seamless flow of information, 

it is imperative that you have confidence in 

the project schedules. 

As projects become ever more complex, 

clients require a trustworthy and reliable 

planning and management tool. With a 

completely refreshed user interface, 

Powerproject XV is designed for the 

sophisticated project planner, enabling 

them to visualise plans in 4D with realistic 

real-time project simulations. Powerproject 

XV users can also achieve greater flexibility 

and clarity in progress reporting with a new 

mobile app, Site Progress Mobile. Here are 

some of the highlights: 

Schedule Quality Check (SQC): A project 

plan can now be assessed using new 

automated tests which identify whether it 

has been well planned and complies with 

industry or corporate standards. You can 

build your own thresholds into the 

evaluations or follow the included, 

recognised, industry metrics that are in line 

with the DCMA and CIOB guidelines. 

When the SQC is executed, an overall 

score is available and a detailed report is 

produced, which gives a value to rank the 

robustness of your plan as a Red, Amber, 

Green and numeric scoring. 

The SQC contains a set of industry 

standard quality metrics that you can 

combine to monitor the quality of a 

schedule. For example, you could include a 

"Link Logic Metric" which checks that tasks 

have at least one incoming and one 

outgoing link. You could specify that the test 

counts as a pass if 95% or more tasks are 

linked and that a fail might equal 85% or 

less, with a value between these thresholds 

generating a warning. 

Talking about the new functionality, Scott 

Worthington, National Planner at Wilmot 

Dixon says, "The thoroughness, quality and 

ultimately the robustness of our project 

schedules are things we value highly. Having 

a Schedule Quality Check built into 

Powerproject will certainly help those who 

plan our projects to verify that the right 

planning practices have been adopted when 

presenting our intended project strategies. 

Improved confidence in our planning 

schedules will help towards providing 

greater time certainty to our customers." 

BIM - Build Direction Enhancement: With 

this enhancement to Powerproject's 4D 

functionality, a 3D element can now be 

animated during a time-simulation to give a 

more realistic presentation. For instance, 

brickwork can be simulated to appear from 

the ground up, or piles can be shown 

moving downwards. 

Baselines: In this version, any new 

baselines for local projects are embedded 

automatically alongside the live project data 

which means that you can email someone a 

single file with all the baselines. In addition, 

when importing a baseline project, you can 

now specify how to map tasks in the 

imported file against the ones in the active 

project. Chris Aston, a Senior Planner at 

Bouygues, says, "A new baseline to be 

saved within the actual file is a considerable 

leap forward to save the baselines within the 

current file and not have them separately." 

Progress Appearance: With more display 

options on the Bar Chart, you can now 

report progress with even more clarity. 

18 

May/June 2019


New calendar view 

Site progress on mobile phones 

The software now has display progress 

lines and shading on the Data Zone which 

will help to make the report date of each 

progress more obvious, particularly when 

progress lines are displayed as jagged lines 

rather than straight lines. 

Talking about the improved reporting 

features, Chris Aston, Senior Planner at 

Bouygues says, "The ability to use multiple 

code libraries and milestone shapes will be 

extremely useful. Using these features with 

the printing and progress appearance 

improvements will allow greater flexibility 

and clarity in progress reporting". 

Booking data in and out: Booking data in 

and out of projects can be a challenge for 

remote editing. We have simplified the 

whole process. For example: 

You can now book out data by selecting 

one or more charts or summary groups, 

rather than by 'tagging' individual tasks. 

Once a summary group(s) has been 

booked out, it is now always editable in 

the destination project and always readonly 

in the master project. 

Additionally, a new feature makes it easier 

to share part of a plan with a colleague or a 

supplier, allowing them to make changes to 

the section that you choose. The supplied 

changes can then be easily integrated to 

the master plan. 

Link Chasing: The link properties dialog is 

now redesigned to help users understand 

the logic arrangement of a plan to visually 

highlight and trace dependences 

augmenting the existing View Based Path - 

to/from and Predecessor/Successor mode. 

Scott Worthington of Wilmot Dixon adds, 

"Greater control and associated visuals to 

forwards and backwards check links will 

certainly help our people to better 

understand the logical relationships 

contained within our schedules." 

Calendar view: An improved calendar view to 

see the tasks (and/or resources) is now 

available on the calendar grid enabling better 

communication with all participants in a day, 

or a month period for a specific project. 

SITE PROGRESS MOBILE 

Site managers face the challenge of 

carrying bulky ipads or going back and forth 

to the office to report live progress of any 

ongoing project. This is where the Site 

Progress Mobile comes in. A mobile 

counterpart of the Powerproject XV 

addresses the ground-level issues faced by 

workers. The intuitive Site Progress Mobile 

system allows teams to report and submit 

progress against Powerproject plans 

remotely, by using mobile devices. Mobile 

devices are easy to carry and are a piece of 

technology that even a non-tech person 

finds easy to use. 

This second generation of the mobile 

system focuses on improving user 

experience and accommodating new 

features, to streamline the progress 

reporting operation. For instance: 

To remove the subjectiveness of 

progressing by percentage, it is now 

possible to instead report progress by a 

Quantity in the mobile application. Tasks 

in Powerproject should have a Task- 

Work value assigned to be progressed 

in this way. 

To improve communication from site to 

planner, the photos attached to tasks 

can now also be annotated with shapes 

and text, as well as having photo 

specific notes added. 

New tasks can be added remotely (if 

allowed) by the Site Progress Mobile 

user where new activities are necessary. 

These can be named, have a start date 

and duration set. They are added into 

the Summary where they are created 

and have a constraint date set. 

Elecosoft customers have warmly 

welcomed the product release and see 

benefits including: 

Better controls over the appearances of 

project plans. 

Improved confidence in planning 

schedules. 

Greater flexibility and clarity in progress 

reporting. 

Powerproject was designed to support the 

way construction planners work and has 

evolved over many years with input from our 

users to meet the requirements of the 

industry. Easy-to-use, yet extremely 

powerful, it is the software of choice for 

thousands of construction professionals 

around the world. Now with Powerproject 

XV users can have total confidence in the 

robustness of their schedules with the 

Schedule Quality Check functionality, while 

allowing them to communicate effectively 

across teams with better control over the 

presentation of their plans. 

The software appeals to those operating 

across the whole spectrum of the 

construction sector including pre-build, 

modular, fit-out, commercial and residential 

builds and infrastructure. 

Visit www.elecosoft.com/xv for more 

information on Powerproject XV and 

www.elecosoft.com/site-progress-newfeatures 

for Site Progress Mobile. 

May/June 2019 19

SOFTWARE focus 

ARCHICAD 23 

The latest version of Graphisoft's flagship architectural design application ARCHICAD 23 

introduces some interesting tools in Beam and Column design, and Void and Recess creation 

How can I improve on the words of 

Peter Temesvari, Graphisoft's 

Director of Product Management 

when he describes the driving force behind 

the latest vern of the company's flagship 

BIM software solution ARCHICAD 23? 

"Everyday tasks such as firing up your 

software and switching between projects or 

views in a specific project may end up 

being the very roadblocks to achieving the 

flow, which is the ideal state for architectural 

design. We removed these roadblocks, 

putting the architect more firmly in the 

driver's seat, with the software responding 

to the way architects think and work. 

ARCHICAD 23's increased responsiveness 

is truly remarkable!" 

The design tools available to architects 

today are capable of creating pretty much 

any conceivable form, shape or effect in a 

building. The emphasis now is on providing 

an environment that makes it easier to use 

those tools, improving the performance on 

software startup, file opening, working in 

multi-project environments and switching 

between different views of a BIM project. 

