CU Jan-Feb 2020

CAD User 

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 

VOL 33 NO 01 

WWW.CADUSER.COM 

Listotektura 

Showcasing the winning UK entrant in the 

Vectorworks Student Design Scholarship 

Digital Twins 

Double trouble or the 

Holy Grail of digital estates? 

Remodelling King's Cross 

3D Repo provides access to the thousands of 

CAD files created in redeveloping King's Cross 

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CONTENTS 

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 

CONTENTS 

THE MACALLAN DISTILLERY 10 

Thomas Mahon of Bimorph Digital Engineering 

explains the use of GenerativeComponents to 

calculate the mathematics behind The Macallan 

Distillery's distinctive and complex new roof 

LISTOTEKTURA 12 

Marina Georgieva's winning UK entry in the 

architecture category of the Vectorworks Student 

Design Scholarship for 2019 combined a design 

concept influenced by nature supported by solid 

structural design, writes David Chadwick 

AN ERP PRIMER 28 

How do you define an enterprise resource 

planning system? EasyBuild, winners of the ERP 

Solution of the Year award at the 2019 

Construction Computing Awards, provide an 

insight into the requirements of such a solution 

DIGITAL TWINS 30 

Stuart Bell, Sales & Marketing Director at 

GroupBC considers whether digital twins mean 

double trouble - or are they in fact the Holy 

Grail of digital estates? 

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

• ADDNODE ACQUIRES EXCITECH • 3D REPO SECURE MAJOR INVESTMENT 

INDUSTRY NEWS.............................IN MEMORY OF TONY RYAN................................................................................15 

• REMEMBERING ASITE'S TONY RYAN AFTER HIS SUDDEN PASSING IN JANUARY 

CASE STUDY....................................REMODELLING KING'S CROSS STATION..........................................................16 

• 3D REPO PROVIDES ACCESS TO THOUSANDS OF CAD FILES CREATED BY THE KING'S CROSS REDEVELOPMENT 

CASE STUDY....................................MIX AND MATCH..................................................................................................18 

• TEKLA STRUCTURES HANDLES PRECAST, CAST-IN-PLACE AND REINFORCED CONCRETE IN A SINGLE PROJECT 

SOFTWARE FOCUS.........................BENTLEY OPENBUILDINGS DESIGNER.............................................................20 

• WHY OPENBUILDINGS DESIGNER IS THE ULTIMATE MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPLICATION FROM BENTLEY 

CASE STUDY....................................BIM TECHNOLOGY FOR AURA APART...............................................................22 

• THE DA VINCHI GROUP HAVE WON THE EUROPEAN PROPERTY AWARD FOR THE AURA APART HOTEL 

INDUSTRY FOCUS...........................BIM ON THE BUILDING SITE...............................................................................24 

• DAVID CHADWICK AND EXCITECH'S DARYN FITZ CONTINUE THEIR DISCUSSION OF BIM 

EVENT PREVIEW..............................FUTUREBUILD 2020.............................................................................................26 

• BE THE CATALYST FOR CHANGE AT THIS YEAR'S FUTUREBUILD IN MARCH 

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

• YOUR GUIDE TO AUTODESK TRAINING 

SOFTWARE FOCUS.........................UNDER THE SURFACE........................................................................................34 

• MGISS AND VGIS BRING AUGMENTED REALITY TO 3D MAPPING AND BIM 

January/February 2020 3

COMMENT 

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Comment 

It's all coming together 

by David Chadwick 

It's a relief that we don't have to 

(t)witter on about Brexit anymore. 

Nothing has exactly been decided yet, 

but I get the feeling that it's all in Boris' 

hands now, and he’s going to sink or 

swim with it. The relief is that we can get 

back to discussing the finer points of 

architectural design and construction, 

which have been going on apace, but 

which have been overlooked in the 

turmoil of the last couple of years. 

So, in this issue we have a feature on 

Bentley's OpenBuildings Designer, not 

the latest in their series of 'Open' 

applications, but surely the most 

significant of the lot. It was released in 

the second quarter of last year, and we 

have already featured Bentley's other 

integrated applications in the same genre 

– OpenRoads, OpenRail, covered earlier, 

OpenSite Designer and OpenFlows. 

OpenBuildings Designer brings together 

all the major elements of a construction 

project such as structural, MEP, 

electrical, building design tools – 

including GenerativeComponents and 

building performance – accompanied by 

the whole range of supporting software to 

handle documentation, media, rendering, 

data sharing and so on, and all under the 

aegis of Bentley's ProjectWise. 

That's accompanied by a case study 

from 3D Repo which details the work 

involved in putting together a 

collaboration scenario which combines 

over 3,500 CAD documents to enable 

real-time access for architects, planners 

and managers involved in the ongoing 

development of Kings Cross station and 

its rail infrastructure. 

We also have a case study from Bentley 

that explores the use of 

GenerativeComponents to design the 

roof of Macallan's distillery in Scotland (I 

really feel this story should have entailed 

a site visit instead of being the focus of a 

workgroup at Bentley's London offices!). 

GenerativeComponents, of course, 

combines mathematical algorithms within 

the design process to evaluate variations 

of a design issue to enable architects to 

select the one that most accurately 

reflects the brief. 

Elsewhere in this issue we look at the 

use of Graphisoft's ARCHICAD and its 

reliance on BIM in a hotel project in the 

Ukraine that won International plaudits in 

London last year, and a concrete 

example of the issues that Tekla 

mastered in a project at Canary Wharf 

that combined poured concrete with 

prefabricated slabs. Both of them good, 

solid, examples of BIM and modern 

construction methods in practice. 

All of this is neatly rounded off by the 

design project that won the UK element 

of the 2019 Vectorworks Design 

Scholarship. I have included it to 

illustrate the depth of imagination and 

creativity that the competition generates, 

and to demonstrate that there are some 

exceptionally talented students currently 

progressing through the education 

system – which certainly bodes well for 

the future of the industry. As one of the 

UK judges I am always impressed by the 

broad range of nationalities of the 

entrants – a testament I think to the 

international regard that our universities 

have in such courses. 

4 January/February 2020

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COURTYARD 33 | DESIGN BY 5468796 ARCHITECTURE

INDUSTRY news 

SCANNING FOR INTELLIGENT SIGNS OF DATA 

Advances in technology for 

observing the earth from 

space have resulted in the formation 

of a new company 

which will bring a range of innovative 

satellite intelligence and 

data services to market. 4 Earth 

Intelligence (4EI) has pioneered 

the use of satellite data for 

smart monitoring and analysis 

creating city, region and countrywide 

data solutions for applications 

such as air quality, 

asset management, ecology 

and urban heat monitoring. 

With offices in Bristol, UK and 

in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 4 Earth 

Intelligence has been established 

to focus on new sectors 

and technical innovations using 

machine learning and Artificial 

Intelligence to provide smart 

data - in particular for global 

environmental applications. 

With several flagship projects 

already completed around the 

BUSINESS IS BRISK FOR TRANSOFT 

Transoft Solutions has 

acquired Brisk Synergies, 

the leader in automated road 

safety analysis headquartered 

in Waterloo, Ontario. 

Brisk Synergies' BriskVAN- 

TAGE and BriskLUMINA software 

platforms apply continuous 

deep learning analytics 

on traffic video to help assist 

transportation professionals 

reach their Vision Zero goals 

to prevent vehicle, pedestrian 

and cyclist collisions, and 

improve road safety. The 

world, the company has set a 

new course and 4 Earth Intelligence 

will capitalise on this pioneering 

work. Projects to date 

have included the development 

of a new global air quality 

index, the creation of multiple 

iterations of the satellite environmental 

inventory of Abu Dhabi, 

innovative data fusion techniques 

in detecting soil quality 

and climate resilience analysis 

for Local Authorities in the UK. 

Using consistent and repeatable 

spatial data derived from 

satellites, 4 Earth Intelligence 

can provide insight about a 

wide range of measurable 

impacts using a variety of data 

analysis techniques and show 

change at very regular intervals. 

4EI will work collaboratively with 

commercial companies, agencies 

and governments to help 

improve decision making. 

www.4earthintelligence.com 

secure, cloud-based Brisk 

dashboard reports on actionable, 

predictive data on nearmiss 

collisions and traffic 

flow in near real-time from 

video-monitored intersections 

on roadways. 

Brisk's platforms are already 

being used worldwide in cities 

including New York State, 

Atlanta, Toronto, Bellevue, 

Montreal, Denver, Bogota, 

Zurich, The Hague, Nantes, 

Karlsruhe and Mumbai. 

www.transoftsolutions.com 

ADDNONDE ACQUIRES EXCITECH 

Excitech has been acquired 

by Addnode Group, the 

owner of Symetri, Europe’s 

leading provider of software 

and services for design and 

engineering activities. The 

acquisition increases 

Symetri’s UK footprint by over 

3,500 customers, strengthens 

its penetration in the construction 

and manufacturing markets, 

and enables both companies 

to deliver more value 

to their customers. 

Excitech customers will see no 

change in how the company 

supports them, with the company 

continuing to operate under 

the Excitech brand out of its 

Dr Jozef Dobos and Guy Ranawake 

Enfield headquarters. Customers 

will immediately benefit 

from an increase in the breadth 

of skills they have access to, 

and a wider range of third-party 

technologies, including 

Symetri’s own products Naviate, 

Sovelia, CQFlexMon, and CQi. 

Founded in 1985, Excitech 

employs 150 people, generating 

net sales in excess of £50m. 

Based in Enfield (North London), 

with additional training 

facilities in London and Cambridge, 

it was one of the first 

partners of Autodesk in the UK 

and is an Autodesk Authorised 

Training Centre. 

www.excitech.co.uk 

3D REPO SECURE MAJOR INVESTMENT 

Ingenious, through its Infrastructure 

Ventures EIS Service, 

has lead a £2.3m A-series 

investment round in 3D Repo, 

completing yet another successful 

year for the innovative 

start-up. 3D Repo technology 

has been successfully deployed 

on some of the largest and 

most prestigious construction 

projects with companies such 

as Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Bryden 

Wood, BuroHappold, Canary 

Wharf Contractors, and Crossrail 

among others. 

Guy Ranawake, Senior Investment 

Director at Ingenious, 

said: "There has been solid 

growth in the use of BIM worldwide 

and especially in the UK 

following the government mandate 

for BIM Level 2 on all largescale 

public sector construction 

and infrastructure projects since 

2016. 3D Repo’s online platform 

has excellent collaborative tools 

that allow teams to achieve all 

the benefits promised by BIM, 

consistently helping projects 

meet cost and time targets." 

Dr Jozef Dobos, founder and 

CEO of 3D Repo, said: "Having 

the backing of Ingenious means 

that we can continue to support 

the country's foremost digital 

construction champions and 

drive the use of 3D Repo on the 

most challenging infrastructure 

projects globally." 

www.3drepo.com 

6 

January/February 2019

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• Standardised document control 

• ISO 19650 naming compliance out-of-the-box 

• Workflow productivity with design authoring, 

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construction projects. Because it's built on the Office 365 SharePoint in the Cloud, it helps 

organisations efficiently manage and access project contacts, email, document and 

drawing content—wherever and whenever needed. 

Smarter, Flexible Project Delivery at £16 per user per month 

Find out more at www.atvero.com 

Terms and conditions apply

INDUSTRY news 

EVOLUTION M TAKES TO THE CLOUD 

Integrity Software have 

launched a cloud-based version 

of their award-winning 

construction accounting software, 

with a number of customers 

already using the webbased 

system. 

One of the key benefits of the 

new SaaS offering is improved 

affordability. Removing the 

upfront cost for users and 

instead spreading the costs 

throughout the year on a 

monthly basis is an attractive 

alternative for those who manage 

their cash flow in this way. 

The cloud-based hosted solution 

will also remove the need 

for an on-premise server, which 

can represent a considerable 

outlay for smaller construction 

companies just starting out. 

Evolution Mx users can now 

benefit from a fully-fledged 

cloud-based system, making it 

even easier for users to work 

remotely. It will also now be 

available to Mac users, through 

the use of a web-based VM. 

Sophie Hurst, MD of Integrity 

Software, said: “For years we 

have come up against cloudbased 

competitors when it 

comes to new business, and 

whilst the functionality, flexibility 

and competency of our software 

certainly held its own - with 

many companies actually preferring 

an on-premise solution – 

we recognised that the market 

is changing, and we felt the time 

was right the develop our own 

cloud-based version of our software 

to give potential customers 

more choice.” 

Integrity will continue to offer 

its award-winning constructionspecific 

management software 

as a hosted on-premise solution 

along with this new cloudbased 

option. 

www.integrity-software.net 

ANOTHER FLYING SUCCESS FOR BLUESKY 

International aerial mapping 

company Bluesky has completed 

another successful survey 

season in the UK and Ireland. 

