CU Nov-Dec 2020

CAD User 

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 

VOL 33 NO 06 

WWW.CADUSER.COM 

Digitally Twinned Design 

Archicad enables brp achitects to create virtual 

buildings for their forward-thinking designs 

The Hammers 2020 

A winning end to a challenging year 

Showing Off 

Vectorworks Marionette helps Origin 

Studios design moving exhibitions 

iTwin Design Review 

SYNCHRO utilises Digital Twins 

for project delivery 

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

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CONTENTS 

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 

CONTENTS 

ITWIN DESIGN REVIEW 10 

Bentley's Digital Twin concept has matured 

into a valuable application for leveraging the 

data from both real-life construction projects 

and digital models, enhancing project delivery 

DIGITALLY TWINNED DESIGN 12 

Graphisoft's Archicad enabled brp architects 

to create a virtual building to refine their 

forward-thinking design for a contemporary 

home in the middle of Market Harborough 

THE HAMMERS 2020 18 

It's been an exceptionally challenging and 

unpredictable year for everyone in the industry 

- but we are pleased to announce that the 

2020 Construction Computing Awards winners 

have arrived! 

THE D-DAY STORY 28 

Hillcrest Structural has employed Tekla 

Structures' 3D model environment to help 

design, detail, fabricate and display a unique 

piece of D-Day history 

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

• SAFETIBASE BOOSTS SAFETY ON HS2 • FIFTH ANNUAL VECTORWORKS DESIGN SCHOLARSHIP NOW OPEN 

CASE STUDY.....................................SHOWING OFF..................................................................................................12 

• VECTORWORKS MARIONETTE HELPS ORIGIN STUDIOS REFINE THEIR MUSEUM EXHIBITION DESIGNS 

SOFTWARE REVIEW.........................THE CASH FLOW CHALLENGE.........................................................................14 

• ELEVIA SOFTWARE RECRUITS THE FINANCE DEPARTMENT IN A DRIVE TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY 

HARDWARE FOCUS.........................AUGMENTED REALITY ON-SITE.........................................................................20 

• TOPCON BRINGS A WHOLE NEW REALITY TO LAYING OUT PROJECT MARKERS ON A BUILDING SITE 

SOFTWARE REVIEW.........................PHYSIOWIZARD..................................................................................................22 

• PHYSIOWIZARD PROVIDES A CERTIFIED, THOROUGH SELF ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR CONSTRUCTION WORKERS 

INDUSTRY COMMENT......................REVERSING THE CHARGES...............................................................................24 

• EASYBUILD PREPARES TO IMPLEMENT THE DELAYED HMRC DOMESTIC REVERSE CHARGE 

SOFTWARE FOCUS.........................TREATS IN STORE................................................................................................26 

• DAVID CHADWICK LOOKS AHEAD TO THE AUTODESK UNIVERSITY RELEASES PLANNED FOR 2021 

CASE STUDY....................................WEATHERPROOF INFRASTRUCTURE...............................................................30 

• THE LARGEST DIKE IN THE NETHERLANDS HAS BEEN REINFORCED WITH BIM 

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

• YOUR GUIDE TO AUTODESK TRAINING 

SOFTWARE FOCUS.........................AN OBLIQUE VIEW..............................................................................................34 

• BLUESKY LAUNCHES AN ONLINE STREAMING SERVICE FOR OBLIQUE PANORAMIC AERIAL IMAGES 

November/December 2020 3

COMMENT 

Editor: 

David Chadwick 

(cad.user@btc.co.uk) 

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accepted by the publisher for errors, misrepresentations 

or any resulting effects 

Comment 

The human asset 

by David Chadwick 

The ultimate aim of many software 

developments over the last decade or 

so has been to shave off a couple of 

percentage points from the bottom line. BIM 

was promoted as a means of coordinating 

workflows to bring down the price of 

government contracts by anything between 

10 and 20%, improving processes and 

collaboration and eliminating costly design 

and engineering changes. Project 

Management and ERP solutions are 

designed to cut out wasteful practices and 

coordinate schedules and the use of 

expensive resources, and in this issue we 

have an article about EleVia, who seek to 

motivate the accounts department, 

encouraging them to energise the cash flow 

instead of merely manipulating numbers. 

All of this is entirely laudible, as the industry 

is tough enough at the moment for any 

company having to operate on slender 

margins while still handling the rising costs 

of materials, environmental concerns, a 

shortage of skilled labour, changing energy 

requirements and a host of other issues. 

And now the ongoing pandemic has 

forced us to focus on the another major 

factor in the industry - the human asset. The 

initial COVID-19 lockdown closed down 

much of the industry, which has had as 

severe an impact you could expect. 

Eventually, with the assessment that 

construction is to be considered a vital 

industry, building projects have resumed 

nationwide. But we have all had to modify 

our working habits, whether by introducing 

spacially distanced offices (as featured in 

our last two issues), working from home 

where possible, and dealing with public 

transport during a pandemic - not to 

mention the challenges of getting people 

working together on a building site without 

becoming super spreaders. 

Some software developers have risen to 

the challenge, and we now have health and 

safety apps that can be installed on mobile 

telephones which monitor how close you are 

to other workers and trigger alarms if you 

are breaking social distancing rules. 

The vital point, though, is that people are 

as expensive an asset as any other 

resource, and losing a skilled colleague to a 

construction related injury (the UK has a 

pretty bad record in this regard), or a whole 

team who have to self-isolate for a couple of 

weeks, would have a major impact on the 

progress of any project. 

Statistics show that a significant number 

of people within the industry have to stay 

off work for a period of time, and not just 

for preventable injuries that occur on site 

(preventable, of course, by using tools that 

highlight issues within a typical 3D building 

model), but for personal injuries that are 

not so evident, but which occur as a result 

of overstrain or bad practice in a physical 

job that involves the lifting or carrying of 

heavy objects. 

Musculoskeletal injuries can lead to long 

layoffs if untreated, and whilst tissues, 

tendons or bones heal they are often difficult 

to classify. Hence our article this month on 

PhysioWizard, an app that you can 

download or which can be provided by your 

company's H&R department which allows 

any construction worker, or indeed anybody 

in any other industry, to self-assess any 

aches and pains they might have. It then 

produces a report which outlines what the 

problem might be and suggests calling the 

GP, finding a physiotherapist, or watching a 

series of exercise videos designed to 

alleviate the problem. 

As PhysioWizard is tested and ratified by 

the NHS and GP Digital, among other, it 

then provides workers with a certified 

document - with sensitive medical 

information removed - that can be used by 

Line Managers to list you as medically 

absent, rather than just going AWOL. 

4 November/December 2020

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INDUSTRY news 

A FLEXIBLE NEW APPROACH FOR SKANSKA UK 

Skanska UK's new framework 

for flexible working 

aims to provide its employees 

with more informal flexibility 

about where and when they 

work. It also allows scope for 

people to optimise their personal 

productivity, for example 

by reducing unnecessary travel 

time. Flex-it will support performance 

and personal wellbeing, 

and help deliver Skanska UK’s 

aspiration to become a more 

inclusive workplace. 

Skanska UK’s commitment to 

flexible working began last year 

through its partnership with 

sector specialists, Timewise, 

and participation in Build UK's 

programme to create a mechanism 

for such working within 

the construction industry. 

Flex-it marks an important 

step on Skanska UK's journey 

to creating and implementing 

new ways of working that 

reflect our changing times and 

circumstances. As part of its 

response to the pandemic, it 

identified that people can be 

more productive if they’re flexible 

in how they work, for example 

by adapting their core 

hours to avoid rush-hour travel. 

The company's investment in 

digital technologies such as 

Office 365, has been a key 

enabler in this change. 

Skanska UK's Executive Vice 

President, Harvey Francis said; 

"Flex-it gives us greater agility 

and flexibility that will allow 

people to perform at their best 

and marks a significant shift in 

working patterns for many of 

our people. It supports our 

drive to return to full productivity, 

as well as contributing to 

significantmental healsth and 

wellbeing benefits for our 

employees. It also helps us 

deliver on our pledge to be carbon 

neutral by 2045 by cutting 

the time our employees spend 

travelling to and from work." 

www.skanska.co.uk 

NEW BASDA GENERAL COUNCIL APPOINTMENT 

Carol Massay CEO of Easy- 

Build UK has joined the 

BASDA General Council. The 

Business Application Software 

Developers Association 

(BASDA) is the only industry 

association focused specifically 

on supporting the issues of 

business software development 

organisations. 

In May this year EasyBuild 

made the decision to join the 

BASDA to ensure they had up 

to date information on software 

development as and when legislation 

changes. In Addition to 

this, joining the group means 

they would be part of a collective 

and influential industry 

voice, gaining access to specialist 

interest groups and 

business networking events. 

EasyBuild offers the industry 

an end to end bespoke construction 

software solution. 

Built to address the operational, 

financial and commercial 

management of all types 

of construction projects. During 

one of their regular meetings 

it was mentioned that 

they would be replacing a 

member of their general council 

panel and to Carol's delight 

she was voted in as the latest 

member of the team. 

Carol said "This is a great 

opportunity not only for 

myself to be around experts 

in the key field of software 

development, but to have a 

voice on any changes which 

are coming up." 

www.easybuilduk.com 

ENSCAPE INTEGRATES VECTORWORKS 2021 

The newly released Enscape 

2.9 supports Vectorworks 

2021, allowing architects, 

landscape design professionals 

and entertainment designers 

to add Enscape to their 

Vectorworks planning and presentation 

workflows. 

"This partnership confirms 

our dedication to integrating 

new technology that brings 

direct benefits to customers," 

said Dave Donley, director of 

product technology at Vectorworks. 

"Enscape does a marvelous 

job with creating nice 

workflows and developing 

plug-ins that allow users to 

add Enscape objects directly 

into their Vectorworks models. 

We're confident users will 

enjoy the Vectorworks 2021 

Construction project management 

solution provider 

Callida has joined the Asite 

Ecosystem to advance the 

growth of the Asite platform 

into the European market. Callida 

will act as a Value-Added 

Reseller for the Czech Republic, 

Slovakia, and other European 

markets, helping a magnitude 

of organisations across 

the construction industry to 

streamline their complex projects 

in order to help them 

build better. 

Rob Clifton, Asite SVP for UK 

& Europe said: "Asite is excited 

to open up this new and 

features now that Enscape 

fully supports Vectorworks 3D 

modeling." 

Enscape leverages innovations 

in graphics card technology 

to instantly transform Vectorworks 

models into immersive 

real-time 3D experiences. 

Vectorworks users can quickly 

navigate large BIM models, 

and changes made in Vectorworks 

are immediately visible 

and fully rendered with accurate 

materials, lighting and 

shadows. As a result, designers 

can see in real-time the 

effect their design decisions 

have on a space and its construction, 

helping them validate 

their ideas and get to 

decision points faster. 

www.enscape3d.com 

CALLIDA JOINS THE ASITE ECOSYSTEM 

exciting growth market with 

Callida as a partner. Callida 

has been providing complete 

construction project management 

solutions for over eight 

years now. Their experience 

and expertise in supplying and 

implementing SaaS platforms 

to the construction industry is 

second-to-none and what 

makes them an excellent partner 

to help evolve the usage of 

the Asite platform globally. 

"Our partnership will help the 

Czech construction industry to 

build better; a journey I'm 

thrilled to be a part of." 

www.asite.com 

6 

November/December 2020

Project Information Management. 