Enhancing and simplifying the way people 

work gives them more freedom to 

concentrate on their designs. 

One design tool was open for 

improvement, though, the tool that 

facilitates the creation of openings in a wall 

or façade of a structure. That has been 

addressed in the new version of the 

software. The latest version of ARCHICAD 

also introduces a couple of new 

engineering modules, Column and Beam 

tools that increase modeling accuracy, and 

interoperability with engineering disciplines. 

WHAT'S NEW IN ARCHICAD 23? 

The recent launch in Las Vegas outlined the 

new features in ARCHICAD 23, amongst 

them a series of performance 

enhancements which have been developed 

to provide an uninterrupted flow in an 

architect's workflow, starting from launching 

the software, to accessing project data and 

navigating one's way through the Building 

Information Model. This has been achieved 

through a combination of raw performance 

optimisation, streamlined workflows and 

reduced file sizes, an example of the latter 

provided by the update Solibri integration. 

Mention was also made of the growing 

importance of Modular construction and 

off-site fabrication, currently exercising the 

minds of all developers of architectural 

design software - and which, off course, is 

fully dependent on BIM technology. We look 

forward to seeing further evidence of this in 

Graphisoft's future developments. 

COLUMN AND BEAM TOOLS 

The structural engineering features in 

ARCHICAD 23 have been considerably 

enhanced, particularly for the Column and 

Beam tools, which enable more detailed 

modelling of connections, the ability to 

create curved roofs and windows (tastefully 

depicted as Gothic windows in Graphisoft's 

launch presentation), and the ability to 

produce quantity estimations for reinforced 

concrete, complex steel, timber, and 

composite beams and columns, allowing 

architects to model faster and create 

accurate construction details. 

In particular, new tools allow beam 

connections to be broken down into 

individual segments, and the shape of each 

to be modified within a single element to 

provide a reshaped and unique beam 

connection, the same set of tools allowing 

rapid creation of fully parametric multifaceted 

and tapered segments in beams. 

ARCHICAD 23 also makes it quicker and 

easier to create complex columns and 

curved, haunched (beams with crosssections 

thicker at the supports than in the 

middle of the span) and castellated beams 

meeting all graphic and representation 

standards. Beams and columns can now 

be displayed using various projected and 

symbolic views and cover fills. 

VOIDS, NICHES, AND RECESSES 

A considerable amount of time can be 

saved using ARCHICAD 23's new Opening 

tool, which can be used to model and 

coordinate project design voids, recesses 

and niches, creating everything from 

vertical lift shafts through aligned openings 

20 

May/June 2019

SOFTWARE focus 

on each slab, to multiple wall openings for 

the installation of MEP systems. Openings 

can be any shape - horizontal, circle, etc.- 

and inserted as horizontal, vertical or 

slanted openings across elements, element 

groups or even across storeys. They can 

also be dimensioned, labelled and 

scheduled for use in 2D drawings and 

other documentation. 

To give a couple of examples, the mass 

modelling of an elevator shaft can be used 

to rapidly create openings in each slab 

through which it will pass, the properties of 

which are established through the 

Openings dialogue box. 

Alternatively, multiple openings can be 

created in one go to route MEP elements 

though buildings comprising load-bearing 

walls and other structures. You need to do 

this if you are installing a system of central 

heating pipes in a building, where you 

would use clash detection to pinpoint the 

location of each pipe as it meets a wall. The 

location and geometry of each required 

opening is then established based on the 

diameter of the pipe, adding in any 

necessity clearances. 

Besides placement on the 3D model, 

every opening is documented on floorplans 

with the appropriate 2D symbols. 

Openings, niches and recesses are 

created using open IFC standards - 

essential for sharing project information 

with architects, engineers and consultants 

engineers and, of course, MEP engineers. 

RENEWED SOLIBRI CONNECTION 

Solibri has been associated with Graphisoft 

for a long time. The popular application is 

used to check the integrity of a design and 

the constructability of the 3D model, 

throughout all of the stages of the building 

process. Although the software includes an 

IFC Optimiser which allows users to reduce 

large IFC file sizes for quicker and easier 

distribution and viewing, ARCHICAD 23 

now includes an updated add-on which 

automatically detects and sends only those 

elements that are changed in the 

ARCHICAD model, resulting in faster 

round-trip collaboration. 

INTRODUCING DROFUS 

dRofus is a unique planning, data 

management and BIM collaboration tool. It 

provides comprehensive workflow support 

and access to building information 

throughout the building lifecycle. Using 

dRofus, project members can plan, 

manage and maintain data for 

departments, rooms, room templates, 

finishes, items, systems, and components, 

based on a SQL server database within a 

single cloud-based platform. 

dRofus is integrated within ARCHICAD 23 

to enable architects to capture and organise 

client planning requirements and use these 

to validate and propose design alternatives. 

The dRofus database enables designers to 

collect and handle planning rules and 

design data with ease, even when working 

on large and complex projects such as 

hospitals, airports and universities. 

Building Information Models in ARCHICAD 

can be connected to room and item 

databases in dRofus, with tighter integration 

facilitating the collaboration between 

designers and clients during the detailed 

interior and equipment design phases of 

hospitals or schools, for example. 

FREE-FORM DESIGN UPDATED 

The Rhino -Grasshopper-ARCHICAD 

combination is well established as an 

effective tool for all design stages, on either 

Mac or Windows platforms, filling the gap in 

the process between early stage design 

and the full 3D building model. The 

combination of tools provides algorithmic 

editing functionality to create free-form 

geometry which can then be translated into 

full BIM elements using bidirectional 

geometry transfer. 

The latest version of ARCHICAD 

introduces a new Grasshopper Deconstruct 

Component, which can be used to extract 

ARCHICAD element surface data and use it 

as a design reference. With the help of this 

function, changes to the core design 

scheme in BIM will automatically update all 

linked design details generated via design 

algorithms in Grasshopper. 

BUILDING MATERIAL PROPERTIES 

With the current focus on the composition 

of building components, it would be 

convenient to be able to attach custom 

classifications or custom defined properties 

to Building Materials, fulfilling the 

requirements for cost estimation, quality 

assurance and model analysis - mandatory 

requirements for 4D/5D BIM. ARCHICAD 

23 now allows more direct standard or 

custom material classification, rather than 

having to embed Building Material data into 

its Name field, and then having to extract if 

with custom GDL scripts or IFC splitting. 

ARCHICAD 23 comes with numerous 

other enhancements, including a new 

CineRender engine, and a range of 

improved performance features for 

navigating and switching between tabs, 

revamped views and interoperability, 

enhancing its status as one of the prime 

architectural and BIM software providers. 

www.graphisoft.co.uk 

May/June 2019 21

TECHNOLOGYfocus 

Don't be deflected 

Deflections should always be considered in the design of slabs, in order to meet serviceability 

criteria applicable to concrete floor systems. While there are several ways to determine and 

calculate slab deflections, Tekla Structural Designer is arguably the most capable software 

solution available. Kenny Arnott, Principal Structural Consultant at Trimble Solutions (UK) Ltd 

explains why here. 

There can be many requirements to 

consider when assessing 

deflections of concrete floors: the 

deflection (slope) of a slab should not 

be noticeable by occupants and 

deflections should not cause damage 

to attached partitions, cladding and 

other critical non-structural elements. 

The most basic requirements are 

stipulated in design codes, but quite 

often more onerous project specific 

limits will apply. 

'Flat slabs' (concrete slabs supported 

directly by columns/walls without the 

stiffening effect of beams) offer the 

greatest concern and challenges in this 

area. Although buildings have been 

constructed using flat slabs and 

columns for many years, serviceability 

compliance (deflections) was 

traditionally assessed by hand, without 

the aid of computers. However, this 

traditional method relied heavily on 

regularity, standard conditions and 

limits to keep design complexity to a 

minimum. As structures became more 

individual - and complex - more 

innovative solutions were required to 

perform the necessary analysis. 