Capturing around 70,000 

square kilometres of aerial photography 

– of which about 70 

percent is high resolution – the 

total area flown equates to 

around twice the size of the 

Netherlands. 

In addition to the true ortho 

photography, which is used to 

create 3D height models of the 

earth’s bare surface (Digital 

Terrain Models / DTM) and 

ground features including 

buildings and trees (Digital Surface 

Models / DSM), Bluesky 

has captured Colour Infrared 

imagery of the entire area. This 

CIR imagery can be used to 

create environmental maps 

which help determine the 

health and state of vegetation. 

www.bluesky-world.com 

SOLIBRI CONNECTION FOR ARCHICAD 23 

RIBA is set to present its first 

VR exhibition, exploring key 

moments in the evolution of 

architectural styles over the last 

500 years. This new commission 

by multidisciplinary design 

studio Space Popular raises 

one of the most enduring concerns 

of architecture: the rise 

and fall of styles. 

Drawing on RIBA's world-class 

collections, Space Popular uses 

virtual reality to examine architecture 

styles of the past - from 

the Renaissance to postmodernism 

- and to consider technology's 

impact on contemporary 

buildings and spaces. Historic 

artefacts will be displayed 

alongside newly-commissioned 

content, welcoming visitors into 

a virtual universe to experience 

how popular cultures and technologies 

impact architecture 

GRAPHISOFT has 

announced the release of 

the latest version of the widely 

adopted Solibri Connection 

add-on for ARCHICAD 23, 

which allows faster BIM 

updates and the use of Solibri 

Office, Site or Anywhere while 

working in a real-time design 

scenario. Solibri Connection 

add-on provides fast and automated 

code and constructability 

checking. 

Optimised for ARCHICAD 23, 

the updated add-on automatically 

processes only those elements 

that are changed in the 

ARCHICAD model, resulting in 

faster collaboration. BCFbased 

issue reporting was 

introduced to this workflow, 

enabling designers to assign 

the detected issues to teammates. 

This add-on allows 

faster BIM updates and the use 

of Solibri while working in a 

real-time design scenario. 

Solibri Connection users will no 

longer need to save files to 

improve or evaluate the quality 

of their BIM model. 

www.graphisoft.com 

RIBA GOES FREESTYLE WITH NEW VR EXHIBIT 

and its evolution. 

A large-scale architectural 

model and vast colourful carpet 

will dominate the real-life gallery, 

incorporating references which 

epitomise individual architectural 

styles. Through interactive 

content, avatars will take each 

visitor on an illuminating tour 

through the space, elaborating 

on the real-life display of artefacts 

from the RIBA collections 

and their relation to technological 

innovations through time. 

The show includes contributions 

from internationally renowned 

architectural scholars; in addition, 

students from London 

Design and Engineering University 

Technical College have participated 

by producing their own 

avatars, virtual worlds and alternative 

interpretation. 

www.architecture.com 

8 

January/February 2020

CASEstudy 

©Steve McCurry / Magnum Photos 

Distilling the essence of design 

Thomas Mahon of Bimorph Digital Engineering explains the use of GenerativeComponents to 

calculate the mathematics behind The Macallan Distillery's distinctive and complex roof 

It's a fascinating concept that owners of 

wineries and distilleries, build splendid 

structures to house their produce whilst it 

matures in the vats, casks and gleaming 

copper distillation devices. Take for example 

the winery designed by Frank Gehry in 

Elciego, Spain, One can only assume that 

the patience required as each vintage 

matures is bolstered by contemplation 

amidst some iconic piece of architecture. 

On the other hand, visitors want to see as 

much of the manufacturing process as 

possible - and one needs to encourage 

profligacy from them by the opulence and 

magnificence of a grand design. 

I learnt about just such a dramatic and 

inspiring project in Scotland at Bentley's 

recent GenerativeComponents Symposium 

in London, where Thomas Mahon, 

founding Director of Bimorph Digital 

Engineering, gave a presentation on the 

parametric design process that aided in the 

development of The Macallan Distillery roof 

structure project. 

The new Macallan Distillery building was a 

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners project for 

the Macallan Distillery, which has been in 

existence since 1824 when they produced 

their first single malt whiskey. Set in the 

beautiful rolling scenery of the Easter 

Elchies estate, the aim was to provide a 

building that had a minimum visible impact 

on the landscape, yet allowed visitors to 

see all elements of the whiskey production 

process in a dramatic environment - a 

contrast between the engineering manmade 

forms of the industrial production 

and the surrounding countryside. 

The distillery consists of a substructure 

package of earthworks, waterproofing and 

concrete retaining structures using a grey 

aggregate mix and dark grey cement using 

local pulverized fuel ash, to match local 

stone. This was complemented by a 

superstructure designed to fit in yet appear 

man-made, and a gently undulating roof 

which was quite different and separate to 

the main structure, 'sailing' above it and 

freeing it from restraining ground pressures 

and loads. 

THE MACALLAN DISTILLERY ROOF 

The roof structure is in two principle parts, a 

primary tubular steel support frame and 

undulating domes and valleys for the 

timber grid shell. The primary steel frame is 

laced through the centre of the timber 

beam structure and helps to resist the 

torsional forces. The timber domes act in 

compression and the interconnecting 

valleys are hung between the domes. All of 

the roof beams are straight and all of the 

cassettes are flat double skinned panels, 

providing a facetted appearance to the 

engineered landscape. 

Despite the highly repetitive and rotational 

roof geometry the finished structure is 

constructed from over 380 thousand 

components. The beams are a composite 

of glulam and laminated veneered lumbar 

(LVL) and steel reinforced in certain key 

locations. All of the timber beams are 

vertical with a constant expressed depth of 

750mm which allows for considered and 

neat interfaces with internal partitions as 

well as the solid and glazed façade. 

FAÇADE AND GLAZING 

Running the full length of the eastern and 

southern elevations of the building is full 

height double glazing composed of 3m 

wide structurally bonded double-glazed 

panels, supported from the base and 

restrained at the head with a flexible 

movement joint. The interface between the 

main glazed façade and associated downstand 

roof beam is a key and important 

interface. Running the full length of the 

building, the façade undulates between 

2.6m and 5m in height. The interface at 

roof level incorporates a flexible movement 

detail which needs to accommodate the 

vertical and lateral range of movements of 

the roof structure, to remain engaged to the 

roof and support its lateral movement 

whilst maintaining the performance of its 

thermal and weathering envelope. 

GREEN ROOF AND COVERINGS 

On top of the timber roof structure is a 

layered roof buildup of circa 300mm in 

depth - 150mm of vapour barrier, thermal 

insulation and waterproofing and then a 

further 150mm of green living roof. The 

insulation actually protects the irrigated roof 

from the warming and drying effects of the 

distillation process. 

The architectural structural grid of the 

timber provides a network of aluminum 

channels, contributing to the engineered 

aesthetic but also acting as a servicing 

zone that crosses the entire roof, lightning 

protection, irrigation runs, fall restraint lines 

and power for actuated vents to the visitor 

centre rooflights. 

10 


CASE study 

GENERATING THE DESIGN 

The roof design project was assisted by 

Thomas Mahon in 2015 while working as a 

computational BIM expert alongside the 

design team at RSHP. The project inspired 

the conception of his company Bimorph, 

which provides advanced digital/software 

engineering expertise as-a-service to the 

construction industry. 

The basis of the design was a grid, used 

to calculate the different layers to create a 

volume with a thickness generated by 

inputting a vertical depth into the 

GenerativeComponents (GC) parametric 

model. The structural members were then 

built dynamically as solids by the GC script 

using the law curves (cosines) and 

structural grid (3x3m) as the primary 

constraints, and the vertical dimension as 

the depth. 

Thomas had control of the parametric 

model in GC and was able to manipulate 

the grid size, structural depth and the 

overall surface curvature by modifying the 

law curves (geometric controllers). 

Rationalising the roof structure using 

cosine equations, however, did create 

natural caternaries for the structural 

engineers load tests. 

WHY GENERATIVECOMPONENTS? 

GenerativeComponents was the best 

option for this project, Thomas explained, 

as it has a powerful geometry engine and 

unique features that enable it to undertake 

complex building design problems. These 

include a built-in IDE and debugger 

capable of drawing geometry in the 

viewport as users step through their code, 

and a purpose-built scripting language, 

GCScript, enabling text-based 

programming (more suitable than visual 

programming for this type of project). 

GenerativeComponents also has a unique 

transaction feature which records user 

actions as the script is created and 

organised by the programmer to create 

more logical blocks of code. This essentially 

creates states which can be rolled back or 

replayed, enabling explicit flow control for 

developing and debugging complex 

computational design scripts - something 

that is unavailable in other computational 

design tools. 

According to Thomas, this project would 

have been extremely difficult to achieve 

using traditional CAD software, since 

finessing the design using law curves 

meant potentially hundreds of design 

iterations could be explored in a day. Even 

a slight modification of the roof's node 

points could result in ugly kinks in the roof 

structure and entail a fresh calculation. 

Done manually, just one design option 

could take weeks! 

GenerativeComponents offered other 

advantages too, such as the precision and 

mathematical parameterisation of the roof 

design. Subtle but significant design 

requirements, like the seemingly nonrational 

humps in the roof structure, are 

perfectly symmetrical up to where the ring 

beams intersect the timber roof structure, 

and essential for the RSHP design teams to 

retain the consistency of the symmetrical 

domes. This was only viable using 

parametric modelling. 

The apex of each dome, was actually only 

achievable using GenerativeComponents' 

cosines mapped into 3D space, and used 

as the setting out point for the interpolation, 

and then translated into the 3D structural 

members of the roof structure. 

BIOMORPH 

Bimorph Digital Engineering is now a 

London-based digital engineering firm 

providing specialist design delivery 

solutions to Architects, Engineers, Building 

Contractors, and Manufacturers. Their work 

ranges from improving workflow efficiency 

by developing custom apps for widely used 

construction software, to solving technical 

building design problems using software 

engineering and computational design/BIM. 

Since launching in 2015 Bimorph has 

grown rapidly, with an international client list 

for whom the company has provided highly 

innovative digital engineering solutions 

which are transforming the way buildings 

are designed and delivered. These include 

coordinating a parametric model for the 

WikiHouse project with Hawkins\Brown 

architects and Architecture 00 using 

Revit/Dynamo. 

Using a wide range of disciplines and 

expertise including BIM, construction, Revit, 

computational design, applied 

mathematics, computer science (bin 

packing algorithms, etc.) and geometric 

analysis, Biomorph can develop add-ins 

that can reduce design processes that 

normally take weeks to just a few minutes. 

www.bimorph.com 


CASEstudy 

Listotektura 

The winning UK entry in the architecture category of the Vectorworks Student Design Scholarship for 

2019 combined a design concept influenced by nature supported by solid structural design, writes 

David Chadwick, who helped judge this year's entrants 

The winning UK entry in the 

Vectorworks Student Design 

Scholarship for 2019 was by Marina 

Georgieva from Birmingham City University. 

Marina was a winner in the Architecture 

category for her Listotektura project, while 

the 2019 Richard Diehl Award grand prize 

was won by Kris Clemson's The Octagon. 

Every year I have the honour and the 

pleasure of judging the UK entries to the 

competition, and I am invariably amazed at 

the quality and the creativity of many of the 

entries. Despite the fact that most of them 

will never become actual building projects, 

the effort that is put into them, and the fact 

that they address many of the issues 

prevalent in the industry, points to a wealth 

of talent coming through our universities. 

This year's UK winner, Marina Georgieva, 

presented a project that appeared at first 

glance to be more a work of art than a 

carefully laid out architectural proposal, but 

she described the development of the 

project beautifully, and how it followed the 

ethos of the local town and its surrounding 

natural habitat. Marina then followed that 

up with more concrete proposals about the 

sustainability of the project and the 

structural requirements of the separate 

elements, carefully researched with 

reference to similar projects worldwide. 

BEWDLEY ART GALLERY 

The location of the project is in Bewdley, 

UK, next to the River Severn, in the West 

Midlands. Bewdley, Marina describes, is a 

quiet town which, being set in a natural 

environment, creates a feeling of 

contentment and happiness for both 

visitors and citizens. 

The aim of the project was to provide an 

art gallery, a space for public celebration of 

local craftsmanship, studios for art visitors, 

and public workshops. The design was 

influenced by its natural surroundings, 

including the gallery spaces. From the 

initial concept to final design the building 

was designed to be sustainable while 

creating social areas - an all-year round 

usable landscape space, views, attractions 

and excitement. 

To develop the concept it was separated 

into two stages. The first stage was the 

design, which focused on exploring the 

influence of nature on the human mind and 

body, providing an open landscape space 

for social and interactive meeting. The 

second stage of the project was presented 

in her portfolio where the design brief and 

conceptual ideas of the building were 

explored and more fully defined. 

