CU1703

CAD User 

MARCH/APRIL 2017 

VOL 30 NO 02 

WWW.CADUSER.COM 

A seismic upheaval 

Examining the role of information and 

its relevance to the building model 

Right in the frame 

Pinewood Structures drive quality 

with Elecosoft Framing 

OpenRoads Designer 

Bentley’s federated model for 

conception to completion 

IESVE 2017 

Python Scripting inspires custom 

solutions for environmental analysis 

Designing reality 

ArchiRADAR win Graphisoft's 'Algorithmic 

Design meets CAD' competition 

CAD USER SEMINAR 

ANNOUNCED! 

For more details 

see page 18 

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

Comprehensive Project Delivery 

“With ProjectWise, we 

completed a complex project 

50 percent faster – on time and 

under budget.” 

– Larry Ehlers, Project Manager 

AECOM 

“ProjectWise securely 

managed 1.5 million 

documents, with 4.8 terabytes 

of data accessed by more 

than 2,000 users in 50 global 

locations – saving us 23,000 

hours locating data, 

AUD 1 million controlling 

documents, 260 weeks 

updating drawings, and 

AUD 3.6 million in 

travel expenses.” 

– Mark Patis, Technical Executive, Design 

Parsons Brinckerhoff 

Reduce Project Delivery Risk 

with ProjectWise ® 

Improve the accuracy, reliability, and integrity of design and construction 

documentation in a controlled, collaborative environment. Eliminate redesigns and 

reduce the risk of error. Discover how ProjectWise’s industry proven project delivery 

capabilities will help your team make great decisions, effectively use resources, 

increase productivity, and improve performance. 

“ProjectWise gives us a 

centralized environment 

for sharing information – 

allowing the design and 

permitting teams to quickly and 

confidently respond to requests 

and direction.” 

– Mark Williams, Senior Vice President 

Tetra Tech, Inc. 

www.bentley.com/ProjectWise 

© 2016 Bentley Systems, Incorporated. Bentley, the “B” Bentley logo, 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.

CONTENTS 

MARCH/APRIL 

CONTENTS 

OPENROADS DESIGNER 10 

Bentley's OpenRoads Designer provides a 

federated model that encompasses all 

disciplines in roadway design from conception 

to completion, writes David Chadwick 

DESIGNING REALITY 12 

An inspired design, created and developed 

by architects ArchiRADAR, has won first prize 

in Graphisoft’s ’Algorithmic Design Meets 

BIM’ competition 

A SEISMIC UPHEAVAL 18 

David Chadwick considers the role of 

information in a future society and its relevance 

to the building model, and looks ahead to the 

CAD User COBie Seminar in May 

TEKLA 2017 20 

Trimble has released the latest version of 

Tekla's structural engineering design and 

analysis suite of tools 

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

•INSPIRED TO ENTER YOUR BENTLEY PROJECT? • HIGH-FLYING DEAL FOR ACONEX 

CASE STUDY...................................RECLAIMING BROWNFIELDS..............................................................................14 

• BENTLEY CONTEXTCAPTURE UNDERPINS THE CITY OF COATESVILLE’S LARGEST BROWNFIELD REDEVELOPMENT 

SOFTWARE REVIEW........................THE COMPLETE WORKS................................................................................16 

• CONCEPT PLANNING FOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IS SIMPLIFIED USING AUTODESK INFRAWORKS 360 

CASE STUDY...................................ASSURED QUALITY.............................................................................................24 

• SOLIBRI ENABLES MULTIPLEX TO VALIDATE THE ROBUSTNESS OF DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTABILITY 

CASE STUDY...................................REDEFINING PRODUCT EFFICIENCY...............................................................26 

• ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS HILSON MORAN GAIN INSTANT DIVIDENDS WITH BLUEBEAM REVU 2017 

SOFTWARE REVIEW........................IESVE 2017..........................................................................................................28 

• IESVE SIMPLIFIES BUILDING PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS BY ADDING PYTHON SCRIPTING TO IESVE 2017 

CASE STUDY...................................RIGHT IN THE FRAME........................................................................................30 

• PINEWOOD STRUCTURES DRIVES QUALITY WITH ELECOSOFT FRAMING 

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

• YOUR GUIDE TO AUTODESK TRAINING 

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS...................VISUALISING THE FUTURE.................................................................................34 

• 3D REPO BRING THEIR CLOUD EXPERTISE TO A UK GOVERNMENT-FUNDED INNOVATE UK PROJECT 

March/April 2017 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, 

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R.O.W. £62/year 

£115/two years, £168/three years. 

Single copies can be bought for £8.50 

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Published 6 times a year. 

© 2017 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 

The road ahead for information 

by David Chadwick 

Whilst we continue to question the 

role that COBie will play in the 

construction industry as our 

lives continue to be dominated by an 

intensive, information rich environment, it 

is the way we handle that information that 

CAD User Seminar on COBie this May. 

The Seminar is aimed at anybody who 

produces, works on and uses data - from 

architects to asset managers - and by 

the end of the one-day event our guest 

speakers will have provided some useful 

answers to some important, and timely 

COBie concerns. You'll find more 

information on the event on page 18 of 

this issue. 

The use of information features 

prominently in one of our software 

reviews this issue as well. Bentley's 

OpenRoads Designer is a multi-discipline 

roadway modeller that combines the 

resources and designs of everyone 

involved in a project, from the concept 

design of a roadway until its actual 

construction, in a federated building 

model. 

Enabling the rerouting of a stretch of 

road using the software's modelling 

tools, which automatically update the 

associated subsurface utilities - i.e. 

realigning the drains under the road to 

match the new route - relies on the 

parameters of each disciplines 

component features to be accessible to 

the other - the prime purpose of BIM. 

OpenRoads Designer takes its use of 

the federated model to the extreme. It 

can even be used to program 

autonomous terrain management 

vehicles - graders and bulldozers - that 

can model ground levels with incredible 

accuracy. 

There’s another foretaste of what to 

expect from 3DRepo, who use the cloud 

together with the latest digital technology 

to enable architects, engineers and 

contractors to view the building model 

and any information associated with it. A 

speaker from 3DRepo will be at the event 

to open up the exciting vista that is 

opening up before us in the construction 

industry. 

Information also plays a crucial role in 

the creation of 'smart cities', which 

facilitate the association of data about 

the population, environment, transport 

facilities and industry with a smart 

building model - in some cases, models 

that encompass the entire city (viz. 

Helsinki 3D and Singapore vying to be 

the world’s first truly smart city). 

Some will consider such developments 

to be sinister and fraught with dangers to 

the freedom of the individual. Others with 

sunnier dispositions will see it as an 

opportunity to use the data obtained to 

analyse trends and social activities and 

use the results for more realistic urban 

planning. 

The principal users of the information, 

though, are the asset or facility 

managers. They are charged with 

maintaining the structure throughout its 

life - a period considerably in excess of 

the time it will have taken to design and 

construct it, and representing a much 

larger slice of its lifetime costs. 

Having access to the information you 

will have amassed makes their lives far 

easier and reduces maintenance costs, 

but it comes with a couple of small 

niggles. Who owns the building model, 

and who do you turn to if you want to 

make modifications to the building? Who 

maintains the model over the lifetime of 

the building? How should you deliver that 

information? Why not come along to the 

CAD User COBie Seminar on May 16th in 

central London and pose a few more of 

your own! 

4 March/April 2017

Project 

management 

software 

developed 

specifically for 

construction 

projects 

Available in stand-alone and 

enterprise versions, with an integrated 

BIM module, Asta Powerproject 

delivers digital construction in an 

easy-to-use format. 

Update progress from your mobile 

Produce quality reports easily 

Create better tenders, faster 

See why it is the software choice for most UK 

construction planners: elecosoft.com/webinars 

elecosoft.com 

Asta Powerproject: The power behind successful projects

INDUSTRY news 

$2.25 MILLION INVESTMENT FOR HOLOBUILDER 

HoloBuilder, the German- 

American startup providing 

leading cloud and mobile software 

for virtual reality capturing 

of construction sites, has just 

received an investment of $2.25 

million in its first year. The startup 

modernises the way construction 

professionals document 

and manage their sites by 

enabling field workers to easily 

organise and share 360° views 

of their job site. 

"Over the last year, we've 

worked with many of the most 

important general contractors to 

create the best reality capturing 

and management solution for 

the construction industry," said 

Mo Akbari, Founder and CEO 

LUCIDEON CONTINUES TO EXPAND ON-SITE 

On-site testing and consultancy 

services allow for 

informed choices to be made 

during any stage of a construction 

project, whether it is 

new build, refurbishment or 

infrastructure. Lucideon's wide 

range of on-site capabilities 

allow for in-depth analysis to 

be performed to ensure that 

informed decisions are made, 

and that in-situ structures are fit 

for purpose. 

Lucideon performs on-site 

testing on some of the largest 

construction projects in the UK, 

of HoloBuilder, "And the latest 

investment lets us work even 

closer with leading industry 

experts. The unique feature set 

of HoloBuilder allows users to 

capture every step of the building 

progress in one single virtual 

project, making documentation 

a lot leaner and thorough 

than it has ever been before. 

HoloBuilder is one of the most 

efficient methods that we have 

in documenting as-built conditions 

throughout the life of the 

project," said Italo Cruz, Construction 

Technology Specialist 

at Rogers-O'Brien Construction. 

"It is basically like having X-ray 

vision for your building." 

www.holobuilder.com 

Europe and USA. Dr Geoff 

Edgell, director and construction 

principal consultant at 

Lucideon, said: "We're continuing 

to expand the number of 

clients we work with and the 

areas in which we offer onsite 

testing. As we continue to 

add value to new and redevelopment 

builds through 

on-site testing and analysis, 

the real benefit of this practice 

is becoming better 

understood, and more appreciated 

by our clients." 

www.lucideon.com 

SKANSKA WINS INNOVATE UK FUNDING 

Aconsortium led by Skanska 

has been awarded 

£680,000 by Innovate UK to 

collate and visualise infrastructure 

and community 

data, supporting more efficient 

project delivery. Skanska 

designs, builds and operates 

some of the UK's main buildings 

and infrastructure assets, 

including schools, hospitals, 

roads and railways as well as 

gas and water works. 

Through the 'VISUALISE' project, 

Skanska and its partners 

will aim to collate and overlay 

information from these buildings 

and systems, combining 

it with community based data 

– from environmental to social 

media information. 

Sam Stacey, Director of 

Innovation and Business 

Improvement, Skanska UK, 

said: "Across all of our projects, 

we hold a rich source of 

data. If we can find a way to 

collate and share it in an 

appropriate way, we could 

support our customers in 

reducing risks and finding 

ways to deliver projects more 

efficiently and effectively. 

"Through seeing the bigger 

picture, we could work better 

together so project delivery is 

more coordinated. This will 

optimise the use of equipment 

and resources, while minimising 

disruption to local people. 

"We're looking forward to 

working with our customers to 

see what data can be shared. 

It will help support more 

informed decision-making and 

delivery of the targets in the 

Construction 2025 industrial 

strategy – 50% faster delivery, 

50% lower emissions and 33% 

lower costs." The total project 

cost is just over £1m, with 

£680,000 coming from Innovate 

UK – the UK's innovation 

agency – and the rest from the 

project partners. 

www.skanska.co.uk 

INSPIRED TO ENTER YOUR BENTLEY PROJECT? 

Bentley Systems has 

announced its call for submissions 

to the 2017 Be 

Inspired Awards program. The 

awards, which are judged by 

independent juries of industry 

experts, recognise infrastructure 

projects for BIM advancements 

that improve project 

delivery and/or asset performance. 

The deadline for submission 

entries is May 1, 2017. 

The Be Inspired Awards are 

an integral part of Bentley’s 

Year in Infrastructure 2017 

Conference, which takes place 

Oct 10-12 in Singapore at 

Sands Expo and Convention 

Centre at Marina Bay Sands, 

one of the most iconic buildings 

in Asia. The structural 

design of Marina Bay Sands 

was done by Arup and was 

the 2010 Be Inspired Award 

winner for Innovation in Structural 

Engineering. 

All Bentley users are invited 

to enter their projects in the Be 

Inspired Awards program, no 

matter what phase the project 

is in – preconstruction/conceptual, 

design, construction, or in 

operations. The three finalists 

chosen for each Be Inspired 

Awards category will win a trip 

to Singapore to attend the 

conference, as a guest of 

Bentley Systems. 

