CC Jul-Aug 2020

Construction 

Computing 

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Quality assured 

Solibri fine-tunes BIM models for 

improvements at Copenhagen Airport 

Solid groundwork 

EasyBuild provides a firm foundation for 

accounting at T & W Civil Engineering 

JULY/AUGUST 2020 

VOL 16 NO 04 

Motion control 

Oasys adds social distancing 

proximity modelling to MassMotion 

Building Together 

Graphisoft unveils a new 

paradigm for Integrated Design 

@CCMagAndAwards

CONTENTS 

JULY/AUGUST 2020 

CONTENTS 

BUILDING TOGETHER 10 

Graphisoft's online user conference, Building 

Together, delivered a powerful package of 

software upgrades and then trumped them all 

with a new paradigm for Integrated Design 

MOTION CONTROL 12 

Oasys has added social distancing to the 

capabilities of the agents in its pedestrian 

simulation application MassMotion, making it 

much easier for organisations to conduct 

proximity analyses 

SOLID GROUNDWORK 20 

Laying in a solid accounting system like 

EasyBuild is as beneficial to a civil engineering 

company as laying good groundworks, as 

T & W Civil Engineering have discovered 

A CDE SHARED 30 

The Integration of Asite and 3D Repo's BIM data 

management solutions streamlines the working 

processes of both approaches to the CDE and 

the BIM data model, writes David Chadwick 

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

• A NOTEWORTHY ACQUISITION FOR BENTLEY • STUDENT2PRO OFFER FOR RECENT GRADUATES 

CASE STUDY.....................................LEVERAGING CHANGE.....................................................................................14 

• COVID-19'S DISRUPTION OF THE HOUSING MARKET MIGHT OFFER AN OPPORTUNITY TO EVOLVE THE SECTOR 

INDUSTRY FOCUS...........................ON THE RIGHT TRACK.......................................................................................16 

• BENTLEY'S DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLOGY PROVIDES A MODEL FOR NEXT GENERATION RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE 

AWARDS..........................................THE CONSTRUCTION COMPUTING AWARDS...................................................20 

• NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL HAMMERS AWARDS 

CASE STUDY....................................MERDEKA 118.....................................................................................................22 

• HOW GRAPHISOFT'S ARCHICAD WAS USED THROUGHOUT THE DESIGN OF MALAYSIA'S TALLEST BUILDING 

CASE STUDY....................................POSITIVE ENERGY BLOCK.................................................................................24 

• IES' DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLOGY IS HELPING TO CREAT LIMERICK'S FIRST POSITIVE ENERGY BLOCK 

SOFTWARE FOCUS.........................LICENSE TO DESIGN..........................................................................................26 

• WHY SOFTWARE SUBSCRIPTION PLANS ARE GROWING IN POPULARITY WITH VECTORWORKS' CUSTOMERS 

CASE STUDY....................................QUALITY ASSURED..............................................................................,..............28 

• USING SOLIBRI TO FINE-TUNE BIM MODELS IMPROVES THE PASSENGER EXPERIENCE AT COPENHAGEN AIRPORT 

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

• YOUR GUIDE TO AUTODESK TRAINING 

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS.....................CHASING PAVEMENTS......................................................................................34 

• A MAP OF PAVEMENT WIDTHS HELPS LOCAL AUTHORITIES WITH SOCIAL DISTANCING PLANS 

July/August 2020 3

COMMENT 

Editor: 

David Chadwick 

(cad.user@btc.co.uk) 

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Articles published reflect the opinions of 

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or any resulting effects 

Comment 

Keeping your distance 

by David Chadwick 

Afew days ago I came across an 

interesting animated graph on the 

Internet, which demonstrated the 

relationship between the adoption of 

Covid-19 measures in America against 

the spread of the virus over a period of a 

couple of months. The preventative 

measure was the enforcement of mask 

wearing in each of the States and its 

affect on the spread of the virus. What 

was remarkable was that although a 

couple of States had high initial rates of 

infection, as soon as the wearing of 

protective face masks became a policy 

within that State, the rates of infection 

declined rapidly, and States which had 

no face mask wearing policy exhibited 

massively expanding rates of infection. 

I am well aware of the pros and cons of 

wearing face masks to protect yourself 

and others from the virus. Some people 

doubt their efficacy or that most wearers 

are using them wrongly, and that face 

masks designed for workers in a dusty 

environment with valves on the side are 

actually more harmful than not wearing a 

mask - a whole range of reasons, right 

up to the widely held view in America 

that they are an assault on our freedoms. 

I use a face mask when I enter a closed 

environment where there are other 

members of the public. I am generally 

one of the few who do in our local 

supermarkets, but what is notable is that 

even those without masks, on noticing 

you dolled up with masks and gloves, 

give you the space you need to do your 

shopping safely. 

This is the crux of the matter. With the 

major spread of the virus being 

confirmed as a consequence of aerial 

transmission, the need to maintain a 

greater distance between yourself and 

others is important. Forget about the 1 or 

2 metre rule as these are arbitrarily 

imposed distances meant merely to 

remind and encourage people to safely 

distance themselves from other people 

in populous environments. 

With the virus spreading faster in other 

parts of the world, and local spikes 

causing lockdowns in this country, it is 

obvious that the pandemic is far from 

over, and that we need to maintain the 

discipline that mitigates its spread – and 

as we appear to be unable, for the most 

part, to stay away from close contact 

with other commuters, shoppers, 

partygoers and absolute strangers, we 

need a bit of technology to help us. 

We have two articles in this issue which 

provide valuable information to architects 

and local authority planning committees 

about measures to encourage proper 

social distancing. The first, from ArcGIS, 

offers a nationwide set of town plans 

showing pavement widths on all roads, 

enabling the authorities to provide safety 

measures in congested areas, while the 

second looks at MassMotion from 

Oasys, which simulates pedestrian 

movement within public environments. 

This has now been extended to include 

variable levels of social distancing, and 

to show where steps need to be taken to 

enforce its adoption. 

Is this the way we will live from now on - 

a split between people who couldn’t care 

less about the measures we need to take 

to avoid contracting Covid-19 or any 

future virus, and those who are fearful of 

close personal contact in any shape or 

form? The most heartening aspect of it 

all I think is that the global scientific 

community has been able to analyse, 

develop, and begin testing a range of 

possible vaccines and other solutions in 

an incredibly short timescale. 

4 July/August 2020

INDUSTRY news 

SUPPORT FOR COUNTY CONTRACTORS 

County Contractors is a leading 

refurbishment specialist, 

specialising in large scale, high 

profile projects for over 40 

years. The Somerset-based 

commercial refurbishment company 

had an aging, existing 

finance system that was already 

painfully unstable and unreliable. 

In order for Country Contractors 

to continue running a 

profitable business and meet 

new visions the company knew 

they needed new efficient tools. 

Once County Contractors 

became aware that the current 

finance system was no longer fit 

for purpose, they went out to 

market. County Contractors 

chose the award-winning Easy- 

Build ERP software as an all-inone 

solution because it is 

designed for the construction 

sector, with an easy-to-use, intuitive 

interface. 