BEWDLEY AND NATURE 

The potential Bewdley Art Gallery site is 

situated on the banks of the River Severn 

and is surrounded by a lot of trees, whilst 

still being close to the centre of the town. 

To imbue the town's nature in the design, 

Marina photographed and observed 

nature's movement through the seasons. 

Trees, leaves and the river were all 

documented by short videos which 

allowed her to focus on the bridge 

between architecture and nature. 

This went into some detail, and a single 

tree was framed in a photograph from 

Bewdley and the leaves explored as single 

components - encouraging Marina to use 

a single leaf as the basic concept of the 

design, and then to create a patterned 

web of such components. 

The leaf was then drawn and dissected 

into smaller components, getting to its 

essential nature, so that its structure could 

influence the pattern of the façade, the 

building's shape and its delicate structure. 

Using it as a base, pushing and pulling 

the sides helped create the shape of the 

roof, and then the corners of the building 

to establish its height and where the roof 

became embedded into the building. The 

various shapes created in the structure by 

the dissection provided places where 

decorative patterns could be placed as 

solid infills. The building evolved to create 

a beautiful and delicate structure. 

ABSTRACT CONCEPTS 

The design process was started by simply 

drawing lines, exploring where the 

decorative patterns would best be placed. 

Abstract sections, spaces and the 

abstract façade of the project were built as 

a model to exist further exploration of the 

concept. The delicate structure of the 

12 


CASE study 

Bewdley Art Gallery designs by Marina Georgieva at Birmingham City University 

plywood strips used provided an insight 

into the materials and the triangular 

shapes where the decorative patterns 

could be placed. 

The conceptual model demonstrated 

that two separate shapes helped divide 

the various functions of the building. 

These were refined later with the 

separation of the floors and the height of 

the building. The two different parts of the 

building were connected with a bridge 

between them, influenced by the curves of 

the Bewdley terrain. The connection 

between the two pods was strengthened 

by adding a cable structure to support the 

tension of the curvature of the bridge. 

For the final design of the building, and 

to prevent shadows being cast in the 

seating area, the building was oriented to 

face the sun. 

ENVIRONMENTAL STRATEGY 

As part of the environmental strategy, one 

of the aims of the design was to 

maximise natural light and ventilation, 

and to create a healthy, happy 

atmosphere. Window openings were 

placed on each floor on all elevations, 

and voids placed close enough to them 

to encourage a stack effect and provide 

natural ventilation, supported by 

mechanical ventilation when necessary, 

and cladding to enhance air movement. 

Daylight penetration is provided by 

glazing and the decoratively patterned 

cladding throughout, which distributes 

light to internal spaces, creating an 

interesting atmosphere in the building. 

This is supported by artificial lighting on 

the ceilings and glulam columns - again, 

only to be used when required. 

Natural shading was achieved by 

distinctive patterns on the façade, the 

whole building creating a natural selfshading 

function. 

Rainwater management was provided to 

direct the water into a pond which was 

part of the landscape design, which then 

runs into a rainwater harvesting system, 

used for watering the landscape and for 

the toilets. 

The building has underfloor heating for 

the winter, supported by geothermal 

heating - a ground source effect which 

pushes hot air into the building replacing 

cold air, assisted by a generator in the 

pump room. 

FLOODING SYSTEM BARRIERS 

The site has environmental issues as the 

risk of flooding is very high next to the 

River Severn. There are three barriers in 

Bewdley but none to protect the site of the 

building. The landscaping was designed 

to stop water reaching the building, with 

steps raised up towards the river to act as 

a flood water barrier. 

TIMBER FRAME 

A 3D model of the building was created to 

better understand its timber frame. The 

model was exploded into different 

components, focusing on the primary and 

secondary structure for the columns as 

well as the floor, and materials applied to 

each components to provide more 

accurate visualisation. 

A physical model of one of the parts of 

the building was also made to test the 

structure of the concept. 

The model was separated into two parts, 

the structure and the façade, and the 

stability of the structural timber frame 

explored. Other buildings with similar 

designs were studied to evaluate the 

design of the timber frame structure: the 

Chilean Pavilion designed by Undurraga 

Devés Arquitectos and Maggie's Cancer 

Centre in Manchester designed by Foster 

+ Partners. 

The gallery dimensions were quite 

large - 22m high, supported by glulam 

arches. The arches are 210mm wide 

and 900mm deep spanning the full 22m 

width. Each arch is supported by a steel 

shoe, pinned to the ground, with spliced 

plates welded to a 244mm diameter 

support. The whole structure rests on a 

cast concrete floor slab. 

For the presentation, virtual reality renders 

were created to better understand the 

space within the building. Finally, to link all 

of this together the galleries in both parts 

of the building were named, 'Framing 

Nature' and 'Sculptures of Nature'. 

It was a pleasure going through Marina's 

presentation again for this issue. 

www.vectorworks.net 

If you are interested in entering your 

project for the 2020 Vectorworks Design 

Scholarship awards you can register your 

interest at: 

www.vectorworks.net/scholarship/en/about 


SAVE THE DATE 

12TH NOVEMBER 2020 

THE GRAND CONNAUGHT ROOMS, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON 

www.constructioncomputingawards.co.uk 

@CCMagAndAwards 

Sponsored by:

INDUSTRY news 

In memory of Tony Ryan 

Asite's Tony Ryan passed away on Tuesday the 2nd of January in London, due to unexpectedly 

severe complications from a recent illness. He was appointed CEO in 2006, having previously been 

Sales Director 

In partnership with Nathan Doughty, 

who had been Chief Operating 

Officer since 2006, Tony 

transformed Asite into a consistently 

profitable business - despite the 

turbulent times the industry faced. Due 

to this work, Asite is now a key global 

player in today's Software as a Service 

(SaaS) space, working on some of the 

largest capital projects and 

infrastructure developments around 

the world. Tony's determination to 

succeed was a key driver of this 

success. 

Above all, Tony was an extraordinary 

character who will be remembered for 

his positive energy and optimism 

about life. The entire Asite family 

grieves his loss and extends their 

deepest sympathies to Tony's family 

and friends. 

While Asite mourns, they also 

continue to push forward as the 

ATeam; which is precisely what he 

would have wanted. Nathan Doughty 

has been appointed as Group CEO 

and has the full support of Asite's 

Board of Directors, management team 

and employees around the world. 

With over 25 years of experience in IT 

services, extensive knowledge of 

Software as a Service and the global 

architectural, engineering and 

construction (AEC) environment, 

Nathan will continue to build on the 

excellent foundations that have been 

laid and provide leadership to shape a 

market-leading future for the business 

in its mission to become the global 

leader in digital engineering. 

Asite's global offices and expanding 

team of experts has provided them 

with the capability to fully support their 

customers, regardless of their location. 

Their success over the last year has 

enabled them to achieve ambitious 

growth targets, resulting in an 83% 

increase in operating profit and 20.4% 

increase in revenue. At the centre of 

their triumph, the cloud-based Asite 

platform continues to push the 

boundaries of research and innovation 

in the field of digital engineering on 

behalf of their customers, achieving 

awards such as Cloud Technology of 

the Year and Best Use of IT in a 

Construction Project at the 

Constructing Computing Awards 2019. 

They are well positioned to 

accomplish their strategic desire to 

become the global leader in digital 

engineering by integrating supply 

chains for capital projects and 

infrastructure developments 

worldwide, and their vision to connect 

people and help the world build better 

has never been more pertinent. Asite's 

future looks very bright and is destined 

for exciting times ahead. 

ABOUT ASITE 

Founded in 2001, Asite's platform 

enables organisations working on 

large capital projects to come 

together, plan, design and build with 

seamless information sharing across 

the entire supply chain. 

Asite Vendor Marketplace is our 

supply chain management solution 

which helps capital project owners and 

Tier-1 contractors to integrate and 

manage their extended supply chain 

for delivering on capital projects. Asite 

Common Data Environment is our 

project portfolio management solution 

that gives you and your extended 

supply chain shared visibility of your 

capital projects. Together they enable 

organisations to build digital 

engineering teams that can deliver 

digital twins and just plain build better. 

Asite is headquartered in London's 

Tech City and has regional offices in 

New York, Houston, Dubai, Sydney, 

Hong Kong, India and South Africa. 

www.asite.com 


CASE study 

Remodelling King's Cross Station 

3D Repo provides access to the thousands of CAD files created by the King's Cross railway 

development project to 300 designers, contractors and managers 

London's King's Cross railway 

station is one of the busiest 

stations in the UK, serving close 

to 40 million passengers each year. 

Although it has attracted attention for 

the magnificent semi-circular vaulted 

canopy over the concourse, designed 

by British architects John McAslan + 

Partners, it's been 25 years since any 

major intervention has taken place on 

the railway itself, and it is now in need 

of some major renewal and remodelling 

work. The remodelling will allow for an 

increase in the length and number of 

long-distance trains, and facilitate 

future improvements to journey times. 

Specialist Project Integration (SPI) a 

company that works with companies 

within the construction, utilities and 

infrastructure industries to raise 

productivity using enabling 

technologies, information management 

and visualisation, are undertaking this 

massive £250 million project which 

includes: 

Extending passenger platforms 

Recommissioning an unused tunnel 

Optimising the track layout 

Modernising the signalling control 

system 

One of the major challenges for this 

complex project is that the new railway 

needs to be built on top of existing 

railway whilst it remains open. With 

about 300 designers, contractors, and 

managers across multiple companies, 

and some 3,500 CAD files, SPI knew 

that traditional methods of 

communication and design 

coordination were not appropriate. 

Furthermore, they needed to be sure 

that disruption to one of the UK's 

busiest railway stations was kept to a 

minimum. 

Despite using ProjectWise as a 

common data environment (CDE), there 

was also a need for a design 

coordination and collaboration tool that 

could run easily in a web browser. 3D 

Repo's digital platform for Building 

Information Modelling (BIM) was 

chosen as the platform to help SPI with 

coordination due to the fact that it 

required minimal training, and could be 

accessed from any computer without 

the need for software installation or 

licensing 

SPI are using 3D Repo as both a 

design coordination tool and a 

communication tool to help them bring 

this project together. The company 

hopes to achieve a predicted saving of 

about 10,000 hours of on-site work 

thanks to the combination of software 

applications being used including 

Bentley MicroStation, 3D Repo, and 

SPI V-RAM. 

DESIGN COORDINATION 

One of the key features used is Instant 

Clash, which identifies issues such as 

steelwork clashing with overhead lines, 

highlighting the exact intersection point 

to save potential rework during 

construction. Designers and engineers 

simply sign-in from a web browser to 

view the latest models and log issues 

and comments into the platform as a 

central hub for communication - 

meaning no more lost emails. 

3D Repo's 3D Diff feature, the first 

real-time change detection solution on 

the web, released by 3D Repo earlier 

16 


CASE study 

this year, detects changes made 

between 3D models regardless of file 

type, making it easy for multidisciplinary 

teams to collaborate when different 

design software applications are being 

used. It compares actual geometry 

changes between models, highlighting 

new elements in green and deletions in 

red. Amongst the most popular file 

formats that 3D Repo supports are, of 

course, Autodesk Revit and 

Navisworks, Bentley DGN, IFC, FBX 

and many more. 

One surprising benefit to the use of 3D 

Repo, in spite of the complexity of the 

project, is that SPI is able to achieve 

substantial efficiencies within the 

project using only a small proportion of 

the features available in the software. 

According to Simon Wray, Managing 

Director of Specialist Product 

Integration, "The great thing about 3D 

Repo is that we're only using the most 

basic features and we're getting a 

strong return on investment." 

COMMUNICATION TOOL 

Similar functionality widens accessibility 

to the project beyond project members 

and industry specialists. 3D Repo 

provides a "reality model" of the project 

which can be used to 'democratise' the 

data it contains, and to customise views 

that enable stakeholders, the public 

and other interested parties to extract 

the information they require. The 

complexity of the project can be 

mitigated for those who do not normally 

use, or necessarily understand, CAD 

drawings and BIM models. 

The reality model is actually a realistic 

version of the design, adding context to 

the remodelling project - adding visual 

clues to its appearance of the project 

and its setting and removing the need 

for specialist interpretation. SPI have 

found that this has helped minimise 

timescales in decision making from 

local authorities, station management, 

train operators etc. as they are able to 

relate the reality model back to a realworld 

context. 

Besides providing an ideal 

communication tool for projects, 3D 

Repo is being used for numerous other 

tasks during the King's Cross 

remodelling project. Stakeholder 

engagement - and, dare we say it, 

education - is an important part of the 

process. Explaining where the money is 

being swallowed up is a lot easier to 

put across when you can 'walk' the 

senior management team through the 

project rather than swapping 3D model 

views and Excel spreadsheets round 

the board. Similarly, Engineering 

meetings have become more focused, 

facilitating direct interaction with 

engineering issues whatever the rail 

technology, application being 

discussed or file formats being used. 