For Architects, 

Engineers, 

Contractors 

& Owners 

Smarter, Flexible Project Delivery: 

• Online, collaborative workshare 

• Office 365 SharePoint platform 

• Standardised document control 

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

• Workflow productivity with design authoring, 

collaboration and ERP systems 

Atvero ® increases process efficiency, improves quality, reduces risk and time administering 

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 

SAFETIBASE BOOSTS SITE SAFETY ON HS2 

HS2 Ltd has joined forces 

with main works contractor 

Balfour Beatty VINCI (BBV) and 

3D Repo to boost worksite 

safety. By harnessing the power 

of cloud-based technology and 

combining it with unique hazard 

management technology, HS2 

hopes to make its sites even 

safer as it moves into the full 

construction phase. 

In a move to improve construction 

site safety, HS2 Ltd 

has backed the development 

of advanced 4D learning technology 

that enables site teams 

to identify, record and resolve 

site hazards as part of a virtual 

construction sequence evaluation 

and training. 

The technology, cloud-based 

SafetiBase 4D, developed by 

BBV and 3D Repo, sees site 

workers enter the Mission 

Room (pictured), which creates 

a four dimensional, 360º virtual 

version of a BBV construction 

site on HS2's Area North route. 

In the safety of an office environment, 

workers can then go 

on site and explore, discuss 

and agree the project's delivery 

sequence, identify safety 

issues and agree how to 

resolve them. 

Delivery teams are able to go 

inside the Mission Room, and 

join remotely via the internet, to 

tag hazards at a specific place 

and time in the virtual build 

sequence. The technology also 

provides the ability to click on 

the hazard symbol to access 

its entire history including 

details of progress that has 

been made in tackling identified 

hazards. 

HS2 Ltd senior innovation 

manager Dr David Rogers said: 

"HS2 places a high priority on 

caring for our workforce and 

creating an environment where 

no one gets injured. This technological 

innovation has huge 

potential to improve safety on 

the project. Immersing teams in 

a 4D virtual site enables them 

to examine the task and, not 

only tag hazards, but hopefully 

eliminate them before they 

arrive on site, driving a virtuous 

circle improving safety and 

boosting productivity." 

3D Repo's commercial director 

Andrew Norrie said: "3D 

Repo has been working with 

Balfour Beatty VINCI on a HS2- 

funded innovation development 

to integrate 4D data from Synchro 

into 3D Repo. This development 

will allow users to 

democratise, visualise and 

analyse the output of 4D modelling 

to the wider project team. 

This will enable full cloud-based 

collaboration with issues and 

risks linked to the 4D timeline." 

hs2.org.uk 

VECTORWORKS DESIGN SCHOLARSHIP OPENS 

Vectorworks has announced 

its fifth annual Vectorworks 

Design Scholarship. This global 

competition is open to 

undergraduate and graduate 

students in major disciplines 

related to architecture, landscape 

architecture, landscape 

design, entertainment and 

interior design who can now 

submit either new or old projects 

for a chance to win up to 

$10,000 USD. 

"This year's theme is 

"Design. Submit. Win" and we 

want students from around the 

world to do just that," said 

Vectorworks Marketing Programs 

Director Alice Lowy. 

"This is a prime opportunity for 

students to show off their best 

work for professional recognition 

and more, and we look 

forward to seeing what they 

come up with." 

To apply, students must complete 

a quick online application 

providing their contact 

information followed by details 

about their project before submitting 

for consideration. A 

panel of judges will evaluate 

submissions based on design, 

Shaderlight Ltd, the developers 

of Shaderlight for 

SketchUp, the popular rendering 

plugin for Trimble 

SketchUp, have announced 

the release of Shaderlight 

2021. The update fully supports 

the newly released 

SketchUp 2021. In addition to 

technology, originality, presentation 

and writing. 

The competition includes a 

two-round judging process. 

First-round winners in the UK 

will each receive £2,000 and 

will be entered for the chance 

to win the global grand prize 

Richard Diehl Award, worth an 

additional $7,000 USD. Scholarships 

may be used as winners 

see fit from tuition to travel. 

Additionally, winners' colleges 

or universities will 

receive free Vectorworks 

Designer software and free virtual 

workshop training. 

Submissions are open now 

through 31 March 2021. Winners 

will be announced 16 June 

2021. Students can also visit 

the academic programs page 

to find additional resources to 

help with their projects. 

www.vectorworks.net 

SHADERLIGHT FOR SKETCHUP 2O21 

SketchUp 2021 support, 

Shaderlight 2021 (v9.0) 

includes important updates to 

Shaderlight’s portal light feature 

making it even more 

accurate when rendering interior 

scenes. 

Kate Jackson, Commercial 

Director at Shaderlight Ltd, 

said "For 10 years 

Shaderlight has provided 

users with a rendering plugin 

that works seamlessly with 

SketchUp. We continue to 

build on Shaderlight’s core 

technology, making it faster 

and more efficient." 

www.artvps.com 

8 


SOFTWAREreview 

SYNCHRO - Field Map View SYNCHRO - Field Model SYNCHRO - Field UX Homepage 

iTwin Design Review 

Bentley's Digital Twin concept has matured into a valuable application for leveraging the data 

from both real-life construction projects and digital models, enhancing project delivery 

It has been a fascinating couple of 

years watching the concept of Digital 

Twins developing from an interesting 

idea that neatly described the 

possibilities available from the 

concurrent development of physical and 

digital models, to its current role as one 

of the principal drivers of project delivery. 

This was borne out by one of the 

sessions at Bentley's online Year in 

Infrastructure 2020 conference, and in 

subsequent chats with the presenters, 

Rich Humphrey, Bentley's VP of 

Construction Product Managment, and 

Mark Hattersley, Senior Director of 

Construction Operations. The session 

looked at how Bentley Systems' 

ProjectWise 365 and SYNCHRO 4D use 

the advanced features of 4D Digital Twins 

for project delivery. 

From concept to reality, with a bit of a 

tweak to its name, Bentley has 

introduced iTwin Design Review as an 

application in its own right and as a 

commercial add-on to any of Bentley's 

Open series of applications. It can be 

used to aggregate application specific 

iModels on a cloud based server, and 

combine the data within the models with 

other design development and 

information management tools - in this 

case with ProjectWise 365's integrated 

design collaboration solution and 

SYNCHRO 4D's visualisation software - 

to improve design and construction 

workflows. 

We have previously looked at Bentley's 

ProjectWise 365 but not covered 

SYNCHRO 4D, a complete portfolio of 

integrated software and services which 

provides an ideal partner for the digital 

twin application. SYNCHRO combines 

digital models with information from 

PDFs, drawings, GIS and project 

management applications to provide 

developers and project managers with 

an accurate and up to date digital 

representation of a building construction 

project. Combined with ProjectWise 

365's collaborative workflows, and 

10 



utilising timeline tools available within 

project management applications to 

provide 4D scheduling, SYNCHRO 4D 

provides an ideal tool for iTwin Design 

Review to drive both project design and 

construction forward. 

PROJECT DELIVERY 

There are two parts to any construction 

project - the architectural and 

engineering design processes and the 

physical process of construction, 

starting from the first scrape of earth on 

site, to completion, handover and 

operation. The Digital Twin concept 

provides an ideal environment for 

developing designs in a 2D/3D 

environment, and to then coordinate and 

integrate real-life engineering changes 

within the digital model. 

Bentley's ProjectWise 365 leverages 

integrated, cloud-based workflows and 

Microsoft's 365 applications to help 

project teams store, manage and find 

designs among the many thousands of 

project documents, and to collaborate 

and process feedback in real-time 

review sessions. 

SYNCHRO is able to build model views 

from a variety of sources and produce 

visual construction sequences in 4D, and 

can compare different stages in the 

digital construction of the model with 

real-life imagery using Microsoft's 

HoloLens 2 reality capture capabilities. 

This provides the perfect combination of 

real and digital information required to 

inform Bentley's iTwin Design Review. 

iTwin Design Review works on both 

levels. During its design stage, which 

Rich Humphey described as iTwin Design 

Review for practitioners (available 

through ProjectWise 365) it provides an 

immersive 2D and 3D environment for 

exploring and commenting on the 

design. This allows architects and 

engineers to mark-up and directly 

comment on any element of the 3D 

design, referencing in a single display the 

relationships between 2D and 3D views 

and other information. 

The end result is faster design reviews 

in 2D and 3D workflows without having to 

deal with multiple models and disjointed 

workflows. Design Reviews can be 

initiated directly from the 3D model using 

iModel technology, and from there 

colleagues can refer directly to 

connected 2D drawings and documents, 

providing feedback from all associated 

resources - and within a full 

multidisciplinary environment. 

CHANGES WITHIN A 4D MODEL 

Post design, iTwin Design Review for 

projects allows construction teams and 

contractors to focus on the progress of a 

project and capture engineering changes 

using ProjectWise Design Integration 

Services in conjunction with SYNCHRO 

4D to highlight the differences between 

the plan and its implementation. It 

provides a record of 'who changed what 

and when' and enables multidiscipline 

collaboration to be conducted throughout 

the construction phases of a project. 

Microsoft named Bentley as a finalist in 

the Mixed Reality category of its Partner 

of the Year awards 2019 for its 

SYNCHRO/HoloLens 2 solution for 4D 

visualisation of project digital twins. 

SYNCHRO Cloud Services for 

Construction now provides the 

information for iTwin's design reviews. It 

also enables the use of filters that can be 

used to focus on any element of the 

design, or on the origin or reasons 

behind engineering changes. 

Filters can also be used to focus on 

individual disciplines or a particular 

contractor's tasks to initiate design 

reviews, quality assurance/quality control 

reviews, or to foster multidiscipline 

coordination, and to keep track of 

changes, iTwin Design Review can be 

used to create named versions of the 

model at any point in the project timeline 

which can be saved for reference, or 

shared with collaborators. 

4D planning, using powerful 4D 

scheduling and task management 

capabilities, helps contractors plan and 

optimise the most complex construction 

projects in all civil, building, infrastructure 

and industrial sectors. It also improves 

the safety, reliability, predictability and 

quality of all activities on busy 

construction projects, saving money by 

avoiding rework and identifying schedule 

problems in advance. 

On-site managers and engineers using 

SYNCHRO 4D are able to view and 

record the status of tasks, track and raise 

issues and synchronise them with the 

model, and aggregate all of the 

information made available on a 

dashboard to facilitate decision making. 

FIELD AND CONTROL 

An essential element of a digital twin is its 

ability to tap into all information sources 

that affect its real-life twin and to use that 

to maintain its own correlation. The two 

SYNCHRO tools which feed that source 

are SYNCHRO Field and SYNCHRO 

Control. SYNCHRO Field coordinates 

field data capture with tasks, maps, and 

the building model, keeping regular tabs 

on progress and facilitating issue 

identification. SYNCHRO Control 

provides a single web interface for 

collaborating construction teams, 

enabling submittals and RFI 

management issues to be handled 

directly from iTwin Design Review. I 

suppose the unsung or understressed 

hero of the hour is Completions, which 

expedites closeout for construction and 

commissioning teams. 

AND WHAT OF SYNCHRO 5D? 

If SYNCHRO 4D handles construction 

simulations that include a time element 

what will SYNCHRO 5D include, or 6D? 