The finalists will present their 

projects in the Be Inspired 

Awards finals portion of the 

conference before the judges, 

industry thought leaders, and 

more than 100 members of 

the media. 

www.bentley.com/beinspired 

6 

March/April 2017

60 

50.35 

50.35 

6.20 

7.30 

32.40 

YOU SEE 

THE WORLD 

DIFFERENTLY. 

ST 17H 

TRANSFORM IT. 

DESIGN WITH VECTORWORKS 2017. 

VECTORWORKS.NET/EXPLORE2017 

Our intuitive software enhances your design process, 

enabling you to collaborate from inspiration to execution 

and explore the possibilities of BIM and beyond. 

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH

INDUSTRY news 

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH ARITHMETICA 

Arithmetica, the UK innovator 

in rapid laser scanning data 

processing, has appointed 

point3D as a reseller for Pointfuse. 

Point3D will be the first US 

reseller of the recently released 

Pointfuse V2, which represents 

a new generation of point cloud 

3D modeling software. 

The launch of Pointfuse V2 in 

Europe demonstrated a new 

paradigm in the processing of 

laser scanned point cloud data. 

Now with a simple 'one touch 

one button' approach, the new 

techniques in Pointfuse V2 not 

only convert point clouds into 

3D vector models with accurate 

geometry, but also enable discrete 

surfaces in these models 

to be isolated and manipulated 

in third party software to a 

greater extent than ever before. 

"We have declared 2017 a 

year for digital transformation, 

and believe that Pointfuse will 

support us, our customers and 

our partners in this journey," 

commented Grew Lawes, Principal 

Owner of point3D. "Laser 

scanning hardware has developed 

to such an extent that we 

Causeway Technologies 

has announced the 

appointment of Colin Smith 

as Chief Executive Officer, 

whilst former CEO Phil Brown 

will be taking a more strategic 

role as Chairman. 

Colin’s previous roles 

include Managing Director of 

construction ERP vendor 

COINS, founder of BIW Technologies, 

a leading supplier 

of Software as a Service 

(SaaS) based project management 

software, and president 

of Textura Europe Ltd. 

Colin Smith commented: 

“Causeway’s philosophy of 

now capture point clouds of 

increasing size and density, 

often without due consideration 

of the processing requirement 

or ultimate use. Pointfuse V2 

tackles this issue head on! Its 

powerful point cloud engine 

combined with the ease of generation, 

manipulation and use 

of vector data, will revolutionise 

the scan-to-CAD workflow." 

Pointfuse V2 is a powerful 

modeling engine that delivers a 

fast, precise and flexible way of 

converting the vast point cloud 

datasets generated by laser 

scanners or photogrammetry 

into high fidelity vector models.Designed 

for anyone capturing 

or using point cloud data, 

Pointfuse V2 uses advanced 

statistical techniques to create 

vector models which can then 

be manipulated using any 

industry-standard CAD system. 

Arithmetica is an innovator in 

360 degree image processing 

and automated laser scanning 

data processing software and is 

the company behind Spherevision 

and Pointfuse. 

www.arithmetica.com 

CAUSEWAY APPOINTS COLIN SMITH AS CEO 

understanding its customers’ 

pains and passions, and 

using technical innovation to 

deliver game-changing solutions 

is the perfect synergy 

for my own business ethos. I 

am therefore excited to be 

joining the company at a time 

when the built environment 

sector is facing a wide range 

of disparate challenges. 

“I am particularly looking forward 

to building on the strong 

foundations that have already 

been laid and delivering the 

solutions that the industry 

needs,” he continued. 

www.causeway.com 

WOOD AWARDS 2017: CALL FOR ENTRIES 

The Wood Awards: Excellence 

in British Architecture 

and Product Design has now 

launched its 2017 call for 

entries. Those involved in a UKbased 

wood project are invited 

to enter and have until 26 May 

to submit their applications. 

Established in 1971, the 

Wood Awards recognises, 

encourages and promotes 

outstanding design, craftsmanship 

and installation using 

wood in projects throughoutthe 

UK. The Wood Awards’ independent 

judging panel not 

only judges all submitted 

entries but also visits the 

shortlisted projects in person. 

HIGH-FLYING DEAL FOR ACONEX 

Dubai Airports Corporation 

has signed a five-year 

enterprise agreement with 

Aconex. Under the agreement, 

the firm will standardise on 

Aconex solutions to manage 

virtually all small to mediumsized 

construction projects that 

are integral to operations at 

Dubai International (DXB) and 

Dubai World Central (DWC). 

Through 2021, Dubai Airports 

expects to undertake more 

than a hundred smaller infrastructure 

projects. Throughout 

all projects, normal airport 

operations must be maintained 

with minimal to no impact on 

passenger and cargo traffic. 

The Wood Awards shortlist 

will be announced in July and 

the winners will be announced 

at the Wood Awards ceremony 

on 21st November 2017 at 

Carpenters’ Hall in London. 

With permission from the 

owner, anyone associated with 

a building or product completed 

in the last two years, can 

enter. Buildings must be located 

within the UK whilst furniture 

and other products must have 

been either designed or manufactured 

in the UK.The competition 

is free to enter and 

entrants may submit more than 

one project. 

www.woodawards.com 

After extensive technical and 

commercial evaluations, Dubai 

Airports chose Aconex for its 

broad range of functionality, 

successful track record with 

capital projects of all sizes, and 

familiarity within the regional 

construction industry and, in 

particular, the unique project 

environment that is aviation. 

Aconex provides a neutral, project-wide 

collaboration platform 

for tendering, design reviews, 

document control, workflows 

and approvals, change management, 

analytics and reporting, 

and other core processes 

across the project lifecycle. 

www.aconex.com 

8 

March/April 2017

LINDE AG Engineering 

embraces HP PageWide XL 

Thomas Riedl, 

Reprographic Department Manager at Linde AG 

The installation of a HP PageWide 

XL 8000 Printer plus online folder 

marks the end of a time consuming 

and costly printing process 

at Linde AG Engineering. With HP 

PageWide XL the overall costs for 

printing large format documents 

could be reduced by 40%. 

Prior to installing the HP Page- 

Wide XL 8000 MFP plus online 

folder back in October 2015, the 

company was using three large 

format printers to manage their 

print volume which in peak times 

could reach up to 10.000m² per 

month. One black & white LED 

printer was used for printing pages 

and two additional color printers 

based on waxed toner pearls were 

needed to print an ever increasing 

number of coloured pages. “In the 

past technical drawings used to 

be printed only in black and white 

but lately we have seen a significant 

increase of colour pages,” 

says Thomas Riedl, Reprographic 

Department Manager at the Linde 

Headquarter in Pullach, Germany. 

The value of color 

“Already five years ago we were 

dreaming of a large format printer 

who could produce black and white 

and colour pages in one go. However 

the available solutions back 

then didn’t meet our expectations 

in terms of cost and quality”, remembers 

Mr. Riedl. 

It has been proven that color documents 

are more easily understood 

and the information is retained at 

higher rates versus monochrome 

documents - it can decrease human 

error rates 1) . 

Significant cost savings from 

day one 

The consolidation of the previous 

printers into one HP PageWide XL 

8000 plus online folder has paid off 

rapidly: the internal reprographic 

department could cut their overall 

large format printing costs by 

40%. In addition Linde AG is very 

satisfied that there is no minimum 

purchase commitment anymore. 

“The price per square meter is very 

competitive and we have gained 

a lot of flexibility”. Another positive 

side-effect is the low energy 

consumption compared to LED 

technology. “We are very conscious 

about our environmental impact 

including energy consumption, resources 

and materials,” confirms 

Mr. Riedl. 

Seamless integration with existing 

output management system 

Another argument in favor of the 

HP solution was the seamless integration 

into Linde’s corporate 

output management system called 

Plossys Netdome. The System 

now meets Linde’s requirements 

for enterprise-wide print and distribution 

of documents and information. 

The HP PageWide XL 8000 printer 

offers the fastest large-format 

printing available in color 

and black-and-white with speeds 

up to 30 D/A1-size prints per 

minute, as well as two 775 milliliter 

ink cartridges per color 2) . 

HP PageWide Technology consists 

of more than 200,000 nozzles on a 

stationary print bar and spans the 

width of the page, enabling breakthrough 

printing speeds. Extended 

time between service station cycles 

also enables outstanding sustained 

productivity capacity. 

More information: www.linde.com • www.hp.com/go/pagewidexl 

HP 841 PageWide XL Print head 

1) 

According to “Why Color Matters,” by Jill Morton, 2010. 2) Printing at up to 30 D/A1 pages/minute and up to 1500 D/A1 pages/hour, the HP PageWide XL 8000 Printer is faster than alternatives for large-format printing of 

technical documents, GIS maps, and point-of-sale (POS) posters under $200,000 USD as of March, 2015 including 36-inch wide LED printers (printing up 22 D/A1 pages/minute) and wide-format printers based on Memjet 

technology (printing up to 800 D/A1 pages/hour). Based on internal HP testing of the HP PageWide XL 8000 Printer in line drawing print mode on uncoated bond paper printing in D/A1 landscape.

SOFTWAREreview 

OpenRoads Designer 

Bentley's OpenRoads Designer provides a federated model that encompasses all disciplines in 

roadway design from conception to completion, writes David Chadwick 

You will hear the term 'scalable' 

used a lot in describing Bentley 

OpenRoads Designer, which is 

currently being released as a complete 

concept through a set of construction 

applications for the design of roads 

and associated infrastructure. 

Scalable relates here both to the 

number of different disciplines that 

OpenRoads Designer can reference 

and incorporate information from within 

the design model, and also to the 

unlimited size of the models it is able to 

handle. Operating as a Bentley 

CONNECT Edition, OpenRoads 

Designer is a 3D modelling application 

that helps to deliver roadway design 

from conception through to 

completion. It enables project 

managers to develop a federated 

model incorporating survey data, 

terrain modelling, drainage, subsurface 

utilities, the road itself and road 

furniture. It is also able to consume 

data in all formats, including reality 

meshes, aerial imagery and point 

clouds to place the road in context. It 

includes 3D parametric modelling to 

facilitate the creation of a design, 

together with traditional engineering 

workflows, to produce plans, profiles 

and cross sections, plus other 

deliverables. 

With a federated modelling 

environment, OpenRoads Designer 

provides engineers and contractors 

across all disciplines full access to 

their data, maintaining full collaboration 

through design and model updates, 

and can incorporate references to 

associated files in other applications. 

All of this is managed under the aegis 

of Bentley's ProjectWise. 

Because it offers multi-discipline 

support, OpenRoads Designer allows 

users to switch discipline perspectives, 

for instance from road alignment 

designer to subsurface utility engineer. 

This allows road designers access to 

gINT databases and to connect directly 

to geotechnical information and 

borehole data, to aid and improve 

design decisions. 

By bringing in subsurface information 

and generating subsurface terrains 

based on borehole information, these 

can be projected in road and drainage 

profiles, sections and plans. Users can 

then select utility and drainage 

components from catalogues of 

Composite image showing different stages of the development of the OpenRoads model 

10 

March/April 2017


All Bentley applications can be appropriated. Descartes CONNECT Edition simplifies 

the extraction of existing ground surfaces from point clouds and reality meshes 

functional components to model 

underground drainage networks. These 

can even be optimised for water flow 

using integrated water analysis tools, 

showing the results in data tables or 

visually in profile views. 

ROADWAY DESIGN 

OpenRoads Designer - which you 

could say is the culmination of the 

development of InRoads, GEOPAK, MX 

and PowerCivil - is used for the rapid 

development of roadway designs. Its 

parametric capabilities enables 

changes made to any aspect of the 

design to be reflected through the 

model, and to modify those elements 

affected by the change. 

This, in effect, means that changing 

the radius of a bend in the road would 

automatically re-route the subsurface 

drainage to maintain its relationship 

with the road edges. To give further 

examples of this, Bentley demonstrated 

OpenRoads Designer's modelling 

capabilities at a recent press event, 

focusing on the design of a two-lane 

highway. On a section of a proposed 

roadway, previously positioned using 

terrain modelling and reality modelling 

to provide its context, the road was run 

along the proposed corridor. 

Using OpenRoads ConceptStation 

(which we covered in the Sept/Oct 

2016 issue of the magazine) the road 

was modelled in situ with engineering 

precision, preserving all work and data 

for use when detailing the road for 

construction purposes. Virtual 

presentations at this point can place 

the road in a visual context for planning 

and publicity purposes. 