KEEPING LINES OPEN 

One of the main issues for the project, 

mentioned above, is that all of the 

proposed improvements are to be 

carried out whilst the existing railway 

lines remain in operation. That raises 

immense problems for site logistics, 

such as the removal of waste material, 

the provision of new equipment and the 

machinery required to install it, and the 

general movement of workers on and 

off the site whilst trains are running 

past. Here, 3D Repo's health and safety 

tool, SafetiBase, has proved an ideal 

solution for educating the workforce 

about the issues and dangers involved 

in working in a 'live' environment, 

allowing potential hazards to be 

identified and mitigated before anyone 

sets foot onsite. 

Construction projects in Greater 

London are probably subject to far 

more planning processes than 

anywhere else, and are likely to be far 

more stringent - hence the use of 3D 

Repo to assist in obtaining planning 

consents, and the enhanced overviews 

of the King's Cross project that 

facilitated the project's acceptance. 

The general feeling at SPI is that from 

the designers, architects and engineer's 

points of view, and also as a tool for 

informing all other parties involved or 

interested in a project, 3D Repo has 

certainly delivered its promise. This was 

endorsed by Keith Wakeford, head of 

Modelling and Simulation at SPI, who 

said "We found 3D Repo intuitive to 

use, and capable of navigating 

extremely complex models, even when 

using textured elements". 

https://3drepo.com 


CASE study 

Mix and match 

When faced with a hybrid mix of precast, cast-in-place and reinforcement concrete, a tight delivery 

schedule, a marine environment and complex construction methodologies, Kilnbridge Construction 

Services turned to Trimble's Tekla Structures for assistance on the Water Street Bridge project 

Arecent addition to London's Canary 

Wharf estate, the new Water Street 

Bridge was designed by Knight 

Architects with COWI and Eadon 

Consulting, to provide a road and 

pedestrian link between Montgomery 

Square and the new Wood Wharf 

development. A single-leaf bascule bridge, 

with an upward swing to allow boats to 

pass underneath, it spans over 25m across 

the Bellmouth Passage, between the pivot 

point within the East Abutment chamber 

and the elastomeric nose-bearing at the 

West Abutment. 

Kilnbridge, a multidiscipline construction 

and engineering business, was awarded 

the £5million project by Canary Wharf 

Contractors, with the task of designing, 

fabricating and installing the three primary 

concrete structures required for the bridge's 

construction - the East Abutment, West 

Abutment and Marine Causeway. 

Both the East and West Abutment were to 

be formed of reinforced concrete, with the 

surrounding marine environment requiring 

careful detailing and consideration of the 

adjacent structures. The West Abutment 

consisted of a number of vertical structures, 

notably two feature concrete columns that 

support the bridge's elastomeric bearings 

and approach deck; all of which were 

supported on bearing piles through the 

existing promenade. In comparison, the 

East Abutment is a semi-submerged 

concrete structure, founded on 1200mm 

diameter bored marine piles with 

permanent steel casings sealed into the 

Lambeth Beds below. 

Designed to withstand impact from a 

small ship, the main function of the East 

Abutment is to support the bridge's pivot 

bearing and lifting cylinder, as well as 

house the other mechanical components 

and plant room area. 

Kilnbridge was also tasked with 

designing, fabricating and constructing 

the Marine Causeway, which ran 

alongside the existing marine deck of the 

new Wood Wharf development. 

Consisting of bored marine piles that 

support transverse precast beams, 

precast planks then span between the 

beams, providing permanent formwork for 

the in-situ concrete deck above. 

It was a complex project, which 

combined precast, cast-in-place and 

finished concrete, as well as various 

temporary works. The limited three-month 

pre-construction lead-in period also 

required the accelerated design and 

detailing of all precast elements. Kilnbridge 

therefore turned to Trimble's Tekla 

Structures for assistance. 

Alastair Courtney, Senior Engineer at 

Kilnbridge said: "We have been using Tekla 

software for concrete reinforcement 

detailing for around three years now, with 

the company also having utilised it on steel 

fabrication works for approximately eight 

years prior to this. The benefits this 

software can bring to both small- and 

large-scale projects are huge and indeed 

widely evident across the whole 

construction process. 

"On the Water Street Bridge site, given the 

18 


CASE study 

hybrid nature of the structures and 

concrete elements, effective project 

coordination and development was crucial. 

It was here that we were aided 

immeasurably by the use of BIM and Tekla 

Structures. As a result of some of the 

elements being highly complex in terms of 

design and positioning, it was vital that we 

were able to first model and study them in 

3D prior to construction, both to ensure 

that they were buildable and also to avoid 

any clashes between the heavy 

reinforcement elements." 

One such example of this design and 

construction complexity was the East 

Abutment. With the intention of reducing 

the need for marine plant machinery and 

also improve site safety for workers and 

operatives, it was concluded that 

constructing the permanent outer concrete 

shell structure above the dock water level 

was the most efficient option, effectively 

transforming a marine operation into a 

land-based one. 

Alastair explained further: "After much 

consideration, we decided that the outer 

concrete shell would be constructed above 

water, complete with a temporary working 

platform, before gradually being lowered 

over five metres into the water below using 

strand jacking techniques. It would then be 

sealed and dewatered to provide the 

working space necessary to complete the 

remainder of the concrete structure. 

"Of course, planning and then carrying 

out such a complex piece of engineering 

required a great amount of preparation, 

which is another area where Tekla 

Structures came in. Not only did the 

software greatly assist with the modelling 

of the temporary works required for such 

an operation, including temporary 

reinforcing bars to suit the change in 

structural loading, but it also aided in 

detailing the changing reinforcement 

requirements. We were able to efficiently 

model, consider and assess the two 

differing locations of the structure - a key 

factor considering the installed position 

was far from the permanent end-location." 

In addition to the challenges presented 

by the marine environment, the team at 

Kilnbridge also had to consider the 

proximity of the London Underground 

Limited (LUL) assets; as well as obeying 

the tight deadline by which the project's 

concrete structures had to be completed. 

Given this, the decision was made for a 

large number of concrete elements within 

the Marine Causeway, as well as the 

abutments, to be changed from cast-inplace 

to precast, as Alastair explained: 

"By introducing a greater amount of 

precast elements, we received both large 

time and cost savings, as well as derisking 

the project as a whole - vital considering 

the tight timescales. This also allowed for a 

large portion of the works to be 

constructed and signed-off prior to the 

main works commencing on site, enabling 

us to get ahead of the schedule. 

"Through the use of Tekla Structures, we 

were able to study the 3D model in detail 

and review both the potential advantages 

and constructability of changing the 

concrete elements to precast. In addition, 

we were also able to ensure that the joints 

constructed between the pre-cast 

elements would not impact on the 

surrounding structures." 

The benefits of Tekla software and the 

ease of control allowed with Tekla 

Structures was further exemplified when, at 

a crucial point in the project, two weeks 

prior to a key element being constructed, 

the permanent works engineer noted that 

the design calculations hadn't correctly 

accounted for the loading from a ship 

impact. As a result, substantial changes in 

the reinforcement were required. 

"Thanks to Tekla, what could have been a 

significant setback and caused serious 

delays to the project was easily and 

efficiently solved," commented Alastair. 

"The required changes were all promptly 

incorporated within the model, Tekla 

Structure's automatic clash detection 

confirmed the design was correct and 

constructible. The corresponding 

fabrication drawings and schedules were 

generated within just two days, enabling 

the new reinforcement to be delivered to 

site on time. It also allowed us to maximise 

reusage of the previously ordered 

elements from the then obsolete design, 

subsequently reducing waste. 

"Thanks to Tekla Structures, the overall 

construction programme was not 

impacted, and we were able to achieve our 

deadline for the lowering of the East 

Abutment structure - a real feat of 

engineering in itself." 

The complex nature of the project has 

seen Kilnbridge receive praise and 

recognition from throughout the industry, 

including being presented with the 

Infrastructure Project Award in the Tekla UK 

Awards 2019, where judges praised its 

integration of both precast and cast-inplace 

concrete, and also receiving 

commendation for CONSTRUCT's Project 

of the Year Award (2018). 

www.tekla.com/uk/products/tekla-structures 


CASEstudy 

Bentley OpenBuildings Designer 

Rounding off a sequence of 'Open' applications from Bentley is OpenBuildings Designer - the ultimate 

single multidisciplinary application 

As we have seen over the last couple 

of years, the trend within Bentley 

Systems is towards the full 

integration of related applications to 

facilitate the sharing of information in order 

to improve the workflows between all 

members of a project. Previously this was 

focused on individual project types - 

infrastructure design, site and building 

modelling and, most recently, flood relief 

solutions - but earlier this year Bentley 

released the ultimate in their 'Open' 

system solutions: OpenBuildings 

Designer. It seemed appropriate then that 

we should wrap up the series with this 

important, fundamental, Open solution. 

This single application brings together all 

of the separate functions that comprise a 

typical construction project, with the 

benefit of specialists in each area being 

able to work on, or contribute to, a single 

'Master' model. 

The ultimate application is putting it 

mildly. OpenBuildings Designer provides 

access to architectural, structural, 

mechanical and electrical design 

solutions, as well as computational 

design solutions for exploring design 

variations, and energy services for 

performing building simulations and 

energy evaluations. Designs can be 

developed in context using reality models 

and point cloud data, checked in 

progress using clash detection tools and, 

whilst adhering to company standards, 

sharing data with all common formats - 

IFC, COBie RealDWG, RFA and 

SketchUp's SKP - and to share models 

using Bentley's iModels technology. 

OpenBuilding Designer also takes 

advantage of all of the latest technology 

advances to produce project documents, 

lifelike renderings and movies, 

incorporate media files, share weblinks 

and develop hypermodels. All of this 

comes within a Bentley ProjectWise 

environment. There's even a personalised 

learning facility to accelerate and 

encourage adoption of the application. 

Described as a 'Design In Reality 

Context', it is a multidisciplinary approach 

that uses BIM workflows to build 

information-rich models for the design, 

analysis, simulation and documentation 

of buildings. It even includes things like 

computational design - or 

GenerativeComponents - and energy 

simulations for evaluating building 

performance. As with earlier Open 

Design solutions, OpenBuilding Designer 

places users within a 3D modelling 

environment, leveraging reality models to 

place them in context. 

Faced with access to such a wealth of 

applications, it is only appropriate that it is 

supported by Bentley's SELECT 

CONNECT Edition and services - which 

include Adaptive Learning Services that 

provide contextual and personal learning, 

and Personal Mobility Services giving 

unlimited access to project information as 

and when required. ProjectWise 

Connection Services allows users to share 

and manage issues, applications and 

project information, and to handle 

transmittals, submittals and RFIs. 

With such a phenomenal increase in the 

sharing of information between the 

different disciplines, the only caveat I 

suppose is the amount of data translation 

required to build complex models, and the 

organising required to keep all of it 

relevant and up to date. By using the BIMs 

federated data, however, design 

components are made available to all 

members of a project team, no matter 

what format it was originally designed in, 

and building systems using these different 

technologies are coordinated to allow 

users to work on any size model 

simultaneously. 

OPENBUILDINGS DESIGNER 

COMPONENTS 

OpenBuildings Designer is described by 

Bentley as a single multidisciplinary 

application. Besides a standard 

architectural set of tools, it incorporates 

structural software to model steel, 

concrete and timber structures, with tools 

to detail steel trusses, joists, ladders and 

handrails and other assemblies. The 

structural software comes with a library of 

international steel and concrete shapes, 

20 


CASEstudy 

and is capable of sharing both models 

and analysis with other applications, using 

Bentley's Integrated Structural Modelling 

(ISM) technology. It can also exchange 

data with other detailing applications using 

CIS/2 and SDNF (you can start to see the 

multiplicity of formats building up). 

The application comes with Mechanical 

and Electric components - the former for 

modelling HVAC, piping and other 

plumbing systems, and the second to 

provide complex lighting designs and 

electrical circuitry. Using standard MEP 

components, aided by software to 

calculate ductwork sizes and airflows, 

users can layout complete HVAC and 

other systems, and then produce the 

drawings and models they need to send 

to Trimble's FabShop for fabrication. 

Electrical design comes with its own 

unique array of requirements, allowing 

users to lay out electric circuits 

parametrically. These include cable trays, 

baskets, conduits and wireways, which 

have to be documented in 2D formats, 

block diagrams, lighting and panel 

schedules. These are totally familiar to 

electrical engineers however, who have 

access to user-definable templates. 

COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN 

This is where the application really takes off. 

There's little perceived advantage to be 

gained running the first three elements 

together, as opposed to running them 

separately and traditionally, sharing data 

using ProjectWise's Connected Data 

Environment (CDE). Integrating 

computational design and other advanced 

design tools within the application, however, 

allows users to leverage the information 

available in virtually unlimited ways. 