Therefore, a growing choice of 

specialist slab design software became 

available to help engineers analyse and 

calculate deflections more easily. 

Despite this being good news for 

engineers, it did mean that a variety of 

different software solutions would have 

to be purchased to fulfil these 

requirements. This in turn meant 

engineers could end up creating 

22 

May/June 2019

TECHNOLOGYfocus 

Tekla Structural Designer Deflection View 

Trimble structure with deflections 

separate analysis/design models in 

multiple software packages for one 

project. Any changes, such as column 

size/position adjustments, would need 

to be separately applied to keep them 

in sync with the project's master model. 

Indeed, as you can imagine, this could 

become a very time-consuming and 

potentially error prone task. 

As such, Trimble invested a lot of time 

in developing Tekla Structural Designer 

to modernise the way engineers 

calculated slab deflections. This 

revolutionary software gives engineers 

the power to analyse and design 

buildings efficiently and profitably. 

Fully automated structural design 

software, packed with many unique 

features for optimised concrete and 

steel design, Tekla Structural Designer 

helps engineering businesses to win 

more work and maximise profits. In 

terms of calculating slab deflections, 

Tekla Structural Designer follows the 

guidance in the Concrete Society's 

Technical Report 58, which advises on 

interpretation of Eurocode 2. It utilises 

iterative crack section analysis of a 

sequentially loaded slab/structure to not 

only accurately estimate the whole life 

deflection, but also deflection at various 

construction load stages of the 

engineer's choice. All of the different 

idealisations can then be 

simultaneously viewed in one model, at 

one time to ensure optimal design time 

and ease of use. 

The results of this complex analysis 

are visualised as contours of total 

deflection at any load stage, differential 

deflection between any two stages, 

effective reinforcement and slab 

stiffness. Our unique check lines feature 

enables rapid pass/fail recognition of 

whatever total or differential deflection 

limits the engineer deems suitable, 

which can then be reported on at the 

touch of a button. 

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect 

of this is the shear speed in which Tekla 

Structural Designer is able to handle 

such a complex task. By being so quick 

to produce results, engineers are 

granted much greater freedom to make 

changes and re-run the program to 

ensure the overall design is as optimal 

as possible. 

Tekla Structural Designer has 

completely modernised the way in 

which people are designing concrete 

and steel structures; it is a practical and 

painless process. 

Stuart Vaughan, Director of Wentworth 

House Partnership, said: "We have been 

using Tekla Structural Designer for 

around five years now, as it allows us to 

model complex geometry, saving 

valuable time on site and producing a 

more accurate analysis when compared 

to using a 2D method. We have also 

recently combined Tekla Structural 

Designer with Tekla Structures to enable 

us to produce coordinated construction 

information and fabrication drawings." 

www.tekla.com/uk/products/teklastructural-designer 

May/June 2019 23

SOFTWAREfocus 

Setting the stage for innovation 

GDTF and MVR has been developed by Vectorworks, Inc., MA Lighting and Robe lighting in 

conjunction with input from other manufacturers within the entertainment industry, to provide a 

common file format, and device control definition that allows users to share data and CAD files 

more effectively. GDTF and MVR was developed with the purpose of creating a unified definition 

for the exchange of data for the operation of intelligent luminaries 

Vectorworks is, you might say, one 

of the leaders in the entertainment 

industry. Not a performer, but one 

of the main players when it comes to 

design for staging concerts, plays, 

TV/film, and other corporate and live 

events. The company's involvement in the 

industry took another step recently - at 

the Prolight + Sound convention in 

Frankfurt, Germany - with the 

announcement of the release of the 1.0 

version of GDTF. 

General Device Type Format (GDTF) is 

an open format that was created by 

Vectorworks, MA Lighting and Robe 

lighting, to change the way entertainment 

lighting designers and programmers 

communicate design and intelligent 

control data to put together and operate 

the awesome stage designs that are now 

de riguer in the industry. Most recently, 

My Virtual Rig (MVR) was introduced in 

March, and it creates a two-way 

connection between planning, 

previsualisation and console systems. To 

better understand GDTF and MVR, let's 

think of Microsoft Word: MVR would be 

the Word document and GDTF would be 

comparable to having a custom font in 

the document. 

Not yet overpopulated, the leading 

players - those who build the stages, 

those who add lights and other special 

effects - had to develop their own 

solutions to lay out and plan the stage 

settings. With GDTF, luminaire 

manufacturers, for instance, now have an 

open and universal data exchange format 

to tell consoles and previsualisation 

software how the lights will respond. 

WHAT EXACTLY IS GTDF? 

Manufacturers of fixtures used in stage 

design - such as moving lights, and in 

the future media servers, lasers, 

pyrotechnics, water effects and so on - 

need them to be controlled, visualised, or 

both to produce the best effects. 

Previously, manufacturers created a PDF 

manual for stage designers who put 

24 

May/June 2019

SOFTWAREfocus 

together controllers, visualisers, drafting 

software and more. Designers had to 

manually convert the data to work with 

their system, but often lacked some of 

the manufacturers info and became 

embroiled in complex processes, trying 

to get the data from the manufacturer. 

Meanwhile, manufacturers were updating 

their products and pushing out revisions 

and changes to their customers in 

updated PDFs. 

A GDTF file contains a required 

minimum set of information along with 

additional optional data the 

manufacturers choose to put in it. For 

example, if a fixture manufacturer puts a 

2D symbol in the GDTF, then drafting 

software can use this symbol. If the 

information is provided as data 

accompanying a 3D model, then besides 

its physical geometry being held in the 

GDTF, the extra information allows 

visualisers to use CAD software to 

represent the fixture more realistically. 

Adding true colour space details in the 

fixture allows users, similarly, to control 

and match the colour output with other 

fixtures in the rig. 

This doesn't just imply better control of 

DMX parameters or Digital Multiplexing 

Data Parameters. All lighting products 

used in the industry have their physical 

dimensions, and can output specific 

ranges of colours, and include other builtin 

effects and more. Makers of all of 

these products could benefit by using a 

standardised container file where they 

could input all information about control 

and visual definitions and be accessible 

to the drafting software, enabling it to 

utilise their products. 

The solution, of course, is GDTF - a 

common file format that is open and 

accessible to everyone. GTDF 1.0 and 

the MVR file format are implemented 

within Vectorworks 2019 and MVR is 

implemented in Vision 2019. 

The GDTF enhancements make it easier 

to use DMX because the different 

components like filters are easier to 

identify. grandMA3 are a widely used 

range of lighting consoles that are a 

radical rethink of what was previously 

thought unachievable from a lighting 

control platform, and which are also able 

to use the MVR file format via a converter 

created by MA Lighting. 

GTDF facilitates a system architecture 

which incorporates fixture, feature and 

effects handling at its core, using 

groundbreaking concepts developed by 

top industry visionaries, and presented 

within a refined user interface. All of this is 

designed to make practical tasks like 

fixture profile creation more intuitive, with 

side benefits that improve both the speed 

of design development through the 

integration of all components. It also 

allows stage designers to experiment 

with different settings and scenarios 

without losing access to component data 

and, as a bonus, GDTF provides full 

access to grandMA3's state-of-the-art 

capabilities. 

USING GDTF FILES 

Manufacturers who would like to create 

GDTF files for their fixtures can do so by 

accessing the fixture builder and a private 

beta of grandMA3 onPC xPort Node and 

grandMA3 on PC software. This allows 

them to import GDTF and MVR files for 

testing their build processes. The created 

data files are working files. 