The road type was specified by 

incorporating the appropriate 

templates, and the result was able to 

be viewed and assessed immediately 

in a rendered 3D view. Slices can be 

taken at any location along the road to 

provide, in real time, a view of the road 

components at that point, or repeated 

at regular intervals. Design models can 

be viewed in all modes - plan, profile, 

cross-section and 3D - and changes 

made in one view dynamically update 

all views. 

The software is also able to show cut 

and fill requirements at each slice - 

however, because of the parametric 

and federated nature of the model 

users are now able to calculate and 

extract volumetric quantities of earth 

movements over specified sections, 

directly from the 3D model. 

Horizontal representations of sections 

of the road can also be taken from the 

model, then placed showing gradients 

and inclines on the road, and to 

provide annotated plan, plan and 

profile, or cross section drawings 

showing each discipline. 

Multiple sheets can also be created, 

each with a different set of annotations 

pertaining to the associated task or 

discipline. Subsequent modifications to 

the design model, roadway gradient, or 

other elements will also automatically 

update any ruled annotation attached 

to the model within the plan, profile 

and/or section. 

The demonstration showed how easy 

and quick it is to make changes to a 

model, enabling engineers to layout 

roads more rapidly, or to run a series of 

iterations to test route alternatives. With 

all disciplines working on the same 

federated model, design conflicts are 

more readily seen and resolved earlier 

in the process, and, during the 

construction phases, office-to-field 

collaboration is immeasurably 

improved. 

DELIVERABLES 

Deliverables can range from traditional 

sets of drawings to animations and 

digital construction models, and can 

even be used for automated machine 

control and field positioning systems, 

including excavation, grading, piling 

and paving. Plan generation is 

dynamically updated - it's no longer a 

separate process - and views are 

saved with specific display rules and 

sheet indexes embedded, making it 

easy to navigate between the model 

and the drawings. 

And, as we have also seen with 

OpenRoads ConceptStation, the 

software integrates directly with Bentley 

LumenRT to produce cinematic quality 

visualisations, adding vegetation, 

climate and time display and traffic 

simulation using VISSIM. Designs 

created using OpenRoads Designer 

can be checked for BIM status using 

OpenRoads Navigator, which facilitates 

the visualisation and review of 3D 

designs as well as their status, giving 

dispersed teams the ability to check 

progress approvals and other issues. 

CONCLUSION 

We would be hard-pressed to point to 

any element of the whole design and 

construction process that was missing 

or could be improved upon in 

OpenRoads Designer, but as we have 

seen in the past Bentley will no doubt 

find a way to scale beyond even our 

wildest expectations in time. 

www.bentley.com/openroads 

March/April 2017 11

CASEstudy 

Designing Reality 

An inspired design, created and developed by architects at ArchiRADAR, won first prize in 

Graphisoft's 'Algorithmic Design meets BIM' competition 

Architects Michele Calvano, a 

Rhino & Grasshopper expert, and 

Mario Sacco, an ARCHICAD & 

GDL expert, both from ArchiRADAR, 

have used an architectural design 

workflow, using ARCHICAD, Rhinoceros 

and Grasshopper to create responsive 

and optimised shading panels on a 

free-form high-rise project. The project 

won first prize in the 'Algorithmic 

Design Meets BIM' competition 

sponsored by Graphisoft. 

The Software used in the project, 

besides Graphisoft’s ARCHICAD, 

Rhinoceros and Grasshopper, included 

Solibri Model Viewer and Tekla 

Structures. "Using ARCHICAD, our first 

aim was always to reduce time in 

managing projects; using GDL gave us 

a lot of flexibility in personalising 

schedules and controlling quantities. 

Grasshopper gave us an opportunity to 

further improve this capability," 

explained Mario Sacco. 

The initial, free-form conceptual shape 

and geometry of the building was 

created using Rhinoceros, which 

provided all of the tools they needed to 

efficiently create the double-curved 

NURBS surfaces that are a feature of 

the model, setting graphic controlpoints, 

and enabling convenient, realtime 

3D editing. 

Grasshopper was used to overlay a 

mesh surface on the previously 

constructed NURBs. As a result, the 

complexity of the double-curved surface 

was reduced to evenly distributed planar 

squad panels grouped in clusters. In 

practice, this ensured that most of the 

panels have a similar geometry. The 

building skin, therefore, is covered by a 

series of equal element groups, designed 

to increase manufacturing efficiency and 

reduce construction costs. 

A great advantage of Grasshopper and 

Rhino is that all design updates and 

changes are handled in real-time, so 

that any change in the NURBs in Rhino 

causes an instant update of the mesh 

surface generated by Grasshopper. This 

way, the number and size of the planar 

panels could be easily adjusted. 

A triangulated grid structure was drawn 

in Rhino under the principal surface 

using only 3D lines, not solid shapes. 

As a consequence, the 3D definition 

could be kept very light and was easily 

adjustable. The Grasshopper file 

generated was a mere 200kb in size. 

3D modelling is viewed as 'the ideal 

tool' for conceptualising, creating and 

visualising a building. The connection 

between Grasshopper and ARCHICAD 

allows us to take the process further, 

making it capable of creating a direct 

link between creation and production. 

This frees us from following a strictly 

linear process, and gives us the 

freedom to explore designs in a 

dynamic, light multi-model. 

Generating the ARCHICAD BIM Lines, 

polylines and points, thanks to the AC- 

GH Connection, enables them to 

become ARCHICAD objects; so the next 

step was to convert the previously 

generated mesh surfaces and structural 

grid elements to parametric ARCHICAD 

elements. In this case, the main element 

of the building skin was a special, smart, 

parametric sun shading screen object 

(brise soleil element) written in GDL. 

Thanks to the live, bi-directional 

Grasshopper-ARCHICAD connection, 

such sun shading elements were 

created from the mesh surfaces, 

enabling the conceptual model to be 

transferred into a BIM model. 

GENERATIVE DISTRIBUTION AND 

POSITIONING OF PARAMETRIC 

ARCHICAD SHADING COMPONENTS 

This robust, live, two-way connection 

was available throughout the entire 

design development project phase. Any 

changes made in the ARCHICAD 

building information model would be 

reflected in Rhino, and any changes 

initiated in Grasshopper or Rhino would, 

similarly, be instantly reflected in the BIM 

project as well. As the design evolved, 

the GDL elements were able to be 

refined with details, and further elements 

were able to be added later when 

appropriate. The architectural 

documentation, including quantity takeoffs 

and schedules, were able to be 

created easily during any phase of the 

design process. 

12 

March/April 2017

CASEstudy 

The draft structural grid drawn in Rhinoceros 

Model checking in Solibri Model Checker 

Simplified structural elements generated with the 

Grasshopper ARCHICAD add-on 

Grasshopper - Rhino - ARCHICAD live bi-directional design 

envionments 

As the design evolved, the custommade, 

parametric solar panels were 

refined with parametric object subcomponents 

(spiders, nodes, etc.) and 

parametric configuration options. Thus, 

these location and orientation-sensitive 

solar panels could individually change 

their inclination on the building, 

reacting to specific, external criteria like 

actual sky and sun conditions. 

The structural design of the building 

was modelled with the help of IFC. The 

simplified, load-bearing structure was 

created automatically during the 

Grasshopper-ARCHICAD import using 

native ARCHICAD Beam elements. 

Exporting a native beam (not BREP) in 

IFC allowed Michele and Mario at 

ArchiRADAR to list, for example, the 

exact element length when they were 

exported to structural software using 

IFC protocols. 

The structural building scheme was 

created in Tekla Structures and the 

completed structural model was 

merged back into the architectural 

model, again using the IFC format. In 

Tekla, the use of native ARCHICAD 

Beams allowed engineers to redefine 

the beam type without needing to 

redraw the entire structure. 

Thanks to the small, parametric 

elements the ARCHICAD file size of the 

project was still only 13MB, ensuring an 

extremely responsive design 

environment even on average hardware. 

The model was also able to be used for 

reference, model checking, clash 

detection with the MEP systems, and for 

further collaboration purposes. Solibri 

Model Viewer was used to check if the 

IFC model complied with the standards. 

BUILDING ENERGY ANALYSIS 

Building energy analysis tools enabled 

the ArchiRADAR team to simulate 

algorithmic design scenarios 

throughout the entire design workflow 

and we used it, not only to create 

astonishing forms, but also to develop 

an energy-conscious design 

responsive to its environment, and to 

its microclimate as well. 

The Rhinoceros model could also be 

used for a more scientific building 

energy analysis. Using the Ladybug 

and Honeybee Rhino add-ons, the 

design could be analysed using Energy 

Plus. ARCHICAD also offers various 

energy evaluation functionalities out of 

the box, and provides a number of 

project export capabilities for other 

applications including PHPP, iSBEM, 

VIP-Energy, gbXML, as well as a 

dedicated 'green' IFC translator. 

ABOUT ARCHIRADAR 

This was an imaginative project for 

ArchiRADAR, but well within the scope 

of the company. which provides BIM 

services that span all stages of 

planning, design, construction and 

management across the AEC Industry. 

ArchiRADAR delivers customised 

services and solutions to suit all BIM 

requirements, regardless of the type 

and size of a project. 

www.graphisoft.com 

March/April 2017 13

CASEstudy 

Reclaiming Brownfields 

ContextCapture underpins the City of Coatesville's largest brownfield redevelopment, producing an 

accurate 3D terrain model, eliminating the need for costly on-site surveys of a constrained footprint 

The need for more building land is 

pushing demands to open up 

green spaces to the builders - 

countered by those who say that we 

already have vast acres of brownfield 

sites lying unused. The reuse of derelict 

wasteland, though, comes with an 

entirely new set of issues, as 

Coatesville community in Pennsylvania, 

America have discovered. 

Coatesville, the poorest community in 

Chester County, Pennsylvania's 

wealthiest province, has suffered from 

the exportation of manufacturing and 

industrial jobs, leaving a once thriving 

steel-producing city struggling to 

prosper amid a degrading 

infrastructure. To facilitate economic 

development, the Coatesville 

Redevelopment Authority (RDA) is 

working to rehabilitate commercial, 

residential, and industrial facilities that 

are now brownfield sites. 

To promote community redevelopment 

and sustainable growth, CEDARVILLE 

Engineering Group (CEDARVILLE) has 

provided at no cost to the city or RDA, 

conceptual design and planning 

services for a large brownfield 

redevelopment project known as "The 

Flats." 

To deliver 3D conceptual design 

plans, CEDARVILLE needed to survey 

the existing site conditions at the former 

steel-mill location. Spanning 30 acres, 

"The Flats" encompasses abandoned 

foundations from demolished industrial 

structures, hazardous materials, and 

soil contamination, and is subject to 

railroad intrusions and floodplain 

vulnerability. These conditions made it 

expensive and potentially dangerous to 

perform a traditional on-site survey and 

required the project team to consider 

alternative solutions to address the 

survey restraints. With special 

procedures and permits needed to 

enter the site, they estimated that it 

would "Cost about USD 40,000 to 

commission a traditional survey," 

commented April Barkasi, founder and 

president of CEDARVILLE. Given the 

restricted site access and detailed 

analysis necessary amid a modest 

budget, CEDARVILLE needed accurate, 

scalable software to safely and costefficiently 

capture a 3D model of the 

existing terrain conditions for effective 

redevelopment planning of "The Flats." 

REALITY MODELLING PROVIDES 

AN OPTIMAL SOLUTION 

Challenging cost-prohibitive and risky 

conventional survey methods, 

CEDARVILLE explored numerous 

options to safely survey the existing 

terrain and accurately model the site. 

The team compiled various disparate 

data forms which were already 

available, determined additional data 

needs, and ultimately decided that 

photogrammetric reality modelling 

provided an optimal, cost-effective 

solution. This new technology allowed 

CEDARVILLE to survey the site using 

unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to 

capture simple photographs, 

eliminating the need for on-site surveys, 

and create an accurate model as a 

texturised mesh. 

Numerous reality modelling 

applications are available, but 

CEDARVILLE required an interoperable 

technology that could handle the 

capacity of the 30-acre brownfield site, 

the high-resolution images, and the 

existing data and metadata, which 

could then generate an accurate 3D 

mesh needed to work with design cross 

sections and analysis profiles. Based 

on these requirements, CEDARVILLE 

determined that Bentley's 

ContextCapture met the scalability, 

engineering precision, interoperability, 

and modelling criteria for the project. 