Defining components within a proposed 

design, building relationships and 

applying dimensional constraints allows 

architects to explore a range of what-if 

scenarios. Mathematical algorithms can 

be linked to designs to run a vast number 

of iterations of even the most complex 

designs, in a fraction of the time 

traditional methods would take to handle 

just one iteration. 

Mathematical statements, covering 

everything from shape, environmental 

constraints and rental requirements 

through to cost, can be used to control 

the geometry, orientation and size of a 

building, to produce an optimum solution 

for a design. Enhanced control of such 

designs can also use slides, law curves 

and other visual techniques to manipulate 

individual design components. An 

example of this is provided by the case 

study on Macallan Distillery in this issue, 

which uses GenerativeComponents to 

define the unique shape of the iconic roof. 

ENERGY AND BUILDING 

PERFORMANCE 

That only leaves environmental 

considerations, as vital a component of 

modern building design as all other 

elements. Using the industry standard 

EnergyPlus, whole building energy 

analysis can be undertaken in 

OpenBuildings Designer, facilitating 

compliance with international building 

regulations based on industry standard 

load calculations. 

In addition, the building energy module 

allows users to calculate local conditions, 

seasonal requirements and building 

settings to maximise its environmental 

credentials. These include the calculation 

of daylight factors throughout the year 

using the industry standard Radiance 

engine, and simulating the effect of 

shading from adjacent buildings and their 

influence on the design. 

All of this is rounded off by the 

production of reports and charts to 

demonstrate building simulation showing 

heating and cooling loads, LEED 

compliance, annual energy use, 

equipment sizing requirements and CO2 

emissions. 

A FULL HOUSE 

Quite a comprehensive array of features 

in just one application - if you can even 

describe it as such - and yet there's more. 

OpenBuildings Designer can be used 

with other Bentley Open applications, 

such as OpenSite Designer, Descartes 

and LumenRT. This provides full terrain 

development features with OpenSite 

Designer, Descartes digital imagery tools 

for converting point tools, terrain maps 

and other captured imagery into usable 

geometry, and LumenRT's visualisation 

and reality modelling software. 

I said at the start of the article that 

OpenBuildings Designer is the ultimate 

application in Bentley's 'Open' suite and I 

think that the comprehensive array of 

modules confirms that. The danger may 

be that specialisation is being eroded, 

and that architects are being encourages 

to dabble in a little bit of everything. On 

the other hand, knowledge of the 

constraints, capabilities and needs of 

each of the associated disciplines can 

only aid collaboration and the sharing of 

information, resulting in increased 

efficiency in ultimate building design. 

www.bentley.com 


CASEstudy 

BIM technology for AURA Apart 

Ukrainian Architects the Da Vinchi Group win the European Property Award for their AURA Apart hotel, 

designed using ARCHICAD and relying heavily on BIM technology 

AURA Apart, designed by Da Vinchi 

Group and Vatmanstudio, is a hotel 

project in Odessa, Ukraine, which 

recently won the European Property 

Awards. Designers often face difficult 

requirements that are key to the success 

of the entire project, but working on AURA 

Apart Hotel they faced multiple challenges 

with a beach location, a seismic zone and 

difficult terrain. The founder of the Da 

Vinchi Group, Sergey Yurets, and BIM 

Manager, Vitaly Pravdych, spoke about 

how they managed these challenges and 

why they used ARCHICAD. 

A LIGHT FAÇADE IN HARMONY 

WITH COAST 

The main task in designing the complex 

AURA Apart, which began in late 2017, 

was to create a light façade, which would 

harmoniously complement the 

picturesque seascape and coast. Vitaly 

Pravdych describes the initial challenges 

the designers faced: "Since the 

construction was planned for the 

seacoast, the design had to consider the 

climate. In addition, the site is located in 

an active seismic zone -- 7 points, which 

imposes certain structural limitations. 

Another feature is the complex terrain: the 

hotel is located on a steep slope." 

According to the project's BIM Manager, 

the practice had already gained practical 

experience of the software, with its wide 

functionality. He explained that ARCHICAD 

allows you to fill the model with 

information and then use it for the 

automatic construction of façades, 

sections, elevations and details of the 

project, to determine specifications, draw 

up documentation and so on. The entire 

team of specialists can also work 

simultaneously on the project using a 

common file, which significantly reduces 

the design time. 

Sergei Yurets believes that "There are 

quite a few architectural software brands 

on the market, but the undisputed leaders 

are ARCHICAD and Revit. For our 

company, the most convenient software 

product is ARCHICAD. The modern world 

is rapidly developing, and new 

requirements will always appear. So, it is 

important that software developers 

respond to them quickly and satisfy users' 

requests as much as possible." In his 

opinion, the interest of architects in BIM 

software is consistently growing, and this 

trend is noticeable at a global level. "For 

example", he said, "the British government 

demands public projects to be carried out 

exclusively using BIM technology, and 

private companies are gradually moving 

to BIM design". 

The Da Vinchi Group started working 

with BIM in 2018, initially creating a pilot 

team and a BIM Department. The goal 

was to transition to full 3D design for most 

sections and maximum automation of 

design processes. 

Sergey Yurets says, "Our company is 

actively using BIM, and now we simply 

cannot, or rather do not want to work 

differently. BIM enables the customer to 

be involved in the design process, allows 

them to be involved in all stages of design 

online and reduces the number of 

meetings for approvals. As a result, the 

customer gets exactly what he wants. And 

the head of the project organisation has 

more time to work with potential 

customers." 

Additionally, Vitaly Pravdych explained 

that BIM helps architects to avoid 

problems before construction begins. 

When sections of the project are 

developed separately, there are always 

risks. In a consolidated BIM model, the 

probability of error is minimised. 

The BIM manager explained the practical 

aspects of BIM implementation saying, 

"When we faced the first challenges, we 

realised that we were not using the full 

functionality of ARCHICAD. To educate the 

team, we arranged additional courses, 

and even began to master the program's 

relationship with Grasshopper. Thanks to 

these efforts, we improved the quality of 

our work and automated most of our 

routine processes. We also combined all 

technologies in one model, despite the 

fact that the engineering sections were not 

designed in ARCHICAD, exchange model 

information in open IFC format." 

22 


CASE study 

ENGINEERING DESIGN ANALYSIS 

BIM technologies simplified AURA Apart's 

design and helped in many ways. For 

example, when designing the physical 

layout of the underground parking lot, the 

team monitored the overall distances 

required for the passage of cars or whether 

an increase in the height of the parking lot 

was required. To position the building, 

further studies were used to determine the 

alignment and positioning of the building to 

take advantage of the terrain. 

BIMx was widely used to provide the client 

with detailed information on every element 

of the project. Clicking on an object 

opened key information, such as the 

materials chosen by the designers, their 

quantity, as well as the cost. 

BIMCLOUD TEAMWORK: WORKING 

AS A TEAM 

In BIM, the amount of time spent on the 

project does not change significantly, but 

its quality improves and its implementation 

period decreases, reducing construction 

costs. Vitaly Pravdych explains. "When the 

project was launched we needed to speed 

up the earthworks. Using BIMcloud 

Teamwork four architects worked on it 

simultaneously, enabling important 

deadlines to be met." 

According to Pravdych, a system of 

connected modules was used for the 

project, which were repeated on the floors 

(glass façade, stairs, ventilation shafts, 

lintels, etc.); it significantly simplified 

additional calculations and made the 

model 'lighter'. Specially designed GDLobjects 

were used to design the apartment. 

The project was divided into several 

parts: earthwork, ground floor, additional 

floors and the roof. Further work was 

carried out in parallel by four groups: 

architects, engineers, designers and the 

designers from Vatmanstudio. After the 

mass modeling, engineers and designers 

were involved in the development, and the 

project documentation was prepared 

sequentially by the architects and project 

designers. 

When transferring information, cloud 

storage was used on the company's 

servers. Thanks to the universal IFC format, 

architects who worked on the creation of a 

3D model in ARCHICAD could transfer 

information and set tasks without disruption 

to architects and engineers using Revit and 

Civil 3D. Similarly, completed tasks were 

transferred back to be added to the model 

as IFC modules. 

A CRITICAL PHASE OF THE 

PROJECT: COLLISION DETECTION 

During the development of all sections 

and the formation of the consolidated BIM 

model in ARCHICAD, a collision check 

was performed. This used to be carried 

out manually, risking inconsistencies and 

collisions among engineering systems, 

which led to delays, and significantly 

increased the total cost of the project. 

Now, everything is checked automatically 

in the ARCHICAD environment, producing 

a file marked "for correction" which was 

shared with the project members, who 

each made the adjustments in their own 

part of the design. 

SUPERVISION WITH BIMX 

It is interesting to note that during the 

work on the project, ARCHICAD helped 

not only in effective communication with 

the customer, but also on the construction 

site. During construction, the designers' 

representatives visited the site and could 

demonstrate the project or individual 

parts in 3D on a tablet, supervising 

construction on site using BIMx, which 

allowed them to compare the work 

performed with the BIM model. 

INTERNATIONAL RENOWN 

The AURA Apart Hotel project has received 

several international architectural awards, 

which clearly demonstrate the brilliant work 

of the designers and the quality of the 

software that was used during all stages. 

"The project was highly appreciated not 

only by the customer, but also by the jury of 

the European Property Awards in London, 

receiving awards in the Residential Highrise 

Architecture Ukraine and Best 

Apartment Ukraine categories," added 

Sergey Yurets. 

Da Vinchi Group is a team of 

professionals in the field of architecture 

and design, where everyone knows his 

role and is responsible for the result. They 

have many years of experience working 

with new buildings - from the concept 

phase to the first inhabitants (visitors), 

including all the stages of designing from 

a sketch to documentation, as well as 

developing visualisations of exteriors, 

design-projects of common areas, 

apartments, offices, branding, corporate 

identity and advertising. The project also 

used the services of VATMANSTUDIO, a 

company founded in 2013, which enables 

architects and designers respond to socioeconomic 

pressures to successfully 

forecast and implement modern trends in 

architectural and industrial design at a 

global level - a technology mentor for the 

construction industry? 

www.graphisoft.com 


INDUSTRYfocus 

BIM on the building site 

David Chadwick and Excitech's Daryn Fitz continue their discussion of BIM by evaluating its impact 

on main contractors' working practices 

David Chadwick: How are main 

contractors using Building 

Information Modelling (BIM)? 

Daryn Fitz: Where designers are using 

BIM to support design outputs and 

assist in producing coordinated 

designs, main contractors are 

combining processes to improve 

project outcomes. For instance, 3D 

point cloud survey data and the 

designer's 3D models can be federated 

together in a product called Navisworks 

along with a plugin solution called Verity 

which analyses the combined data. It 

can report on components that are out 

of tolerance, not yet installed, or simply 

not installed in accordance with the 

design model. 

The advantage of this approach is that 

critical elements such as a building 

façade can be checked against the 

constructed structure and the proposed 

design to ensure a 'right first time install' 

is achieved, avoiding delays to the 

construction programme and increased 

costs in material and labour. Checks 

can also be made for the positioning of 

builders works holes and slab 

penetrations, giving confidence to the 

building services subcontractor that any 

off-site fabrication will fit within the main 

frame of the building. 

Models can also be linked and 

synchronised to construction 

programmes providing a solution known 

as 4D planning (3D + Time) which 

allows the proposed construction 

programme to be viewed in 3D. This 

approach not only helps to visualise the 

build and communicate it to others, but 

also identifies errors in the sequencing. I 

myself have worked with main 

contractors and delivered over 340 4D 

planning sequences, and each time 

either errors in sequences were 

identified or alternative construction 

options and methods were proposed. 

Another great use of 4D sequencing is 

to visually track progress of the building 

on the site to ensure that the positioning 

of temporary works equipment and 

structures are all aligned to the program. 

In addition to the above examples 

there's also clash detection, where 3D 

design models are federated together 

in products such as Autodesk's 

Navisworks and are analysed to ensure 

that all components are coordinated 

prior to construction, and maintenance 

access is considered and reviewed. 

As mobile technology is becoming the 

norm on our sites, we are seeing the 

use of the 3D model playing a 

significant visual aid to our site 

operatives. Using tools such as BIM 360 

Build enables us to navigate around the 

model out on site and allows us to see 

the virtual completed state within the 

progressive construction environment. 

This also gives us the advantage of 

bringing in the assets from the model 

into a digital platform while looking to 

enhance quality and compliance 

procedures via digital forms. 

I believe that the advantages BIM 

provides are compelling, and the above 

are just four examples from a very long 

list of applications. 

24 


INDUSTRY focus 

DC: What are the challenges for main 

contractors adopting BIM? 

DF: That is a great question because, in 

my experience, it changes depending 

on an organisation's maturity in BIM. 