SYNCHRO themselves mention both 4D 

and 5D construction for civil construction 

projects, with 5D categorised as 

budgetary or resource-based elements. 

This would enable SYNCHRO to 

encompass both on-time and on-budget 

project delivery. The basic elements 

would not change and it is well within the 

capabilities of its contributing 

applications to incorporate costs and 

contract management to the workflow - 

and to have iTwin Design Review manage 

the twinned element between the digital 

twin and real-life costs. 

The introduction of 6D - a rather more 

fanciful vision - might include elements like 

people, materials and equipment, or 

perhaps health and safety issues. Having 

a tool like iTwin Design Review spoils you 

for choice. 

www.bentley.com 


CASEstudy 

Showing Off! 

Marionette gives Origin Studios an extra tweak to Vectorworks for their designs for museum 

exhibitions. 

Having to design a complete 

museum and then to dismantle it 

and re-erect it elsewhere raises 

some interesting logistical problems, but 

the use by Origin Studios of Vectorworks 

Marionette to configure the layout of the 

exhibits, is altogether more interesting. 

Linette Brown of Origin Studios, an 

exhibition design company located in 

Ottawa, Canada, was one of the presenters 

at the virtual Vectorworks Design Day, 

where a variety of interesting presentations 

were made by architectural and landscape 

designers who use Vectorworks as their 

core design application. Not only did Origin 

Studios' work provide a different slant on 

architectural design and the requirements 

for an unusual operator within the industry, 

but I was also intrigued by the reference 

made to Marionette within her presentation. 

There are two main elements to any 

exhibition - the space in which the exhibition 

is presented and the purpose and content 

of the exhibition itself. Originally, no pun 

intended, the company produced 2D 

drawings for the exhibitions - a time 

consuming and exacting process, as each 

of the individual displays had to be drawn in 

plan and elevation and given some artistic 

flourishes to provide the client with a visual 

impression of their brief. If any modifications 

needed to be made, the architectural and 

artistic representations had to be redrawn. 

In addition to the spaces and exhibitry, 

images representing the artefacts included 

in the exhibitions needed to be added to 

each elevation to simulate the views that 

visitors would see from multiple angles. 

The adoption of 3D modelling using 

Vectorworks Architect has transformed the 

process completely, with its parametric and 

3D capabilities allowing designs to be 

created much more simply, modified more 

effectively, and displayed or explored from 

any angle. The starting point for Origin is 

obviously the client's brief and the venue for 

their exhibition, which could be a purpose 

built location, a temporary gallery, or even, 

as you will see from the case study at the 

end of this article, a number of convenient 

nooks and crannies distributed throughout 

a working building. 3D architectural models 

may be available from the venues, created 

from scratch using Vectorworks Architect, 

or built up from a surveyed model using 

tools like LIDAR, which, depending on the 

client's budget, are usually provided by a 

third party company. 

EFFECTIVE USE OF SPACE 

I would imagine that considerable energy 

and heat generated is spent by the client 

and Origin Studios in trying to fit everything 

they want in the available space. Indeed, 

the exercise is not just fitting everything into 

the space but fitting and placing it in the 

space according to the exhibition's 

narrative. This is where Marionette comes 

in. Origin Studios has created a workflow 

using Marionette's algorithmic capabilities 

to create basic models of all the exhibition 

artifacts and objects enabling Origin's 

designers to accurately predict and place 

sometimes hundreds of items in an 

exhibition. This, of course, has a substantial 

impact on the 3D exhibitry - are the display 

cases big enough? Too big? What are the 

sightlines to "jewel" objects? How dense are 

the displays? etc. Starting with the 

dimensions for each object in a 

spreadsheet, Brown imports the data - 

width, height, and depth - into Vectorworks 

and using Marionette, create a whole 

collection of individual artifacts that can 

then be placed in display cases, on 

shelves, or wherever they need to be. The 

3D exhibitry is drawn by hand - though they 

do work with modular exhibitry as much as 

possible - and the objects also need to be 

placed manually, but Marionette lets Origin 

populate a gallery space with "real" objects, 

and quickly. 

The individual components for each of the 

displays are custom built as well. A panel 

unit, for instance, would be built from 

scratch, but it would be created on a 

separate layer with its own reference 

documents. This is done to provide it with 

more flexibility so that when it has to be 

repositioned within the display unit, the rest 

of the display is not affected and doesn't 

have to refresh to compensate. In addition, 

12 


CASEstudy 

large format photos and other graphics, 

sometimes encompassing a whole section 

of a wall, can be attached to any surface 

but need to have a high enough resolution 

to maintain the quality of the image. 

The ultimate aim is to provide the client 

with as lifelike a model as can possibly be 

achieved using Vectorworks modelling, 

material libraries, and rendering capabilities, 

so that they can navigate through the 

exhibition to get a feel for what visitors will 

see. This means that the items that are the 

focus of the exhibition, and any 

accompanying graphics, need to be 

included in the 3D model. Many of the 

objects will be available from the clients 

own databases but where they are not, or 

where simpler representations can be used, 

Origin Studios has developed a number of 

tricks that will display 2D objects in a variety 

of angles that will mimic a fully populated 

display. It is important to stress, though, 

Linette said, that the focus is always on 

providing the highest levels of quality in the 

rendered scenes that they can create to 

provide clients with as close a sample as 

possible to what they will ultimately build. I 

can concur with this as I was unable to 

easily distinguish the difference between 

Origin Studios' rendered model and the 

installation photograph. 

I asked Linette whether Origin Studios 

used Vectorworks Spotlight lighting design 

application for illuminating the exhibits, but 

she explained that using such powerful 

software would be a bit of overkill for the 

bulk of their work - but should the need 

arise and if the clients budget allowed it, a 

company with the appropriate expertise 

would be called in. 

TRAVELLING DISPLAYS 

Now that you know what is involved in 

setting up a permanent exhibition, you can 

understand the extra complexity that comes 

from putting the exhibition on the road. 

Each of the displays has to be capable of 

being dismantled and re-erected in another 

location and in a different room, which may 

be smaller but still uses, as much as 

possible, the same material and the same 

organization. The graphics may also need 

to be moved round or reprinted to 

accommodate different configurations, and 

all of the space planning that is carried out 

for a permanent exhibition has to be 

replicated for each of the multiple sites in a 

travelling exhibition. In addition, the number 

of truck trailers required to move the 

exhibition has to be calculated and key 

exhibition staff need to know how to 

dismantle and install it on site. The 

additional costs are, therefore, substantial, 

and are factored in by the client who is able 

to mount exhibitions and display them to 

the public - probably an important factor in 

a country that spans six time zones! An 

interesting extra fact provided by Brown: the 

average lifespan of a travelling exhibition is 

around five years. 

MULRONEY HALL CASE STUDY 

The example of the permanent exhibition at 

Mulroney Hall at St. Francis Xavier 

University in Nova Scotia, Canada, was 

provided by Brown as part of her 

presentation. A distributed exhibition was 

created for the university building at the 

heart of the campus; it's a space where 

students spend four years studying public 

policy. The exhibition was spread 

throughout the main atrium and hallways 

of the building in various alcoves and 

open spaces. Each display focuses on a 

particular aspect of Brian Mulroney's life 

and politics. He was Canada's 18th prime 

minister and an alumnus of the university. 

The inspirational exhibits represented 

topics related to the courses they are 

studying. Brown worked with the project 

architect's architectural model -being 

designed and constructed at the same 

time as the exhibition was being designed 

- and placed exhibitry, graphics, and 

objects and artifacts, created using 

Marionette, into her Vectorworks file. The 

parameters of the building may have 

changed throughout the project, but 

Brown's Marionette objects were stored 

safely on a layer waiting to be 

repositioned as the size of display cases 

changed. 

Another example of the many customers 

that have been able to take advantage of 

the full range of Vectorworks capabilities 

and I am indebted to Brown for explaining 

to me how Origin Studios uses Marionette 

- a versatile tool that is surprisingly easy 

to set up if you understand the logic of 

what you are trying to do. 

www.vectorworks.net 



The Cash Flow Challenge 

EleVia Software recruits the company's finance department in their drive to improve productivity, 

writes David Chadwick 

Istarted out in computers selling 

accounting systems for Olivetti more 

years ago than you really want to 

know. Probably the most exciting thing 

that these early systems did was to 

clock up the payment records of 

customers and allocate them to either 

being 30, 60 or 90 days overdue. It has 

taken right up until now to discover 

that taking over control of your 

payments and receipts does more 

than merely improve your cash flow. 

For this enlightenment I have to thank 

Ron Noden of EleVia, who I recently 

spoke to in a Teams chat. EleVia, now 

a part of Battery/Newforma, has clients 

in over 40 countries - chiefly the 

United States, UK, Europe and 

Australia. It was founded in 2009, and 

has over 130,000 licensed users. 

The software is integrated in Deltek 

Vision and Vantagepoint, and its billing 

and invoicing applications have been 

developed to add improved workflow 

to Deltek's already hugely capable 

ERP solutions, while maintaining the 

company's close relationship with 

Deltek Management. 

One of the biggest issues facing the 

construction industry is late and 

outstanding payments. EleVia believes 

that improving a company's cash flow 

by just a couple of weeks could mean 

the difference between the success or 

failure of a project. "Forget the old 30, 

60, 90 days routine which many 

organisations aspire to," Ron said. "If 

you haven't been paid within 90 days 

you already have a problem." 

The Cash Flow Challenge is being 

made to change the way companies 

think about overdue payments and is 

offered to EleVia clients when they 

implement the financial management 

package. Mentored by EleVia, it 

monitors the amount of time that a 

company's cash flow shortens - the 

Days Sales Outstanding - within the 

first few months of using the software. 

Ron states that the workflow 

efficiencies attributed to EleVia 

Software can increase a company's 

cash flow by as much as one million 

pounds per month. 

The finance departments of many 

companies handling Accounts 

Receivable Management & Collections 

(ARM) and Payables Approval & 

Tracking (PAT), are not usually 

associated with drives to improve their 

efficiency, and handle hundreds of 

invoices to project partners with 

varying degrees of inefficiency using 

outdated and cumbersome workflows. 

EleVia's software uses similar noninvasive 

technology to Newforma to 

drive workflow efficiencies in finance 

and invoicing, producing notable 

reductions in Day Sales Outstanding 

(DSO). It does this by measuring from 

the time that the work is completed 

until the invoice is paid. More 

specifically, the Time to Invoice (TTI) 

should follow the time that the billable 

work has been completed as quickly 

as possible. The time of invoice until 

the time of collection - Accounts 

Receivable (AR) or AR Aging - is then 

used as an AR weighted KPI. EleVia 

uses both of these as the basis of an 

accountable AR Management and 

Collections process. 

AUTOMATING THE WHOLE 

PROCESS 

The key to all of this is in automating 

the gathering and processing of 

invoice information, using mobile 

applications to record the time spent 

and the time of completion of billable 

elements of work. Not only does realtime 

billing eliminate the normal 

working practice of totting up jobs and 

hours worked on time sheets at the 

end of the day (or the week!). It 

eradicates errors and time wasted 

checking whether, for example, 

someone who has clocked off early 

has actually finished their work or left it 

for tomorrow. 

EleVia believe that simple automation 

of billing can increase TTIs by ten or 

14 


SOFTWARE review 

more days a month, and the smaller 

number of exceptions that still arise 

can be handled more quickly. 