"We wanted to generate topographic 

data as efficiently as we could," 

explained Barkasi. Using 

ContextCapture for reality modelling 

provided the flexibility and precision 

necessary for the team to rapidly, and 

cost-effectively, deliver its conceptual 

planning assessment and designs for 

the redevelopment of the former steelmill 

site to the RDA. 

AUTOMATED TECHNOLOGY 

Using a drone, CEDARVILLE captured 

more than 750 aerial photos in a mere 

20 minutes, and with ContextCapture, 

the team incorporated base imagery 

from four perimeter ground-control 

points (GCP). The interoperability and 

photogrammetric reconstruction 

capabilities of ContextCapture allowed 

CEDARVILLE to leverage information 

and images from the drone, a handheld 

camera, the ground control points, 

existing survey data, and old photos to 

build a precise reality model - 

eliminating the need for an on-site 

inspection altogether. 

"There are parts of the property that 

were difficult to access, but Bentley 

technology made it almost like having 

boots on the ground - without having 

boots on the ground," stated 

Coatesville's City Manager Michael Trio. 

Furthermore, the flexibility and 

interoperability of ContextCapture made 

it much faster for CEDARVILLE to 

collect the data, and to visually present 

the data to the city of Coatesville. The 

software automated the reconstruction 

of the site model in a matter of hours. 

14 

March/April 2017

CASEstudy 

ContextCapture was instrumental in allowing local municipalities 

to visualize the state of "The Flats," and the conceptual 

design plans for the brownfield redevelopment. 

CEDARVILLE captured more than 750 aerial photos via a 

drone in a matter of 20 minutes, and using 

ContextCapture, incorporated base imagery to build a 

precise reality model. 

No manual modelling of the structures 

or the terrain of the project site was 

necessary. Using Bentley's reality 

modeling application to automatically 

produce a geo-referenced 3D model 

reduced risk, ensured safety, enhanced 

decision making, and accelerated buyin 

from local municipalities. 

The project team was able to quickly 

and accurately document the current 

conditions of "The Flats" and then 

present conceptual plans to 

demonstrate the type of reuse 

envisioned for the brownfield site, 

resulting in a significant time savings 

for the city. 

ACCURATE 3D REALITY MESH 

With ContextCapture, CEDARVILLE 

produced a multi-resolution 3D reality 

model in a file size nearly 30 percent 

smaller than a point cloud, which 

enhanced the overall processing power 

and responsiveness of the data when 

manipulating the model. Project 

designers could interactively move 

within the model to achieve the desired 

grading for drainage and permit 

compliance for optimal planning and 

redevelopment. CEDARVILLE were able 

to show a highly realistic and accurate 

surface model to support its 

recommendations and findings for 

design options, grading, and 

infrastructure planning. The texturised 

mesh provided a complete visual 

rendition of the project, easily 

recognised and usable by the team, the 

client, and the stakeholders. 

More specifically, the 3D terrain model 

generated by ContextCapture enabled 

CEDARVILLE to extract volumetric 

calculations very simply to determine 

the amount of fill required to complete 

a two-foot overfill cap for the mitigation 

of the brownfield area. Using the 

model, city planners and project 

engineers accurately calculated the 

presence of 22,400 cubic yards of 

stockpiled clean fill, demonstrating that 

enough stockpiled material existed, onsite, 

to cap over seven acres of the 26 

acres within the city boundary, an 

amount that exceeds required zoning 

provisions for the parcel. Barkasi 

commented, "Bulk clean fill ranges from 

USD 8 to USD 20 per cubic yard, which 

represents a huge cost benefit." 

Finally, the reality model provided 

CEDARVILLE designers with excellent 

information to establish the stream 

alignment and profile necessary prior to 

extracting and exporting cross sections 

to HEC-RAS to perform the required 

floodway analysis. Structural details 

from the abandoned mill foundations 

and bridge structures were clearly 

illustrated in the extracted cross 

sections, enabling CEDARVILLE 

engineers to optimise analysis, 

minimising the impact of the new 

grading over the floodway, and overall, 

to determine viable options for 

redevelopment. 

DRIVING THE FUTURE OF REALITY 

MODELLING 

Initiating the use of ContextCapture 

reality modelling technology on "The 

Flats" brownfield redevelopment project 

proved successful for CEDARVILLE and 

Coatesville. Not only did this approach 

save significant time and money, the 

visually realistic, dimensionally 

accurate, highly detailed 3D model 

facilitated engineering, enhanced 

decision making, and accelerated 

stakeholder buy-in, critical for effective 

economic redevelopment of the land. 

The reality model presents a 

comprehensive birds-eye view of the 

property, with reliable field data, 

providing a strategic advantage in 

developing a prospectus for potential 

investors, and will continue to provide 

value to the city throughout planning 

and design on related economic 

development projects. Using the model 

has already secured additional grants 

and funding from various agencies for 

the intersection and roadways aligned 

with the "The Flats" redevelopment. 

Based on its successful launch of 

reality modelling in Coatesville, 

CEDARVILLE already has expanded the 

role of the new technology, using it to 

address community drainage problems 

and plan sidewalks along rural 

roadways. With several upcoming 

projects, CEDARVILLE plans on using 

ContextCapture hoping to achieve 

similar results. 

"Using the most innovative tools in 

technology, we have developed a 

process that efficiently creates 3D 

scalable models with precision and 

accuracy. Reality modelling is where 

infrastructure of the future begins," 

stated Barkasi. 

www.bentley.com 

March/April 2017 15


The complete works 

Concept planning for infrastructure projects is simplified using Autodesk's InfraWorks 360 

The true art of an expert is to be able 

to present something that appears 

to be simple, but which hides the 

vast amount of skill required to achieve 

that aim. This is as true of a painter as it 

a piece of software. InfraWorks 360 from 

Autodesk falls into this category, as it 

provides a range of tools for quickly and 

easily laying out infrastructure scenarios 

with compelling graphics, but which 

need sophisticated software techniques 

to do so. 

The software is used to bring together a 

range of infrastructure planning and design 

tools to lay out road, rail and other building 

projects, but, in order to create valid 

concepts, the rules that govern the 

sketched elements have to operate within 

the same building constraints as the 

construction models. Horizontal curves in 

roads and yield lines and aprons on 

roundabouts must have the proper radii 

and other dimensions, but all that aside, 

InfraWorks 360 is not your run of the mill 

3D modelling application. 

The software has been designed as an 

alternative to full scale civil design 

applications traditionally used for planning 

and presenting designs to clients - a 

longwinded process that typically 

originates from a couple of informal 

sketches, which are then worked up into a 

full CAD 2D drawing that have to be 

converted into 3D visualisations so that 

they can be understood by the client. 

These take a lot of time and energy to 

produce, and if the client is not happy and 

suggests changes then it's back to the old 

drawing board, extending the project by 

another couple of weeks. 

Hence InfraWorks 360, which provides a 

mixture of civil design and 2D schematic 

GIS in a pared down CAD application that 

nevertheless retains the crucial civil 

engineering constraints while also 

delivering 3D infrastructure models for 

concept project planning. It fulfils its main 

aim admirably, which is to allow designers 

to present their designs in real-time to their 

clients or stakeholders, and to incorporate 

suggestions from them at the same 

meeting, allowing designers and clients to 

explore alternative scenarios in real-time. 

InfraWorks 360 contains all of the 

elements required to define the project, 

from basic building blocks and terrain 

development, to the laying out of complex 

road and rail networks, and then present it 

in a visual 3D environment so that clients 

can readily relate it to their requirements, 

all accomplished within the same design 

environment. 

DESIGNING FROM SCRATCH 

Starting from raw 3D terrain models or 

GIS survey data, designers can 'build' 

complete 3D models, applying grading to 

level sites, digging cuttings, adding 

buildings, bridges and water features - a 

full range of hydrology, hydraulic and 

drainage tools are included - and 

populating the model with street furniture, 

lighting, people, cars and plants to create 

fully simulated scenes. 

They can bring in files to support the 

modelling from a variety of sources, 

including Esri shapefiles, SketchUp, 

Autodesk SDF and SWG and Revit. Once 

a design has been approved, it can then 

by exported directly into AutoCAD CIVIL 

3D to produce construction documents 

and models. Traditionally, this final step 

would have seen the approved concept 

model scrapped, and the construction 

models developed from scratch. 

It's not necessary to be face to face with 

the client either. The software includes 

collaboration tools that enable teams to 

participate in the design process 

wherever they may be based, and 

because the software is optimised for 

development of the project, preliminary 

engineering work can be commenced 

while the finer details of a project are 

being sorted out. 

16 

March/April 2017


INFRAWORKS 360 IN ACTION 

Terrain models can be developed in 

minutes using the Model Builder tool, 

which defines the area to be covered by 

the project, and you can import GIS 

information which is often freely available 

from many sources. The model is then 

populated with elements imported in any of 

the formats listed above, or developed 

from scratch using AutoCAD Civil 3D 

The model is then developed using rulesbased 

design, working to a set of rules and 

calculations but retaining its very visual fully 

rendered format. Users can click on each 

of the model elements to display its 

context, which is useful for exploring 

different solutions - such as whether to 

place a roundabout or junction where 

roads cross, or where to place bridges, 

cuttings and embankments. 

The software goes much further than that, 

though. If you have picked points to define 

a road then the software knows that 

horizontal curves need to have a certain 

radius, or that vertical curves need a 

certain length. Points of vertical intersection 

and vertical curves can be adjusted in realtime, 

whilst the software chips in to point 

out where the design violates engineering 

rules or fixes it itself - the software can be 

primed to do either. 

Similarly, when a bridge is placed in a 

project, the user can specify the type of 

structure to be used and the number of 

piers, or allow the software to choose a 

suitable standard structural shape based 

on the length and type of span. 

Other tools allow users to convert GIS 

roads to design roads or to send elements 

of the design to more detailed design tools 

- a bridge between InfraWorks 360 and 

Civil3D - or even to further structural design 

by exporting the model to Revit. 

BOMS AND QUANTITIES 

Infrastructure projects have more 

complex needs when it comes to 

estimating material quantities. It's not just 

a question of how much concrete you are 

going to pour into a site, but also how 

much earth you have to shift to create the 

cuttings and embankments, build the 

correct road gradients, flatten the 

proposed car park. InfraWorks 360 

includes tools that do the calculations for 

you, working out the cut and fill required 

for each bit of grading. It can even help 

you specify the size of culvert required to 

accommodate a stream. 

AN INFRASTRUCTURAL BIM MODEL 

An InfraWorks 360 model is a true 3D BIM 

model, containing aggregated information 

in every element, enabling it to be used for 

any type of analysis, from workflow/labour 

costs to road and rail sight lines to road 

signs and signals. As we pointed out 

earlier, there's a lot of intelligence and 

processing behind the seemingly simple 

application - which is why some of the 

more power-hungry processes it utilises 

are handled in the cloud. 

GETTING MOBILE 

InfraWorks 360 is not just a concept 

planning tool. It is extremely useful for 

presenting the same projects to the public 

- and for that it needs to populate the 

models with people and transport, to make 

it available on viewing platforms and the 

web, and even to allow the public to 

navigate through the models. 

Hence the release of Mobility Simulation 

last year, which allows designers to 

populate models with different modes of 

transportation, animate them and even to 

highlight hotspots showing potential traffic 

congestion using coloured bars. 

Mobility Simulation will feature widely in 

Autodesk's plans to develop Smart Cities, 

used as a multi-mode transportation 

analysis and design tool - everything from 

cycle lanes to taxis, buses, private cars to 

trains and the airport. 

It offers tools to generate drive-through 

animations, and to capture views at 

particular angles - a driver’s eye view as 

they approach a complex road junction, for 

example - or to give an idea of how a new 

bridge would impact upon the views from 

an adjacent building. Adding date and time 

information to a model which already 

knows your location adds increased 

accuracy to model visualisations, showing 

what they would look like at any time of the 

year - day or night. And one of the most 

recent features allows users to build terrain 

surfaces directly from point cloud data 

directly in InfraWorks 360. 

PROJECT OPTIMISATION 

The main benefit of using tools like 

InfraWorks to plan infrastructure projects is 

that they give all parties the time, means 

and incentive to explore many variations, 

test hypotheses, and visualise the impact 

of new technologies and techniques - all 

things that are inconceivable using 

traditional planning methods. 

www.autodesk.com 

March/April 2017 17

EVENTpreview 

A seismic upheaval 

David Chadwick considers the role of information in a future society and its relevance to the 

building model, and looks ahead to the CAD User COBie Seminar in May 

How many Internet connected 

devices do you currently use? 