MY VIRTUAL RIG 

As part of the GDTF development, the 

MVR format was developed as a data 

exchange file format to share data 

between a lighting console, a visualiser, a 

CAD program, or similar tools, such as 

channel numbers, DMX addresses, 

model geometry, xyz position information 

and xyz rotation information. MVR is how 

we will one day see a bi-directional sync 

between Vectorworks and grandMA3, or 

grandMA3 and Lightwright, or many other 

industry tools. Currently, only Vectorworks 

and MA Lighting support MVR files. 

MA Lighting Technology's Managing 

Director, Gerhard Krude, said of the 

development "We've covered a lot of 

ground quickly since the GDTF was 

announced at last year's Prolight + 

Sound. We've also made substantial 

progress with implementing GDTF and 

MVR and are excited to share that we 

have working versions of GDTF 1.0 and 

MVR implemented with our grandMA3 

console line. Moreover we have decided 

to also develop and provide a converter 

to take advantage of the GDTF database 

also for our renowned and commonly 

used grandMA2 series." 

His views were corroborated by Josef 

Valchar, CEO of Robe lighting. "As a 

moving lights manufacturer, the intense 

collaborative development of the General 

Device Type Format in the past year has 

been crucial for achieving the goal of 

having a unified, technically sound, 

comprehensive specification for lighting 

fixtures, as well as sharing all of the 

intricate details of our devices with our 

customers, planners, designers and 

operators. The fixture builder has been 

yet another important milestone in the 

whole process, and it provides an 

accessible way of creating the GDTF 

files. 

"Besides the fresh 1.0 version, the news 

about MA Lighting planning to provide a 

converter from GDTF to grandMA2 series 

is the most exciting news I've heard since 

we started developing GDTF itself." 

The benefit to the developers is that 

they are slightly more prepared for it in 

than other companies in this market. As 

GDTF continues to be developed, the 

format will be updated as technology 

evolves and more manufacturers adopt 

the format, while retaining its 

compatibility with the potential to be a 

powerful answer to a frustrating problem. 

GDTF is a major development that will 

change how everyone works in the 

industry. To date, it has been positively 

received with other manufacturers 

besides MA Lighting, Robe and 

Vectorworks supportive of the idea. 

These currently include: ADB Stagelight; 

AtlaBase; Avolites; Ayrton; Carallon; 

ChamSys; Claypaky; DTS; ETC; GLP; 

High End Systems; Golden Sea; Green 

Hippo; JB Lighting; Martin by Harman; 

Minuit Une; portman; Robert Juliat; SGM; 

zactrack and Zero 88 are on board with 

the file format as noted on the GDTF 

website. 

For designers, programmers and 

technicians, streamlining the process 

would be greatly appreciated, giving 

them more time to create bigger and 

better designs. 

www.gdtf-share.com 

May/June 2019 25

CASE study 

The Village Savant 

IES has launched new cutting-edge technology that connects distributed energy networks, 

renewables, master plans, building design, operation and retrofit, with the aim of building 

Intelligent, and well-informed, communities 

Let us herald the age of the digital 

twin! Having already focused on the 

use of digital twin technology in this 

issue with Cambridge University's pilot 

project at the Institute for Manufacturing, 

which is being developed to analyse and 

optimise the performance of 

infrastructure assets, we are delighted to 

see another role for the technology 

emerging in developing sustainable 

environments. The developer this time is 

IES, the leading innovator in sustainable 

analytics for the built environment, which 

recently released new cutting-edge 

digital twin technology to revolutionise 

the smart city movement. 

The ICL (Intelligent Communities 

Lifecycle) is a platform of interconnected 

decision support tools that facilitate the 

planning, design and operation of energy 

efficient and sustainable communities of 

any size and purpose, whether that be a 

company, campus, city or country. It is 

the most holistic tool for assessing any 

configuration of buildings throughout 

their lifecycle. 

Utilising the latest digital technology to 

link IoT (Internet of Things) data, sensor 

readings, open data or any other data 

source into one interconnected platform, 

the ICL enables investigation of built 

environment performance at any level. 

The technology will provide decision 

makers with the information required to 

form intelligent solutions by identifying 

the most effective and resource efficient 

ways in which they can dramatically 

reduce the use of energy and fossil fuels 

within a community. 

As one of the biggest contributors to 

climate change, the built environment 

has the potential to make the biggest 

impact in reducing the world's carbon 

emissions. By launching the ICL, IES is 

making its technology available to 

anyone interested in energy efficiency 

and sustainability; from architects, 

engineers and developers, to city 

planners, ESCO's, sustainability, energy 

and facilities managers, helping them 

see the true sustainability potential of 

their projects. 

IES has delivered an interactive 3D 

visualisation and masterplanning model 

for Nanyang Technological University 

(NTU) in Singapore, which, along with 

virtual testing, detailed operational 

modelling of 21 buildings and 

performance optimisation, uncovered 

campus-wide energy savings of 31% and 

$4.7m cost savings. 

TRENT BASIN COMMUNITY 

INTERACTION 

The company has also developed a 

prototype community interaction model 

that enables real-time visualisation of 

energy data within the Trent Basin 

community in Nottingham, England. The 

model includes information on renewable 

energy generation and storage, 

alongside energy consumption data, and 

general information about the homes. 

Trent Basin is a low-energy community 

located within Nottingham Waterside 

bounded by the River Trent. The 

development is supported by the Energy 

Research Accelerator and the Innovate 

UK funded Project SCENe, a research 

project led by the University of 

Nottingham and A.T. Kearney. It is home 

to another groundbreaking energy 

project, where energy is being stored on 

site in the largest community energy 

battery in Europe. 

The aim of the 3D community 

interaction model is to provide a visual 

26 

May/June 2019

CASE study 

The 3D Interaction Model in Nottingham’s Trent Basin Community Hub 

tool that promotes public engagement in 

the community energy scheme, and 

which communicates the results of this 

low energy housing development. The 

project uses IES's iCIM, iCD and iSCAN 

technology to integrate real-time data of 

the energy used, generated and stored at 

the Trent Basin, allowing residents to 

compare household-level data with the 

community average, as well as see how 

much energy the project is producing 

and selling to the grid. 

IES was chosen to develop this 

pioneering software platform for the 

project after presenting its newly 

developed innovative, interactive smart 

city technology to senior staff at the 

University of Nottingham. The platform 

allows residents and prospective buyers 

to explore and experiment with the 

model, and interact with energy in ways 

that would have been impossible before. 

Users can also influence the platform's 

future development. 

The project makes use of cutting edge 

smart home and Internet of Things 

technologies to better understand and 

predict energy use and behaviour. This 

allows residents to be given the 

information they need to make informed 

choices and to help optimise the 

operation of the community energy 

scheme for the benefit of all. 

Whether using the online platform or the 

147 inch touch screen, residents can 

move virtually around the real-life site, see 

it from different angles, see how much 

energy is being generated and the 

charging state of the battery in real-time. 

They can compare this with the other realtime 

data available such as the weather. 

IN TOUCH WITH THE COMMUNITY 

The 147 inch touch screen is located in 

the Trent Basin 'Community Hub' room, 

providing a unique way for everyone to 

interact with the site and learn more 

about its energy use. The monitor's floor 

to ceiling design allows people of all 

abilities to use and benefit from it. The 

aim is to make energy easy and 

compelling to understand, in order to 

realise its potential as essential for our 

well-being and resilience rather than an 

unseen part of daily life, with limited 

benefits to society or sustainability. 