Typically, main contractors will start by 

employing an individual with BIM 

management and technical skills, who 

will often report to a senior design 

manager or director. A central specialist 

team is then formed which may assist 

with delivering some of the processes 

described in the previous question - but 

here lies the main challenge. 

Building Information Modelling offers 

advantages for many individuals as it 

can provide information directly to 

mobile devices for site operatives, 

collect data to allow managers and 

procurement departments to evaluate 

the performance of their subcontractors, 

support the generation of operating & 

maintenance information, and improve 

the overall management of information 

and data flows throughout a project via 

systems known as Common data 

Environments, such as Autodesk's BIM 

360 platform. 

However, for those organisations who 

want to maximise the advantages of 

BIM, it means increased leadership and 

ownership beyond a specialist BIM 

team, and this can include IT managers, 

document controllers, commercial 

departments and human resources, who 

will need to support the process and 

training initiatives. 

Another challenge is making sure that 

the whole project team is working to BIM 

processes whether they are designers, 

subcontractors, manufacturers, 

specialist suppliers, etc. If everyone is 

working to BIM processes and providing 

consistent, sharable data and 

information, it is to the advantage of the 

whole project team. 

Excitech's consultants support both 

national and regional main contractors 

in this endeavour by providing initial 

strategy development, education and 

training, system selection, 

implementation and regular key 

performance indicator evaluations. We 

are seeing this area of support 

increasing exponentially due to many 

main contractors wishing to maximise 

their return on investment, reduce 

operational and delivery costs and 

increase the certainty of project 

outcomes in a very competitive and 

politically uncertain market. 

DC: Construction in the past has not 

had the best reputation as an industry to 

work in. Is this changing? 

DF: Yes, there are many reports 

suggesting that construction is not the 

most popular option as a career choice, 

and the industry is now working hard to 

change that. The sectors' Digital 

Transformation will complement and 

support this initiative. 

If you walk onto a construction site 

today, you may see drones flying 

overhead capturing 3D point cloud 

scans or photogrammetry, operatives 

wearing site helmets with an array of 

technology from Heads Up Displays 

(HUDs) and Augmented Reality (AR) 

proximity sensors to the equivalents of 

Amazon's Alexa voice control to make 

requests for information, bricklaying 

robots, driverless site equipment with 

preprogrammed activities, workers 

wearing exoskeletons to avoid repetitive 

strain and make tasks easier, and 

fingerprint biometric access controls 

prior to entering a construction site. And 

then of course you have mobile data 

capture and information readily available 

on site, eliminating the need to 

constantly travel between the 

construction site and site offices to find 

information. 

Of course, you will not see these on 

every construction site, but all of these 

examples are in place or being tested in 

the UK Construction Sector and are on 

the increase. I was at the Digital 

Construction Week exhibition last year, 

and if you want to understand how 

much the industry is changing and how 

prominent BIM and technology is driving 

this change then do visit this free event 

in 2020. 

A challenge for any main contractor is 

keeping up with all this new technology 

and innovation, and this is where 

Excitech helps customers, by employing 

consultants who specialise in specific 

technology and process areas. We can 

call upon subject matter experts which 

allows us to evaluate how to combine 

technologies and not rely on a single 

point solution for the best tailored 

solutions. 

DC: Are there new skills or job roles 

needed in main contractors to support 

BIM? 

DF: The simple answer is yes. The 

acronym BIM was first coined in 2002 

and we now have lots of BIM managers 

with new and very different 

responsibilities when compared to a 

CAD manager. We now see jobs with 

titles such as digital engineers to reflect 

the industry's transition to increased 

digital working, and data analysts being 

employed in some of the larger main 

contractors. But considering the wider 

context, we have an existing workforce 

where a forty-year-old still has another 

twenty-seven years of work ahead before 

retiring and the industry changes due to 

digitalisation are become more rapid. 

Members of Parliament are already citing 

their concerns that we have a workforce 

that will need to be supported and trained, 

otherwise there is a danger they could be 

left behind despite well-publicised skills 

shortages. I facilitate on a regular basis 

BIM and Digital Transformation 

Workshops and education sessions with 

many main contractors, but this should 

only be the starting point. From there, it is 

important to review the skills technology 

and digital competencies required across 

the business from design managers, 

estimators, package managers, bids and 

proposal teams, for instance, and 

integrate this into roles and responsibilities 

and future training initiatives. 

I am starting to see this happen across 

the industry, but it needs to be 

expanded rapidly to ensure the existing 

workforce is fully supported; 

understanding that change for some 

can be unnerving and of concern, 

especially when using unfamiliar 

systems and technology. 

You can discover more about Excitech's 

range of solutions at the website below. 

www.excitech.co.uk 


EVENT preview 

Futurebuild 2020: be the catalyst for change 

Recent climate change demonstrations and government declarations make one thing clear; we must 

all come together to take action against the climate change challenges we are facing. Put simply, 

without collaboration, we will fail 

Against this backdrop, Futurebuild 

2020 (03-05 March, ExCeL 

London) will inspire visitors to 

join fellow industry leaders and 

innovators to be the catalyst for change 

that is so urgently needed to help 

deliver a more sustainable built 

environment. 

SETTING THE AGENDA 

Futurebuild's highly-regarded 

conference programme is returning for 

2020, bigger and better than ever 

before. Following a three-day 

progression, the Arena will host a 

number of sessions focusing on the 

solving the current climate and 

ecological crisis. These will be led by 

politicians, academics and industry 

shapers. 

Unmissable sessions include: 'The 

future is regenerative' chaired by Peter 

Murray, Chair of New London 

Architecture (03 March). It will explore 

how design and construction needs a 

circular rethink. On day two (04 March) 

London Mayoral Candidate Rory 

Stewart will sit on a panel looking at 

'Carbon neutral cities of the future' and 

examine the pathway to healthier, more 

resilient cities. 

Also of interest will be a session on day 

one (03 March) where the UK climate 

policy will be scrutinised during the 

session titled 'The climate crisis: Where's 

the leadership? Do we need degrowth?'. 

Lead by Aldersgate Group Chair Joan 

Walley, this session will explore the 

fundamental transformation that is 

needed to alleviate the climate crisis and 

will invite input from the audience. 

While discussions on the Conference 

Stage will focus on the biggest issues 

facing the built environment at a macro 

level, six Keynote Stages located 

across the event will look at the specific 

challenges impacting Buildings, Offsite, 

Energy, Interiors, Resourceful Materials 

and Critical Infrastructure. This 

programme of solution-driven sessions 

will share the latest thinking and 

research, to educate, inform and inspire 

visitors to make a positive change. 

Each day, the six stages will host a 

focused keynote presentation by a 

recognised expert in their field. 

The six Keynote Stages will address 

the following challenges: 

Buildings: retrofitted, re-used, net 

positive and built to perform 

Offsite: reliability and efficiency 

combined with creative 

placemaking 

Interiors: sustainable and health 

promoting 

Resourceful Materials: thinking 

circular to reduce, reuse and 

recycle 

Energy: accurate data for carbon 

accounting and reduced clean 

energy usage 

Critical Infrastructure: delivering 

integrated green, grey, blue and 

social infrastructure 

26 


EVENT preview 

Of particular interest to visitors will be 

the Buildings section, which is 

expanding for 2020 to include two new 

showcase areas; the Whole House 

Retrofit Zone and the Digital Impact 

Zone. Here, visitors will have the 

chance to discuss the various refurb 

and retrofit solutions, both current and 

in development, as well as the latest 

developments in digital construction. 

Interiors at Futurebuild 2020 will be a 

leading destination for those seeking 

inspiration across all areas of 

commercial and domestic interiors. 

Buyers and high-level decision makers 

involved in student accommodation, 

housebuilding, commercial fit-out, 

social housing and the public sector 

will have access to solutions covering 

healthy buildings, kitchens, bathrooms, 

surfaces and flooring. 

BEYOND THE STAGES 

Around each Keynote Stage will be an 

exhibition of innovative brands, offering 

unique solutions to the challenges 

discussed in the companion knowledge 

programme. It will feature some of the 

largest headline brands in the sector, 

alongside SMEs and start-up 

organisations, creating a dedicated 

platform to connect these companies with 

forward-thinking specifiers and buyers. 

Brands and organisations that are 

leading the charge when it comes to 

innovation will be recognised through a 

dedicated Innovation Trail. A guided 

route will take visitors on a journey 

through the event, enabling them to 

learn more about the latest thinking 

from Futurebuild's Innovation Partners, 

including ACO Technologies, Smart 

Systems, CEMEX, Steico and Hadley 

Group. 

THE GAME CHANGERS ARE BACK 

Championing innovation is the central 

purpose of Futurebuild and the 2020 

event will see the return of the Big 

Innovation Pitch. Hosted across the 

event, in conjunction with BRE as 

technical partner, the competition will 

be the industry's largest call-out for 

innovation to date and will identify and 

celebrate novel new approaches to 

tackle of the biggest challenges facing 

us all. 

Entrants will present their groundbreaking 

ideas on each of the six 

Keynote Stages on day one, before 

shortlisted entries go head-to-head in 

the Arena on day two. A panel of 

renowned judges will determine the 

overall winning idea, which will be 

incorporated into BRE Academy 

Training and showcased in the BRE 

Innovation Park. 

Previous years have seen innovative 

solutions, such as a sustainable 

alternative to plywood produced from 

mixed waste plastics and energy and 

cost saving air-conditioning units, take 

top spot. 

Martin Hurn, Event Director of 

Futurebuild added: "The responsibility 

for tackling the climate emergency lies 

in all of our hands and we must 

collaborate in order to find solutions to 

secure our future. Futurebuild 2020 

provides the perfect platform for 

forward-thinking decision makers 

across the built environment to come 

together and play a key part in driving 

positive change. 

"We understand that taking time out 

of work to attend events can be a 

challenge, which is why we will make 

sure that visitors can really get 

involved across a number of levels, 

from the world class knowledge 

programme in the arena and on the 

keynote stages, to the showcase of the 

latest innovations across the exhibition. 

Innovation to us is more than just 

futuristic ideas, it's about sharing the 

latest thinking and ideas, processes 

and solutions, products and materials. 

All of these things coming together 

under one roof at Futurebuild 2020 will 

inspire people to do things differently 

and create real change." 

Through product showcases, 

inspirational talks and collaborative 

seminars, Futurebuild 2020 will make 

innovation a tangible asset for visitors 

to assess, develop and implement to 

drive the industry towards one that is fit 

for purpose and for the future. 

For more information about Futurebuild 

2020 visit: www.futurebuild.co.uk 


CASEstudy 

In association with: 

An ERP primer 

How do you define an ERP system? EasyBuild, winners of the ERP Solution of the Year award at the 

2019 Construction Computing Awards, provide an insight into the requirements of such a solution to 

David Chadwick 

What exactly is ERP? Widely used 

in the construction industry, the 

acronym describes Enterprise 

Resource Planning - the integrated 

management of an enterprises main 

business processes. 

It's a bit of a fluid term though, as its 

capable of being attached to any size of 

company - from small contractors to 

global institutions - with complex financial 

and organisational requirements. The 

basic elements remain the same however, 

and have one overriding aim in mind, 

namely to ensure that maximum efficiency 

and profitability is achieved by integrating 

all activities that have a bearing on the 

way the enterprise is run. This means 

going beyond financial control to include 

things like employees, materials and 

certain aspects of project management, 

through to standards and process 

compliance. 

The requirements of an ERP solution can 

also differ according to the focus of the 

company involved. EasyBuild, winners of 

ERP Solution of the Year at the 2019 

Construction Computing Awards, provide 

just such a solution to building 

contractors, housing developers and 

service and maintenance companies. 

Each of these have specific and 

interesting requirements, especially those 

involved in housebuilding, which exemplify 

the varied role of any particular company's 

ERP solution. 

The main requirements of an effective 

ERP solution are that it has to be easy to 

use, capable of integrating information in 

a number of different formats from a 

variety of sources, and be able to store its 

information in an accessible single silo or 

cloud based server. The information held 

therein has to be readily accessible to all 

authorised users, either office based or 

on-site, using mobile devices, delivering 

up-to-date information to support critical 

decisions. 

EasyBuild - THE NEXT STEP 

Speaking to EasyBuild’s CEO, Carol 

Massay, described the effects of 

EasyBuild for a number of new clients, 

one of which was SPL, who we know was 

victim of the fallout from the Carillion 

collapse (which has already been well 

documented in this magazine). EasyBuild 

helped them to recover by providing an 

ERP system that took control of their 

financial systems. 

Another recent client is in the process of 

upgrading from a purely accounts based 

solution. The step up from their previous 

systems was described as a breath of 

fresh air, significantly increasing the 

amount and usefulness of information that 

the ERP solutions are able to provide. 