TTI also becomes a target. It can be 

measured and reviewed frequently and 

even included on management 

dashboards, and response times can 

be used as part of the project 

management process, with the aim of 

shortening the results. 

The invoicing workflow is integrated 

with EleVia Electronic Invoicing, which 

also helps to reduce TTI days by 

integrating the work of field and project 

teams within the accounting reporting 

system, using a single point of entry 

for all of the information required to 

fulfil an invoice. Errors are eliminated, 

time saved and the information needed 

to rectify exceptions is already within 

the system. 

After configuring the software to 

match the requirements of individual 

companies, EleVia helps them set up 

automated processes which generate 

actions like reminder emails sent out 

one week before payments are due. 

Should companies respond with 

queries about the invoice - a familiar 

stalling tactic in every industry - the 

past couple of years of billing 

information can be downloaded and 

sent to the client in twenty minutes. 

The integration with Deltek Vision, the 

ultimate source of truth and which 

shares bidirectional links with EleVia's 

data, enables any and every query to 

be answered. 

ENERGISING THE SYSTEM 

As nice as it is to bring forward your 

cash flow, becoming more proactive in 

the way you handle your improved 

workflows has other benefits. Your own 

accounts team can be energised by 

the way in which they can contribute to 

a company's moving bottom line 

instead of passively recording the daily 

flow of invoices and payment receipts. 

They will also take onboard the maxim 

that 'the quicker you invoice, the 

quicker you get paid!' 

Contractors and suppliers are 

similarly charged by the promise of 

quicker payments for their work and 

supplies and will respond accordingly. 

I have personal experience of this. 

Having recently moved home into a 

property that required stripping out 

completely, I was able to employ the 

best local builders when I needed 

them because I paid them on the dot 

as soon as they had finished a billable 

job. I probably saved a couple of 

months duration to finish the work in 

the process. 

IMPROVING THE WORKFLOW 

Although the software is supplied out 

of the box, there are some 

configurable elements that allow 

EleVia to implement a client's specific 

requirements. Although it is designed 

to be customer friendly, a bit of input 

from EleVia can ensure that the system 

is running at an optimum level. 

Speeding up ARM and PAT will 

certainly improve a company's cash 

flow, but there are other activities that 

are ripe for enhancement. The use of 

smartphones and tablets on site has 

revolutionised the collection of data 

and the signing off of goods received 

where it occurs. Instead of adding a 

signature to a piece of paper which is 

then taken back to the supplier for the 

invoice to be issued, deliveries can be 

inspected and validated on the spot, 

and appropriate project files updated. 

Work carried out on site is similarly 

recorded, indicating the length of time 

a particular job has taken and any 

resources used to complete it, which 

can then be matched to the pay rates 

and costs of those who carried out the 

work, producing a real-time value of 

each item. This results in a massive 

improvement in expense cost recovery. 

Ron explained that inadequate 

collection of costs on sites that do not 

use the latest technology to harvest 

data were falling short by up to 40% on 

cost recovery. 

EleVia's website exhorts its users to 

"Take the Challenge and dig up some 

cash!" It's an appealing thought, and 

one that drives home the message to 

EleVia's clients: take control of your 

workflows and kickstart your 

company's future success. 

www.eleviasoftware.com 


CASEstudy 

Digitally Twinned design 

Graphisoft's Archicad enabled brp architects to create a virtual building to refine their forwardthinking 

design for a contemporary home in the middle of Market Harborough 

Architectural firm brp architects 

was tasked with designing a 

contemporary home in Market 

Harborough for a retired professional 

couple.To ensure the property would 

be future-proofed for the couple's 

evolving needs, a prerequisite was that 

it needed to be wheelchair accessible, 

situated within walking distance from 

the town centre, and have most of its 

accommodation on the ground floor. 

However, the clients were adamant 

they did not want a bungalow, and 

although APRA House needed to be 

built with accessibility in mind, they 

were keen that it did not look like an 

'accessible house'. 

FINDING THE PERFECT PLOT 

With land at a premium, brp found that 

the only site that met the couple's 

requirements in a town centre location 

was prohibitively expensive. To make it 

financially viable, the solution was to 

build two properties on the plot and to 

then sell on the second house. 

APRA House was designed from 

scratch using Graphisoft's Archicad as 

Lee Hankins, associate, architect and 

BIM manager at brp architects 

explains: 

"We have worked with Archicad for 

many years and over that time we've 

built an extensive Archicad template. 

This uses favourites so we're able to 

model very quickly. 

"By creating a virtual building as we 

model it, any potential issues are 

highlighted straight away. Furthermore, 

with the ability to use BIMx and 

renovation filters to present different 

options, we were able to demonstrate 

our plans very effectively to the client, 

planners and contractors alike." 

VISUALISATIONS: THE KEY TO 

PLANNING APPROVAL 

Although APRA House passed through 

planning fairly easily, the second 

property proved more challenging as it 

was visible from the road. Without 

planning for the second property, the 

project would not have been viable as 

the two properties were financially 

linked. With the help of Graphisoft's 

BIMx virtual viewing software the 

architects were able to show the 

planners exactly how the properties 

would look and fit in their 

surroundings. 

"The planners loved BIMx; it leaves no 

stone unturned - really bringing the 

design to life," says Lee. 

In addition to BIMx, brp used the 

Archicad 3D model to create a 

photorendered visual of the project to 

overlay on a photograph of the site 

taken from the nearby park. This 

illustrated to the local planning 

authority the minimal impact the 

building would have and ultimately 

helped to secure planning approval. 

A DESIGN FOR THE FUTURE 

Having previously lived in a 17th 

century thatched cottage, the couple 

wanted a very modern property, an 

antithesis, with flowing open plan 

spaces that would serve them well into 

retirement. 

The building was created around two 

diagonally opposed wings responding 

to the site geometry and maximising 

the internal space. The main single 

storey wing contains the reception 

rooms and master bedroom suite, 

while the second wing houses the 

garage and support spaces on the 

ground floor and the remaining 

bedrooms on the upper floor. 

Lee explains: "For this project we 

used Archicad's renovation filters to 

present different options to the client 

at the early stages of the design 

process. We do this for all our new 

builds on a clean site. It makes it so 

easy to show different options, sizes 

and material finishes and then delete 

the ones you don't want." 

16 


CASEstudy 

The largely two-storey space between 

the wings provides a long tapering 

hallway and gallery while a bespoke 

glass and oak staircase maintains the 

impression of openness. 

BIMX TO AID CLIENT DECISION 

MAKING 

From an early stage BIMx was 

invaluable in helping the client to 

understand how their new home would 

look. In addition, it helped them to see 

how their existing belongings would fit, 

and meant they could make informed 

decisions when selecting new items of 

furniture and fixtures. 

"We helped the homeowners optimise 

the layouts of the various spaces by 

virtually testing different furniture items 

before they made any final decisions," 

says Lee. 

"In addition, at later stages during 

construction we overlaid the electrical 

layout plans onto the 3D BIMx model. 

This enabled the clients to visualise 

exactly where the electrical outlets and 

lights would be positioned which 

assisted with their final furniture 

decisions. It also ensured that any 

changes to the electrical layouts were 

made before anything was installed on 

site, preventing abortive works and 

associated costs." 

MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGIES 

The client stipulated that their home 

should not be built of brick. Instead, 

the property was constructed with 

cavity blockwork together with throughcoloured 

flexible renders in a 

monochrome mix of whites and greys. 

The roofs were constructed using 

powder coated preformed steel 

trapezoidal panels. 

The property's orientation maximises 

the use of the available sun. The 

central atrium has high electric 

windows to draw out warm air during 

the summer months. Meanwhile, the 

roof extends over the southerly glazing 

to offer shading from summer sun, 

whilst allowing the lower winter sun to 

enter deeply into the space benefitting 

from the solar gain. 

All of the major building components 

were specified to exceed the thermal 

performance of the prevailing building 

regulations requirements in order to 

achieve a low carbon, efficient living 

environment. 

SHARING DATA FROM ARCHICAD 

Within Archicad it is easy to extract the 

necessary data in a variety of formats 

to share and work collaboratively with 

external consultants, engineers and 

contractors. 

Lee explains, "We shared the 

necessary data with the quantity 

surveyors and the original cost 

estimates for the build came back over 

budget. However, we were able to 

quickly identify where the bigger 

expenses were and by working 

together, we reduced the overall length 

of the building slightly. This 

significantly reduced the overall cost." 

"We also shared data with the kitchen 

manufacturer in dwg format, as well as 

schedules, drawings and the BIMx 

model with the builder. Sharing the 

BIMx model with the builder was 

particularly useful in helping them to 

understand the design." 

Brp worked closely with the builder 

throughout the project, with monthly 

formal meetings and regular site visits 

to monitor progress. 

The construction was completed both 

on time and within budget, with the 

project summed up perfectly by the 

forward-thinking homeowners: "It has 

been a fantastic experience to see a 

derelict plot of land morph into a 

singular and innovative piece of 

architecture, which is not only beautiful 

to look at but practical to live in and 

environmentally sound. This is form 

and function perfectly combined." 

www.graphisoft.co.uk 


2020 awards 

@CCMagAndAwards 

Sponsored by: 

A winning end to a challenging year 

It goes without saying that it 2020 has been an exceptionally 

difficult year for everybody, but there is now light at the end 

of the tunnel, with a number of COVID-19 vaccines coming 

through successful trials and governments gearing up towards 

mass vaccination programmes. Next year will still be tough 

due to the enormous cost of the pandemic, but we will be on 

an upward path towards a full recovery, with some very 

valuable lessons learned, a new appreciation of what and who 

are important to us, and a reorganisation of our working 

practices to take account of the wellbeing of our employees 

as well as the efficiency of our construction processes. 

So let's start the celebrations early with the announcement 

of the winners of the 2020 Construction Computing Awards, 

which recognise the achievements of companies, software 

developers, teams and contractors in making an impact on 

the industry in these trying times. Our thanks must also go to 

the many readers who voted in each category, taking time 

out from the niggles of trying to keep work and projects on 

track whilst either working from home or battling to keep 

teams together in depleted offices. 2020 is drawing to a 

close - here's looking forward to a positive new start in 2021! 

www.constructioncomputingawards.co.uk 

INNOVATION OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Excitech with BES Ltd for Working From Home with Excitech DOCS & BES Ltd 

ONE TO WATCH COMPANY OF 2020 

Winner: Buildots 

BIM PROJECT OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: WSP for Using Tridify to publish BIM files to the Web 

COLLABORATION PROJECT OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: The Asite Platform for North London Heat and Power Project with North London Waste Authority 

CLOUD BASED TECHNOLOGY OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Glider with gliderbim 

18 


2020 awards 

AUGMENTED REALITY/VIRTUAL REALITY PROJECT OF 2020 

Winner: 3D Repo - PlanBase for City of London 

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: 4PS UK for 4PS Construct 

HEALTH AND SAFETY SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: MSite for MSite Workforce App: Making sites safer in the wake of COVID19 

BIM PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: GRAPHISOFT - Archicad 24 

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Vectorworks - Vectorworks Architect 

COLLABORATION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Viewpoint - Viewpoint for Projects 

DOCUMENT AND CONTENT MANAGEMENT PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Newforma - Newforma Project Center 

ERP SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: EasyBuild (Construction Software) Ltd - EasyBuild 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Elecosoft - Powerproject 

PROJECT ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: RedSky - Summit 

ESTIMATION & VALUATION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: RIB Software - iTWO costX (Formerly CostX) 

CONSTRUCTION FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Integrity Software - Evolution Mx 

CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: EasyBuild (Construction Software) Ltd - EasyBuild 

ASSET MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: IFS - IFS Applications 

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Trimble - Tekla Structural Designer 

GIS/MAPPING PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Esri ArcGIS - Mapping and Analysis platform within Esri Geospatial Cloud 

MOBILE APPLICATION OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: GRAPHISOFT - BIMx 

CHANNEL PARTNER OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Excitech 

EDITOR'S CHOICE OF 2020 

Winner: Bentley Systems - OPEN Series of Applications 

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner - Solibri UK - Solibri Office 

COMPANY OF THE YEAR 2020 

Winner: Trimble 


HARDWAREfocus 

Augmented Reality on-site 

Topcon's MAGNET Vison brings a whole new reality to laying out project markers on a building 

site, writes David Chadwick 

The world of videogaming was 

never really for me. I think I lost 

interest back when Space 

Invaders was starting to evolve into 

more than just a simple 'shoot 'em up'. 