EasyBuild's ERP Contractors 

Software helps companies 

manage and control their contracting 

projects by giving complete 

and instant access to their 

progress - taking real time 

snapshots of how profitable 

your construction projects are 

with full analysis of costs, revenues, 

liabilities, and surveyor 

adjustments. 

One of the biggest attractions 

for County Contractors was 

EasyBuild's constant focus on 

enhancements and developments 

to the system. If a client 

suggests a development that 

will be helpful to the rest of the 

EasyBuild community it can 

often be added at no further 

cost. However, EasyBuild's 

development team can also create 

bespoke functionality for 

specific clients, which County 

Contractors have been able to 

benefit from. 

Ian Cook from County Contractors 

said "EasyBuild is a 

great company to work with. 

They are genuinely interested in 

how they can help your business 

and that is rare. As our 

business develops, so does the 

EasyBuild system." 

www.easybuilduk.com 

STUDENT2PRO OFFER FOR NEW GRADUATES 

Vectorworks is offering 

recent graduates 40 percent 

off perpetual licenses as 

part of its student2PRO program 

to help them transition 

into their professional careers, 

This deal is applicable to any 

Vectorworks product. 

"Starting a career after graduation 

is a momentous milestone 

for any graduate, and the 

student2PRO program is the 

perfect initiative in helping 

graduates take that first step 

toward career success without 

having a huge financial burden 

setting them back," said Alice 

Lowy Marketing Programs 

Director. "This option is to help 

ensure up-and-coming professionals 

have the necessary 2D 

drawing, 3D modeling, and 

BIM tools to bring their designs 

to life." 

student2PRO is a gateway 

program helping recent graduates 

jumpstart their professional 

careers more easily by offering 

discounts on the standard 

price. Additionally, those who 

take advantage of it are eligible 

for a 40 percent discounted 

membership to Vectorworks 

Service Select - the maintenance 

program that includes 

upgrades to product, priority 

technical support, exclusive 

training opportunities and early 

release of new content libraries. 

www.vectorworks.net 

A NOTEWORTHY ACQUISITION FOR BENTLEY 

Bentley Systems has 

acquired NoteVault, a San 

Diego-based provider of voicebased 

field automation for construction 

management. The 

acquisition expands Bentley’s 

SYNCHRO digital construction 

environment with industry-leading 

mobile field applications to 

track and manage labor, materials, 

and equipment. Together 

they will further extend the value 

of digital twins across construction 

management, enabling 

projects to combine immersive 

4D models of the construction 

progress with detailed up-todate 

reports on resource 

expenditures, enabling more 

effective management of cost, 

schedule, and risk, leading to 

better project outcomes. 

Designed to simplify and 

accelerate job site information 

collection, NoteVault’s SaaS 

solution is deployed via mobile 

devices, uniquely offering natural 

language automated 

speech-to-text, augmented with 

automated machine learning, 

and human transcription to 

ensure accuracy. 

As NoteVault has been engineered 

specifically for construction 

site mobile field 

reporting, it recognises construction-specific 

language for 

accurate transcription, and 

enables automated translation 

so non-native English speakers 

can submit daily reports more 

easily using their native language. 

With NoteVault on their 

mobile devices, construction 

professionals can help synchronize 

status reporting effortlessly 

while saving time and 

money, reducing the risk of 

contractual disputes. 

www.bentley.com 

MAGNET CONSTRUCT V4 ON ANDROID AND IOS 

Now running on smartphones, 

MAGNET Construct 

is field software that 

directly communicates with survey 

hardware providing a full 

data collection and setting out 

workflow. Users now have the 

option to go beyond basic layout 

applications to advanced 

positioning workflows. 

MAGNET Construct recently 

added topographical and 

stakeout functionalities commonly 

used by surveyors and 

site engineers. In addition to 

the new feature list, it now has 

a completely updated and 

configurable interface enabling 

operators to work exactly how 

they would like while controlling 

GNSS and robotic total 

station instruments. 

MAGNET Construct offers the 

flexibility to work from the new 

FC-6000A ruggedised Android 

controller or directly on your 

own mobile device. 

www.topconpositioning.com 

6 

July/August 2020

THE ULTIMATE 

SOFTWARE FROM 

SKETCH TO BIM 

Vectorworks Architect is the versatile solution 

that will save you time and allow you to sketch, 

draw, and model in a fully integrated BIM workflow. 

TO LEARN MORE, VISIT VECTORWORKS.NET/UK/ARCHITECT 

COURTYARD 33 | DESIGN BY 5468796 ARCHITECTURE

INDUSTRY news 

THE HEAT IS ON FOR GREEN HOME GRANTS 

Using a high-tech thermal 

imaging camera to measure 

heat loss from roofs, 

Bluesky International is helping 

to identify poorly insulated 

homes and other public buildings. 

The property level heat 

loss maps provide an accurate 

and up-to-date picture that 

could be used to pinpoint 

homes eligible for financial support 

such as the UK Government’s 

Green Homes Grants. 

The Chancellor recently 

announced a package of 

grants worth a total £2 billion 

for energy-efficient home 

improvements, including 

installing insulation, double 

glazing and replacing old boilers. 

The remaining £1 billion will 

be spent making public buildings 

including schools and 

hospitals more environmentally 

friendly, with £50 million going 

towards retrofitting social housing 

with insulation, double glazing 

and heat pumps. 

"The government announcement 

of support for homeowners 

to improve the energy efficiency 

of their homes as part of 

a wider green jobs package 

brings thermal surveys to the 

forefront," commented Rachel 

Tidmarsh, MD of Bluesky International. 

"The intelligence we 

can derive from a thermal 

image can help target this 

money highlighting at a glance 

properties that would benefit 

from additional insulation and 

double glazing." 

www.bluesky-world.com 

ACTIVE HEARING PROTECTION MANDATE 

Galliford Try's Highways business 

has implemented a 

new mandate requiring all of its 

sites to adopt Active Hearing 

Protection from July. The measure 

will become part of the 

business's standard PPE 

requirements to try and clamp 

down on noise induced hearing 

loss (NIHL), which is the most 

commonly reported occupational 

disease in Europe. 

Highways has adopted smart 

tech company Eave's Active Ear 

Defenders, which use a best-inclass 

'hear through' technology. 

Unlike standard passive ear 

defenders, the Eave solution 

allows the wearer to continue to 

hear environmental sound, vastly 

improving the safety of workers. 

The unique highways work 

setting makes it more imperative 

for operatives to be constantly 

aware of ambient noise, 

while also protecting themselves. 

The smart headsets also 

monitor and map noise exposure, 

displaying it via a cloudbased 

software platform, allowing 

the business to analyse in 

real time each worker's noise 

exposure across a site. 

www.eave.io 

£2BN GREEN ENERGY BLACKOUT BILL FOR UK 

The Global Warming Policy 

Foundation (GWPF) has 

published a collection of papers 

by energy expert Dr John Constable, 

documenting the rapid 

decay of the UK electricity system, 

with system balancing 

costs spiralling out of control in 

june. The cost of balancing the 

grid over the last Bank Holiday 

weekend amounted to £50m, 

and National Grid has predicted 

additional costs of £700m from 

May to August alone. It has 

taken desperate measures in an 

attempt to reduce the bill, but 

according to expert observers, 

these may well prove futile. 