That's quite apart from your home 

computer and smartphones. Perhaps you 

have had a smart meter installed to record 

your electricity usage in real time, or you 

have smart controls to turn lights on and 

off while you're away from home, or 

control burglar alarms and CCTV. If you 

upgraded your car recently, you will have 

anything up to full Wi-Fi capabilities so that 

the kids can Google or play games while 

you drive. You might even be thinking 

about installing a smart fridge that will 

reorder essentials when you get a bit low. 

This article isn't about the perils of being 

hacked - although that becomes a distinct 

possibility when each new device comes 

with a unique access code - but rather the 

way the in which the information that 

underpins the Internet of Things is going 

to change the way we live, work and 

breathe, a seismic upheaval that will 

eclipse the replacement of the horse with 

the car. 

The attachment of information to a 

building model provides more than a 

means of sharing building models with 

fellow project members and with those 

responsible for maintaining the building 

after it has been erected. It places it within 

a context that can be used for many other 

purposes. The information that is supplied 

with the Building Information Model will, in 

future, be used for more than just 

providing details of how to service, fix or 

replace a building's central heating 

system. It will incorporate multiple sensors 

that will record all consumable items used 

within a building unit for either analysis or 

billing purposes. We are halfway there on 

that already. 

With links to other government 

departments, local authorities will have 

access to occupancy levels of houses and 

apartments, and will be able to analyse 

and predict such levels and equate it to 

the building's dimensions, assisting them 

in planning the local infrastructure, vehicle 

access (if we are still allowed to drive our 

own cars in the future) and the provision of 

schools, local shops, health facilities and 

other public amenities. 

Fanciful nonsense you might think, but 

it's already in progress in some forwardthinking 

cities. Helsinki 3D, for example, is 

a 3D model of the entire city that does 

indeed match housing units with 

occupancy numbers. Singapore, as you 

would expect, is also aiming to become 

the world's first 'Smart City'. 

INFORMATION IN THE BUILDING 

MODEL 

The information that underpins the Smart 

City is not there merely to promote the 

technical efficiency of those forward 

thinking communities, but to enable them 

to cope with the other pressing demands 

that will dominate the planet throughout 

the remainder of this century - and more 

than likely into the next as well, if we 

haven't cracked the problem by 2099! 

The most urgent of these issues are 

increasing urbanisation as fast growing 

populations migrate to the cities, and 

the declining of the Earth's resources. 

Increased populations in limited space 

increases the density of housing 

occupancy, pressurises private and 

public transport systems, and raises 

problems with the supply and removal 

of the necessities of life - food and 

human waste. 

Any government faced with these issues 

will want to keep tabs on and leverage the 

information available within Smart 

communities, and, 'in extremis', legislate to 

control excesses or wastage in any area. 

That is already happening as well, with 

excess charges being levied on users who 

put out overfull bins, or need to dispose of 

building rubble at the local tip. 

COBIE OR NOT COBIE? 

Perhaps you were thinking that BIM could 

pass you by, as you only build single 

housing units, and at most a small terrace 

of houses or block of flats? You might 

have to produce an Energy Certificate 

when the building is sold, but that can be 

achieved without all this rigmarole of 

providing a full 3D model with building 

materials and components specified 

together with their performance 

capabilities and lifetime energy usage 

costs. Well think again! 

It might take some time for rural 

18 

March/April 2017

EVENTpreview 

architects to catch up as the pressures 

there aren't so great, but any construction 

in an urban environment - London or 

Manchester, for instance - will come under 

stricter rules and regulations about how 

the building model will be delivered, and 

how it will address local environmental 

and infrastructure concerns. It will need to 

come fully topped up with the sort of 

information that is not only geared towards 

making efficiencies during its design and 

construction, but which can be addressed 

many years into the future by local 

planning authorities. 

To raise awareness of the many, often 

complex issues involved we are holding a 

CAD User COBie Seminar this May in 

association with Vectorworks. The subject 

matter and the points that will be 

discussed don't just apply to 

architects and building contractors 

however - they will affect everyone from 

landscape modellers and town planners 

right through to construction teams and 

asset managers. 

The COBie Seminar will look at the role of 

information in the building model; what it 

is, how it is attached to the model and 

what does, or indeed does not need to be 

included for other users of the model. That 

will be followed by presentations outlining 

different methods of delivering that 

information to other users, in the form of a 

federated model that combines models 

from all of the disciplines involved with the 

design and construction of the building. 

This can then be viewed on any number 

of devices, or as COBie data, promoted 

by the UK Government, which addresses 

a number of critical needs - in particular 

providing asset managers with an easily 

digested inventory of all of the 

components of a building with associated 

files to facilitate its maintenance. Each 

method of delivery has its pros and cons. 

The seminar is taking place at the 

London Transport Museum, and we have 

the happy situation where one of our 

speakers on the day will be Andy Stanton, 

Infrastructure and Sustainability Manager 

at Transport for London. You can find 

more details of all of the seminar 

speakerson the seminar website at the 

end of this article. 

COBie or not COBie: that's a convenient 

tag to grab your attention. The real 

purpose of the event is to get you thinking 

more seriously about the role of 

information in society. The seminar's 

afternoon's session will begin with a look 

at the future of information within the 

industry - or more specifically, within our 

lives - and the issues that address long 

term ownership and retention of up to date 

building information. Attendees will then 

have their opportunity to question the 

experts in an open forum. 

Companies will soon need to make 

some important decisions about how they 

handle their data - either as developers or 

users - and the CAD User COBie Seminar 

will give them an opportunity to clarify their 

BIM and COBie knowledge and thereby 

make some informed decisions about 

their role in the future. 

At the outset of this article I said that we 

are heading towards a seismic change in 

the way we handle information. Why not 

come along to the seminar and see if you 

can challenge that statement! 

www.caduser.com/seminars 

COBIE SEMINAR AGENDA 

9:00 Registration and coffee 

10:00 Introduction by David Chadwick – COBie or Not COBie – That is the question. 

10:10 Information is the Key to BIM. But what information, how do we save it, why and how much? 

10:40 Why can’t we use a Federated Building Model as an Information Delivery System? 

11:10 Coffee Break 

11:30 Learning to Love COBie – It’s the best and most effective solution we have. 

12:00 What information do I need for managing my assets, and how do I want it? 

12:30 Lunch break 

13:30 When Theory meets Practice. Unanswered questions about COBie and the FBM 

14:00 Questions and Answers. Your chance to put the panel of experts under pressure 

15:30 Close 

March/April 2017 19


Tekla 2017 

Trimble has released the latest 

version of Tekla's structural 

engineering design and 

analysis suite of tools 

Enhanced communication and 

modelling, together with some 

completely new tools to expand 

working processes and collaboration are 

the main themes of the latest releases from 

Trimble of its structural engineering, 

fabrication and construction software, Tekla 

2017, which incorporates Tekla Structures 

2017, Tekla Structural Designer 2017 and 

Tekla TEDDS 2017. 

This latest release demonstrates Trimble's 

commitment to the development of Tekla 

Building Information Modelling solutions, 

and to innovations in structural engineering, 

off-site prefabrication and on-site efficiency. 

Placing the release in perspective, Jari 

Heino, general manager of Trimble's 

Structures Division said: "In these new Tekla 

versions, we focus on improving 

communication and modelling methods, as 

these are directly tied to the productivity of 

core tasks within large workgroups and 

projects. The software provides a variety of 

completely new tools for users to expand 

their scope of work and collaborate with 

project stakeholders to ensure that the 

entire team is on the same page." 

TEKLA STRUCTURES 2017 

Tekla Structures 2017 comes with next 

generation tools that include a new 

customisable user interface and contextual 

toolbar. Combined with other 

enhancements they make modelling 

quicker and easier and design 

communication more effective. More 

control is also provided for Direct 

Modification, enabling users to create an 

accurate structural model quicker and 

easier. A faster Organizer facilitates 

speedier finding and fixing of parts, and the 

general arrangement and detailed drawings 

functions have also been improved. 

With this basepoint, engineers and 

architects can now work together in a BIM 

Tekla Structures 2017 - model UI 

workflow with correct common coordinates. 

Architects can also take advantage of a 

new plugin that provides algorithmic 

modelling for Tekla Structures using the 

popular Rhino/Grasshopper combination. 

For concrete, Tekla Structures 2017 

introduces next-generation reinforcement 

methods that give users more flexibility to 

create and modify reinforcements for 

different types of concrete geometries. With 

the unique pour unit feature, managing and 

reporting all pour-specific information is 

made more effective and easier to 

implement. 

Precast concrete fabrication comes with 

improved information exchange between 

detailing and production with new data 

transfer links direct to production 

management. Elsewhere, the new palletiser 

tool improves model-based production 

planning. Not only do these additions save 

time in the planning process, but they also 

prevent human errors in information transfer 

between detailing and production. 

For steel detailing, the new release 

improves modelling of steel bent plates with 

full support for direct modification. Now, 

editing and working with even the most 

complex bent plates is simple and intuitive. 

Users can create anything from simple bent 

gussets to folded profiles, spiral stringer 

plates, transitional duct sections, complex 

folded panels and more. 

Enhancements in drawing production 

enable easier and more flexible shaping of 

drawings, and help to ensure clear 

communication of design intent and fewer 

requests for information. The new 2D 

Library is a productivity tool for replacing 

repetitive work. A nice new addition is that 

3D graphics have a new look about them - 

they now come with shadows. 

Tekla Structures 2017 is further enhanced 

for general structural design. Structural 

engineering offices can reduce their risks 

and add value by minimising the 

uncertainty that arises from incomplete and 

uncoordinated construction documents, 

hence the latest version is specifically 

developed for their needs, providing 

productivity and workflow improvements for 

all structural materials and project types. 

With the new release, users can create 

documentation that is better coordinated 

and thus more reliable, and communicate 

structural design more effectively. Fewer 

requests for information (RFIs) and postdesign 

project management issues help 

improve structural engineering office 

business performance. 

STRUCTURAL DESIGNER 2017: 

FOUNDATION DESIGN AND WIND 

LOADING EFFICIENCY 

Tekla Structural Designer (TSD) is an 

analysis and design (A&D) application that 

shortens design time, providing an efficient 

way to quickly establish optimum structural 

solutions. The new version delivers 

significant new features and enhancements 

focused on A&D workflow productivity, 

combining to contribute significantly to the 

overall workflow for both steel and concrete 

code compliant structural design. 

20 

March/April 2017

From design 

to reality 

Woonzorgcentrum De Polbeek (Holland) 

Tekla Structures is intelligent 3D modelling software designed to help you 

deliver all types of precast concrete elements at the right time to the right place. 

Integrating design and detailing with manufacture, project management and 

efficient information sharing Tekla Structures can do it all. 

Together we are shaping a smarter future for construction. 

www.tekla.com/uk/solutions 

TRANSFORMING THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS


Tekla Structural Designer 2017 - foundation design 

Tekla wall and floor layout 

Comprehensive design functionalities 

have been provided for all of the common 

foundation types required in steel and 

concrete structures. It makes foundation 

design more efficient by automating some 

functions, such as calculating the number 

of piles required in a structure, together 

with comprehensive calculations and 

material take-offs within a single model. In 

addition, new wind load processes have 

been added which speed the application 

of wind loading. 

The new tools allow easy application of 

horizontal and wind loading, helping 

engineers assess the lateral strength 

requirements of their structure. Besides 

making the process faster, wind loading is 

more flexible, making it especially suitable 

for structures with challenging geometries. 

In practice, wind loading can now be 

applied easily on all types of buildings, 

either manually or automatically, to comply 

with your chosen code of practice. 

Engineers can also choose rigid or flexible 

diaphragm action to provide complete 

control of lateral forces and how they are 

distributed throughout the building. 

Tekla Structural Designer is a vital tool in 

all areas of concrete structural design. 

Enhancements to slab design have 

revolutionised the design of concrete slabs, 

and now include slab splitting tools, 

graphical control of panel patches and the 

introduction of pass/fail contour diagrams. 

Piled mat design efficiency is also 

improved thanks to the expansion of TSD's 

foundation design capabilities - not a 

separate program, but part of the single 

modelling environment. Engineers can now 

choose between pad, pile cap, mat and 

piled mat foundations all within the 

same model. 