I am amazed, however, by the vast 

size and appeal of the industry and 

the quality of the graphics, and how 

they expanded into the realm of Virtual 

Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality 

(AR). AR headsets and glasses are 

now also a phenomenally handy tool 

on the building site, particularly in the 

initial layout out stage. 

The traditional method of doing this 

is to take a map of the terrain involved 

- perhaps a 2D printout - with the 

outline of the various building plots 

marked on it, and the positions 

selected for the stakes to be 

hammered in. Surveying equipment is 

then set up to locate the position for 

each of the stakes and the junior 

member of the team (there has to be 

at least two people involved) makes 

their mark. 

Although the surveying technology 

has improved by leaps and bounds, 

the resulting accuracy can still be 

affected by something as basic as the 

weather on the day of the survey. 

There is a stark difference between 

the way a lot of companies still handle 

all of the surveying tasks on a building 

site and what is now possible using 

the latest software tools, supported by 

powerful augmented reality 

equipment. With virtual images of 

both the terrain and the salient 

features of a 3D building model or 

project site displayed on the lenses of 

an AR headset - and the latest 

devices look more like thickset 

sunglasses than snorkling goggles - 

controlled by handheld smartphone or 

20 


HARDWAREfocus 

laptop device, a surveyor can move 

quickly from point to point indicated 

on the model, and precisely position 

each of his stakes with a very high 

degree of accuracy. No heavy 

equipment to set up, no requirement 

for a partner to facilitate the 

triangulation required on each leg, 

and no ambiguity on the classification 

of each marker. 

TOPCON SITE LAYOUT 

Using AR for on-site layout is just one 

of a number of site surveying tools 

developed by Topcon to help bring 

traditionally time-consuming and 

labour intensive practices right up to 

date. At the core of Topcon's offering 

is their software application, MAGNET 

Construct, which allows for the 

integration of a pair of AR glasses. 

Manufactured by Vuzix, they can be 

integrated with either iOS and Android 

devices. 

The Vuzix Blade smart glasses not 

only provide augmented reality 

positional information for stake out 

and QA processes, but give access to 

all of the other functions and 

processes that you would expect with 

AR connected technology. This 

includes access to emails, taking site 

pictures, live streaming video or just 

answering your phone calls. Utilising 

the AR glasses also means that you 

can just leave your phone in your 

pocket, surely a real boon to 

improving on-site health and safety. 

Topcon consider AR to be an 

emerging technology and so instead 

of developing an app around a 

specific range of AR devices, they 

have chosen to produce one that will 

work with both current and future 

generations of augmented reality 

technology. The Vuzix Blade AR 

glasses, which are lightweight and 

hands-free, are currently an ideal tool 

for surveyors who want to take 

coordination information onto the 

project site, aggregating data from 

multiple sources. Coordinating the 

integration of the project information is 

MAGNET Enterprise, Topcon's cloud 

based file management and transfer 

solution, which is already integrated 

with Autodesk's surveying platform 

and its proprietary Point Layout 

solution, as well as BIM 360 Docs and 

Bentley's ProjectWise. 

TOPCON MAGNET 

The Topcon on-site layout tool is used 

in conjunction with MAGNET Construct 

4.1, the mobile technology that gives 

surveyors a full 2D or 3D layout in the 

palm of their hand. MAGNET 

Construct is a cloud connected 

application that provides data for 

positioning layout, and also for other 

as-built surveying applications, using 

robotic and GNSS devices. It can be 

used to control robotic total stations, 

GNSS receivers and Layout Navigator. 

The mobile app provides a 

streamlined workflow with graphical 

real-time positioning to any point, line, 

surface or feature on the project site. 

It can also combine optical and GNSS 

survey data to create hybrid models, 

and is highly effective as a data 

collection tool. It provides full 

communication facilities for surveying 

teams, allowing them to share files 

using normal email functionality of 

through MAGNET Enterprise. 

The Vuzix Blade glasses are state-ofthe-art, 

and include an autofocusing 

HD camera, stereo speakers in the 

temples, and noise cancelling 

microphones, both Wi-Fi and 

Bluetooth, full colour in one eye, and 

come with full UV protection and 

safety certification. 

LEVERAGING MAGNET FIELD 

Whilst MAGNET Vision might be 

considered one of the end users of 

field data, the software that collects 

and coordinates the data in the first 

place is equally compelling. MAGNET 

Field, TopCon's topographical 

surveying application, uses land 

surveying tools to collect land 

positioning data - points, lines, areas, 

cross sections, surfaces, and other 

data - to create map or measurement 

views within its Topographical Survey 

function. The application can handle a 

vast number of imports from CAD, GIS 

and other data sources, and use them 

to calculate surface levels and 

contours, and to automatically create 

accurate Digital Terrain Models. 

MAGNET Field also creates the 

layout data - the Stake Points - in 

whatever method of layout or stakeout 

surveyors need: Point, Lines, Offsets, 

Roads, Surface, Slope, and Real-Time 

Roads etc. Relvant data such as road 

stakeout information able to be 

presented on a single screen as you 

stake anywhere along the road design 

in real-time, increasing productivity. 

GIS mapping, and aerial imagery 

from Microsoft's Bing maps combines 

the DTM models with satellite image 

backgrounds, which can then be 

merged with projected civil 

engineering or structural building 

projects. MAGNET Field can provide 

surveyors with a full visual site context, 

and a full picture of the project, 

turning on-site layout into child's play. 

www.topconpositioning.com 



PhysioWizard 

Musculoskeletal problems are perhaps the single biggest cause for construction employees to 

take sick days off work. Now, PhysioWizard provides a certified and thorough self assessment 

tool that guides you through the process and tells you what to do next 

The current emphasis on maintaining 

or improving the wellbeing of your 

workforce is, perhaps, one of the 

only positives to come out of COVID-19 

for. Despite an increasing reliance on 

modern construction and manufacturing 

technology, it is evident that it's the human 

factor that governs the success or failure 

of a project. A disorganised, dissatisfied 

and unhealthy workforce can play havoc 

with schedules, the quality of work, an 

increase in accidents and days off work. 

The construction industry is a case in 

point, and has a bad reputation for the 

number of injuries sustained on 

construction sites. Whilst a large number 

of these may be caused by mishaps, 

accidents and falls, which can be 

minimised or mitigated by some of the 

current health and safety applications 

available in the industry, there are 

probably many more which are caused by 

the stresses and strains of an occupation 

which relies on plenty of heavy lifting and 

strenuous manual labour. These may not 

manifest themselves until the end of a 

shift, or when an employee returns home, 

but may be serious enough to lay an 

employee off for a couple of days. 

This costs the contractor time and 

money and may result in having to find 

a temporary replacement to keep a 

project on track. The sooner a problem 

is assessed and a course of treatment 

prescribed, the better for the patient 

and the company, and this applies 

equally to industries which involve a 

degree of physical activity as well as 

office-based workers. 

Unfortunately, the first port of call in 

today's digitally focused environment is 

usually 'Dr. Google', which will bring up 

more information than one could possibly 

handle - at least 100 different causes of a 

simple nosebleed, for example. Half an 

hour spent Googling aches and pains will 

leave anybody convinced they have a 

serious physical ailment, if they aren't 

totally overwhelmed by the contradictory 

information available. 

And, more to the point, downloading 

and printing out unofficial advice will cut 

no ice with a line manager, who will 

instead merely mark an employee 

absent. The only alternative, up to now, is 

to book an appointment with a GP - a 

difficult and arduous prospect in the 

current lockdown. 

22 



PHYSIOWIZARD 

There is an alternative, though. 

Construction workers can log on to the 

PhysioWizard platform either on site or at 

home, and respond to a comprehensive 

questionnaire which asks a series of 

simple questions about the physical 

problem which is causing them distress - 

in fact, every question that you would 

hope a doctor, clinician or physiotherapist 

would ask is covered. 

As its name suggests, PhysioWizard is 

directed solely towards the physical 

aspects of a person's health and 

wellbeing - muscular aches and pains, 

strains, backaches, and any condition 

that is other than a medical, aural or 

visual problem. The investigation starts 

by presenting images on screen which 

are used to highlight the areas where 

physical discomfort is being felt, and then 

narrows the assessment down further, 

asking questions about how it feels, it's 

occurrence, duration and how long it has 

persisted. Questions are asked about 

previous medical histories too, and 

anything that might be associated with 

the current problem. 

The questionnaire also extends its 

enquiries to the mental aspects of the 

condition, or anything else that might 

have contributed to it, probing the 

wellness of a patient by asking how the 

problem makes them feel, how it affects 

their work and what things they are 

unable to do because of it. 

Upon completion of the questionnaire a 

report is generated which summarises the 

assessment and suggests what should 

be done next, either to book an 

appointment with a physiotherapist, 

doctor, or other specialist, call 111, or to 

undertake a series of specifically 

calculated exercises designed to alleviate 

musculoskeletal (MSK)problems, which 

are demonstrated with onscreen videos. 

An analysis of the results from the past 

ten years shows that around 50% of the 

reports produced suggest further 

treatment at the hands of a 

physiotherapist. The employee can also 

forward the report to whoever handles 

health and safety in larger companies, or 

give them a summary. PhysioWizard is 

fully compliant with all GDPR 

requirements and safeguards employee 

confidentiality. 

PHYSIOWIZARD IN ACTION 

PhysioWizard is more accurately 

described as a Musculoskeletal Muscle 

and Joint Digital Triage platform, and has 

been developed and tested over the past 

ten years by clinicians as an alternative to 

GP or physio assessment. In a clinical 

safety trial, PhysioWizard provided the 

same triage pathway as a chartered 

physiotherapist in 93% of cases and the 

remaining 7% were referred to higher 

levels of care, making the app an 

extremely safe alternative to face-to-face 

clinical assessment. MSK problems 

account for 30% of almost 300 million GP 

consultations a year, and 1 in 8 

employees have to stay off work 

sometime during the year with MSK 

issues. By empowering the patient to selfassess 

quickly it saves the time and effort 

involved in booking and getting to see a 

doctor, enables treatment or alleviation to 

begin at the earliest opportunity and 

speeds up a patient's return to work. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted 

on even these stark statistics. GP 

appointments are more difficult to 

arrange, hospitals are rightly focusing on 

COVID-19 patients, and diagnostic 

facilities such as scanners are allocated 

elsewhere. Self assessment is not only a 

timely resource in difficult times, but is 

likely to increase in the future, alongside 

the growing use by GPs of online and 

telephone consultations. 