GB system balancing costs 

have been rising sharply over 

recent decades, as inflexible 

3D Repo are working on a 

solution that will significantly 

improve remote working in the 

AEC industry by replacing 

screen sharing with distant 3D 

navigationand could see ~million-times 

reduction in internet 

bandwidth and latency 

demands.The innovative idea 

comes after the recent lockdown 

uncovered new problems 

for remote working and BIM 

coordination. 

Work on the project started in 

June after recently winning 

funding from Innovate UK, the 

UK's innovation agency, in a 

competition which aims to fasttrack 

the development of innovations 

borne out of the coronavirus 

crisis whilst supporting 

cutting-edge UK start-ups. The 

competition is also part of a 

larger £40 million government 

investment to drive forward new 

technological advances. 

Choppy audio and video while 

teleconferencing during lockdown 

has agitated many professionals 

working from home 

renewables have taken a leading 

role in electricity supply, driven 

by £10 billion a year of subsidies 

and price-fixing arrangements. 

In 2002 system balancing 

cost £367m, but by 2019 it 

had risen to just under £1.5bn, 

a level that was expected to be 

sustained this year. However, 

because wind and solar can’t 

respond to the low demand 

caused by lockdown, National 

Grid now expects the total to be 

about £2bn, and even that figure 

is based on the assumption 

that costs return to normal after 

August. If the lockdown runs on 

into the autumn, the cost could 

easily rise by hundreds of millions 

more. 

https://bit.ly/2Zmbi7K 

DISTANT 3D NAVIGATION FOR AEC WORKERS 

during the pandemic. Adding 

3D rendering into the mix 

makes screen sharing in AEC 

virtually impossible. Head of 

Construction at Innovate UK, 

Simon Hart, said: "3D Repo has 

quickly responded to new implications 

brought to light by the 

COVID-19 pandemic. Their 

innovative solution has the 

capacity to significantly improve 

the remote working experience 

for AEC professionals while at 

the same time speeding up the 

internet for everyone else." 

The solution will rely on remote 

3D rendering and navigation 

sharing. Each user will be able 

to instantly become a presenter 

in 3D space with avatars denoting, 

in real-time, who is working 

on what at any given location. 

Instead of screen sharing, a 

domain-specific remote rendering 

solution based on the 3D 

Repo Digital Construction Platform 

in the cloud will be used, 

with navigation updates 

exchanged in real-time. 

https://3drepo.com 

8 


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Terms and conditions apply

INDUSTRYfocus 

Building Together 

Graphisoft's online user conference, Building Together, delivered a powerful package of software 

upgrades and then trumped them all with a new paradigm for Integrated Design 

Graphisoft's Building Together 

digital event certainly had the 

shock of the new. Two days of 

online video streaming - the only viable 

way to host global user conferences whilst 

countries are shut down and airlines 

grounded due to Covid-19 - building up to 

the release of Archicad 24, followed by 

learning sharing tools for the Archicad 

user community, and all rounded off by 

rationalising the way architects and 

engineers can work together 

simultaneously on the same model. 

That last announcement represented 

a new paradigm for the industry, which 

until now was quite happy to work on 

separate but federated models in each 

discipline and wait until the system 

gets round to updating, sharing and 

incorporating the design changes. And, 

of course, there is Archicad's new 

corporate identity - not just getting rid 

of the capitalisation of Archicad, but 

introducing a new set of logos for each 

of its modules - Archicad, BIMcloud, 

BIMx, Learn and Community. 

Emphasising the role that Graphisoft's 

Archicad plays in the industry was a 

brief study of one of its most interesting 

recent projects, the Merdeka 118 tower 

in Kuala Lumpur, which will be the 

second highest building in the world 

following its completion in 2024 (you 

will find a case study of the Merdeka 

118 development elsewhere in this 

issue of the magazine). 

BIMCLOUD AND BIMX 

As creative as architects like to think 

they are, the most successful projects 

are based around teamwork and the 

ability to share designs and ideas with 

other disciplines and technologies. The 

driving force behind effective 

collaboration is, of course, BIM - a 

workflow that Graphisoft has been 

associated with from the very 

beginning. Enhancing its data sharing 

capabilities further, Graphisoft has 

developed an advanced cloud-based 

team collaboration solution in 

BIMcloud, one of its industry leading 

applications that has benefitted from 

the software enhancements released 

alongside Archicad 24. 

In a major upgrade, BIMcloud, together 

with the new Integrated Design 

capabilities outlined below, enables 

architects and engineers to work 

together to co-design, for instance, the 

loadbearing structure of a building, 

using a powerful 'BIM Track Changes' 

workflow. Smart Model Compare, 

another new feature, allows two different 

versions of any two BIM models to be 

compared in order to view various 

design options and compare content 

from consultants. 

Extending this further, users can utilise 

the updated Issue Management function 

in Archicad 24. This allows users to 

share models and suggest design 

variations and organise the results into 

smart issue lists, assigning names and 

priorities in an issue log managed in 

BIMcloud. A couple of other 

enhancements allow OPEN BIM 

workflows with BCF 2.1 support and PDF 

markups, and the ability to import and 

export .RVT and .RFA files out of the box. 

It shares the limelight with BIMx, a 

web-based presentation and 

coordination app available to all project 

stakeholders: architects, engineers, the 

public and the clients. One of its best 

features is the BIM Hyper-model, which 

provides a 'game-like' navigation 

experience that helps users explore a 

building model and interact with it 

using model cut-throughs, in-context 

measuring and project mark-ups. 

Additional APIs allow BIMx to connect 

to 3rd party ecosystems and to control 

external datasets that will affect the 

building model. 

AUTOMATING DOCUMENTATION 

Automating the publishing of 

documents lets architects get on with 

what they do best, namely creating 

great buildings. Archicad has long been 

10 


INDUSTRYfocus 

renowned for its automatic drawing and 

layout generation, automatic 

dimensioning and other tools for 

simplifying the creation and publication 

of document sets. This has now been 

enhanced further with the introduction of 

higher-level languages like Python to 

create automation scripts and complete 

command chains from outside Archicad. 

Visualisation has also been improved 

by adding over 500 new materials to 

the palette of visualisation tools, 

enabling architects to make even richer 

and realistic renderings. These are 

accompanied by library updates of 

modern furniture - all of which can be 

visualised on mobile devices using the 

new BIMx 3D engine. Twinmotion 2020 

is also now included with Archicad 24, 

bringing with it real-time raytracing and 

other capabilities. 

PARAM-O 

Creating intelligent or parametric 

objects within Archicad such as 

furniture and similar elements previously 

relied on a user's ability to handle a 

certain amount of programming. 

Archicad 24 provides an alternative 

method of building GDL-based custom 

content with PARAM-O, but more 

importantly, it allows the average 

Archicad user to create their own 

parametric designs. And there's also an 

oft-requested update for Mac Users - 

who get their very own Dark Mode! 

INTEGRATED DESIGN AND 

ANALYSIS 

The most significant thing about the 

Archicad 24 release, though, is that it 

enables architects and engineers to 

work on a shared model - a first for the 

industry. Instead of disciplines working 

within their own silos, Archicad 24 

provides both architects and engineers 

with an integrated design environment. 