Other features that have been enhanced 

include automated pile layout with 

comprehensive calculations and material 

take off for foundations, and automated 

load transfers to foundation - again, part of 

the single modelling environment. 

Foundation design is now comprehensive 

and complete with all the main foundation 

types catered for (pad, strip, pile cap mats 

and piled mats) for both steel and concrete 

structures. With regard to complex 

constructions, Tekla Structural Designer 

2017 facilitates the analysis of bending on 

composite steel and concrete 

constructions, enabling engineers to 

assess the benefits of composite floor 

construction on the overall frame deflection. 

The software also provides engineers 

with more control and improved design 

capabilities, as well as a greater 

understanding of a number of more 

uncommon structural elements, such as 

cambered beams, shear rails, which they 

can design to either US or Eurocodes, 

bending angles and tee sections - which 

can also be designed to comply with US 

codes. Punching shear design is a 

tedious task, which becomes easier with 

this new feature. 

TEKLA TEDDS 2017: MORE 

CALCULATIONS TO IMPROVE 

PRODUCTIVITY 

Developed to improve engineering 

productivity and quality, Tekla TEDDs 

automates repetitive and error prone 

structural and civil calculations. In the face 

of ever more aggressive deadlines and 

demands, Tekla TEDDs enables users to 

streamline engineering design by replacing 

tedious manual calculations and 

spreadsheets with professional and 

consistent output. In version 2017, Trimble 

has added a large number of new 

calculations and enhancements to existing 

calculations across various design codes. 

Integrated with Microsoft Word, engineers 

can now quickly create and customise 

calculations and professional 

documentation that includes those 

calculations, together with sketches and 

notes. The new version of TEDDs also 

includes a large number of new 

calculations and enhancements to existing 

calculations across Eurocode, British 

Standards, US, Australia & Canadian 

codes. These include: 

Eurocodes: New steel column and 

base plate design, new RC corbel 

design, enhanced retaining Wall A&D 

and more 

British Standard Codes: Update 

retaining wall calculations, enhanced 

masonry wall panel design and other 

calculations 

US Codes: RC column design has 

been enhanced to display more 

accurate profiles, enhanced steel 2D 

Member A&D and improved user 

experience for wood shear wall design, 

to name a few 

Australian Codes: New Gabion 

retaining wall A&D, enhanced 2D 

analysis frame wizard and more 

New and enhanced calculations: These 

have been added each month since 

the September release of TEDDS 2017 

www.tekla.com/2017 

22 

March/April 2017

COBie or not COBie? 

That is the Question 

Join us on the 16th May at this CAD User seminar to explore, amongst other issues: 

Is COBie still a practical solution 

for delivering building information 

to the people who need to use it? 

 

Why can't we just give the client 

the 3D model instead? 

What information does the 

building owner need, and how 

would they prefer it to be 

delivered? 

 

What happens when theory 

comes up against practice? 

Who owns the building model, 

and who will maintain it through 

the life of the building? 

 

Learn the power, importance and 

the why's and how's of leveraging 

the information you are accruing 

in your 3D model 

Hear presentations from industry 

experts discussing the pros and 

cons of each solution 

 

Put your questions to the panel 

Network with your peers 

In Association with: 

Supported By: 

For the day’s agenda visit: 


Follow us: @CCMagAndAwards 

The London Transport Museum, 

Covent Garden, WC2E 7BB 

FREE TOUR 

INCLUDED 

COMPLIMENTARY COPY 

of Innovative Vectorwoks BIM by 

Jonathan Reeves 

An inspiring read for Architects getting 

started with BIM or who want to be 

level 2 BIM compliant. 

OFFER 

£49 EXCL VAT. 

HURRY LIMITED 

SEATING AVAILABLE. 

GROUP DISCOUNTS 

ALSO AVAILABLE. 

Seats are just £95 excl. VAT and 

include refreshments and lunch. 

For more information and to 

book your place please visit: 


call 01689 616000 or email 

seminars@caduser.com

CASE study 

Assured quality 

Solibri gives Multiplex Construction Europe quality assurance, enabling them to validate the 

robustness of design and constructability 

Multiplex Construction Europe 

Limited are a leading global 

contractor with a Head Office 

in London and bases in Europe, 

Canada, the Middle East, Australia and 

India. Established in 1962, the 

company has a strong reputation for 

the delivery of highly complex projects, 

which include some of the tallest 

residential and commercial towers in 

London and the largest hospital 

complex in the UK. 

With high profile clients it was 

imperative that the company took 

steps to improve the way it designed, 

delivered and managed its projects. To 

this end it implemented the rule-based 

model checker, Solibri, to validate its 

designs. Nick Leach, Head of BIM at 

Multiplex, first encountered Solibri 

whilst working for a previous employer 

at Helsinki over 5 years ago. 

Having been developed some years 

previously, it is fundamentally used as 

the software of choice across the 

Nordic countries. The software is now 

used at Multiplex for clash detection, 

model validation, change control, 

reporting and information take-off, 

including COBie. 

SOLIBRI UPDATE 

When Solibri won an Editors' Choice 

Award at the Construction Computing 

in 2013 it was described as an 

"Application waiting for a problem." In 

fact it was not until BIM reared its head 

that the real capabilities of the software 

became apparent, and it is now being 

used by many contractors in the 

construction industry. 

Besides having to cope with the 

wholesale adoption of BIM Level 2, 

conforming to the Government 

Mandate, there have been a lot of 

changes at Solibri over the last year or 

two. After being acquired by 

Nemetschek at the end of 2015 and 

added to their ever increasing list of 

impressive brands there had been an 

investment in the UK presence with a 

physical office established, a change 

in management and additional team 

members added. 

Solibri actually started life 17 years 

ago, having been developed as a 

quantity take off and cost estimation 

tool. To provide an accurate estimation 

of building quantities you need an 

accurate model, and Solibri very 

quickly understood that there were 

many problems with the quality of the 

models being produced. There was 

nothing available on the market to 

perform a preliminary check before the 

estimation could take place, so Solibri 

set out to fill the gap in the market 

itself with Solibri Model Checker. 

Taking an OpenBIM approach to their 

development using the industry 

standard IFC (Industry Foundation 

Class) format meant that Solibri could 

help raise quality and have a positive 

impact on every project. As the 

industry understanding of BIM 

requirements, Government mandates 

and a general drive for improved 

geometric and data quality grows, 

Solibri has come into its own. 

Nowadays Solibri is providing a Quality 

Assurance and Quality Control process 

to thousands of models on a daily 

basis around the globe. 

Clash detection has been around for 

many years and is something that 

Solibri Model Checker does very well, 

but that is only around 5% of the 

capabilities of the software, the real 

power lie in the rules provided and the 

ability for users to write their own 

logical rules. 

Solibri has also recently added some 

complimentary offerings to aid and 

improve BIM workflows and processes. 

Solibri Model Viewer Pro adds a low 

cost version of the popular free Viewer 

with added functionality to connect to 

BCF (BIM Collaboration Format) 

Management tools, giving it the ability 

to participate in advanced BIM 

workflows, manage reported issues 

with improved tools and a few other 

benefits. AutoRun enables users to 

automate many of the basic checks 

and facilitate BCF report generation, 

run on a regular basis on multiple 

models. Solibri can now also provide 

optional private cloud functionality for 

managing and sharing customised 

rulesets, classifications and information 

reports in a secure environment 

throughout an organisation. 

THE VALUE OF SOLIBRI 

"The real value of Solibri," said Nick, "Is 

the ability to allow us to check a model 

based on custom rules. The software 

enables us to go much further than 

basic clash detection though - from 

something simple like clash analysis 

against door swings, to clearance void 

allowances where we have exposed 

MEP services." 

"'Solibri allows us to check both the 

geometry and the data within models," 

he added, "meaning that our project's 

24 

March/April 2017

CASEstudy 

Solibri - Asset inclusion-exclusion definitions and COBie output 

models can be validated for 

compliance autonomously, and the 

results published through Solibri's 

intuitive report presentation function." 

Nick explained that the adoption of 

Solibri was still in its infancy at 

Multiplex, but they could already see 

the benefits that the software has 

achieved in improving working 

efficiencies both for themselves, and 

also for consultant design teams. The 

company is supporting its greater 

utilisation by personnel in key roles 

across its project teams. From work 

completed to date, it is evident that 

Solibri could provide significant 

savings in both time and costs. 

When it comes to quality assurance, 

the speed at which the robustness of 

the model and the quality of the data it 

produces can be attained, helps to 

enhance the deliverables that Multiplex 

Construction Europe receive. 

SOLIBRI WITH IFC 

Multiplex uses the IFC format, a policy 

that the company has stipulated for all 

its design teams and supply chain as a 

standard deliverable. It allows them to 

share files and communicate issues 

with other software products through 

the BCF file exchange. This means that 

such issues can also be flagged up in 

Solibri and sent to the right person to 

correct in their native authoring 

software, and then be issued back to 

be verified and closed out. 

IFC had a lot of negativity for a while 

because of interoperability issues, but 

with improved versions from Building 

Smart and native authorising, the 

software has improved its capability to 

export and share files. Consequently, its 

uptake is increasing, and is of particular 

significance with the increase in opensource 

products in the marketplace that 

rely on it for file sharing. 

When asked about how he sees the 

future of BIM, IFC and, in particular, 

Solibri, Nick said that "With software 

developing at a rapid rate, it's 

imperative to define why you are using 

it, to establish how you intend to 

manage it, and to understand what 

advantages it will provide and what 

you want to achieve with it." He added 

that "Before long we will have new 

roles in the industry, people who can 

make best use of the digital 

environment that's changing around us 

- such as application developers and 

data analysts." 

Nick admitted that there is still an 

educational exercise required to 

change the mindset of companies into 

investing in technology and adopting 

digital methods of working - and more 

initiatives to support the cost burden 

that it lays on companies in the outset. 

"Multiplex is doing its bit, he says, "to 

demystify the deliverables set out by 

our clients into plain language, 

conducting face-to-face workshops 

and providing education where 

required, explaining what is required 

and what is specific to particular 

organisations with regard to delivery, 

and what information we expect to be 

handed back to us. Using products 

such as Solibri helps us to validate the 

quality of our information, and provide 

assurances for the designs received 

from our supply chain." 

www.solibri.com 

March/April 2017 25

CASE study 

Redefining project efficiency 

Bluebeam Revu 2017 has become the industry standard PDF solution for workflow automation and 

collaboration, a statement that Hilson Moran would certainly corroborate 

Since the launch of Bluebeam in 

2002, Bluebeam Revu has 

become the industry-leading 

markup and collaboration software for 

increasing efficiency throughout an 

entire project lifecycle. This focus on 

streamlining project workflows, means 

that Bluebeam continuously strives to 

ensure that each version of Revu 

released is bigger and better than the 

last. Containing feature suggestions 

from existing clients and expert 

software engineers, Revu 2017 is no 

exception. 

The new ‘wow' feature of the latest 

version is the Dynamic Fill tool, which 

makes it easier to markup and measure 

complex regions in PDF plans. The tool 

allows the user to click on the area they 

want to measure, depicted by different 

colours, to show the measurements for 

more accurate takeoffs. 

In addition Quantity Link, found in the 

Revu eXtreme version, will make 

creating project bids even faster. It 

allows the user to link multiple PDFs to 

Excel worksheets so that bid 

calculations are updated in real time, as 

measurements are changed or added 

in Revu. Other new features of Revu 

2017 include the ability to embed 

panoramic images, Automatic Form 

Creation (eXtreme only) and 

enhancements to the measurements 

tool and count tool. 

For those involved in the world of BIM, 

the enhancements to the 3D PDF tools 

are of particular interest. The newly reengineered 

model data tree allows the 

user to view and manage expansive 3D 

model metadata, enabling increased 

access to object metadata across the 

whole construction supply chain. 

Combined with Bluebeam Revu's 

existing Studio collaboration tools, an 

environment for easy, streamlined 

sharing and collaborative working in 

real time is more than just a possibility. 

Project stakeholders from around the 

world can view, chat and comment on 

the same PDFs together in real time or 

on their own time with all activity 

tracked in a full audit trail of all session 

attendees' changes. 