PhysioWizard was founded by Kirsten 

Lord, who is the Chief Clinical Officer for 

the company and has been a chartered 

physiotherapist for the last 29 years. The 

CEO is Andrew Byers, assisted by former 

Bupa Chief Information Office Garry 

Fingland as Chairman. I spoke to Paul 

Arnold, the company's Business 

development Director, as well as Kirsten 

Lord, who outlined the application. 

The software was CE marked and 

registered with MHRA in 2015, and is part 

of the NHS Digital Framework, due to be 

integrated with GP software once it has 

gone through witness testing and 

evaluation. It also complies with Cyber 

Essentials and GDPR, the latter to ensure 

user's complete security with regard to 

the sharing of their medical records as 

part of the self assessment. 

HANDLING THE DATA 

Although PhysioWizard is available to 

everybody, it can become a vital tool on a 

busy construction site, running on the 

mobile reporting tools and devices 

currently being used by construction 

personnel as part of their job. Access to 

the app can be provided as and when 

needed, with non-invasive results 

recorded on a dashboard that monitors 

the general health of the company's 

personnel, providing a summary of results 

that show the range of health issues or 

outcomes that are occurring on site. 

PhysioWizard is already being used by 

public and private healthcare providers, 

HR departments and occupational health 

companies, but the company is 

continuing to innovate and develop. 

Planned enhancements include the 

tracking of treatments following self 

assessment, the internationalisation of 

standards, and integration with EWB, GP 

and other health assessment triage 

solutions. There are also plans to 

integrate chatbots, whiplash pathways 

and reporting, and machine learning, with 

the aim of fine-tuning analytics and 

diagnoses. 

The future is here then, hastened by the 

obligations and constraints of COVID-19. 

You can also try out the software yourself 

for free, by trying the Lite version of the 

app at the following link: 

https://bit.ly/32WptCy. 

www.physiowizard.com 


INDUSTRY comment 

Reversing the charges 

EasyBuild prepares to implement the HMRC's delayed Domestic Reverse Charge 

Missing Trader VAT fraud is not 

just a construction industry 

issue. It has been around for a 

while in other industries, but HMRC has 

decided that it's now time to focus on the 

100 million or so revenues it claims is 

being fraudulently misplaced in 

construction by companies who collect 

VAT from their customers - and promptly 

disappear with the loot. 

It's a simple concept but obviously 

profitable for the fraudulent trader, who 

charges VAT on construction services and 

collects it, but refrains from declaring it to 

HMRC. The Domestic Reverse Charge 

(DRC) is equally simple, in that it removes 

the ability of suppliers to charge VAT, 

instead asking the customer to selfaccount 

for the VAT on services received 

through its VAT return. The customer is 

then able to reclaim VAT as usual. 

The new regime was due to start on 

October 1st 2020, but with other 

concerns occupying peoples minds right 

now it has been delayed until the 1st 

March 2021, which gives companies 

plenty of time to reorganise their 

accounting systems to handle it. 

It might seem simple but there are 

numerous caveats. The DRC does not 

cover all construction services, and 

businesses need to know where and when 

it applies. It also does not apply to end 

users, as both the supplier and customer 

in the transaction have to be both VAT and 

CIS registered, with payments having to be 

reported under CIS rules and 'construction' 

services, which have to be included, 

subject either to 5% or 20% VAT. End user 

status is also questionable, as suppliers 

now need to ask their customers whether 

they are end users, and keep a record of 

their response. 

Construction Services includes every 

element of a job along with materials and 

labour. As a quick guide this would 

encompass: construction; extensions; 

demolition; alteration or repair of buildings; 

installing heating; lighting; air-conditioning; 

ventilation; power supply; drainage; 

sanitation; water supply or fire protection 

systems; Internal cleaning and painting 

and decorating of buildings. 

What it doesn't cover is the external 

manufacture of goods and the delivery and 

supply of such goods to the site and 

subsequent installation - however, you 

need to look in more detail at the provision 

of mixed services which may contain 

elements of both of the above. 

If everybody complies in the correct way, 

the ability for 'missing traders' to step into 

the breach at any point in the line is 

eliminated, and the DRC retains its neutral 

status for the customer - both paying and 

reclaiming VAT costs as normal. 

24 


INDUSTRYcomment 

The five key things for a contractor to ask 

THE ROLE OF EASYBUILD 

There are a number of steps that EasyBuild 

customers need to take to make sure they 

are fully compliant with DRC before the due 

date. The first of these is to talk to 

EasyBuild and be reassured that neither 

they, nor their customers - wherever they 

are in the supply or contractor chain - will 

be out of pocket subsequent to 

implementation of the new regime. 

The second step is to familiarise 

themselves with the services that they 

provide which fall within HMRC's 

guidelines, a complete list of which can be 

found on the HMRC's website. EasyBuild, 

having already studied the extensive list, 

would be happy to give you a shorter yes 

or no, or advice on any ambiguous 

activities you provide for your customers. 

The main requirement though is to modify 

the way in which VAT is accounted for 

within the various ledgers of the accounting 

system. Whilst a VAT charge is registered 

against the provision of a service, VAT 

payments are not received - but the VAT 

has to be included in monthly CIS reports. 

This means that companies have to be 

particularly careful that any modifications 

made to their system to handle the new 

processes maintain accurate records of 

each transaction, and that the reduced 

cash flows do not impact their bottom line. 

With cash flow being one of the biggest 

implications of the change, some 

companies may turn to VAT funding or 

invoice finance to help pay for outgoing 

costs while waiting for invoices to be paid 

by clients. This also highlights another 

endemic issue within the industry - the 

need to negotiate shorter payment terms 

with their suppliers, i.e. the length of time 

customers have to pay for their services. 

RISK ASSESSMENTS 

If the changeover is not handled correctly 

there are substantial risks to both 

suppliers and customers. Incorrect 

assessments or under-declared VAT will 

incur penalties, and subsequent interest 

payments on top of the VAT charges if the 

errors are not resolved. 

Should the supplier charge VAT in error, 

HMRC will overcharge the customer for 

DRC output VAT. It then becomes the 

responsibility of the customer to claim a 

refund from incorrectly charged VAT from 

the supplier - which of course is not good 

for healthy supplier and customer 

relationships. 

To avoid all of this, companies affected by 

the new proposals will need to ensure that 

their accounting staff are brought fully up to 

date with the new regulations, and that 

applications handling contracts, invoicing, 

payments and VAT returns are all updated 

to handle DRC transactions. They will also 

need to make sure that procedures are put 

in place to mitigate VAT risks. 

WHAT HAPPENS IF I GET IT WRONG? 

HMRC acknowledges that the changes 

that will come into play in 2021 will be 

significant for everybody across the 

industry, and in particular for small 

businesses, who will be the most heavily 

impacted.They say, however, that they will 

operate a light touch for genuine 

compliance mistakes within the first sixmonth 

period. Penalties will only be 

considered in this period if a company is 

found to be deliberately taking advantage 

of the new measures. 

IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULES 

EasyBuild has a large customer base, 

many of whom will be affected by the new 

changes, and as part of their engagement 

with their customers they will be organising 

regular briefings to keep them up to date 

with the changes implemented in the 

software. As a construction software 

provider they were already prepared for the 

original Domestic Reverse Charge date, 

which was then postponed. 

The Domestic Reverse Charge adds yet 

another hurdle for companies to 

overcome, alongside the difficulties of the 

COVID-19 pandemic which introduced the 

concept of furloughs for temporarily laid 

off staff, and numerous other financial 

relief schemes which helped to keep 

companies ticking over through the worst 

parts of the national lockdowns. 

We are yet to see the effect of Brexit for 

companies with overseas contracts or who 

buy materials from abroad, but fortunately 

DRC is small beer in comparison, and 

once the modifications to accounting 

systems are put in place, it should cause 

few further problems for companies. 

www.easybuilduk.com 


SOFTWAREfocus 

Treats in store 

IN 2021 Autodesk University will be releasing three significant additions to their range of 

software solutions for the construction industry, writes David Chadwick 

Autodesk University was held online 

this year, like every other major event, 

but whilst the usual benefits like 

networking and hands-on experiences were 

unavailable, the number of virtual attendees 

was far greater, with 90,000 people from 

190 different countries logging in. Autodesk 

also laid on quite a few more sessions, with 

about 750 different presentations available 

covering every aspect of their formidable 

range of software in AEC, product design, 

media and entertainment. 

The University’s tuition sessions were of 

particular interest to regular users of their 

software, whilst the keynotes were more in 

my line, and were generally used to launch 

new software products. In this round-up we 

will focus primarily at the releases aimed at 

the construction sector. 

SPACEMAKER 

Spacemaker is currently in the process of 

being acquired by Autodesk. It's a 

Norwegian company, based in Oslo, which 

uses cloud-based artificial intelligence and 

Generative Design to help architects, urban 

designers, and real estate developers plan 

cities and urban environments. It allows 

them to specify a wide range of 

construction constraints or requirements, or 

to accommodate environmental and 

sustainability issues and automatically 

create optimised building layouts. 

The software's AI algorithms use iterative 

processes to generate design alternatives 

based on the different design criteria: 

terrain, maps, wind, lighting, traffic, 

zoning, carbon emission standards, etc. It 

then produces design alternatives that 

meet the full potential of the site. This 

gives scope to designers, who can rely on 

the computer's processing capabilities to 

handle more complex designs and 

balance contrasting criteria, thereby 

allowing them to focus on the creative 

aspects of their professional work. 

"Spacemaker is a lesson in the power of 

insights and automation, creating and 

testing urban design ideas in minutes," said 

Andrew Anagnost, CEO and President of 

Autodesk. "With two billion more people 

expected to call our planet home by 2050, 

speed of design and sustainability in urban 

planning must be priorities. Spacemaker 

technology offers a fundamental shift in how 

we imagine and build cities to keep people 

and the planet healthy." 

The need for more responsive software 

was echoed by Amy Bunszel, Senior Vice 

President for AEC Design Solutions at 

Autodesk, who said "Spacemaker's 

transformational solution will empower 

designers to make more informed design 

decisions and help solve some of the 

greatest challenges ahead of us all." 

Spacemaker set out four years ago to 

help design, engineering and project 

teams reinvent the development of more 

sustainable cities and neighborhoods 

worldwide. Havard Haukeland, CEO and 

co-founder of Spacemaker explained 

further. "Autodesk shares our goal to 

create a healthier planet for everyone and 

is uniquely positioned to more rapidly 

place our product in the hands of planning 

teams everywhere - a proud milestone for 

our team and those who supported us 

from the start." 

His comments were supported by one of 

Spacemakers clients. "Real-estate 

developers in Norway are at the forefront of 

the digital transformation in the building 

sector, resulting in increased project 

profitability, and critically, improving our 

ability to combat climate change with more 

sustainable real estate developments," said 

Daniel Kjørberg Siraj, CEO of OBOS, 

adding "Game-changers such as 

Spacemaker are part of the solution. As an 

early investor and adopter, I am incredibly 

pleased to see Spacemaker joining 

Autodesk and am looking forward to seeing 

Norwegian-born technology transform the 

industry at a global scale." 