This is not just a Graphisoft initiative, 

but stems from the parent company 

Nemetschek, and includes two major 

applications from its extensive 

catalogue of software solution 

providers: SCIA Engineer, with its 

detailed engineering analysis, and 

RISA-3D's analysis and design 

software, which allows users to design 

all types of structure - towers, 

skyscrapers, airports, stadiums, 

bridges, rollercoasters and everything 

in between - in a range of materials. 

This new, disruptive workflow 

integrates architects and engineers in a 

shared BIMcloud environment, 

dramatically enhancing the capabilities 

and working processes of the broader 

project team. 

Graphisoft describes it as moving 

from a 'bureaucratic model' with all its 

connotations to an 'Agile' team - 

autonomous, cross-functional and 

replete with interactions between team 

members. It provides synchronous and 

seamless workflows between each of 

the disciplines, all working on the same 

model, eliminating model duplication 

and redundant work between architects 

and structural engineers. All team 

members are provided with instant 

access to model changes in an 

enhanced environment even when they 

are working remotely or from home, 

thanks to its reliance on BIMcloud, 

Being able to remove structural and 

architectural coordination errors 

through real-time collaboration allows 

teams to create structurally correct 

models that ready for construction in 

shorter timescales. Described as a 

new paradigm in collaborative design 

in the industry, Nemetschek's 

Integrated Design brings the sharing of 

design tasks well and truly into the 

21st century. 

GRAPHISOFT LEARN 

Graphisft Learn has been rolled out, or 

rather relaunched, as a cloud program, 

available through The Graphisoft Learn 

Portal. It offers a Basecamp, BIM 

classes for various levels of BIM users 

from novice to BIM Manager level, and 

a full BIM curriculum. It can be provided 

for individual members of a team or for 

groups of any reasonable size. It also 

includes an assessment programmes 

and sampling which enables managers 

to assess the level of expertise attained 

by members of a team. 

www.graphisoft.com 


SOFTWAREfocus 

Motion control 

Oasys has added social distancing to the capabilities of the agents of its pedestrian simulation 

application MassMotion, making it much easier for organisations to conduct proximity analyses 

The social habits of a lifetime are 

disintegrating as we learn how to 

weather and survive the 

coronavirus pandemic. As it appears 

that the Covid-19 virus is mainly 

contracted by aerosol transmission 

from the mouth, the natural means of 

mitigating its effect is through face 

masks and social distancing. 

Face masks have long been seen as 

acceptable in many Asian countries, but 

in the west there are problems of 

acceptable freedoms and 

embarrassment to overcome. Allied with 

a measure of social distancing, though, 

where both practices have been carried 

out, the severity of the pandemic has 

declined. In contrast, exemplified by the 

overcrowded conditions of the garment 

factories in Leicester and the lack of 

personal protection for the workers, the 

pandemic has run rife. 

We may be inching towards the end of 

this outbreak but are fearful of another 

wave succeeding the first. Lessons 

being learned need to be acted on now 

and for the future, and companies 

wishing to provide greater safety for 

their staff, or organisations which see 

substantial footfall through their 

premises, need a tool that allows them 

to plan office layouts for a general 

return to work, or to maximise the 

throughput of their premises with 

effective pedestrian corridors. 

Oasys MassMotion has been used by 

many organisations to help the design 

and layout of pedestrian intensive 

buildings, stations and venues, using 

intelligent 'agents' that can respond in 

real-time to building layouts and the 

actions of other agents, so it was 

perhaps inevitable that Oasys would 

also turn their attention to a further 

constraint - namely the imposition of 

social distancing. 

The UK Government is urging people 

to return to working in offices - although 

many of us, having had to work from 

home, have now discovered its benefits, 

in that you can still be productive 

without the hassle of long and 

expensive commutes into the city. This 

actually assists large city-based offices 

in accommodating fewer staff more 

safely, and allows transport companies 

to encourage smaller numbers of 

expected passengers to use socially 

distanced channels. It also helps them 

to plan to ramp up to higher occupancy 

and throughput as the general 

populations natural fears decline. 

OASYS MASSMOTION 

Oasys MassMotion uses the BIM 

capabilities of a 3D building model - for 

example of an airport, station, stadium 

as or office block - to simulate the 

throughput of pedestrians during any 

type of scenario, from boarding a train 

to escaping from a hazardous event. 

Individual pedestrian agents, which are 

given tasks to perform such as moving 

from entrance A to Exit B, are 

programmed to recognise the 

behaviour of other agents and respond 

to the possible actions of those whose 

path will interact with theirs. 

Now that we are all being asked to 

accommodate new or future social 

distancing rules, Oasys MassMotion 

provides organisations with a highly 

focused set of tools that can produce 

detailed comparisons of different office 

schemes or pedestrian guidelines. 

Architects who are already using the 

software will be delighted to discover 

that they can use it to comply with both 

capacity rules and the government's 

safety guidelines. 

12 


SOFTWAREfocus 

Social distancing proximity analysis in Oasys MassMotion 

from an operational or an economic 

perspective to open. 

"We have current customers and 

clients using MassMotion to test those 

return to work strategies," Miles 

explained further. "It's a way to test the 

possible futures and find possible 

interventions. It is also, in this current 

world, a way of testing whether, if the 

only way that we can meet the scientific 

advice means that we have to operate 

our particular facility at 10% of the 

population, it is worth being open. It 

might be that it would be better to wait 

until the guidance has changed in two, 

three weeks. You can test what that 

looks like, very quickly." 

THE RESPONSE TO COVID-19 

Ensuring that staff remain safe on their 

return to work depends on physical 

functions rather than trying to outwit the 

virus. "We are not epidemiologists," 

explains Lachlan Miles, MassMotion 

Product Director at Oasys, "So we can't 

model the transmission of the virus. It is 

best to leave that to health authorities, 

scientists, and those whose speciality it 

is. But when things started to transition 

in different parts of the world into 

planning for a new normal, and what 

that might look like with physical 

distancing, we realised that 

MassMotion had a part to play. 

"What the team has done is to produce a 

new set of analytics that can be drawn 

from the software. We have also 

accelerated some experimental research 

to give customers the ability to test 

personal space preferences. For example, 

trying to maintain a two-metre distance." 

Distance is not the only aspect of the 

new normal to consider, as more 

prolonged exposure to virus 

characteristics in circumstances where 

the two-meter rule cannot be adequately 

enforced, appears to lead to a higher 

degree of infection. "We can pull reports 

showing how many people spend time 

within two meters of each other and how 

long that occurs for. We can also pull 

visual outputs, so agents within two 

meters of each other change colour, 

with maps summarising hotspots. Then, 

by making some interventions and 

rerunning the model, I can very quickly 

see I've reduced the time that people 

spend within two meters." 

Returning to normality (if one can 

consider that being at all remotely 

possible) also includes the return of 

social events, held at venues such as 

sports arenas and theatres. Oasys 

MassMotion provides organisers with 

the ability to mitigate the latent 

possibilities of Covid-19 transmission - 

latent because a fine line has to be 

drawn between when its safe to run 

attended events once more, and 

mitigating against the dangers of doing 

so, calculating the risk between keeping 

people safe and earning a living. 