The monitor is part of a suite of 

methods to support this, including 

voice-activated helpers, bespoke and 

mainstream social media platforms, a 

customised smart metering app 

compatible on any smart device, and 

community-based activities. 

Project SCENe stands for 'Sustainable 

Community Energy Networks'. It is a 

consortium that brings together 

companies involved in construction and 

the energy supply chain, combined with 

the research community and buyers of 

homes at Nottingham's Trent Basin 

development. The Project has a simple 

vision: "to enable all future housing 

developments to embrace renewables 

to lower their energy costs and carbon 

footprint without the hassle for the 

homeowner or developer". 

Lewis Cameron, a Research Fellow at 

the University of Nottingham said, "By 

showing community averages of 

household energy use data and 

comparative monetary and carbon costs 

and savings, residents will be able to 

more easily translate energy behaviours 

to meaningful impacts and compare 

their data with the community as a 

whole, giving them an instant local 

standard to compete against." 

Don McLean, IES Founder and CEO 

said "I am very excited to be bringing 

this unique, innovative technology to the 

market. The IES team have been 

working extremely hard over the past 

few years to develop this sophisticated 

suite of tools that will revolutionise the 

way we plan and design communities 

and use energy, whether that be a 

university campus or entire continent. 

"Climate Change is a very real threat, 

and much more imminent than most 

people realise. Over the last 25 years 

we've built a solid reputation as a leading 

innovator in sustainable analytics for 

individual buildings and we've made a 

huge impact, eliminating the need for 

around 30 power stations to be built. 

"With the ICL we can now apply 

sustainable analysis to communities of 

any size or purpose, enabling people to 

look at energy use holistically at a much 

larger scale. This technology brings the 

opportunity to make a massive 

difference to the fight against climate 

change, and secure a much better 

future for our children and future 

generations." 

Although still at an early stage, digital 

twin technology is set to revolutionise 

the way we handle and use information 

throughout all sectors of our 

communities, from construction and 

care of the environment to travel, energy 

and healthcare. We are in at the start of 

something quite remarkable. 

www.iesve.com 

May/June 2019 27

TECHNOLOGYE focus 

Going Modular 

Kenny Ingram of IFS makes a number of interesting predictions about future trends within the 

construction industry. 

One of the most interesting 

statements that Kenny Ingram 

brought up when I spoke to him 

recently was that the cost savings that 

people had expected when they invested in 

BIM were not materialising. Considerable 

upheavals in a company's work processes, 

and financial investment in staff training 

and so on, were not really bringing home 

the bacon. 

Kenny Ingram is a BIM and Construction 

Industry analyst and consultant within IFS, 

the global ERP solutions provider. As such, 

he speaks to both Tier 1 and Tier 2 

contractors within the construction industry 

worldwide, and is able to assess the 

challenges that face them and the ways in 

which current technologies are changing 

the face of construction, and whether those 

within the industry have been able to take 

advantage of them. 

According to the UK Office of National 

Statistics the construction sector remains 

the least productive industry in the UK 

economy. (productivity has increased by 

about 10% in the last 20 years). 

McKinsey stated in a recent report that 

labour productivity in the construction 

industry averaged 1% per year across the 

global industry compared to 3.6% for the 

manufacturing sector. 

They also suggest that in the US 

construction remains stuck at the same 

level it was 80 years and it may even have 

declined since the late 1960s. 

Whilst much of this can be attributed to 

typical small scale or one-off projects within 

construction compared to mass volume 

product manufacturing, there are lessons 

to be learned from the massive variation in 

profitability. 

But it gets worse - in Germany, France 

and the USA construction productivity is 

actually falling - with US contractors 

experiencing a 26% decline on their return 

on working capital and the top 10 UK 

contractors have increased their debt by 

24% since 2018 - with UK contractors 

working on average operating margins of - 

0.5%. 

Compare that to Asia, where 55% of the 

top 100 construction companies are now 

located. Running a construction business 

is becoming increasingly hard - but 

opportunities lie ahead with the UN 

forecasting a demand for 2 billion new 

homes to be built over the next 80 years. 

Evidentially, BIM, with all of its supposed 

benefits, is not the panacea that it 

promised to be, and that more innovation 

is required to reap the promised rewards. 

Kenny suggested that one area of 

construction is exhibiting substantial growth 

- off-site fabrication, or modular production. 

It is used extensively on large scale 

projects in China, and is now being used 

for schools in Ireland, prisons and hospitals 

in America, and, in this area, dormitories for 

the construction workers on Hinkley Point. 

In Liverpool, a new factory was 

established last year which employs 180 

people, who have set themselves a target 

of manufacturing 450 homes in their first 

year. Confirming the trend, and making it 

the first of his predictions for the future of 

the industry, Kenny said that by 2022, 50% 

of all construction projects will include 

modular content. 

A NEW WAY OF WORKING 

There was more to it than just emulating 

the manufacturing industry, though, said 

Kenny. One of the drivers towards modular 

construction is the growing global skills 

shortage. Many housebuilders have 

reported very large profits over the last few 

28 

May/June 2019

TECHNOLOGYE focus 

years building large estates and luxury 

apartments on land owned by them, using 

traditional building, but, because of the lack 

of skilled builders and traditional building 

materials and methods, the profitability of 

projects plummet because of subsequent 

defect alleviation and management. 

Modular construction addresses these 

problems. Despite the owners of fabrication 

facilities are manufacturers and not builders 

(Luke Barnes, one of the founders of the 

Liverpool factory, was a design engineer, 

and his partner was a software engineer) 

they are able to focus on the strengths of 

the manufacturing industry - building 

quality standard products in large numbers 

that can be erected in multiple 

configurations to accommodate local 

requirements. Kenny mentioned that 

companies outside the industry are starting 

to dip their toe in the water and could have 

the potential to disrupt the construction 

industry (e.g. IKEA, Amazon, Google etc). 

Amazon recently bought a flat-pack 

housebuilder in the USA. 

The construction industry can learn from 

the standardisation approach adopted by 

the manufacturing industry, rather than 

treating every project as unique, we should 

be able to build an asset with around 90% 

standard components and assemblies 

compared to today's 10%. Kenny said 

there is absolutely no reason why similar 

processes could not be adopted within 

construction to enable speedier project 

delivery, higher quality building and greater 

profitability. He added that many 

companies don't really understand the 

strengths of standardisation, which is one 

of the key areas where construction 

companies are going to get savings - 

stating that even 90% standardisation 

doesn't stifle creativity! 

In fact, one Tier 1 contractor has been 

heavily focussed on the offsite model for a 

number of years and has invested in their 

own production facilities. Laing O'Rourke 

can now deliver construction projects from 

design, through offsite manufacture to 

construction and operation. 

AN INTEGRATED SOLUTION 

Design to manufacture, therefore, would 

facilitate greater productivity within the 

construction industry, but it must be 

accompanied by greater integration of the 

business processes that accompany it. In 

fact, an integrated solution could even 

encourage greater innovation in the way we 

build things, rather than just honing current 

processes which were obviously not 

delivering the goods. BIM could be 

considered no more than a catalyst that 

opened the door to greater integration of 

processes and services - the type of 

solution that is able to bring all elements of 

a project into play - an ERP solution. 

And this is Kenny's second prediction - 

that this year more companies will be 

implementing integrated business solutions 

for their companies - driven by growing 

urban populations and housing shortages 

with more demand and a higher order 

intake, set against shrinking profit margins 

and increased competition. 

Unprecedented pressures on productivity 

and delivery. 

With first hand knowledge of the industry, 

Kenny claimed that many companies are 

still running their businesses using a 

patchwork of non-integrated systems - 

pointing out that it may be especially rife in 

middle management territory where Excel 

reigns supreme as managers assemble 

project related information to feed into the 

corporate management applications. 