AUTODESK CONSTRUCTION CLOUD 

Autodesk also announced a new set of 

products for Autodesk Construction Cloud 

that further connect data, workflows and 

teams throughout the entire building 

lifecycle, from design to operations. The 

new products - Autodesk Build, Autodesk 

Quantify and Autodesk BIM Collaborate - 

give general contractors, specialty trades, 

designers and owners the ability to improve 

their processes and outcomes, providing 

them with a comprehensive construction 

management platform with all data in one 

central location to simplify collaboration, 

handle project changes and inform 

managers for better decision making. 

26 


SOFTWAREfocus 

Autodesk Spacemaker - height study 

Autodesk Spacemaker - wind analysis 

Autodesk Construction Cloud was 

launched last year and offers a powerful and 

complete portfolio of construction 

management products. The release of 

Autodesk Build, though, provides "An 

entirely new approach to project 

management," according to Jim Lynch, Vice 

President and General Manager of 

Autodesk Construction Solutions. 

Autodesk Build unites the best of PlanGrid 

and BIM 360 with additional new 

functionality to create a comprehensive field 

and project management solution, retaining 

the PlanGrid Build mobile app for field 

workers - a connected set of field execution 

and project management tools integrated 

with all construction workflow data so teams 

can handle project management, quality, 

safety, cost issues and project closeout with 

a single login. 

The PlanGrid Build mobile app facilitates 

RFI creation and issue tracking, with up-todate 

drawings and markups. PlanGrid 

Build changes are then immediately 

available, reducing miscommunication, 

errors and rework. 

Autodesk Quantify automates 2D and 3D 

quantification from the same 

comprehensive platform, allowing 

estimators to quickly and accurately quantify 

elements from both 2D plans and 3D 

models and manage them with associated 

documents. Increased transparency and 

collaboration on estimates provides faster 

and more accurate - and therefore 

competitive - bidding. 

"Traditionally our estimating process has 

required multiple solutions, none of which 

connect or integrate with each other," said 

John Mack, BIM Department Manager, 

Dome Construction. "Autodesk Quantify will 

effectively supercharge the way we do our 

estimating and create a truly collaborative, 

customisable takeoff process. With takeoff 

data based in the cloud rather than on a 

desktop, Autodesk Quantify is a precision 

tool that will help our preconstruction team 

move away from spreadsheets and zero in 

on perfecting our takeoff workflow." 

Autodesk BIM Collaborate brings design 

collaboration, model coordination and 

document management to Autodesk 

Construction Cloud to reduce rework, 

improve productivity, and accelerate project 

delivery. The software empowers project 

teams by managing the entire design 

collaboration and coordination workflow 

within a single, cloud-based solution in a 

common data environment. It features 

processes to handle project timelines, 

aggregated model viewing and change 

reviews. Integrating all functions provides 

design teams with deeper insights into the 

real-time status of the design phase. Its 

model coordination capabilities like clash 

detection and issues management ensure 

the highest quality designs are delivered to 

the field. A BIM Collaborate Pro option is 

also available for Revit Cloud Worksharing, 

Collaboration for Civil 3D and Collaboration 

for Plant 3D. 

As part of the unified Autodesk 

Construction Cloud platform, every new 

product is reinforced by Autodesk Docs, 

which underpins the common data 

environment with centralised document 

management and integrated workflows, 

and Insights provides analytics from the 

data collected to feed Construction IQ 

artificial intelligence and to help identify and 

mitigate risk. 

Autodesk Construction Cloud 

enhancements, which will be available in 

early 2021, include upgraded Administration 

features to provides centralised user 

management, permissioning, templates and 

other tools for project setup, as well as a 

single authentication method for any unified 

product. 

AUTODESK'S DIGITAL TWIN 

Autodesk Tandem brings project data 

together from its many sources, formats, 

and phases, to create a data-rich digital hub 

that tracks asset data from design through 

operations - a Digital Twin. 

Digital Twins connect the digital world with 

the real world, creating up-to-date 

reflections of a model's physical self. This 

provides unique operational insight into a 

facility, building, bridge, or any structure, as 

well as its components. This would 

include, for example, the performance of 

heating and cooling systems, escalators, 

and electrical systems - valuable 

information for building owners who want 

digital data at handover, given that nearly 

80 percent of an asset's lifetime value is 

realised in operations. 

With Autodesk Tandem, all project models 

are brought into a single platform, creating a 

digital view that includes metadata for each 

asset. Architects, engineers and contractors 

can then fully support the digital handover, 

giving owners a digital twin of the final asset 

so that they can dive into all design and 

construction history. BIM, of course, is one 

of the foundational components of 

Autodesk Tandem. 

In October 2020, Autodesk became a 

Founding Member of the Digital Twin 

Consortium, an organisation whose 

members are committed to using digital 

twins throughout their operations. Autodesk 

is also a member of the Open Design 

Alliance, a non-profit technology 

consortium that provides support and 

access to design file formats. 

www.autodesk.com 


CASEstudy 

The D-Day Story 

Hillcrest Structural employed Tekla Structures' 3D model environment to help design, detail, 

fabricate and display a unique piece of D-Day history 

Measuring 59 metres long, LCT 

7074 is the last-surviving Second 

World War D-Day Landing Craft 

Tank, used to carry 10 tanks to Normandy 

for D-Day. As part of a conservation project 

by The National Museum of the Royal Navy 

and The D-Day Story, the tank has been 

restored to her 1944 configuration and is to 

be showcased as part of the newly-opened 

D-Day Story museum in Portsmouth.. 

Designed by Pritchard Architecture and 

Mann Williams, the outdoor display will 

provide public access to all suitable areas 

of the craft, while also protecting it from the 

external elements, featuring a wave-like 

canopy roof. 

Hillcrest Structural, the specialist steelwork 

contractor, was appointed by Ascia 

Construction to produce a fully-coordinated 

3D model of the primary steelwork canopy 

structure, design and detail the steel to 

steel connections and fabricate and erect 

the new roof structure directly over the 

proposed resting position of LCT 7074. 

Speaking about the project, Jamie Green, 

Managing Director at Hillcrest Structural 

said: "The roof canopy frame consisted of 

12 bespoke fabricated steel columns, each 

standing at 12 metres tall and, in turn, 

supporting primary fabricated tapered 

rafters and tapered rear cantilevered arms. 

To achieve the architect's wave-like visual 

aesthetic, our team had to ensure the 

critical setting out points matched 

the design teams' 

requirements, resulting 

in each set of 

front and 

rear 

arms being set at varying levels and 

differing rotations to one another. Finally, to 

the front and rear elevations, curved 

perimeter CHS members fit between the 

arms and there was to be a full roof bracing 

system to provide stability to the frame." 

Having been a user of Tekla software 

since the early 2000's, Hillcrest Structural 

once again chose to use Tekla Structures 

for all modelling and detailing aspects of 

the project. 

Jamie continued: "Tekla Structures is truly 

at the core of our business from a 

technological standpoint, enabling us to 

create and manage structural objects in a 

digital, 3D environment, from conception 

through to site planning and logistics. 

"As well as enabling us to model and 

achieve the proposed wave-like form, Tekla 

Structure's 3D environment was also 

invaluable in aiding our consideration of 

and integration with other disciplines on the 

project. An example of this is the structure's 

electrical services and rainwater drainage 

system, which were both to be welded to 

the inside of our fabricated steel mast 

columns in order to preserve the desired 

streamlined aesthetic. 

"The pipework was all rather complex, 

consisting of tight curves and a junction 

box where all pipes converged. After being 

provided with a basic hand-drawn sketch 

outlining the design intent for the pipework, 

it was vital that we were able to translate 

this 2D information into our model, so that 

we could accurately visualise both the MEP 

services and our steel columns in the same 

digital environment. Fortunately, through 

Tekla's powerful modelling capabilities, the 

wide array of view and selection filtering 

options available and various built-in tools, 

such as 'Cut Object by Part', we were able 

to model both the MEP and structural steel 

elements, ensuring the overall design was 

constructible." 

Another example of design integration on 

the project was regarding the roof canopy 

itself. To support the fabric sail membrane, 

Hillcrest Structural had to detail small RSA 

cleats at close centres on the underside of 

the primary roof steelwork. 

Jamie explained: "In order to ensure a 

smooth transition between design and onsite 

installation, it was important that we 

were able to fully coordinate our model 

with that of the contractor 

responsible for the design of the 

sail membrane. As a result of 

Tekla's open BIM approach, we 

were able to use the 3D CAD 

model supplied by the contractor 

to coordinate our design and 

positioning of the RSA cleats." 

Accurately detailing 

28 


CASEstudy 

connections, such as these RSA cleats and 

other steel-to-steel joints, presented a 

particular challenge on the project, as 

Jamie commented: 

"Considering the time-consuming nature 

of modelling all the various complex and 

unique connections and welds, Tekla 

Structure's intelligent tools and 

functionalities were invaluable in helping us 

to ensure that we were able to deliver the 

steelwork on schedule. The wave-like 

formation of the structure was especially 

challenging, with the frequent geometry 

changes meaning that each rafter and rear 

arm splice position and cut angle was 

variable, presenting us with a potentially 

complex process of positioning the splices. 

"However, by using Tekla Structures 'Copy 

to Another Plane' function, once the main 

connections were in place for one set of the 

columns and rafters we were able to simply 

copy the pre-detailed connections and 

welds to all of the other bays, while 

simultaneously maintaining the correct 

position and splay angles in relation to the 

primary elements. This resulted in a far 

quicker and more efficient process, saving 

time and ensuring high levels of accuracy. 

"With this idea of speed and efficiency in 

mind, Tekla does also offer various 

industry-standard connection macros. 

However, due to the unique nature of the 

architectural design on this project, several 

bespoke connections were required, 

particularly for connecting the plan brace 

members. Fortunately, as a result of the 

software's intelligent flexibility, we were able 

to create our own custom components 

within Tekla Structures and add them to our 

BIM object library, for use throughout the 

detailing stage." 

Given the complex cantilevered form and 

unique shape of the roof structure, being 

able to detail, visualise and review the 

structural steelwork and its connections and 

welds in the context of a 3D environment 

was hugely beneficial for Hillcrest Structural, 

as Jamie explained: 

"Working in 3D provided us with levels of 

detail and insight that 2D simply could not 

offer. We were able to pan around the 

completed model and check for any 

design issues or visual imperfections, 

particularly regarding the exposed steel 

elements, before we moved on to the 

fabrication stage. To demonstrate the value 

of this ability in practice, when examining 

the proposed splay cut to each of the roof's 

four corner steel tubes in a 2D format, no 

issue was detected. However, once these 

same cuts were viewed in 3D, it was clear 

that they were incorrect. This enabled us to 

rectify the issue prior to fabrication, 

avoiding potentially significant delays to 

site operations." 

Once the model was fully completed, 

Hillcrest Structural were able to run a final 

clash check, with the software 

automatically reviewing the model and 

highlighting any potential clashes between 

the primary steel elements and the 

connections, providing both Hillcrest and 

its client with added assurance that the 

design was correct and constructible. 

As well as Tekla Structures, Hillcrest 

Structural also employed Trimble 

Connect, the cloud-based collaboration 

tool, and Microsoft's HoloLens technology 

at other stages of the project's 

construction sequence. 