The following case study provides an 

insight into how Revu has been readily 

adopted and used within a global 

company: 

HILSON MORAN REDEFINES 

PROJECT EFFICIENCY 

With 40 years of experience within the 

built environment, Hilson Moran* has 

embarked on a digital strategy to 

completely transform its workflows. A 

key tool in this initiative is Bluebeam 

Revu, which has provided the 

engineering consultancy instant timesaving 

dividends when handling 

contractor drawing and technical 

submittal reviews, whilst converting the 

firm's paper-based traditional worklows 

into digital solutions. 

WHY GO DIGITAL AFTER 40 

YEARS? 

"There is no doubt the digital revolution 

has now arrived in the construction 

industry and it is starting to make a real 

impact. User-friendly software like 

Bluebeam Revu is at the forefront of 

this change," observes Hilson Moran's 

digital champion, Director Vince 

Ugarow. 

"Our users actually see the benefit of 

Revu," explains Finance Director Roger 

Waters-Duke. "Our engineers say it 

actually makes their life easier, and 

that's part of why the product is the 

quickest software to ever be adopted at 

Hilson Moran. We went from 10 

licences a year ago to 229 licences now 

across the whole company." 

26 

March/April 2017

CASEstudy 

ROLLING OUT REVU 

The forward-thinking management 

team at Hilson Moran first introduced 

Revu to a small innovation team and 

implemented the software on PCs, 

laptops and Wacom tablets. The same 

design and construction information 

previously found on sheets of drawing 

paper could now be seen on screens 

and tablets, giving this group of 

employees the degree of familiarity to 

explore and innovate new workflows, 

before actually trialling it on a sample 

project. After finding first-time success 

in using Revu on a peer review for a 

very large residential development in 

South London, Hilson Moran began 

implementing the software across the 

company. 

TRAINING TIME 

Hilson Moran organised a tutorial with 

an external trainer for first-time users to 

help them become familiar with the 

features. After a few larger overview 

sessions, the staff broke out into 

groups of five. These groups were 

trained extensively, and eventually 

colleagues began teaching each other 

Revu features and shortcuts. 

"I used it experimenting with the 

different tools and features just to get 

an idea of how the different things 

worked," says Mechanical Design 

Engineer Stephen Atemie. 

WORKFLOW INNOVATIONS 

One of the unique features Hilson 

Moran credits to the quick success of 

implementing Bluebeam Revu is the 

ability to make customised tool sets 

within the program. "Each department 

has their own tool sets, so mechanical 

and electrical engineers can each drop 

their respective drawing symbols into 

drawings, which makes marking up and 

sketching much, much quicker," 

declares Mechanical Design Engineer 

Will Major. 

"We have actually created some 

custom tool sets which are considered 

Hilson Moran tool sets for specific 

tasks. These can range from very simple 

line types to detailed engineering 

symbols that we all use, ensuring 

consistency and quality," adds Ugarow. 

A popular workflow that Revu makes 

easy for Hilson Moran is the design 

review process. Atemie explains the 

early workflow: "Before, you would get 

sent the drawing - say from an architect 

or a client - and you would print it out, 

make your markup in your sketches on 

the drawing, and then scan that back 

onto the system which, depending on 

the quality of the scan, might not 

necessarily show all the details that you 

want Then, if you needed to make 

changes again, you would print off the 

scanned version, draw on that, and 

then scan that back into the system, 

which, each time you do it, would 

reduce the quality of the drawing, and 

use a lot more paper." Atemie, and the 

whole firm, now prefers the paperless way. 

"Bluebeam Revu has massively 

helped my project work. It has made 

me much quicker and more efficient, 

and I think a step towards a paper-free 

office is definitely a good thing," said 

Hilson Moran Mechanical Design 

Engineer Will Major. Revu features like 

Batch Overlay, which allows multiple 

pairs of file revisions to be easily 

compared, are popular, while markups 

and custom tool sets round out Revu 

feature favourites. 

Waters-Duke remains optimistic in 

how much further digital solutions will 

take the company, saying "We are 

looking to use Bluebeam Studio to 

allow us to collaborate between our 

UK, Abu Dhabi and Qatar offices for 

much more seamless collaboration." 

MEASURING SUCCESS 

Waters-Duke has seen the positive side 

of implementing digital solutions for the 

engineering consultancy. "When I first 

joined Hilson Moran ten years ago, 

there were drawing boards 

everywhere," he says with a laugh. 

"Everybody still did everything on large 

printers, and our printers were slow. 

Therefore, it took a lot of time to print 

out drawings, mark them up, scan them 

and then return them to an architect. 

Today with Revu, we are now able to 

streamline that process, and it allows 

us to electronically mark the drawings 

and return them to the architect without 

ever having to print them, which also 

not only improves our efficiency, but 

also improves the environment." 

*Hilson Moran is located in the United 

Kingdom and purchased Bluebeam 

products through Design Software 

Solutions, a Bluebeam Platinum 

Reseller. 

www.designsoftwaresolutions.co.uk 

March/April 2017 27

SOFTWARE review 

IESVE 2017 

Python Scripting and an Interoperability Navigator simplify the use of IESVE for Building 

Performance Analysis 

Python Scripting within IESVE 

Interoperability Navigator 

If you are capable of configuring a 

logical flowchart to resolve a 

complex problem, or to run a 

number of calculations and come up 

with a quantifiable result, then you will 

be able to write a couple of Python 

scripts. In practical terms, if you want 

to combine the energy requirements of 

a variety of heating devices, and weigh 

that against the effects of an expanse 

of glazing in each room, then you could 

use Python Scripting to lay out the 

problem in a logical manner, and run it 

using the performance levels of each 

device and the geometry and materials 

of each of the rooms. 

It's an ideal tool for anyone who wants 

to create custom routines on a regular 

basis, but who doesn't have the 

software skills to write code-based 

algorithms. It is also becoming popular 

with designers, architects and other 

users who want to add a touch of 

originality to their efforts. That includes 

architects who want to run their designs 

through environmental software to 

obtain verification that they have 

complied with appropriate standards 

and regulations. 

To assist them, IES has added Python 

Scripting as a new API to the IES Virtual 

Environment (IESVE), replacing the 

outdated APSFILE.DLL 

Besides enabling users to create their 

own scripts, this innovative approach 

for building performance monitoring 

and analysis provides automation and 

reportage functions, which can be 

easily shared through their own IES 

navigator. It allows analysis routines, 

dependent on a lot of iteration, to be set 

up, automating both the data imports 

and the sensor inputs, and then to set 

up and produce documentary or visual 

outputs or reports. 

The Python Scripting API consists of 

two main features, the Python Console 

or Integrated Development 

Environment (IDE) and the Python 

Navigator. The Console IDE is used for 

putting together user's own scripts and 

promoting them to the Navigator while 

the Python Navigator allows access to 

the resultant 'program'. The Python 

Navigator is not to be confused with the 

Interoperability Navigator, which takes 

users through the process of importing 

data and running the analysis routines. 

Python Scripting's versatility makes it 

popular with architects, designers and 

others who value its custom scripting 

capabilities, so much so that it is 

integrated with two of the leading 

architectural design applications. It is 

used to create custom geometry, some 

of the complex designs that are not 

feasible to produce unless you bend 

the use of standard modelling tools, 

input some ingenuity and spend an 

awful lot of effort. 

If you are a bit wary of creating your 

own scripts, however, IES is creating its 

28 

March/April 2017


own Script Store, enabling users to 

purchase ready-made scripts, or to 

submit their own scripts for sale. 

INTEROPERABILITY NAVIGATOR 

The Interoperability Navigator, like 

Python Scripting, is an entirely new 

feature of IESVE, and is used to get the 

building model ready for analysis. It 

enables users to set up data import 

settings, providing modelling guidance 

that indicates the type of input data it 

can handle, and how it is used. It lists 

the functionality available and guides 

you through a step by step process 

that shows you how to import your 

model, from whichever modelling tool 

you are using, into IESVE, 

The Interoperability Navigator 

provides all of the tools and guidance 

that architects need to run complete 

analyses in one application, then adds 

refinements to some of IESVE's earlier 

features, or new functionality that 

further streamlines building 

performance simulations. 

A feature already implemented in IESVE 

and improved in the new version is Shell 

Correction (room geometry healing). 

Some imported drawings have geometry 

imperfections that need to be fixed 

before they can be used for analysis - not 

always successfully. Now the process 

goes through a second correction phase 

that has an improved success rate at 

fixing defective geometry. 

These Geometry Errors can be 

viewed at any time in the new 

'Quarantine Zone' from the model tree 

and the model viewer. The model 

viewer also allows for the visible 

checking of surface orientations that 

were previously only listed in a report, 

which still remains available for those 

who would prefer it in that format. 

Capping resolves an issue that occurs 

when the source model file is not 

available. The capping functionality 

allows multiple zones to be capped 

that have some of their geometry 

extending beyond the volumes set up 

for the simulation. 

One of the most common issues of 

importing models are gaps in the 

geometry where rooms in the 

originating source models have not 

been accounted for, for example 

ceiling voids, risers and stair access 

areas. Gap Filling will add in a volume 

to the model, removing the necessity 

of returning to the originating model to 

rectify the ommission. 

EXPANSIONS IN DATA IMPORT 

Different levels of data are required for 

different simulations, and to this end 

IES has provided a filter to limit data 

import where applicable. Options 

include Room Data only, Geometry 

only, Geometry & Assigned Data or 

Geometry & All Data. There is also an 

Import Wizard that compares an 

existing, imported and simulated 

model to newly imported model 

geometry and data. 

The new Interoperability Navigator 

forms the standard model import 

workflow for all users beginner to 

advanced - but that's only the start. 

IESVE has more advanced utilities that 

enhance the workflow, enabling fluid 

interoperability with Revit. Users can 

build up their expertise using the 

Interoperability Navigator, and then 

build on that by watching the IES 

Faculty on YouTube which, amongst a 

whole series of valuable tutorials, gives 

an overview of the steps to achieving 

bi-directional interoperability between 

Revit and IES. The bi-directional 

function syncs data between the two 

platforms - update in one and it 

automatically updates in the other. 

PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENTS 

There are also a couple of 

performance enhancements which 

current users of IESVE will probably 

appreciate, one of which, the 

Parametric Tool and Home 

optimisation, was requested by an IES 

customer. This is a standalone tool that 

references a VE model instead of 

being part of a Virtual Environment, 

which could potentially 'lock up' the VE. 

VE can still be used whilst the software 

is performing a parametric study, or 

whilst optimisation tools are employed. 

Another performance enhancement is 

provided by the Parallel Simulation 

Manager, which significantly speeds up 

simulations. This is one of the most 

exciting feature for users in terms of 

productivity, producing approx. 75% 

faster simulation times. It’s a new tool 

that is intended to manage all 

simulations within the Virtual 

Environment. It separates the 

simulations from the VE interface, 

enabling users to continue to work on 

a model, or set up a new simulation 

whilst their current model is 

undergoing analysis. 

AFFORDABLE PERFORMANCE 

IESVE is not, as I thought, an expensive 

application to run, despite its reputation 

in the market of being a top of the 

range environmental analysis tool. In 

fact IES were quite taken aback when I 

suggested it, saying that the cost of 

running individual simulations was very 

favourable compared to their 

competitors. 

www.iesve.com 

March/April 2017 29

CASEstudy 

Right in the frame 

Pinewood Structures drives quality with Elecosoft Framing 

Pinewood Structures has been 

operating at the heart of the 

growing UK timber frame 

manufacturing market since 1981. It 

has experienced ongoing 

transformation which has already seen 

it grow significantly, embrace 

automation and digitise many 

traditional processes. 

Its use of software has been a 

fundamental part of this change. 

Framing software from Elecosoft has 

played an increasing role in helping the 

company achieve the quality production 

for which the company is renowned. 

Nick Worboys is Quality Manager at 

Pinewood. He outlined his role as "To 

make us the best we can possibly be, 

and link all processes and systems 

together," something he believes is 

underpinned by software. He has been 

involved throughout the company's 

digitisation of its scheduling process: "It 

was a journey that began by our 

developing a piece of software to cut 

panels for us, but then we realised 

there were other systems that could do 

that, and possibly more. We found 

Framing, and have worked with 

Elecosoft to help evolve the software 

over time, to the point we are at today. 

"Now, if you want to design for us you 

have to use the Framing application. It 

controls our design quality because we 

can give them templates and materials 

databases. It gives us a standardised 

input to our factory - and, if you have 

that, you get a standardised output." 