Competition is fierce not just within the UK 

or from companies like Amazon - or even 

Uber? - but one of the biggest threats is 

from Chinese and Korean companies who 

now occupy nos 1-4 and 7 of the top 10 

positions of the world's construction 

companies - manoeuvring to take 

advantage of the 8 trillion USD$ growth 

expected in construction by 2030. 

INTEGRATING BIM AND ERP 

BIM, therefore, is the catalyst for an 

effective ERP, but any company with 

multiple projects needs to integrate all 

elements, from finance to operations to 

design, with full digital asset life cycle 

management - a document to data driven 

world. Hence Kenny's 3rd prediction which 

is the integration of BIM with ERP. . 

Comparing it to the manufacturing industry, 

Kenny said that integrating complete ERP 

solutions for them was old news - but, 

within the construction industry, the first 

steps still have to be taken. 

Being able to integrate all the elements of 

the asset lifecycle process with one set of 

integrated data gives companies better 

control and provides a solid platform to 

become more agile and adapt to new 

business models quickly. The industry is 

under huge pressure to change and 

increase productivity and profitability so the 

winners in the future will be the 

organisations that recognise that radical 

change is needed and change the way 

they work. 

www.ifsworld.com 

May/June 2019 29


myConsole Bid performance dashboard 

myConsole 

myConsole Gateway approval dates 

What's your ratio for winning tenders? 1 in 5 or more? The ability to collect, analyse and share 

information more efficiently would help you to make business critical decisions faster, and to 

discard projects you are unlikely to win 

If Alan Turing were alive today he would 

not be surprised that "machines help 

humans to think." However, if he worked 

in the construction industry he'd be very 

perplexed about the sector's reluctance to 

use the latest cloud technology to perform 

their jobs better and make their lives 

easier, while many other sectors from 

travel to banking and retail have readily 

adopted cloud platforms to gain 

significant competitive advantages. 

He might therefore challenge 

construction professionals to answer the 

following questions: 

Am I using machines to help every 

person in my business to think better? 

Do I have a clear vision of how I can 

improve productivity, governance and 

processes and understand how better 

to deploy my finite resources by 

levering insights from technology? 

Do I understand what is happening in 

my business? Can I access in real 

time, a consistent single data set of 

understanding on what is happening 

in every function across the business? 

Would I adopt new collaborative 

cloud-based technology quicker if it 

could prompt me on how to minimise 

risk for my delivery teams, my clients 

and my supply chain across all my 

projects simultaneously? 

It's these questions which have led to the 

development of myConsole. 

myConsole provides contractors with an 

"out of the box, ready to go" cloud 

workplace platform which delivers 

consistent business intelligence and real 

time insights across end to end workflows 

including strategy, pipeline, bidding, key 

client and framework management, 

delivery and handover. 

Every user has their own personalised 

dashboards of their individual bids, 

initiatives and key client teams they are 

involved, which also lists out their specific 

governance, submission and risk 

management actions. 

The technology helps teams collaborate 

around each bid or initiative and the data 

captured provides a win score to aid 

determination of which bids they should 

pursue and which they should not. 

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? 

Research conducted by myConsole 

founder Philip Collard and Reading 

University has shown that contractors 

typically spend around 2.5% to 3% of total 

revenue bidding for work with an average 

1in5 win rate. More worryingly, the total 

work winning costs for a contractor can 

also be as high as 6% of their turnover. In 

an industry where average margins are 

often between 0.5% and 2%, improving 

these margins is vitally important. 

With myConsole being able to identify 

bids a contractor cannot win, a business 

can stop wasting time and resources on 

unwinnable bids so they can focus their 

limited resources on bids which have the 

greatest chance of winning. 

myConsole empowers businesses to 

better plan for the future by providing an 

entire business wide bid pipeline. Each 

bid has a unique win score algorithm 

which also ensures better business 

margin forecasting. 

By using predictive analytics on win 

rates, profit margins and cost savings 

myConsole enables truly informed 

decision-making. This means the entire 

business can be better directed to 

focus on activities that will fulfil the 

realistic new business potential, which 

also aids leadership confidence in the 

company's future. 

There are numerous other built in value 

added features and functions such as real 

time governance, gateways and reporting 

and a risk and opportunity register to 

manage and allocate project risks across 

the bid and project delivery team. 

HOW CAN WE WORK SMARTER? 

Contractors typically have around 50 

different standalone systems and tools 

(mainly using separate Excel sheets) 

across their entire business planning, 

pipeline, bidding, governance, key client 

and framework management workflows. 

These systems and tools are very rarely 

integrated, and often there are many 

versions of the same Excel sheet being 

30 

May/June 2019


myConsole Pipeline dashboard 

myConsole Gateways 

used by separate members of the same 

bid team even on the same bid. This 

duplication creates a significant risk of 

inconsistent data as well as poor 

productivity. 

myConsole has the unique ability to 

combine business intelligence, cognitive 

workflows, predictive analytics, task 

management, digital collaboration and 

CRM in one easy to use platform. It is 

preconfigured to the construction industry 

and ready to go as a low cost, seamlessly 

integrated, cloud-based platform that 

potentially will also save many hundreds 

of thousands of pounds per year. 

What myConsole delivers: 

Management team buy-in 

Real time digital dashboards 

Dashboard user productivity 

Intelligent dashboards for every user 

Management reporting 

Full mobility cross-platform 

compatibility 

Up-to-date at all times 

Accessibility by external supply chain 

members 

Overall efficiency improvements 

Intelligent data availability 

Single source of data portability 

security 

RACI automation for robust 

governance 

System agility and control panel 

Data security 

Predictive analytics. 

The beauty of myConsole is that it 

enables multiple delivery teams to 

collaborate in one simple to use platform 

which automatically processes and 

analyses immense amounts of data that is 

instantly transformed into usable 

knowledge and intelligence to prompt 

each user with tips about how to improve 

their performance through their own 

personalised dashboard. 

WHO'S BEHIND IT? 

It has been designed by Eric Sandor (exglobal 

managing partner of Accenture 

and current Fortune 100 Artificial 

Intelligence expert) and Philip Collard, 

who spent 25 years as a management 

consultant embedding best practice work 

winning consultancy and training to more 

than 2,000 construction firms - including 

19 of the top 25 consultants and 35 of the 

top 50 contractors, through his 

consultancy Marketing Works. 

Philip says "I wanted to offer a "ready to 

go, baked in" best practice solution to 

avoid the usual prohibitively expensive 

upfront configuration costs. With 

myConsole the leadership team need only 

focus on tailoring it to their company and 

focusing on supporting their teams during 

implementation. 

Eric Sandor says "This is one of the most 

advance cloud platforms I have been 

involved with, which will help construction 

firms accelerate up their work - winning 

league tables. If desired it need not only be 

about the leadership team having access 

to dashboards of important metrics 

because data analytics can now empower 

every user with immense business 

intelligence so they too can make personal 

decisions to improve their own productivity 

and delivery performance." 

myConsole has a low cost pricing plan 

including a "Freemium" version offering 

many valuable functions and features at 

zero cost: 

Unlimited active bids & projects 

Real time intelligent dashboards 

Won/ Lost /Active /Stop/Bid status 

CRM 

Pipeline management of all active 

bids 

Pipeline filtering by: Sectors, Win 

Score, Region, Client 

Win score bid assessment 

Consistent set of Go/ No Go 

selectivity factors 

Commercial summary of each bid 

Contract overview for each bid 

Predictive graphical analytics against 

turnover and margin 

Projects geolocations map 

Full mobility access via smart phones 

and tablets 

On-demand help and support videos. 