EasyBuild provides ERP solutions for 

three distinct sectors of the construction 

industry: building contractors, 

housebuilders, service and maintenance. 

Operating outside the accounts 

department, which handles the financial 

ledgers, payroll and other bread and 

butter accounting functions, is the quantity 

surveyors (QS) department, staffed by 

chartered surveyors, whose function is to 

evaluate the cost of current progress and 

future liabilities of a project. This is 

provided, as I am sure you all know, by a 

CVR - Cost Value Reconciliation - report 

which compares cost to value of a project 

according to guidelines issued by the 

Institute of Chartered Accountants. 

Often ignored by smaller contractors, it is 

an important tool in cost management 

and forms the basis of statutory accounts. 

Used properly, it helps companies identify 

problems and the reasons for shortfalls in 

the accounts. It also allows contractors to 

identify and cost discrepancies in material 

delivery and those not identified by a 

client's QS, adjustments not recorded, 

agreed on-site valuations or contractual 

claims for loss or other expenditure. 

In order to establish an accurate figure 

from the confusion of a busy building site, 

a couple of other elements need to be 

included to provide a final residual margin 

of profit or loss -subcontract liabilities for 

28 


CASEstudy 

Before and after shots of a recent Durkan New 

Homes development, Manor Place in 

Elephant & Castle. EasyBuild was 

originally developed exclusively for 

the Durkan Group 

be completed). 

Besides the comprehensive workforce 

management solution, EasyBuild's ERP 

for the service and maintenance sector 

includes fully integrated invoicing, which 

handles both scheduled and reactive 

maintenance tasks, and keeps an 

audited asset history that details tasks, 

dates, contractor or employee, and other 

costs - repair, replacement or standard 

maintenance of components. The service 

and maintenance solution is also used 

for defects management and snagging. 

each discipline, snagging and defects 

that need to be completed before 

handover, or a levy to cover the cost of 

defect repair. And, of course, the cost of 

labour, material, and plant. 

THE WORKFORCE AND CIS 

COMPLIANCE 

Just as important as CVR is CIS 

compliance - the UK Government's 

Construction Industry Scheme, which 

establishes the standards under which 

construction workers are to be employed. 

Besides ensuring that changing 

employment regulations are always 

maintained, an ERP system will maintain 

up to date details of employment and 

qualifications of all employees, and, upon 

entering the workforce will be subject to 

auto-enrolment under the government's 

pension plans. 

HOUSEBUILDING COMPANIES 

Housebuilding is another fascinating 

area, and EasyBuild has developed 

components within its housebuilding 

module to cater for the multiplicity of 

clients - house buyers - and the 

employment of freelance tradesmen on 

each property. It does this by listing each 

property on an estate, providing 

information on its release, reservation, 

exchange, legal completion and postsale 

requirements, all of which feed 

directly into the service and maintenance 

solution. 

All very natural, but it goes further than 

that by managing incoming sales 

enquiries and matching them with 

available properties. The database also 

includes supporting information so that 

the sales office can easily identify the 

status of each process. It can also be 

used for scheduling ground rent billing. 

Housebuilders typically develop 

projects on multiple sites. Having a 

suitable ERP solution like EasyBuild 

allows them to allocate plant costs 

between the builder's yard and individual 

properties, and to allocate costs 

accordingly to each property or site. It 

even goes as far as allowing users to 

segregate costs between tangible assets 

like cement mixers and aggregated stock 

like scaffolding boards. 

SERVICE AND MAINTENANCE 

Mobile working is key here, as it provides 

cost benefits to the organisation to allow 

engineers to start their jobs directly from 

leaving home, rather than requiring costly 

trips to the main office to pick up paper 

jobsheets, for example. 

An ERP solution for service and 

maintenance companies has to provide 

mobile technology, not least because of 

the need to respond to a schedule of 

planned and reactive maintenance tasks 

and report on their completion. 

EasyBuild operates on a traffic light-style 

Service Level Agreement (SLA) system, 

where each task has an associated 

completion time against which progress 

can be monitored (it's actually a fivecolour 

SLA which can be used to 

represent time left until a task should 

CLIENTS AND SUPPLY CHAIN 

EasyBuild has four main modules 

underlying the three solutions: 

Accountancy, Project Management, 

Admin and HR, and Clients and Supply 

Chain. Whilst the first three are selfevident, 

the latter supports marketing, 

CRM activities, the management of 

communications with clients, 

subcontractors and service providers. It 

supports things like cumulative invoices 

based on architects' certificates, and 

provides a drill-down facility for the 

provision of reports, outstanding 

retention monies and standard debtor 

management. 

The module also allows the creation and 

management of lists of engineers, 

architects other professionals, 

companies and suppliers and maintain. 

It also maintains record expertise, 

qualifications, consultant orders and 

professional indemnity insurances. 

Backed up by an Oracle database and 

professional document and report 

production, it is evident that EasyBuild 

has developed comprehensive ERP 

solutions that meet the needs of three 

important sectors of the construction 

industry. 

The challenge to come, however, will be 

the changing regulations over the next 

couple of years as the UK reorganises its 

operating procedures following Brexit. 

Ensuring that clients and customers are 

kept informed of critical changes in the 

industry and keeping software up to date 

and complicit is another critical element 

of an ERP system - one that EasyBuild is 

in a perfect position to meet. 

www.easybuilduk.com 


INUSTRY comment 

Digital Twins: double trouble or the Holy Grail 

of digital estates? 

By Stuart Bell, Sales & Marketing Director at GroupBC 

The industry goes through phases of 

adopting imaginative titles for ideas 

and initiatives. For some time, we 

have been fixated with 'the golden 

thread' and more recently there have 

been wider conversations around 'digital 

twins'. The phrase 'digital twin' has been 

around for longer than we think, but the 

past few months have seen it rise to the 

top as a key industry driver. So are digital 

twins on track to be the Holy Grail of 

construction, or are they just another fad 

that could spell complexity, cost and 

double trouble? 

There have been many descriptions of 

digital twins, but generally speaking they 

can be summed up as 'a realistic digital 

representation of something physical'. 

What distinguishes a digital twin from 

any other digital model is its connection 

to the physical twin'. 

On the face of it, the benefits of twins 

are easy to see: they offer a way of 

optimising the operation and 

maintenance of physical assets, systems 

and processes. By analysing the virtual 

model, lessons can be learned and 

opportunities exploited in the real 

physical twin. They enable the bridge 

between 'as built' and 'in operation', 

providing clients with the ability to 

assess, in real time, their estates and 

make decisions based on fact. 

However, as with many technological 

advances, there can be challenges with 

not only implementation, but the value of 

these systems. So, how do we ensure 

that digital twins provide a solid 

foundation for the future of digital estates 

and avoid the troubles that all too often 

mean one step forwards, two steps back? 

Ultimately, this boils down to the 

communication between client and 

supply chain, and understanding what 

the overall objectives for digital twins are 

for an asset owner. Part of this is 

compiling a team which shares these 

goals, and can implement the 

technology across the business and 

work directly with management to 

provide the information they require. All 

too often systems are procured by one 

team and left to another to implement. 

This is where it falls down. 

The success of digital twins also hinges 

on whether a business has a vision of 

what they want the technology to 

achieve. How do digital twins fit into a 

business strategy? How much data 

needs to be captured, curated and 

mapped? All of these questions feed into 

a case for digital twins. Often, however, 

these questions are not communicated 

when they should have been, leading to 

an unfortunate level of ambiguity as to 

why they were ever considered in the 

first place. 

WHAT IS A DIGITAL TWIN? 

In essence, a digital twin is a virtual 

representation of a physical asset, which 

provides up-to-date data on the real 

world operation of a built asset. A digital 

twin houses information on a given 

asset, such as its objects and states. 

Digital twins cover the entire lifecycle of a 

building, connecting products and 

services so they can be viewed and, if 

necessary, acted upon during 

construction and after handover to the 

asset owner. 

When it comes to unravelling a digital 

twin's definition, industry professionals 

up and down the supply chain must see 

the digital twin as more than a file 

containing everything which relates to an 

asset. Yes it houses data, but it also 

assures the information is spatiallyconnected 

and held altogether in the 

right place, to maximise productivity and 

product performance. 

A digital twin is, therefore, all about 

connection. It would merely be a virtual 

representation of a building with no realtime 

value if the data within wasn't 

connected to the physical asset. 

30 


INDUSTRY comment 

Think of a digital twin as a 'digital 

superstructure' which connects different 

systems and sensors together, through 

a virtual representation of an asset. A 

digital twin isn't something that sits in 

isolation. Using sensors, it is bound to 

the physical asset to give a true to life, 

equal image of the built asset. 

THE INDUSTRY'S 

TECHNOLOGICAL FUTURE 

Although the industry has been hesitant 

to adopt new technologies and ways to 

work, it can unanimously agree that 

digital twins are having a beneficial 

effect across the supply chain; helping 

to store and manage data, use data to 

enhance the build and future operation 

of an asset, and prevent risks. 

Since the mid-1990s, the industry has 

been trying to improve how its workforce 

manages information. Email took over 

from paper and this extended to the 

internet, which provides a common 

interface where information can be 

accessed. The subsequent proliferation 

of broadband and smartphones has 

meant that the industry has been able to 

capitalise on technology and make it 

business as usual. 

One of the key benefits of digital twins 

will be how clients interrogate data and 

use it for decision making. This could 

include decisions around M&E and the 

performance of specific components, 

which may then reflect their future 

specification decisions. It could also 

help to improve service and 

maintenance decisions, streamlining 

processes and making cost savings 

based on information received. 

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES? 

More often than not companies will 

have different drivers for deciding to 

adopt a digital twin, and the scale and 

scope of adoption will vary from one 

estate to another. For this reason the 

concept of a digital twin is, at best, 

dependent on the individual aims and 

wishes of a client. 

However, even though the definition of 

digital twins can vary from one customer 

to the next, there is still a high proportion 

of the construction sector which is 

unversed in the real-time, tangible 

benefits this technology has to offer. 

Many of them are still unsure of how 

favourable digital twins are and whose 

responsibility it is to manage them. 

The responsibility of who owns the 

digital twin when it is handed over to the 

asset owner is a complex factor, which 

puts to debate questions on ownership, 

security and accountability. 

Some may argue that administering 

responsibility to all parties is a recipe for 

digital chaos. The 'manager' should be 

whoever the asset owner contractually 

states. That way, the asset owner can 

be very specific about how information 

and data are presented and stored, and 

who is responsible for updating 

information models. 

On the contrary, others in the industry 

believe the digital twin is everyone's 

responsibility: the operations and FM 

teams, company administrators plus 

key stakeholders. As the digital twin is 

able to access and store live sensor 

data, the supply chain will have to 

procure information differently and 

make better decisions to assure the 

efficient performance of the physical 

asset. For that reason, it is arguably 

healthier for everyone to be speaking 

the same language from the start. 

What we can all agree on, however, is 

the importance of security. If a digital 

twin is left unmanaged, companies 

have the threats of cyber-attack, 

network hack and data theft, enabling 

malicious individuals to gain access to 

the physical asset and its connected 

'twin'. Cyber-attacks cause severe 

reputational and economic damage, 

and place the safety of personnel and 

assets in jeopardy. It is crucial then that 

organisations highlight the parties 

responsible for the management of the 

digital twin and cybersecurity, to keep 

threats at bay. 

LOOKING FORWARD 

When it comes to adopting digital twins, 

there are going to be challenges along 

the way, both in terms of a change in 

mindset and work process. One issue 

will be around encouraging the 

adoption of industry-wide naming 

conventions - this is something that will 

take time to unravel and agree upon! It 

also needs to be understood that digital 

twins can get old. Assets portfolios 

change over time and one of the key 

challenges will be ensuring the 

guardian of the digital twin is kept 

updated on developments, so the data 

can be kept up to date. 

For example, whether it is minor 

refurbishment work or alterations to a 

building, all information would need to 

be fed back into the digital twin to 

ensure it continues to be a like-for-like 

replica of the actual building. Without 

this, the twin will expire and cease to 

serve its purpose. 

With all these points in mind, surely 

digital twins (geolocated within a 

broader digital ecosystem or estate) are 

the Holy Grail, providing clients with the 

information needed to make informed 

decisions. Over time, digital twins will 

enable asset owners and estate 

managers to improve how they manage 

their various properties/built assets and 

implement strategies to improve the 

quality of these, whilst saving costs 

across product specification, 

maintenance and alterations. The 

potential benefits should make digital 

twins the ultimate goal for every large 

estate owner. 

There are going to be hurdles along 

the way, but the barriers are more a 

case of a change in work culture than 

'double trouble'. The benefits of digital 

twins are easy to recognise; the 

industry's real battle is ensuring its 

workforces have the training and will to 

make them a reality. 