"We have run some interesting little 

tests," says Miles. "We space out the 

queue at a venue with two metres 

between each guest, and reduce the 

number of staff in the area. While the 

amount of time that people are within 

close proximity to another human goes 

down by X per cent, the average time 

spent queuing might go from a couple 

of minutes to 15 minutes." MassMotion 

agents contravening the guidelines set 

up are visualised in the highly 

illustrative animated visualisations in 

red, whilst those complying with the 

measures are shown in blue. 

Venue owners and operators need to 

be sufficiently well informed to be able 

to make these trade-offs: to decide 

whether, with the controls that would 

have to be put in place, is it feasible 

HELPING TO MEET GUIDELINES 

In light of the current global situation, 

Oasys MassMotion takes the 

guesswork out of charting a pathway. It 

offers a way of showing how facility 

owners and operators are preparing to 

meet guidelines and directives, and 

ensures that the decisions made are 

informed ones. 

"I think it's important to get across that 

this is not a case of three software 

developers in a garage who have come 

up with something to respond to the 

Covid-19 issue," says Miles. "This is 

based on decades of research. The 

software has been around commercially 

for 10 years and major consulting firms 

have been using it for longer than that. 

We have had to work quite hard to 

make changes to pull out different 

analytics, but we feel that if there is 

something that we can do to help in this 

current climate, then we will." 

Oasys MassMotion is not a solution 

put together in haste to profit from the 

crisis. It is a sophisticated tool that has 

gone through a lengthy process of 

research and development. And it has 

been adapted to make it uniquely 

useful at this moment for owners and 

operators. Existing customers can use 

the extra capabilities of MassMotion at 

no extra cost, extending the core 

software and adding a tool to make it 

easier to do those proximity analyses 

for existing projects. 

www.oasys-software.com 

Jult/August 2020 13

INDUSTRYfocus 

Leveraging change 

Kenny Ingram at IFS believes that housebuilders should see Covid-19's disruption of the housing 

market as an opportunity to adapt to a rapidly evolving sector of the construction industry 

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused 

house sales to slow dramatically in 

many countries, forcing 

housebuilders worldwide to take stock 

now to ensure their future success. As 

countries come out of lockdown housing 

sales volumes will obviously start to pick 

up again, but how long will it be before 

they return to pre-Covid-19 levels, and 

will house prices recover from the slump 

or fall further? What, if anything, can 

housebuilders do to manage this 

disruption and uncertainty? 

STIMULATING THE MARKET 

Governments everywhere are doing all 

they can to stimulate markets by 

lowering interest rates, reducing taxes or 

honing stamp duty charges. The impact 

of these changes is unpredictable. 

Potential house buyers are also nervous 

about making big commitments and 

taking on loans alongside concerns 

about employment security and the risk 

that house prices may fall further. 

There is a global shortage of housing 

however, so there is a need in most 

countries to build more houses - and 

Concrete form work using prefabricated sections 

build them faster. This housing shortage 

is heavily skewed towards lower price 

bands with affordable housing a major 

issue in many countries. This has driven 

an acceleration of the 'Build to Rent' 

market in countries like the UK. 

Incomes have grown at a much slower 

rate than house prices in the last past 

decade, so even before the Covid-19 

crisis many countries were seeing 

pressure on prices, and the market was 

overdue a correction. There is also a 

strong likelihood that housebuilder 

margins will be squeezed in the 

short/medium term and that future 

market conditions will not be as 

favourable as they have been over the 

last 10 years. 

The truth is that no one knows what will 

happen to the market over the next few 

months and years. As a result, 

housebuilders need to be agile and able 

to change direction very quickly. The 

good news is that many housebuilders 

have made large profits over the last few 

years-so they are in a strong position to 

be able use this cash now to invest in 

making their businesses future proof. 

LABOUR SHORTAGE IMPLICATIONS 

The construction industry has been facing 

a major skills shortage in many countries. 

The industry struggles to attract the 

younger generation and as a result we 

have an aging workforce issue which 

continues to grow. Labour shortages 

result in increased labour rates, leading to 

companies employing more unskilled 

and/or inexperienced people who will be 

much less productive, thereby forcing up 

construction costs and build quality will go 

down. It also constrains the capacity of 

the industry to build more homes. 

In the short-term, as housing demand 

has slowed because of the Covid-19 

crisis, some homebuilders and 

subcontractors have chosen to cut their 

headcount, But that kind of reaction could 

be a mistake, as they may not be able to 

rehire these skilled resources when 

demand returns, leaving them with an 

even more acute labour shortage. How 

will we build more homes if the labour 

capacity is not available? 

Poor quality, in the form of large 

numbers of defects, is also damaging 

many housebuilder's brand reputation. 

This has a huge impact on costs, as large 

amounts are being spent on correction 

work, making the labour shortage even 

worse. O&M performance consultant Peter 

Furst says that costs resulting from poor 

craftsmanship across the construction 

industry as a whole are as high as 12 

percent of a total project cost, and 

consume 11 percent of its project hours. 

When we talk about productivity there is a 

tendency to focus on site-based 

construction processes, but it is also critical 

that management tasks and processes are 

executed in an efficient way. There is 

usually a productivity and project control 

issue here as well. Most housebuilders are 

running their business with outdated and 

non-integrated business systems, with 

tools like Excel spreadsheets certainly 

14 


INDUSTRY focus 

An interior shot in a modular landscape 

New house build using offsite components 

being overused. This not only results in 

poor productivity but also adds risks, as 

the management information used to 

make decisions is usually inaccurate, slow 

to produce and open to manipulation. C- 

level executives do not have robust 

oversight and governance. This affects 

everything from house sales, project 

management, project accounting, quantity 

surveying, and project cost control and 

planning, through to site management, risk 

management and aftercare. 

OFFSITE AND MODULAR 

CONSTRUCTION 

Many believe the solution to low 

productivity, the skills shortage and poor 

quality can only be solved by moving to an 

offsite and modular construction model. 

This means building homes, modules or 

components in a manufacturing facility and 

then shipping them to the construction site 

to be assembled. This trend is starting to 

gather pace and we are seeing many new 

modular and offsite manufacturing plants 

being built, with a number of organisations 

investing in the technology, These include 

government organisations such as local 

councils and housing associations and 

even finance companies like Legal & 

General, which has built a large modular 

homebuilding plant in the UK. 

Traditional contractors are also entering 

the modular housebuilding market, like 

Skanska which has formed BoKlok, a 

modular homebuilding business in 

partnership with IKEA. Amazon are 

developing Alexa-enabled prefabricated 

/modular homes, and some companies 

are experimenting with 3D printed houses. 

I believe these are key indicators of a 

revolution in the home building industry, 

and I expect to see further huge changes 

in the future, with offsite becoming one of 

the 'new normals' over the next 10 years. 

The geographical uptake in offsite and 

modular homes may still be in its infancy in 

most countries but a recent McKinsey 

report, 'Modular construction: from 

Projects to Products', highlights some 

international trends. The most advanced 

region is Scandinavia, where 45% of 

homes are built using offsite methods. 

Japan is 2nd with 15%, followed by 

Germany with 10%. After that comes China 

with 6%, UK 5%, Australia 5% and USA 

3%. Many countries therefore have a great 

opportunity for expansion in this area. 