IN SUMMARY 

myConsole delivers client-centric work 

winning methodology and design. It 

empowers business development 

departments to improve as the software 

helps users to leverage the aggregate of 

marginal gains, enabling teams to deliver 

1:2 win rates rather than 1:5 win rates. 

myConsole also delivers a 20% time 

saving for each user and a 70% increase 

in BU profitability. 

Firms can achieve high levels of 

efficiency and effectiveness through an 

integrated approach across every element 

of work winning. On-demand mentoring 

and training videos are offered at every 

point in the process to improve personal 

productivity performance and metrics are 

collated and reported in real time to 

enable a constant learning system. 

www.myconsole.co.uk 

Email: philipcollard@myconsole.co.uk 

May/June 2019 31

YOUR GUIDE TO 

4 

5 

8 

6/10 9 7 1 

14 

15 

16 

17 11/13 18 20 

33 

2/12 

35/41 

40 32 

23/42 

21 

25 26/19 

30 

3 

42 

31 

22 

29 

24/27 

28 

*Location guide 

not 100% accurate 

SCOTLAND 

GLASGOW 6 

CADASSIST 

Contact: 

Gordon McGlathery 

Tel: 0141 354 8993 

Fax: 0141 353 9315 

training@cadassist.co.uk 

www.cadassist.co.uk 

ACDEGHIJKLMNOPQTX 

FIFE 7 

GlenCo Development 

Solutions 

Contact: Jack Meldrum 

Tel: 01592 223330 

Fax: 01592 223301 

jackm@glenco.org 

www.glenco.org 

ACMK 

ABERDEENSHIRE 8 

symetri 

Contact: Craig Snell 

Tel: 01467 629900 

training@symetri.co.uk 

www.symetri.co.uk 

ABDHIJKMNOPSX 

ABERDEEN 1 

TMS CADcentre 

Contact: Craig Hamilton 

Tel: 01224 223321 

info@thom-micro.com 

www.tmscadcentre.com 

ACELHO 

LARBERT 9 

TMS CADcentre 

Contact: Craig Hamilton 

Tel: 01324-550760 

info@thom-micro.com 

www.tmscadcentre.com 

ACELHO 

GLASGOW 10 

Excitech Ltd 

Contact: Alan Skipp 

Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01922 807574 

info@excitech.co.uk 

www.excitech.co.uk/cut2015 

ABCDEHKLMNQSX 

IRELAND 

DUBLIN 4 

Paradigm Technology Ltd 

Contact: Des McGrane 

Tel: +353-1-2960155 

Fax: +353-1-2960080 

dmcgrane@paradigm.ie 

www.paradign.it 

ACMGKL 

SOUTHWEST 

BRISTOL 2 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 



A B C D E H K L M N Q S X 

NEWBURY 3 

RWTC Ltd 

Contact: Richard Willis 

Tel: 01488 689005 

Fax: 01635 32718 

richard@rwtc.co.uk 

www.rwtc.co.uk 

A M 

BRISTOL 12 

Micro Concepts Ltd 

Contact: Peter Hurst 

Tel: +44 (0) 8432 898162 

training@microconcepts.co.uk 

www.microconcepts.co.uk 

A B D I J K M N O P S T X 

N.I 

BELFAST 5 

Pentagon Solutions Ltd 

Contact: Tony Dalton - Training 

Services Manager 

Tel: +44 (0) 2890 455 355 

Fax: +44 (0) 2890 456 355 

tony@pentagonsolutions.com 

www.pentagonsolutions.com 

ACDEGKL 

TRAINING COURSES OFFERED KEY: 

AUTOCAD AND LT: 

AUTOCAD P&ID TRAINING: 

AEC/BUILDING SOLUTIONS: 

3D MODELLING $ ANIMATION 

AUTOCAD ARCHITECTURE: 

FM DESKTOP: 

GIS/MAPPING: 

REVIT: 

VAULT FUNDAMENTALS 

AUTODESK VAULT FOR INVENTOR USERS 

A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

F 

G 

H 

I 

J 

VISUALISATION: 

AUTIDESK CIVIL: 

INVENTOR SERIES/MECHANICAL: 

NAVISWORKS TRAINING: 

PRODUCT UPDATE COURSES: 

INVENTOR PUBLISHER: 

GOOGLE SKETCHUP: 

CHARACTER ANIMATION: 

AUTODESK SIMULATION: 

FACTORY DESIGN SUITE: 

AUTOCAD ELECTRICAL: 

K 

L 

M 

N 

O 

P 

Q 

R 

S 

T 

X 

For further information about authorised CAD training or to advertise on these pages please contact: 

Josh Boulton on 01689 616 000 or email: josh.boulton@btc.co.uk

SOUTH/EAST 

GUILDFORD 22 

Blue Graphics Ltd 

Contact: Matt Allen 

Tel: 01483 467 200 

Fax: 01483 467 201 

matta@bluegfx.com 

www.bluegfx.com 

ADRK 

HERTFORDSHIRE 23 

Computer Aided 

Business Systems Ltd 

Contact: Gillian Haynes 

Tel: 01707 258 338 

Fax: 01707 258 339 

training@cabs-cad.com 

A C D E K H 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 42 

Causeway 

Technologies Ltd 

Contact: Sue Farnfield 

Tel: +44 (0)1628 552134 

Sue.Farnfield@causeway.com 

www.causeway.com 

A C D E K 

LONDON 24 

CADASSIST 

Contact: Gordon McGlathery 

Tel: +44 (0)208 622 3027 

Fax: +44 (0)208 622 3200 




BERKSHIRE 26 

Cadpoint 

Contact: Clare Keston 

Tel: 01344 751300 

Fax: 01344 779700 

sales@cadpoint.co.uk 

www.cadpoint.co.uk 

A C D E K 

CENTRAL LONDON 27 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 




TRAINING 

NORTH LONDON 28 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01922 807574 



ABCDEHKLMNQSX 

OXFORDSHIRE 25 

Man and Machine 

Contact: Robert Kenny 

Tel: 01844 263700 

Fax: 01844 216761 

training@manandmachine.co.uk 

www.manandmachine.co.uk 

A D I J M N O P Q X 

BERKSHIRE 30 

Mass Systems Ltd 

Contact: Luke Bolt 

Tel: 01344 304 000 

Fax: 01344 304 010 

info@mass-plc.com 

www.mass-plc.com 

A E F 

HAMPSHIRE 31 

Universal CAD Ltd 

Contact: Nick Lambden 

Tel: [44] 01256 352700 

Fax: [44] 01256 352927 

sales@universalcad.co.uk 

www.universalcad.co.uk 

A C M E K H 

MILTON KEYNES 21 

Graitec - Milton Keynes 

Contact: David Huke 

Tel: 01908 410026 

david.huke@graitec.co.uk 

www.graitec.co.uk 

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX 

HIGH WYCOMBE 19 


Contact: Kerrie Braybrook 

Tel: +44 (0) 8432 898162 




THE NORTH 

MIDLANDS 

MANCHESTER 11 

CADASSIST 

Contact: 

