digital construction

Construction and the digital age

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BIM technology is revolutionary for construction, bringing together design, planning and infrastructure, and enhancing communication between contractors, sub contractors and supply chain.

Its influential nature has become a fundamental in the design, creation and development of public sector buildings, and is increasingly being applied to schemes across the UK.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a facility. A BIM is a shared knowledge resource for information about a facility forming a reliable basis for decisions during its life-cycle; defined as existing from earliest conception to demolition.

Uk Construction online spoke to Mark Norton, Head of BIM, and Simon Spink, Head of Visualisation, at ISG about the technology and how it has integrated itself into the AEC landscape.

Having joined the industry in the 80s as a Mechanical Engineer, and building an interest in CAD, Mark has been an advocate of digital construction ever since. Joining ISG nearly four years ago as the Head of BIM has led Mark into a technological crusade, working within a forward-thinking operation that is looking to use digital technology wherever possible.

“My scope has changed quite dramatically from when I joined,” he says “when we look at the variety of interfaces available within construction and where we can use that technology. BIM is all reaching now.

“Take up of the technology has become quite rapid, and ISG have found there are a number of applications. This has led to an investment in both people and state-of-the-art equipment. But where can the technology be applied?

“There are two areas that we look at in detail: Preconstruction and VR.” says Mark. A few years back, people were rendering models and walkthroughs with VR. What we’ve progressed to now is live walk-throughs – which are far more intuitive to clients and a prerequisite for a room. Clients can walk-through before buildings are even built, with the freedom of the building so to speak, whereas before you had a certain area or a pre-recorded area that Clients could explore, now you can go anywhere.

This feature has already shown significant benefits, with less or no changes to designs further down the line. Clients are given a spatial awareness not available previously, and new design options can be explored.

Simon agreed: “The decision makers on projects have changed in recent years. For example, we are seeing the HR director play an increasingly important role in the delivery of a company’s new workplace. As decision making devolves to people that are not real estate experts, VR and AR can help bridge the divide between technical documentation and the finished product.

“Our real-time visualisation app means that we can go to meetings with our client and guide them through their space. The client can look at any area of their building immediately and see the finished product without having to wait for renders from the architects. We can show them what the space will look like with different floor finishes or under different lighting conditions. This not only accelerates the decision-making process, but gives the entire project team piece of mind and the client confidence.”

Applications for virtual reality are wide ranging, and Simon sees one of the most useful applications is in training. “One of the most pressing opportunities for VR is as a health and safety training tool.” He says, “It can be used for site inductions and as part of an ongoing training programme to make people aware of hazards and teach them how to respond to risks in a controlled and measured way.

As well as scenario planning, it can also help with employee orientation. A virtual induction means that employees can walk around the site to familiarise themselves with fire exits or facilities, which again helps to mitigate risk. It can be used like the hazard perception test in a driving examination. We are now using VR to supplement the Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS), but as it becomes more widely used across the industry we should look towards accreditation for VR training schemes.

Construction is seen as a bit of a dinosaur and slow moving to take up new technologies. Whether digital construction will be embraced by the industry or dismissed as a gimmick remains to be seen. – that’s why we’re going down the smart phone and tablet route because, everybody has them says Mark. “If you look at the smart helmets, they’re a great bit of equipment, but they’re quite expensive and quite niche, maybe in five to ten years time when the price drops. But everybody has a smartphone or tablet, they are easy to use and relatively inexpensive and the technology fits with them very well.

Source: UK Construction Media

infrastructure

Government publishes ambitious infrastructure plans

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The National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline,  which sets out projects for the next 10 years, has published details of over £460 billion of planned infrastructure investment across the public and private sectors, of which over £240 billion will occur in the next four years. This amounts to a projected total of public and private investment in infrastructure of around £600 billion. 

According to the report, this should give industry, and all parts of the supply chain, the confidence they need to support government and businesses with the delivery of future projects.

Since 2010 over 4,500 infrastructure projects across the UK have been completed successfully. These range from major, nationally significant projects such as Birmingham New Street Station and extending access to superfast broadband across the UK, to smaller local schemes that have made a huge impact on the communities they serve, such as the Nottingham Trent left bank flood alleviation scheme.

Over 1100 transport projects have been completed since 2010, with 13 priority rail projects completed or under construction, and 29 priority road projects completed or under construction.  There is over £135 billion of transport investment in the pipeline and over 240 planned transport projects and programmes.

Modern transport infrastructure is essential to ensuring that the UK remains a competitive and strong economy. As well as improving capacity and relieving congestion, good transport infrastructure unlocks opportunities for regeneration and new housing development. The Government is committed to a 50% increase in transport investment from 2015 to 2020, enabling the largest rail modernisation since the Victorian times and the biggest road investment programme since the 1970s.