Some traditional homebuilders have 

already anticipated this change and have 

invested and built new manufacturing 

plants. The McKinsey report also showed 

that 40 percent of homebuilders surveyed 

were already investing in manufacturing 

facilities or intended to in the near future. 

THE NEW TERMS OF REFERENCE 

Changing the way you build homes is not 

a simple transition for a traditional 

homebuilder. The new process starts at the 

design stage where a new house must be 

designed from day one to be built in a 

factory and assembled on site: Design for 

Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA). 

Designing is now based on a configuration 

of standard components with a greater 

focus on part numbers, bills of materials, 

kitting, inventory, shipping and logistics - 

and, of course, BIM integration etc. 

These are processes that traditional 

housebuilders don't usually follow, but we 

still have to execute projects using 

traditional construction techniques such 

as subcontract management, variations, 

retentions, etc. To be successful you 

need to become a hybrid business: an 

engineer-to-order manufacturer, a 

construction company and even a 

service business that offers an aftercare 

service to the homeowner. It does 

provide benefits, though: a lower cost 

(both build and maintenance costs) 

making houses more affordable, faster 

build times, Improved quality and safer 

construction. Housebuilders can also 

afford to focus on eco-friendly and 

energy efficient homes, and the labour 

shortage issue is largely resolved. 

The industry is changing. The new 

entrants already understand 

manufacturing, standardisation, logistics 

and assembly, and they are challenging 

the market to change and traditional 

housebuilders will have to learn how to 

work with them. Key to this is the adoption 

of new technology and modern ways of 

working such as BIM, robotics, 3D printing, 

offsite and modular manufacturing, AI and 

service management. 

MANAGING THE CHALLENGE 

Change will increase complexity with new 

technologies, processes and workflows 

rendering outdated systems even more 

inadequate and unsafe. Housebuilders will 

need to implement repeatable, consistent 

processes if they want to deliver projects at 

lower cost, in less time and to a higher 

quality. IFS offers a construction ERP 

solution that delivers a solid foundation for 

agile and flexible housebuilding businesses 

and can help to improve project delivery 

performance, productivity and margins with 

a single source of business truth to make 

accurate robust decisions. 

www.ifs.com/uk/ 


INDUSTRYfocus 

On the right track 

Bentley's digital twin technology provides a model for the next generation of the country's rail 

infrastructure. Good enough for the next 150 years? 

solutions, using simulations to replan and 

reoptimise project schedules, and using 

digital twins to produce end-to-end 

feedback to enhance the decision making 

process. Longer term trends will see 

greater use of digital tools to increase 

productivity and R&D expenditure, 

particularly in off-site construction 

technologies and building in controlled 

environments. Digital twins, Steve added, 

will be foremost in accelerating the trend 

towards a more economical and 

sustainable future. 

There was an interesting underscore 

to Bentley's recent Virtual Press 

Conference when Steve Cockerell, 

Industry Marketing Director, Road and 

Rail, Bentley Systems, listed the 

sustainability of different forms of transport 

in his introduction on business drivers for 

the rail industry. Urbanisation is a key 

feature of the way the civilised world is 

developing, he said, rising from a mere 

750 million living in cities in 1950 to the 

current 4.2 billion people, or 55% of the 

world's population. This is expected to rise 

to 68% of the world's population by 2050. 

Rail and mass transit systems, he 

argued, are the only way to keep cities 

moving. His argument was strengthened 

further when he quoted the carbon 

footprints of different forms of transport, 

ranging from an aggregated 254g of CO2 

emissions per kilometre of domestic 

flights to 171g for cars, down to 41g for 

domestic rail and a mere 6g for Eurostar. 

The drive to eradicate fossil fuels and the 

growth of electrification of all forms of 

transport will obviously change much of 

this, but the radical shifts in the way 

people will work and live in the future 

could also contribute to the ongoing 

demands for effective rail infrastructure. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has turned 

HS2 goes underground 

everything on its head. Now that working 

from home is seen as a viable alternative 

to the daily commute and crowded offices 

the expected urbanisation could well turn 

out to be domestic rather than 

commercial, with office blocks being 

converted into apartments. Higher density 

occupation leaves little room for personal 

transport, and the economics of owning 

an expensive piece of metal which is 

either gridlocked or parked outside your 

apartment for 99% of the time preclude 

private ownership. Public transport, of all 

kinds, will become the norm in the city, 

with rapid transport systems connecting 

each city hub. 

Covid-19 should therefore now be seen 

as an opportunity, rather than a challenge 

according to Steve - and taking 

advantage of that opportunity relies on us 

working 'smarter', enabled by a growing 

demand for 'the digitalising' of the 

network. He believes that the industry can 

emerge stronger from the pandemic and 

that evidence for this has come from 

Bentley's customers, who are helping to 

accelerate the pace of digital 

collaboration. 

Besides the growth of WFH and social 

platforms for collaboration, there is an 

increased demand for 4D and 5D 

NEXT STEPS IN DIGITALISATION 

We have been going digital for quite some 

time, but only now are we really learning 

what we can do with the information we 

have available, when we can use it, and 

ultimately, how decisions are made. We 

have moved through 2D and the 3D, 4D 

and 5D dimensions of BIM, and now we 

are talking about utilising 6D BIM, the 

understanding of whole-life cost of assets, 

where most money is proportionately 

spent, making better decisions upfront in 

terms of both cost and sustainability. 

That's just part of it though. Steve also 

spoke about the next digital 

advancements that will leverage digital 

twins - immersive visualisation, the use of 

reality modelling and machine learning, 

analytics and simulation tools like 

pedestrian flow and construction 

simulation to handle change 

synchronisation. 

Bentley's iTwin technology provides the 

convergence between the engineering 

technology - the building specs, drawings, 

documents, models, analyses, geotech 

and other specs - and the devices that 

test and record the physical aspects of 

construction, such as IoT feeds, sensors, 

drones, cameras, LIDAR and point 

clouds. It then adds the information feeds 

and reports like asset tags, work orders, 

maintenance and inspection records, 

16 


INDUSTRYfocus 

HS2 

creating a real time data stream. 

"It's the connectivity between the 

physical asset in the real world and its 

digital twin that makes the difference," 

explained Steve. 

DIGITAL TWINS IN ACTION 

Where better could we go for an example 

of digital twins in action in Rail 

Infrastructure than to HS2? The STRABAG 

joint venture with Skanska and Costain, 

HS2 has generated a lot of hot air and 

opposition because of its route, cost, 

purpose and necessity, and even the trend 

towards WFH has given its critics further 

ammunition, but I believe a couple of 

critical factors swing the balance in its 

favour. The railway system in the North of 

England is clogged with both passenger 

and freight trains, and that cannot be 

relieved until much of the former is 

transferred to a newer and faster system. 

The second factor is traditional. Railways 

transformed this country in the 19th 

Century (and the rest of the world in 

passing) and spreading the upfront cost 

over a century or more's practical usage is 

pretty good value! 

To explain, though, how the joint venture 

has successfully digitised its operation, we 

had Peter Ruff, head of BIM at Skanska 

Costain STRABAG Joint Venture and 

Roberto Alberola, BIM Information 

Manager - TYPSA UK - SCS Railways. 