To learn more about the digital twin 

debate, download GroupBC's 

whitepaper, 'Digital Twins - Double 

Trouble or the Holy Grail of Digital 

Estates?' 

www.groupbc.com/digital-twinsbriefing-download 


YOUR GUIDE TO 

4 

5 

8 

6/10 9 7 1 

14 

15 

16 

17 11/13 18 20 

33 

2/12 

35/41 

40 32 

23/42 

21 

25 26/19 

30 

3 

42 

31 

22 

29 

24/27 

28 

*Location guide 

not 100% accurate 

SCOTLAND 

GLASGOW 6 

CADASSIST 

Contact: 

Gordon McGlathery 

Tel: 0141 354 8993 

Fax: 0141 353 9315 

training@cadassist.co.uk 

www.cadassist.co.uk 

ACDEGHIJKLMNOPQTX 

FIFE 7 

GlenCo Development 

Solutions 

Contact: Jack Meldrum 

Tel: 01592 223330 

Fax: 01592 223301 

jackm@glenco.org 

www.glenco.org 

ACMK 

ABERDEENSHIRE 8 

symetri 

Contact: Craig Snell 

Tel: 01467 629900 

training@symetri.co.uk 

www.symetri.co.uk 

ABDHIJKMNOPSX 

ABERDEEN 1 

TMS CADcentre 

Contact: Craig Hamilton 

Tel: 01224 223321 

info@thom-micro.com 

www.tmscadcentre.com 

ACELHO 

LARBERT 9 

TMS CADcentre 

Contact: Craig Hamilton 

Tel: 01324-550760 

info@thom-micro.com 

www.tmscadcentre.com 

ACELHO 

GLASGOW 10 

Excitech Ltd 

Contact: Alan Skipp 

Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01922 807574 

info@excitech.co.uk 

www.excitech.co.uk/cut2015 

ABCDEHKLMNQSX 

IRELAND 

DUBLIN 4 

Paradigm Technology Ltd 

Contact: Des McGrane 

Tel: +353-1-2960155 

Fax: +353-1-2960080 

dmcgrane@paradigm.ie 

www.paradign.it 

ACMGKL 

SOUTHWEST 

BRISTOL 2 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 



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

NEWBURY 3 

RWTC Ltd 

Contact: Richard Willis 

Tel: 01488 689005 

Fax: 01635 32718 

richard@rwtc.co.uk 

www.rwtc.co.uk 

A M 

BRISTOL 12 

Micro Concepts Ltd 

Contact: Peter Hurst 

Tel: +44 (0) 8432 898162 

training@microconcepts.co.uk 

www.microconcepts.co.uk 

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

N.I 

BELFAST 5 

Pentagon Solutions Ltd 

Contact: Tony Dalton - Training 

Services Manager 

Tel: +44 (0) 2890 455 355 

Fax: +44 (0) 2890 456 355 

tony@pentagonsolutions.com 

www.pentagonsolutions.com 

ACDEGKL 

TRAINING COURSES OFFERED KEY: 

AUTOCAD AND LT: 

AUTOCAD P&ID TRAINING: 

AEC/BUILDING SOLUTIONS: 

3D MODELLING $ ANIMATION 

AUTOCAD ARCHITECTURE: 

FM DESKTOP: 

GIS/MAPPING: 

REVIT: 

VAULT FUNDAMENTALS 

AUTODESK VAULT FOR INVENTOR USERS 

A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

F 

G 

H 

I 

J 

VISUALISATION: 

AUTIDESK CIVIL: 

INVENTOR SERIES/MECHANICAL: 

NAVISWORKS TRAINING: 

PRODUCT UPDATE COURSES: 

INVENTOR PUBLISHER: 

GOOGLE SKETCHUP: 

CHARACTER ANIMATION: 

AUTODESK SIMULATION: 

FACTORY DESIGN SUITE: 

AUTOCAD ELECTRICAL: 

K 

L 

M 

N 

O 

P 

Q 

R 

S 

T 

X 

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

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

SOUTH/EAST 

GUILDFORD 22 

Blue Graphics Ltd 

Contact: Matt Allen 

Tel: 01483 467 200 

Fax: 01483 467 201 

matta@bluegfx.com 

www.bluegfx.com 

ADRK 

HERTFORDSHIRE 23 

Computer Aided 

Business Systems Ltd 

Contact: Gillian Haynes 

Tel: 01707 258 338 

Fax: 01707 258 339 

training@cabs-cad.com 

A C D E K H 

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 42 

Causeway 

Technologies Ltd 

Contact: Sue Farnfield 

Tel: +44 (0)1628 552134 

Sue.Farnfield@causeway.com 

www.causeway.com 

A C D E K 

LONDON 24 

CADASSIST 

Contact: Gordon McGlathery 

Tel: +44 (0)208 622 3027 

Fax: +44 (0)208 622 3200 




BERKSHIRE 26 

Cadpoint 

Contact: Clare Keston 

Tel: 01344 751300 

Fax: 01344 779700 

sales@cadpoint.co.uk 

www.cadpoint.co.uk 

A C D E K 

CENTRAL LONDON 27 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 




TRAINING 

NORTH LONDON 28 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01922 807574 



ABCDEHKLMNQSX 

OXFORDSHIRE 25 

Man and Machine 

Contact: Robert Kenny 

Tel: 01844 263700 

Fax: 01844 216761 

training@manandmachine.co.uk 

www.manandmachine.co.uk 

A D I J M N O P Q X 

BERKSHIRE 30 

Mass Systems Ltd 

Contact: Luke Bolt 

Tel: 01344 304 000 

Fax: 01344 304 010 

info@mass-plc.com 

www.mass-plc.com 

A E F 

HAMPSHIRE 31 

Universal CAD Ltd 

Contact: Nick Lambden 

Tel: [44] 01256 352700 

Fax: [44] 01256 352927 

sales@universalcad.co.uk 

www.universalcad.co.uk 

A C M E K H 

MILTON KEYNES 21 

Graitec - Milton Keynes 

Contact: David Huke 

Tel: 01908 410026 

david.huke@graitec.co.uk 

www.graitec.co.uk 

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX 

HIGH WYCOMBE 19 


Contact: Kerrie Braybrook 

Tel: +44 (0) 8432 898162 




THE NORTH 

MIDLANDS 

MANCHESTER 11 

CADASSIST 

Contact: 

Gordon McGlathery 

Tel: 0161 440 8122 

Fax: 0161 439 9635 




MANCHESTER 13 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01922 807574 



ABCDEHKLMNQSX 

NORTH EAST 14 

symetri 


Tel: 0191 213 5555 



ABDHIJKMNOPSX 

YORKSHIRE 15 

Graitec Bradford 

Contact: Isobel Gillon 

Tel: 01274 532919 

training@graitec.co.uk 



NOTTINGHAM 33 

MicroCAD - Nottingham 


Tel: 0115 969 1114 




NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 32 

AIT Spatial Ltd 

Contact: Philip Madeley 

Tel: 01933 303034 

Fax: 01933 303001 

training@aitspatial.co.uk 

www.aitspatial.co.uk 

A C D E F G K L 

BIRMINGHAM 35 

NORTH EAST 16 

Graitec - Durham 


Tel: 0191 374 2020 




LANCASHIRE 17 

QUADRA SOLUTIONS 

Contact: Simon Dobson 

Tel: 01254 301 888 

Fax: 01254 301 323 

training@quadrasol.co.uk 

www.quadrasol.co.uk 

A C M K 

YORKSHIRE 18 

symetri 


Tel: 01924 266 262 



ABDHIJKMNOPSX 

SOUTH YORKSHIRE 20 

THE JUICE GROUP LTD 

Contact: Sarah Thorpe 

Tel: 0800 018 1501 

Fax: 0114 275 5888 

training@thejuice.co.uk 

www.thejuicetraining.com 

A C D E K R 

CHESHIRE 41 

Excelat CAD Ltd 

Contact: Vaughn Markey 

Tel: 0161 926 3609 

Fax: 0870 051 1537 

Vaughn.markey@ExcelatCAD.com 

www.ExcelatCAD.com 

B N 

CHESHIRE 41 

Excitech Ltd 


Tel: 01992 807500 

Fax: 01992 807574 




SOUTHHAMPTON 42 

CAMBRIDGE 29 

Riverside House, Brunel Road 

Southampton, Hants. SO40 3WX 


Tel: 02380 868 947 





Contact: Emily Howe 

Tel: +44 (0) 1223 716200 




Armada Autodesk 

Training Centre 

Contact: Steven Smith 

Tel: 01527 834783 

Fax: 01527 834785 

training@armadaonline.co.uk 

www.armadaonline.co.uk 

A D E M K H

SOFTWARE focus 

Under the surface 

MGISS and vGIS bring Augmented Reality to 3D mapping and BIM 

You may have assumed that being 

able to visualise subterranean 

plumbing, sewers and drains, 

electric cabling, gas pipes, fibre optic 

cables and other underground assets 

using your iPad or laptop already features 

in the toolset of civil engineers and utility 

company employees. But the fancy 

promotional images that will have led you 

to this conclusion are typically mock-ups 

that show you what could be achieved if 

you have the subsurface model data that 

they need. 

However there are companies that do pull 

all the technologies together to provide 

such a solution, and more importantly 

create the links to the various models that 

contain the information they need - BIM and 

CAD models that describe the subsurface 

components, and GIS information that 

places them in situ. What has really driven 

the process forward, though, is the 

emergence of Augmented Reality (AR), the 

integration of digital information with data 

models taken from any form of reality 

capture tools footage to facilitate and 

enhance the viewing experience. 

AUGMENTED REALITY VISUALS 

AR is no longer just a marketing tool. The 

development of Augmented Reality as a 

tool to manage and visualise hidden 

infrastructure assets has now taken a 

major step forward following the 

announcement of a partnership between 

two technology companies. MGISS, a UK 

geospatial specialist, has partnered with 

Canada based vGIS to transform 

traditional GIS, BIM and CAD data into 

stunning AR visualisations. 

Augmented Reality provides the 

interactive experience of an environment 

where objects that reside in the real world, 

such as underground pipes, are displayed 

and enhanced with additional intelligence 

such as attribute information and 

maintenance records. 

A specialist in the use of geospatial 

technology in the utility, infrastructure and 

environment sectors, MGISS understands 

the demands for improved spatial data 

quality and the requirement to 

communicate complex, asset dense 3D 

environments in an easy to consume way. 

By combining authoritative survey grade 

positions and associated data with 

consumer grade hardware, MGISS 

enables users of vGIS to access 

Augmented Reality visualisations from any 

suitable smart device. 

vGIS is the leading augmented and 

mixed reality visualisation technology for 

GIS data. Using the vGIS system, field 

personnel can see an augmented view that 

includes holographic infrastructure objects, 

improving environmental assessments and 

increasing situational awareness. 

ENHANCED COLLABORATION 

Besides providing civil engineering 

companies and utilities with the ability to 

explore underground infrastructure prior to 

digging up the tarmac, the BIM 

components and working processes that 

they will be accessing are primarily 

designed to encourage collaboration 

between stakeholders, contractors and 

workforces. Taking a lead from the 

construction industry, it is to be hoped that 

the same spirit of cooperation between the 

various utilities and civil engineering 

companies will result in more efficient 

handling of infrastructure projects. This 

would eliminate the costly and proverbial 

practice of the electricity company digging 

up the road and filling it back in, only to be 

followed closely by British Gas repeating 

the process! 

ON A STREET NEAR YOU 

MGISS and vGIS are keen to bring their 

solution to the UK, and there is no doubt 

that the market's expectations and 

requirements are neatly falling into place as 

AR technology becomes more prevalent in 

other industries. Their credentials in this 

critical environment are neatly expressed 

by the two founders. 

According to Mike Darracott, Managing 

Director and founder of MGISS, "Initiatives 

such as digital twinning and the 

expectation of 'Business As Usual' 

operations require the capture and 

representation of increasingly complex 

real-world environments. Asset owners 

and operators face a number of 

challenges and opportunities including the 

need to improve safety, reduce risk and 

ensure what lies beneath our feet meets 

future infrastructure needs. vGIS truly 

understand the needs and the challenges 

facing these sectors. In fact, vGIS goes 

further than any other AR solution by 

providing a full range of 3D spatial data 

capabilities; all within a platform that works 

with existing enterprise systems and data 

structures," added Darracott. 

"Value is often hidden deep within the 

structure of data. By helping people "see" 

data in more intuitive ways, they gain new 

insights and can subsequently do more 

with that information. That's been the core 

operating philosophy of vGIS," commented 

Alec Pestov, founder and CEO of Canada 

based vGIS. "To achieve this we are 

building an ecosystem bringing together 

top experts to work jointly towards a 

common goal. MGISS possesses deep 

expertise in the spatial services and 

solutions sector and we are looking forward 

to joining forces to deliver augmented and 

mixed reality visualisations in the UK." 

www.mgiss.co.uk 

34 


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