Over 1900 energy projects have been completed since 2010.  Construction of the first new nuclear project in a generation is now underway at Hinkley Point C, and since 2010, over 30GW of new capacity has been added to the electricity grid, around 75% from renewable sources. Over 100 renewable projects are currently under construction across the UK, which will provide 5.6GW of new capacity and over £57 billion of energy investment is in the pipeline between 2017/18 and 2020/21. This summer, more than half of the UK’s electricity came from low carbon sources, making 2017 the “greenest” summer ever recorded by the National Grid, helping the government to meet its long-term climate change commitments.

Over 370 social infrastructure projects have been completed since 2010, and more than 735,000 additional pupil places have been created, with over 1.1 million homes delivered.

Andrew Jones MP, exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said: “We are backing Britain with a record amount of infrastructure investment as we build an economy fit for the future. That’s why we’re working with the industry to skill up and scale up for the challenges ahead. Investing in infrastructure boosts productivity for the economy as a whole. The scale of the investment we are talking about here will deliver a step change for our country.”

Transport secretary Chris Grayling said: “We’re undertaking the most ambitious improvements in our transport network this country has seen for decades. But we must also drive forward plans to ensure these infrastructure projects are completed on time and on budget.

“World-leading projects such as Crossrail, the Ordsall Chord and the huge investment programme in our major roads show that Britain can deliver on time and on budget, boosting jobs and growth and creating new opportunities across the nation. But we want to do better. This strategy shows the way and sets out our standards for how we will do more and better in future.”

Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) chief executive, Nelson Ogunshakin, said: “In the run-up to the Budget we asked the government to support our sector by making a long-term commitment to infrastructure. We are delighted that they have responded to our call. The ten-year investment pipeline will help bring certainty to the industry and encourage our members to invest in their own skills and capabilities in order to meet this demand.

“We’re pleased to see a focus on productivity and encouraging the adoption of new digital and manufacturing technologies. As a sector we look forward to working closely with the IPA which will co-ordinate infrastructure delivery across disparate Whitehall departments. However, we need to reiterate our message to government that we cannot allow the final 15 months of the Brexit negotiations to derail delivery of this Investment pipeline. We need the current focus on infrastructure to remain, even if Brexit looms ever larger over Westminster.”

Please go here for the full report.

Source: Infastructure  Intelligence

decorean

Project Update – Decorean

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Broadsword are not far from completion on the £27 million Decorean development to covert a business park to residential units.

This extensive project is one of the largest office to residential conversions to date and consists of 107, one and two bedroom apartments! Our scope of work has included Partitions, ceilings, smoke shafts and floor screeding. Works are set to complete early in the new year.

 

uk construction

UK construction hits 5 month high

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The construction sector activity in the UK economy rebounded sharply in November and came in at the highest levels in five months, according to a new report from Markit Economics.

The latest monthly survey of construction purchasing managers indicates that new orders and employment numbers also increased more than they had done in recent five months. However, the improvement in construction growth was largely confined to residential work. Commercial and civil engineering activity continue to decline. Business optimism has picked up from October’s near five-year low to its strongest rate since June.

Tim Moore, Senior Economist at IHS Markit and author of the Markit/CIPS Construction PMI®, noted: “UK construction companies experienced a solid yet uneven improvement in business conditions during November. Once again, resilient house building growth helped to offset lower volumes of commercial work and civil engineering activity. “Survey respondents noted that residential projects underpinned the rebound in total new order growth to its strongest since June, helped by strong demand fundamentals and a supportive policy backdrop.”

Construction companies indicated a moderate rebound in new orders in November, with the rate of expansion the fastest for five months. Anecdotal evidence cited a general improvement in client demand after the soft patch this summer. Higher levels of new work helped to support a moderate rise in staff numbers and input buying in November.

Duncan Brock, director of customer relationships at the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, said: “At last the construction sector, has picked its feet up with the biggest overall improvement in five months, underpinned by a moderate rise in new orders, but the strongest since June. It appears that policy support and a small recovery in the UK economy has boosted sentiment and encouraged clients to come out of their shells and start building again. The housing sector was the primary driver of growth increasing at the fastest rate for almost half a year. However it is private sector companies that need to commit to big ticket spending, with commercial development still underperforming as persistent Brexit uncertainty continues to bite. Concerns over civil engineering in particular are also prevalent with its downward course the longest since 2013 and linked to a shortfall of new tender opportunities. Across construction supply chains, delivery times have been under pressure, as materials were in higher demand, while stocks remained in short supply. Lead-times from vendors have now deteriorated in every month for over seven years. Overall, the sector showed an incremental improvement, but business optimism was on the rise and up from last month’s five-year low. Perhaps the darkest days are behind the sector with fresh impetus on the horizon for the New Year.”

For the full report please go here