Gordon McGlathery 

Tel: 0161 440 8122 

Fax: 0161 439 9635 




MANCHESTER 13 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01922 807574 



ABCDEHKLMNQSX 

NORTH EAST 14 

symetri 


Tel: 0191 213 5555 



ABDHIJKMNOPSX 

YORKSHIRE 15 

Graitec Bradford 

Contact: Isobel Gillon 

Tel: 01274 532919 

training@graitec.co.uk 



NOTTINGHAM 33 

MicroCAD - Nottingham 


Tel: 0115 969 1114 




NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 32 

AIT Spatial Ltd 

Contact: Philip Madeley 

Tel: 01933 303034 

Fax: 01933 303001 

training@aitspatial.co.uk 

www.aitspatial.co.uk 

A C D E F G K L 

BIRMINGHAM 35 

NORTH EAST 16 

Graitec - Durham 


Tel: 0191 374 2020 




LANCASHIRE 17 

QUADRA SOLUTIONS 

Contact: Simon Dobson 

Tel: 01254 301 888 

Fax: 01254 301 323 

training@quadrasol.co.uk 

www.quadrasol.co.uk 

A C M K 

YORKSHIRE 18 

symetri 


Tel: 01924 266 262 



ABDHIJKMNOPSX 

SOUTH YORKSHIRE 20 

THE JUICE GROUP LTD 

Contact: Sarah Thorpe 

Tel: 0800 018 1501 

Fax: 0114 275 5888 

training@thejuice.co.uk 

www.thejuicetraining.com 

A C D E K R 

CHESHIRE 41 

Excelat CAD Ltd 

Contact: Vaughn Markey 

Tel: 0161 926 3609 

Fax: 0870 051 1537 

Vaughn.markey@ExcelatCAD.com 

www.ExcelatCAD.com 

B N 

CHESHIRE 41 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 




SOUTHHAMPTON 42 

CAMBRIDGE 29 

Riverside House, Brunel Road 

Southampton, Hants. SO40 3WX 


Tel: 02380 868 947 





Contact: Emily Howe 

Tel: +44 (0) 1223 716200 




Armada Autodesk 

Training Centre 

Contact: Steven Smith 

Tel: 01527 834783 

Fax: 01527 834785 

training@armadaonline.co.uk 

www.armadaonline.co.uk 

A D E M K H

MASTERclass 

In association with: 

EasyBuild Q and A 

In our third Q an A article in association with EasyBuild we look at some of the issues affecting 

contractors, house builders, service suppliers and maintenance companies 

Some of the questions frequently 

raised by EasyBuild customers 

about their financial and project 

management solutions, especially onsite 

issues that affect all contractors, 

house builders, service suppliers and 

maintenance companies - problems 

that you will all recognise too readily - 

concern high staff turnover and the 

rapid assimilation of fully qualified and 

skilled employees into the workforce. 

So how do contractors keep up to 

scratch with their client's solutions? 

Q: We have a number of projects 

ongoing at any one time, but, because 

of the shortage of reliable skilled 

labour, we are having to both take on 

people at short notice, or move them 

from site to site on a regular basis. 

EasyBuild's cloud-based ERP 

solution keeps records of employees 

in a central location, alongside their 

relevant training certificates, CVs, 

CSCS cards and any medical issues 

they may have. Having been checked 

online on initial employment, they are 

available at any time for H&R checks, 

or for assignment to specific projects, 

together with labour rates, holiday 

entitlements, pensions and other 

information needed to apply full 

human resource costs to each project. 

A series of mobile applications are 

also being introduced which will make 

it easier to keep track of employee 

activity on site, besides providing 

instant time sheet updates and Health 

and Safety checks. 

Equipment and resources can be 

requisitioned and approved in realtime 

and signed off once delivered - 

more responsibility for the employee, 

but additional security for the 

employer. 

Q: We have taken on a couple of large 

maintenance contracts for local 

Councils. We don't want to take on and 

have to learn another application. Can 

we use the EasyBuild solution to 

manage service contracts, and still 

integrate the costs within our overall 

ERP solution? 

Yes, EasyBuild's Service Management 

Software can operate either as a 

standalone solution or as part of the 

integrated finance system. It can be 

used for planed or reactive 

maintenance, defects management, or 

even snagging during the construction 

process. Whether you are a contractor 

or house builder undertaking post build 

defects management, the EasyBuild 

solution offers a simple and fast 

solution for mobile workforces. 

Q: Building houses is easy. Building 

them to specification for individual 

customers tends to get a bit more 

complicated. How can we keep track of 

everything they ask for? 

Selling houses is like selling cars, but 

much more complicated as you rightly 

point out. Ensuring each customer gets 

precisely what they ask and pay for is 

important - and EasyBuild's ERP 

solution allows house builders to link all 

of a customer's details to each property 

throughout the whole construction and 

sales cycles, including information 

related to mortgage requirements, legal 

matters, and even existing property 

sales and any extras asked for. 

Additional documents, photographs, 

equipment specifications and so on 

can also be attached to each plot to 

ensure complete compliance with 

customer requests. It's a small step 

from there to keep a record of all sales 

enquiries, manage viewings and to 

match potential buyers to properties. 

Although it may appear that this 

includes rather more sales than 

construction activity, it does provide the 

basis of a more comprehensive 

financial reporting solution for a 

sometimes volatile and unpredictable 

market, and facilitates more reliable 

cashflow forecasting. 

Q: Our main client pops down every 

month with half the board for a project 

update. It's a two-edged sword - he 

wants to know if we are on track and on 

budget, and we want to know if we are 

going to be paid on time. What can we 

do to keep everybody happy? 

EasyBuild ERP contains a Clients 

module that provides all the information 

you need to manage existing or 

potential customers. It includes CRM, 

or Customer Relationship Management 

tools that gather information from 

across all of a client's projects and the 

whole of EasyBuild's ERP solution, 

including things like architect's costs 

and other valuation certificates normally 

held outside project accounting. These 

provide up-to-date reports that state 

the true status of a project, including 

debtor management and its costs and 

outstanding retentions. The EasyBuild 

Clients module can also be used to 

create quarterly or yearly ground rents 

for house builders. 

The introduction of the EasyBuild 

Cloud, mentioned above, using the 

latest servers, storage and switching 

technologies, provides users with 

easier access to EasyBuild modules. 

Instead of having to maintain in-house 

servers, managers can focus on 

keeping the workforce informed and 

fully productive. 

www.easybuilduk.com 

34 

May/June 2019

NOMINATIONS OPEN 

4H JULY AT: 

www.constructioncomputingawards.co.uk 

This year’s awards ceremony will be held on the 14th November 2019 at the 

Grand Connaught Rooms, London 

For more information on the industry’s leading event including sponsorship opportunities: 

Contact josh.boulton@btc.co.uk 

or call 01689 616000 

@CCMagAndAwards 

Sponsored by: 

Champagne Reception Sponsors:

Thames Tideway Tunnel 

Wastewater Initiative 

Delivering Projects with 

Digital Workflows 

Mott MacDonald Accelerates Project Delivery on 

East Tideway Tunnel 

Mott MacDonald accelerated the delivery of the largest infrastructure project 

undertaken by the UK water industry. This GBP 4 billion project benefited from a 

connected data environment (CDE) based on Bentley’s ProjectWise CONNECT 

Edition. Digital workflows helped to improve collaboration for numerous design 

disciplines, supply chain companies, and project stakeholders by bringing all 

design information into intelligent 3D models. This helped to accelerate design, 

improve communication, and deliver digital engineering models to the client. 

»» 

Mott MacDonald saved 32 

percent in design production time 

»» 

The client accepted 76 percent of 

packages on initial review due to 

improved collaboration 

»» 

ProjectWise saved 80 percent 

of information delivery time, 

reducing it from five days to one 

“The ProjectWise CDE allows CVBJV 

to easily access detailed, up-to-date 

project information and improve and 

simplify design approvals.” 

Chebli Matta, CVBJV Design and Engineering 

Manager, Mott MacDonald 

To learn more and try it out yourself visit www.bentley.com/tideway 

© 2018 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the Bentley logo, Navigator, and ProjectWise are either registered or unregistered trademarks or service marks of Bentley Systems, Incorporated or one of its 

direct or indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

CU1905

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?