"As a business, we find the HoloLens 

mixed reality technology invaluable, 

helping to improve visualisation for all 

involved on a project and assisting us in 

making key decisions regarding the 

detailing and installation sequences. Here, 

we used the technology at various stages 

of the project, helping us to plan the 

assembly process in a safe and efficient 

way and also allowing us to check the 

suitability of connection details in terms of 

bolt and welding access. It essentially 

offered us a digital rehearsal of the 

installation works, before we got on to site." 

Trimble Connect was similarly used to 

ensure a smooth process on site, with the 

relevant information, such as GA drawings, 

loading lists and assembly drawings, 

extracted from the model and uploaded 

onto Trimble Connect. Hillcrest Structural's 

site team were then able to instantly 

access this electronic information via their 

tablets and laptops, helping them to 

efficiently resolve any queries or issues 

encountered on site. 

Speaking about the appointment, Jamie 

concluded: "All of us at Hillcrest Structural 

were delighted to be involved with this 

project and for the opportunity to contribute 

to the public display of such a significant 

piece of history. Through the combination of 

our skilled team and the intelligent tools and 

modelling power within Tekla Structures, we 

were able to deliver the structural steelwork 

and its connections on time, to a high 

degree of accuracy and ensure fulfilment of 

the client's design brief. Quite simply, this 

would not have been the case if 3D 

modelling software not have been utilised, 

with the drawing time likely to have been 

severely extended as a result." 

Installation of the structural steelwork was 

completed in June 2020, with the D-Day 

Story's LCT 7074 exhibition set to be open 

to the public later this year. 

www.tekla.com/uk 


CASEstudy 

Weatherproof infrastructure 

The largest dike in the Netherlands has been reinforced with BIM 

For more than 85 years, the 

Afsluitdijk, a 32-kilometre dam, has 

been a hallmark of Dutch hydraulic 

engineering. The dam protects a large 

portion of the Netherlands from the 

Wadden Sea and regulates the water level 

in Lake Ijsselmeer, Holland's biggest lake. 

This impressive infrastructure project is 

a model of protective and preventive 

damage control, incorporating ecological 

and recreational components. Project 

planners have implemented the latest 

technology to work collaboratively and 

efficiently to strengthen the enclosure 

dam, increase its capacity to discharge 

water, and build pumps to transport 

water into the sea. 

THE PROBLEM 

LEVVEL - a consortium made up of Van 

Oord Aberdeen Infrastructure Partners 

B.V., BAM PPP PGGM Infrastructure 

Coöperatie U.A. (part of Royal BAM 

Group), Arcadis and EPICo NL 2 B.V. - 

will design, build, finance, and maintain 

the reinforcement of the Afsluitdijk, the 

largest dike in the Netherlands. 

The project is a complex 

multidisciplinary undertaking that 

involves numerous stakeholders. Its 

design is based on recreation, ecology, 

sustainability, and innovation and 

includes: 

Raising and strengthening the dike 

with 75,000 innovative level-blocks on 

top of the current basalt cladding 

Reconstructing and expanding the 

lock complex at Den Oever with two 

large pumping stations, allowing more 

water drainage from the IJsselmeer 

into the Wadden Sea 

Creating a cycling path over the full 

length of the Afsluitdijk to increase the 

recreational use of the dam, while 

widening the emergency lanes to 

make the adjacent motorway safer. 

With more than 500 people from 

architecture, civil engineering, and 

construction working together during the 

design and preconstruction process, 

effective cross-discipline collaboration 

was the key challenge for the project's 

success. 

"We needed to reimagine the design and 

preconstruction phase by using a 

common data environment to create a 

shared view of all activities, 

dependencies, deadlines, and enquiries," 

said Yuri Grotewal, BIM Coordinator at 

30 


CASEstudy 

Royal BAM Group. "A centralised platform 

would eliminate data silos, streamline 

review cycles, and extract real-time data 

for design coordination and review, 

quantity-take-off, and mark-ups," 

THE SOLUTION 

To solve the challenges represented by 

the complexity of the Afsluitdijk project 

and develop an ecosystem that 

supported multi-disciplinary teams, 

LEVVEL deployed solutions from the 

Autodesk Construction Cloud - chiefly 

BIM 360 and Assemble. The team has 

used the tools together to integrate 3D 

modelling and create a single source of 

truth for greater efficiency, collaboration, 

and improved communication. 

"BIM 360 is at the core of our 

collaboration process and has the most 

prominent role in the project," says 

Ronald Huizinga, BIM Manager at 

Arcadis. "The latest model data is always 

available in 3D and 2D and is easily 

accessible by all project stakeholders. 

Without BIM 360, collaboration would be 

a nightmare." 

With a design team of up to 300 people, 

collaborating in a single environment was 

essential. Designers would upload 

models directly from Civil 3D and Revit 

into BIM 360 for design collaboration and 

coordination. Planners also used Dynamo 

and advanced scripting to speed up the 

design process, citing the tools' ability to 

increase collaboration and automated 

publishes, interactivity, and the ability to 

work simultaneously. By providing the 

ability to create computational design, 

designers can produce concepts that 

iterate faster and earlier. 

BIM 360 Model Coordination also helps 

during the design phase. Nearly 200 

members of the design staff and 30 

modelers were able to effectively 

collaborate during the Afsluitdijk project, 

avoiding the potential for costly rework. 

The entire team benefitted from 

automated clash detection and enhanced 

insight into the number of clashes, 

receiving instant feedback on the state of 

the model. "BIM 360 has become the 

beating heart of the design process within 

our organisation," says Huizinga. 

Assemble is another critical solution 

used by the team to condition, query, and 

connect BIM data to key workflows, using 

the tool's ability to provide up-to-date 

visualisation of the total project status. 

With Assemble, the team can easily track, 

manage, and analyse model data. 

Multiple stakeholders can access 

Assemble to observe project quantities 

and stay up to date whenever a new 

model is published. This visibility results in 

significant efficiency gains on a project of 

this magnitude, which will play a vital role 

in the long-term management of the 

project. Viewing the geometry objects 

based on a predefined structure with their 

quantities has never been this easy. 

RESULTS 

The scale of the Afsluitdijk reinforcement 

is unique for the Netherlands. It 

represents the latest developments in 

dealing with rising sea levels, water safety, 

ecology, and sustainability, while building 

a safe and secure dam using state-of-theart 

design and building software. 

With the new and intuitive workflow for 

reviewing models, the team saves time, 

improves quality, and project insight. The 

digital model allowed designers to work 

on the project simultaneously through 

iterative review rounds with issues and 

mark-ups. Before this workflow, traditional 

rounds of review could take up to five 

days. With BIM 360, reviews are closed in 

one day, which is an 80% reduction in 

design coordination time. 

The Autodesk aided design and analysis 

delivers 40,000 tonnes less CO2 

emissions, a reduction of no less than 

56% compared to alternative solutions. 

Each level-block of the dam receives a 

chip and is therefore easy to trace for 

maintenance. The blocks are transported 

via water and quickly assembled onsite 

with a minimal footprint. 

By exploring automation possibilities 

early in the project, the team was able to 

understand where to improve based on 

process and repetitive manual 

workflows, resulting in time savings, 

efficient collaborative methods, and 

measurable results - all hallmarks of this 

project. The team was able to connect 

the phases of construction, producing a 

high-quality model during design that 

aided in deploying the right tools during 

preconstruction to mitigate errors 

downstream. 

By using the most state-of-the-art risk 

management, sustainable construction 

methods as well as proven Autodesk 

technologies, it is expected that the dam 

will withstand a once-in-every-tenthousand-year 

storm. 

www.autodesk.com 


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

SOFTWAREfocus 

An oblique view 

Bluesky launches an online streaming service for oblique panoramic aerial images 

Aerial imagery is becoming an 

important element of urban 

planning, as we seek to widen the 

involvement of the public and other 

bodies in the decision making processes. 

This is probably more relevant in this 

country and in similar historical cities in 

Europe, where urban development has to 

compete with historical treasures - and 

where the vociferous opinions of 

interested parties hold most sway. 

It is also a feature of the latest trends in 

reality capture and the need to produce 

photographic quality images of buildings 

along with their heights, volumes and 

other measurements, that can be 

incorporated into modern architectural 

designs. It is fortunate that much of the 

work involved in aggregating imagery for 

some of our cities with important 

historical associations has already been 

done, and is now being made available 

for interested users. 

Aerial mapping company Bluesky is 

releasing its entire catalogue of 

geographically referenced oblique aerial 

images of UK cities via a new subscription 

based streaming service. Working with 

Geoxphere, a specialist in cloud-based 

GIS, Bluesky will offer the MetroVista 

imagery via an easy-to-use web viewer 

which also includes measurement tools 

for detailed analysis of building features, 

façade details and street furniture 

locations. 

"Oblique imagery offers an unparalleled 

view of the built environment, revealing 

real world features simply not present in 

any other type of aerial image or map," 

commented Rachel Tidmarsh, Managing 

Director of Leicestershire based Bluesky 

International. "The MetroVista imagery can 

be used to inform decision making with 

timestamped intelligence, and even 

evidence, as well as improving 

engagement with colleagues through 

better communication of ideas. All of this 

without even leaving your desk! 

"However this wealth of information, as 

you would expect, can present some 

issues when it comes to storing and 

consuming data. The MetroVista Oblique 

Viewer overcomes these issues, meaning 

the value of the data can be realised 

without the burden of storing, processing 

or updating." 

With a Data-as-a-Service (DaaS) solution 

powered by Geoxphere's XMAP 

geospatial cloud technology, the 

MetroVista Oblique Viewer is a fully 

managed subscription service, meaning 

there is no need to download or store 

large volumes of data locally. The 

MetroVista Oblique Viewer does not 

require any specialist software, plugins or 

downloads and, as the data is also 

managed, newly captured images are 

automatically added to an account as 

they become available. 

The Viewer has split-screen options and 

rotating views that allow the user to toggle 

through images to get a 360 degree view 

of a building. The Bluesky Geoxphere 

Viewer also includes height and area 

measurement tools for recording a 

building's height or distance from a 

feature and its façade area. 

Captured using the world's first large 

format imagery and LiDAR hybrid airborne 

sensor, the Bluesky MetroVista imagery 

collection includes simultaneously 

captured oblique and vertical aerial 

photography. The MetroVista datasets 

also include geographically accurate, 

phototextured, mesh models ready for 

use in 3D GIS, CAD and other modelling 

software as well as visualisation, gaming 

and Virtual Reality workflows. 

Bluesky has already captured 

MetroVista data for cities such as London, 

Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, 

Nottingham, Oxford, Cambridge, 

Brighton, Norwich, Leicester, Derby and 

Newcastle, as well as Bournemouth, 

Brighton, Cardiff, Doncaster, Eastbourne 

and Southend. 

GEOXPHERE 

Geoxphere is a UK-based company 

specialising in Cloud GIS, spatial data 

management and cost-effective geospatial 

survey solutions. Geoxphere has decades 

of combined experience in the geospatial 

industry with a wide skillset ranging from 

remote sensing through to web 

development. Geoxphere has a culture of 

attention to detail, developing successful 

survey and GIS solutions for its customers 

based on a thorough discussion of and 

enjoyment in what they do, 

www.bluesky-world.com 

34 


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