CC Jul-Aug 2022

INDUSTRYfocus
UK Tekla Awards 2022
The 2022 Tekla Awards winners have been announced, celebrating the hard work, innovation and
achievements of those working within the BIM and construction industry. Here, Steve Insley,
Trimble's Business Director UK & Ireland, takes a look at the winning projects.
Held each year, the Tekla Awards
are open to users of Trimble's
Tekla Structures and Tekla
Structural Designer software in the UK
and Ireland and welcome projects of all
sizes and complexity.
Commercial Project - ARUP /
King's Cross R8
Part of the wider King's Cross Masterplan
in London, Plot R8 is one of the last to be
constructed and comprises two 13-storey
buildings: an office block to the west and
a residential block to the east. A unique
engineering challenge for the project was
the presence of three shallow and
operational brickwork train tunnels within a
few metres of the site boundary.
ARUP's project team developed
innovative digital tools at every stage from
early concept to construction,
implementing automation into its
workflows to improve project delivery and
add value. The Tekla-Grasshopper Live
Link was one of the tools that enabled
ARUP to generate its structural BIM model
and efficiently respond to fast-paced
design development.
Coordinating in a 3D environment from
an early stage enabled ARUP to explore
different structural framing options and
produce key metrics from the BIM model
to inform major decisions. As well as
generating the full structural frame and
foundations in Tekla Structures, the
Grasshopper script parametrically
controlled ARUP's own custom
component for forming web openings in
steel beams, meaning the opening setting
out could be adjusted seamlessly as the
MEP layout developed.
The script also contained Carbon Factors
for different life cycle stages and
automatically calculated the embodied
carbon for every individual element in the
structural model as it was generated.
Public Project - William Hare / The Factory
An ultra-flexible cultural and arts space in
Manchester, The Factory consists of two
parts known as the warehouse and the
theatre - both of which have moveable
partitions and are acoustically isolated.
Steel construction was at the forefront of
the project. As well as creating the box-ina-box
design, the structural steelwork had
formed trusses and transfer structures that
helped the building bridge over numerous
site constraints and create the necessary
column-free venue spaces.
William Hare's use of Tekla software had
a significant benefit in enabling and
facilitating effective collaboration on the
project, with the steel fabricator
responsible for the coordination of the
steel, acoustic bearing and precast
interface. Trimble Connect was also used
extensively for collaboration and
communication with the clients, designers
and the internal project team.
Industrial Project - Billington Structures /
Newhurst EfW facility
The Newhurst EfW facility is a significant
addition to the UK's waste management
infrastructure, with Billington Structures
responsible for fabricating and supplying
2,900 tonnes of structural steelwork,
including the complex connection design
and temporary works design. To
accommodate the flowing curved lines of
the architectural vision, the steel frame
had members curved in plan, in elevation
and, in some locations, in both axes.
With the curves modelled using Tekla
software and then curved accurately on
site, in factory conditions, site erection
was very fast.
Billington Structures used Tekla's IFC
export function - vital in helping the team
to share the Tekla model and coordinate
with sub-trades and clients. The model
was also used to visualise, report and
track which steel lots had been
completed, checked and issued for
fabrication.
Infrastructure Project - SH Structures /
Stockingfield Footbridge
Linking three communities, the new
Stockingfield Footbridge (a twin span
cable stay structure) provides access
across Stockingfield Junction on the
Forth & Clyde Canal, in the Maryhill area
of Glasgow.
SH Structures' primary challenge was to
develop a design that would give the
required connection across the canal
junction: getting something to work
structurally that would cope with the
dynamics while also fitting into the
congested and topographically complex
site. Utilising Trimble's hardware, in
addition to its constructible modelling
software, SH Structures was able to
download IFC files of the completed Tekla
model into the SX10 Total Station on site,
enabling the site team to accurately
identify the 3D coordinates of any point on
the structure - key when setting out.
Pushing the digital software/hardware
integration further, SH Structures also used
the augmented reality function of the
SX10, overlaying the 3D model onto a live
site image.
Sports & Recreation Project - BHC Ltd /
Alexander Stadium redevelopment
An international-standard athletics venue,
Birmingham's Alexander Stadium is set to
be the host of the 2022 Commonwealth
Games. Besides constructing a new west
stand, the redevelopment project included
the construction of new north and south
tiered seating, with BHC Ltd responsible
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July/August 2022