Peter and Roberto jointly outlined the way 

in which the joint venture was harnessing 

the power of BIM to design, construct and 

maintain digitally the project using 

graphical and non-graphical information in 

a CDE which provided real-time access to 

reliable and accurate information, using 

4D, 5D and the 6D workflows and 

simulations outlined above. 

The stretch of HS2 that they cover is the 

26km section leading from central 

London. It includes 20km of tunnels, 6 

shafts, 2 portals, 5 bridges and 5Km of 

earthworks. The joint venture also has to 

consider 7 TDMs (Travel Demand 

Strategies). This is definitely the most 

complex part of the whole HS2 as it 

involves complex interfaces to central 

London and the existing infrastructure, 

which comprises Network Rail, London 

Underground and other utilities. 

Besides the various levels of BIM in 

operation, the CDE and Asset information, 

the joint venture manages information 

flows from numerous other key areas: 

Geospatial, in the shape of web maps and 

spatial analysis, Data Services, which 

include analytics, structures, databases 

and schemas and Tech Services to cover 

digital surveys, VR, AR and even mobile 

field data acquisition. 

Peter explained that with access to data 

at all levels, the JV is able to plan more 

effectively, and to visualise the project 

using tools like Synchro months, and even 

years, in advance, and to use the analysis 

to optimise the project's sequencing. 

Emphasising the project's aim to reduce 

its carbon footprint, he explained that 

rapid analysis of carbon emissions 

enabled them to optimise construction in 

a more sustainable manner. 

The 'Build' part of the project uses data 

collection from reality meshes, point 

clouds to find construction out of 

tolerance, and virtual and augmented 

reality to view the construction project in a 

new, more interactive setting. 

Overall, the digitalisation of the HS2 

project exemplifies its benefits. As Peter 

explains, "Going digital with Bentley has 

allowed us at SCS to realise our mission 

statement of creating a digital Blueprint for 

infrastructure projects of the future." 

His views were emphasised by Roberto. 

"The complexity of the project demanded 

a very high level of control of the technical 

outputs (models, drawings, data), so the 

"traditional" approach - using standardised 

content, trusting existing or external 

databases and going with software 

defaults - wouldn't suffice. We created a 

complete custom live working 

environment for Bentley's OpenBuildings 

Designer that lives in ProjectWise, 

ensuring that the models are built from a 

centralised library so that all the 

information is added consistently, 

achieving the highest data quality required 

to feed in all the downstream processes." 

The virtual Press Conference provided 

substantially more examples of rail 

projects worldwide, including details on 

station design and the flow of passengers 

using LEGION Simulator and 

OpenBuildings Station Designer. 

Developed to simulate the efficient flow of 

rail passengers during peak journey times 

and station evacuations, LEGION 

Simulator has also implemented social 

distancing modules to cope with the 

current demands of Covid-19. Both of 

these areas will be covered in greater 

detail in the next issue of the magazine. 

www.bentley.com 


AWARDS 

Sponsored by: 

The Construction Computing awards 

or "The Hammers" as they are 

affectionately known are back for 

2020 in the fifteenth running of this 

annual event. Once again, we are 

looking to showcase and reward the 

technology, tools and solutions for the 

effective design, construction, 

maintenance and modification of 

commercial buildings, residential and 

social housing and civil engineering 

projects of all sizes. 

From Brexit to Flooding to Covid-19. 

This has certainly been one of the most 

challenging years in the industry. One 

thing has certainly stood out, though, 

and that is the recognition that the 

construction industry is one of the most 

critical sectors in the country, and whilst 

some projects were temporarily put on 

hold, many remained in progress – 

mainly infrastructure projects – and 

building workers were amongst the first 

groups to stream back to work. 

The key factors in getting through this 

period, though, are the efforts of 

suppliers and software developers to the 

industry, and the provisions they have 

made to help their clients and customers 

who are having to adopt these new ways 

of working. With the Hammers Awards 

we have the opportunity to think anew 

about the players in the industry who you 

think have supported or assisted you 

most and who have upheld the traditions 

of the industry throughout the last year. 

Building on the success of previous 

years, we will again be inviting project 

applications to be considered by a panel 

of Judges. Of course, many categories 

will still be decided by the most 

important people of all, you, the readers 

of Construction Computing Magazine 

and the clients of the companies 

competing for the top honours. 

Featuring 30 categories the 

Construction Computing Awards allow 

companies from every sector of the 

industry to seek recognition for their 

efforts over the past 12 months. You now 

have until 11th September to make you 

nomations online at the awards website: 

www.constructioncomputingawards.co.uk 

Nominations Open: 2nd July 

Nominations Close: 11th September 

Finalists announced/Voting Opens: 21st 

September 

Voting Closes: 2nd November 

Winners Announced: 12th November 

18 

Jult/August 2020

AWARDS 

The Construction Computing Awards 2020 Categories 

INNOVATION OF THE YEAR - JUDGED 

ONE TO WATCH COMPANY 2020 - JUDGED 

BIM PROJECT OF THE YEAR - CONSTRUCTION - JUDGED 

BIM PROJECT OF THE YEAR - INFRASTRUCTURE - JUDGED 

BIM PROJECT OF THE YEAR - FACILITIES MANAGEMENT - JUDGED 

COLLABORATION PROJECT OF THE YEAR - JUDGED 

CLOUD BASED TECHNOLOGY OF THE YEAR - JUDGED 

URBAN PLANNING PROJECT OF THE YEAR - JUDGED 

LANDSCAPE/TERRAIN MANAGEMENT PROJECT OF THE YEAR - JUDGED 

AUGMENTED REALITY/VIRTUAL REALITY PROJECT OF THE YEAR - JUDGED 

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR - JUDGED 

HEALTH AND SAFETY SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR - JUDGED 

BIM SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

ARCHITECTURAL CAD APPLICATION OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

COLLABORATION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

DOCUMENT AND CONTENT PRODUCT OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

ERP SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

PROJECT ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

ESTIMATION AND VALUATION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

CONSTRUCTION FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 

ASSET MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING APPLICATION OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

GIS/MAPPING PRODUCT OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

MOBILE APPLICATION OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

CHANNEL PARTNER OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE PRODUCT OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

EDITOR'S CHOICE - JUDGED 

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR - VOTED 

COMPANY OF THE YEAR - VOTED 


CASEstudy 

Solid Groundwork 

Laying in a solid accounting system like EasyBuild is as beneficial to a civil engineering company as 

laying good groundworks, as T & W Civil Engineering have discovered 

In a year beset with problems and 

hardship for many, there are thanks to 

be said for a major underlying trend - 

the predominance of sunny weather, 

without which the socially distanced 

queues outside Tescos and the 

emergence of a love for the outdoors in 

any shape or form would have been 

unbearable. It is to be hoped the good 

weather continues as the construction 

industry gets back into its stride once 

more, and the UK Government throws 

money at infrastructure and increased 

house building to revitalise the economy. 

One of the potential beneficiaries of a 

return to untrammelled construction is 

T & W Civil Engineering, a Northants 

based company, formed in 1994, which 

has been providing groundworks and civil 

engineering services to clients in the 

private housing sector for over 25 years. 