PRODUCTION PRECISION AND 

CONSISTENCY 

Pinewood uses Framing software to 

manage all the scheduling of its timber 

frame wall outputs, and drive the 

manufacturing process. The software 

controls the generation of design 

drawings, delivery tickets, bills of 

materials and files for the cutting saws. 

The use of Framing enables Pinewood 

to deliver a completely consistent and 

standardised product, including their 

proprietary Quantum high 

performance timber frame, since 

everything is built in a controlled 

environment. 

Framing software supports the 

production process from initial design 

through to production, helping to turn 

30 

March/April 2017

CASEstudy 

architects' design ideas into fully 

calculated, actionable designs that can 

drive production. 

Nick outlined the role that software 

plays in the process: "Framing from 

Elecosoft is the design platform that 

enables us to standardise our input to 

the factory. Everything is object-based, 

so if we put a window in a wall the 

software can automatically cut all the 

studs back, and put in every element 

you need to form that window. We don't 

have to make any manual changes to 

the wall, because the system already 

knows how." 

The system plays a significant role in 

helping Nick manage both quality and 

information associated with the design 

and production process, as he 

outlined: "The Framing software is not 

just for designing; it's a databasedriven 

system so I can draw in costings 

for materials, cost labour in, which 

helps create the job costing that we are 

now importing into our financial 

systems. The benefit it brings is not just 

using that data itself but linking it 

everywhere in the business. What 

comes out is not just a drawing - it's all 

the information we need to run our 

business. It can help us order, track 

costs, and be so much more than 

people imagine a drawing can be." 

UNLOCKING BUSINESS BENEFITS 

Today's standards for precision production 

quality, as well as design and production 

speed, could not be achieved without 

software support. Framing software plays a 

key role in automating what used to be an 

intensely manual process requiring 

numerous highly trained people. Having 

been with Pinewood since 1999, Nick 

recalls the old days very well: "I started at 

this company aged 18, and I had to write 

every single cutting list up by hand, for 

every piece of wood. I feel the benefits 

Framing software gives us keenly, because 

of how time consuming it used to be, how 

error ridden, and how useless the 

information was after you wrote it. The 

Framing software gives us a massive 

speed benefit between getting the drawing 

signed off to getting the information to the 

shop floor." 

IN TUNE WITH CONSTRUCTION 

TRENDS 

The UK market has been slowly increasing 

its use of timber frame for many years, 

while offsite manufacturing in general has 

been growing rapidly of late. Alongside pinpoint 

precision in terms of exact 

dimensions, timber framing brings a 

valuable element of predictability to 

aspects of the construction timeline. The 

sector is also increasingly concerned about 

the labour markets and shortage of key 

skills. Nick explained: "Many of our 

customers are suffering with skills 

shortages, but they still need to produce on 

schedule. Timber frame and other offsite 

manufacturers help them with that: we take 

some of the skills out of the mix on site, and 

into our factory, where we also have a more 

controlled environment which can give 

them a higher quality product than making 

it on site." 

LOWERING THE COST OF QUALITY 

Timber frame offers real opportunity for 

construction customers to lower the cost of 

quality, as well as assure the quality of key 

elements of their builds. Nick believes that 

the fact timber frame experts are 

sometimes brought in after the design 

stage means customers may be missing a 

trick: "In my opinion, especially with BIM, 

you need to get all the stakeholders in 

place before you start designing - yet we 

often get brought in to review completed 

designs that have assumed brickwork or 

other method apart from timber frame. You 

could get the timber frame provider to 

design the timber frame elements. We 

measure our quality carefully - and the 

information transaction between the 

customer and ourselves is where much of 

the cost of quality lies." 

DIGITAL CONSTRUCTION CHANGE 

BIM is an increasingly common process 

across UK construction and the Framing 

software enables Pinewood to deliver BIMready 

data objects in a format that can be 

easily integrated into an IFC model. Nick 

said that "The challenge for our customers 

is the performance of wall structures, and 

ensuring everything is the exact size they 

need it to be. BIM will help connect what 

architects and manufacturers do, see the 

materials used, click on elements and see 

the exact sizes of everything." 

As BIM emerged, the company never 

considered changing their design software. 

Nick told us: "We already work in an objectbased 

world of design, and have seen the 

benefit that gives us. It should be an easy 

transition for us. The Framing software is 

fundamental to our manufacturing process 

because it creates the files that drive our 

saws. Changing design software would 

mean building our processes all over 

again. Elecosoft has written the software for 

us, so that any drawing we create now we 

can already output in IFC." 

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE 

Pinewood is now looking to extend the 

benefits of the Framing software into the 

production of flooring. He said: "Elecosoft 

have just released a new floor software 

module, so now we're looking to automate 

our floor scheduling process to get the 

same benefits of speed and quality as we 

have with walls." He sees few challenges in 

doing so, and concluded: "I haven't 

scheduled a floor for at least 10 years - but 

with this I'll be able to schedule a job at the 

same quality as the best floor scheduler." 

He is hoping that introducing the flooring 

modules will be a smooth process, but is 

confident enough in the relationship with 

Elecosoft to anticipate a strong level of 

support: "We did a lot of work to fine-tune 

exactly how we wanted to present 

information to the shop floor. Elecosoft 

have been very helpful in adding pieces of 

software for us to produce that, and it's now 

embedded in our manufacturing process. It 

does our job costing, works out our labour 

rates, produces the files our saws read, 

and does everything we need with a press 

of about 20 buttons." 

Pinewood Structures has become 

accustomed to running at full production 

capacity. As the demand for offsite 

manufacturing in the UK construction 

market grows, it is now hoping timber 

frame will even more popular to achieve 

speedier house-building. Accelerated 

Construction has been proactively 

supported by government funding and 

policy for house-building in 2017, and 

timber frame is likely to become an 

essential choice on some contracts. 

March/April 2017 31

YOUR GUIDE TO 

4 

5 

6/10 

9 

7 

8 

1 

2 

12 

14 

15 

17 11/13 

35 

41 

40 

16 

18 

20 

33 

32 

29 

23/42 

21 

25 26 

24/27 

19/30 

22 28 

3 

31 

42 

*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 223300 

Fax: 01592 223301 

jackm@glenco.org 

www.glenco.org 

A C M K 

ABERDEENSHIRE 8 

Symetri 

Contact: Craig Snell 

Tel: 01467 629900 

training@symetri.co.uk 

www.symetri.co.uk 

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

ABERDEEN 1 

TMS CADcentre 

Contact: Craig Hamilton 

Tel: 01224 224421 

info@thom-micro.com 

www.tmscadcentre.com 

A C E L H O 

LARBERT 9 

TMS CADcentre 

Contact: Craig Hamilton 

Tel: 01324-550760 

info@thom-micro.com 

www.tmscadcentre.com 

A C E L H O 

GLASGOW 10 

Excitech Ltd 

Contact: Alan Skipp 

Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 

info@excitech.co.uk 

www.excitech.co.uk/cut2015 

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

IRELAND 

DUBLIN 4 

Paradigm Technology Ltd 

Contact: Des McGrane 

Tel: +353-1-2960155 

Fax: +353-1-2960080 

dmcgrane@paradigm.ie 

www.paradigm.ie 

A C M G K L 

SOUTHWEST 

BRISTOL 2 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 




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 

A C D E G K L 

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 : 

AUTODESK 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 

A D R K 

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: 


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 




SOUTHHAMPTON 42 

TRAINING 

NORTH LONDON 28 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 




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 

MicroCAD - Milton Keynes 

Contact: David Huke 

Tel: 01908 410026 

training@microcad.co.uk 

www.microcad.co.uk 

A B C D E G H I J K L M N O P Q S T X 

High Wycombe 19 


Contact: Kerrie Braybrook 

Tel: +44 (0) 8432 898162 




Cambridge 29 

THE NORTH 

MIDLANDS 

MANCHESTER 11 

CADASSIST 

Contact: 


Tel: 0161 440 8122 

Fax: 0161 439 9635 




MANCHESTER 13 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 




NORTH EAST 14 

Symetri 


Tel: 0191 213 5555 




YORKSHIRE 15 

MicroCAD - Bradford 

Contact: Darren I’Anson 

Tel: 01274 532919 




NOTTINGHAM 33 

MicroCAD - Nottingham 

Contact: George Gubas 

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 

MicroCAD - Durham 

Contact: Chris Swinhoe 

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 266262 




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 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 




Head Office 

Riverside House 

Brunel Road 

Southampton 

Hants 

SO40 3WX 



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

TECHNOLOGY focus 

Visualising the future 

3D Repo bring their cloud expertise to a UK 

government-funded smart infrastructure project 

Designing, furnishing and 

maintaining a building is the 

ultimate in custom design. 

What's more, the processes are shared 

by any number of stakeholders who all 

need visual access to the model and 

the wealth of information that lies 

behind it. The happy coincidence is 

that the technology at our disposal is 

both keeping up with our needs and 

facilitating their evolution - something 

of a chicken and egg situation. 

As they did with their promotion of 

BIM, the government is again leading 

from the front, this time with its 

promotion of the smart infrastructure 

project, VISUALISE. Bringing its 

expertise to the project is 3D Repo, a 

spinout from University College 

London, and a developer of multiaward 

winning open source software 

for BIM in the cloud. They are actively 

promoting the technology of the future 

for visualising building information - 

and they are using cloud-based 

services to do it. 

Instead of architects, consultants and 

contractors sharing massive proprietary 

files in a costly and time consuming 

manner, 3D Repo has provided the 

tools they need to simply point their 

web browser to an encrypted online 

repository to examine each project 

stage virtually, even on mobile devices. 

With 3D Repo users can then manage 

model revisions and mark up issues 

using live collaboration tools, which 

allow the whole project team to work 

from a single source of truth. More than 

40 different 3D file formats are 

decomposed and federated in the 

company's big data repository. 

3D Repo is applying its expertise to 

the VISUALISE project, which is funded 

by the UK government's Innovate 

agency. Working alongside project lead 

Skanska and project partners Building 

Research Establishment (BRE), UNIT9 

and CartoConsult, 3D Repo will help 

develop a single, integrated and 

accessible platform where data relating 

to every aspect of an infrastructure 

project can be visualised and analysed. 

The VISUALISE project will also allow 

for the sharing of information, bringing 

together data from BIM, Geographical 

Information Systems (GIS) and other 

asset databases. 

Organisations such as Skanska are 

responsible for building, maintaining 

and managing multiple infrastructure 

assets on behalf of local authorities, 

transport operators, utility companies 

and other facilities such as schools and 

hospitals. Assets can be distributed 

over wide geographic areas, and the 

management of different assets is 

traditionally isolated within 'closed' 

systems. Whilst geographical, asset, 

live monitoring and other data may be 

available, it is not effectively shared or 

used to evaluate large scale data 

patterns. This can mean that trends 

between different asset types, for 

example by ownership, location or 

other shared classification, may not 

always be identified. 

The VISUALISE project will develop a 

data integration, visualisation and 

analytics solution for smart 

infrastructure. Providing better 

intelligence and functionality for asset 

managers, VISUALISE will enable 

better asset management, reduce the 

risk of failure and improve lifetime 

performance. The additional 

intelligence will also lead to 

productivity improvements, costs 

savings and improved business 

offerings to asset owners. 

"VISUALISE will utilise a cloud based 

Software-as-a-Service environment, 

something the company specialises in, 

to accept data from multiple sources, 

bringing together the previously 

disparate fields of BIM, GIS and asset 

management," commented Dr Jozef 

Dobos, CEO of 3D Repo. 

"By working in partnership with other 

specialists, such as Skanska, BRE, 

UNIT9 and CartoConsult, and with 

funding from Innovate UK, we can 

develop, assess and commercialise a 

unique collaborative solution that 

aligns with the requirements of the 

major players in the infrastructure 

asset design, construction and 

management sectors." 

The VISUALISE project was awarded 

funding by Innovate UK, the 

government's innovation agency under 

the project theme of 'Smart, resilient, 

integrated infrastructure'. The 

commercial research project will run for 

18 months from spring 2017, and will 

develop and demonstrate a Proof of 

Concept version of the VISUALISE 

solution which will be evaluated with 

real world project partners. 

www.3drepo.org 

34 

March/April 2017

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY 

16th November 2017, London 

www.constructioncomputingawards.co.uk 

For more information or to get involved in the leading 

industry event please contact:: 

josh.boulton@btc.co.uk or call: 01689 616 000 

@CCMagAndAwards 

Sponsored by: 

Champagne Reception Sponsors:

CU1703

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