Having expanded into other areas such as 

Milton Keynes, Peterborough, Cambridge 

and Bicester since its launch, the company 

prides itself on the strong relationships it 

builds with its clients based on the quality 

of delivery, excellent customer service, and 

its commitment to ensuring all workers go 

home safely each day. T & W's clients 

include Barratt Homes, David Wilson 

Group, Persimmon Homes, Redrow and 

Lioncourt, with a focus on developments 

that are likely to have upwards of 250 units 

across the various phases, and is currently 

engaged on 18 active sites with 3 more 

expected to start in the next couple of 

months. These include a recently won 

£5.5m infrastructure project in Rugby and 

a £6.5m groundworks and infrastructure 

package in Wellingborough. 

PRIOR TO EASYBUILD 

Before implementing EasyBuild T & W 

used Sage 50 for its accounting software, a 

very basic package that was adequate 

when the company started out but became 

less suitable as the business grew, 

particularly over the last five years. The 

company also had a separate, purposebuilt 

procurement system. 

Adam Burchnall, the Finance Director at 

T & W, explained the challenges that the 

company had to overcome. "There was no 

real-time information," he said, "and it 

wasn't possible to get an accurate view of 

costs until the end of the month once all 

invoices had been received, due to 

accruals not being made when we placed 

orders. We couldn't drill down into costs 

either, because orders were placed in a 

different system with only the final invoice 

being loaded into Sage. It was only 

possible to get a high-level view of where 

the costs, such as materials and 

consumables totals, were being incurred." 

With nominal codes being chosen at point 

of invoice, rather than being linked to the 

product ordered, there was a greater risk of 

inconsistent postings between accounts 

payable clerks. The result was a lack of 

visibility for the commercial team - 

surveyors would only get a view of site 

performance based on a month end report 

and to drill down into any of the cost 

categories would be a manual and 

laborious process for finance. Invoice 

matching was also a problem. With orders 

being placed in a different system they 

couldn't be automatically linked in Sage, 

and the accounts payable team would 

have to cross-check with the separate 

system prior to loading in Sage - using two 

screens side by side. 

The processing of Accruals and monthend 

adjustments, without the ability to run 

reports on open orders, was particularly 

challenging - all of which slowed down the 

system, and the volume of transactions 

going through Sage 50 and the loading 

and refreshing of new screens caused the 

system to crash repeatedly. 

Finally, the problems associated with the 

ageing solution was exacerbated by its 

(non-existent) document management. You 

couldn't attach files/documents to 

transactions in Sage, meaning that the 

20 


CASEstudy 

Groundworks in operation on a typical building site 

T & W Civil Engineering ‘diggers at the ready’ 

Accounts department had to keep paper 

copies of everything. If anybody needed an 

invoice, whether it was the surveyor or site 

manager, it became a time-consuming 

process obtaining it. 

EASYBUILD IMPLEMENTATION 

A decision was made to change the 

accounting and procurement systems with 

EasyBuild being the preferred supplier. The 

software has been up and running for close 

to 10 months now and has brought a 

number of benefits to the business, solving 

the challenges outlined above. 

Adam outlined the benefits of the new 

system. "We now get real-time information. 

Orders generate committed costs within 

the system, providing us with a view of the 

costs incurred by site at any point in time, 

without relying on invoices being received. 

This is particularly useful for surveyors 

when they're doing monthly valuations, and 

from a buying perspective we can now run 

reports and see trends on a weekly, or even 

a daily, basis. 

"We can also supply managers with more 

information," he continued. "Orders placed 

directly in the system link to cost headings 

for each product, improving the accuracy 

and depth of management information. For 

example, rather than a high-level view of 

our overall material spend we can now see 

how much we have spent on every single 

product on every site and track the trend 

each month." 

That gives T & W greater confidence in the 

figures they can generate, as all of the 

detail is obtained and posted based on the 

order (which is at product level) rather than 

when the final invoice is input. Accruals are 

also more reliable due to the creation of 

committed costs at order stage. 

Benefits have accrued in other areas as 

well. EasyBuild has increased support for 

the commercial team, and surveyors can 

now see costs in real time, drilling down 

into each transaction and pulling up 

invoices directly on screen thanks to the 

system's document management 

functionality, enabling them to carry out 

their role without delays. 

The old system of invoice matching has 

now been replaced with one that matches 

them automatically, with orders raised 

directly in the system, and the process for 

querying items or clearing them for 

payment has been made much easier. 

Accuracy and speed of use have also 

been improved, with both the procurement 

and accounts processes integrated into a 

single system. The amount of information 

that needs to be keyed in and the time 

incurred from raising the order to 

generating the payment has been reduced 

- and there are further options within the 

system that the company can use to 

reduce this further. 

LEVERAGING OTHER TOOLS 

Supplier’s invoices are received in a 

number of formats - including scanned 

paper documents and emails - and T & W 

is now looking to automatic the collection 

of invoice details from these, perhaps 

using OCR technology or other EDI 

platforms.The company is in the process of 

implementing a system of on-site 

requisitions using EasyBuild's mobile app. 

This change is key to the business and will 

provide another layer of automation and 

help reduce the risk of the wrong products 

or quantities being ordered. The company 

are also looking to implement budget 

controls to help them track material usage 

against expectations. 

STAFF RESPONSE 

Adam said that there was some 

nervousness and reluctance within the 

office initially as many of the staff had been 

with the company for a long time and knew 

the previous systems like the backs of their 

hands. Change is always difficult, he 

explained, and no matter what role is 

performed, the impact of change is always 

one of the main considerations that have to 

be taken into account - both in choice of 

supplier and the implementation process. 

Within a few weeks of using EasyBuild, 

though, the feedback was good, and it 

became second nature 

Asked to define the outcome of the 

company's choice, Adam was very positive. 

"EasyBuild is a relatively simple system. 

This, however, is one of its strengths rather 

than a weakness. We saw more 

comprehensive systems when looking for a 

supplier, but we felt the additional 

complexity would bring more complications 

rather than benefits." 

www.easybuilduk.com 


CASEstudy 

Merdeka 118 

The creative capabilities of Archicad were used throughout the design and construction of Malaysia's 

tallest building, Merdeka 118, scheduled for completion in 2024 

Merdeka in English means 

independence and the Merdeka 

Stadium in Malaysia, designed by 

architect Stanley Edward Jewkes, has a 

special significance. It is the site where the 

Federation of Malaysia was formally 

declared on the 31st of August 1957, 

transferring power from the British Empire to 

the new Malaysian Government, and was 

the first modern building of the Federation. 

In 2008 the Stadium Merdeka received 

the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for 

Excellence for Cultural Heritage 

Conservation because of its 

significance. Any further developments 

of this important site would need to be 

equally noteworthy, and the new 

Merdeka 118 tower is well on the way to 

completion, scheduled for next year. 

Funded by Permodalan Nasional 

Berhad with a budget of RM5 billion, it 

will be the tallest building in Malaysia 

and will comprise 400,000 square 

metres of residential, hotel and 

commercial space. The name Merdeka 

118 reflects its 118 storeys, 83 of them 

office space, with 12 storeys of hotel 

rooms, 5 storeys of hotel residences and 

a retail business centre - occupied by 

Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur. The rest of the 

spaces are taken up by elevators, 

recreational and maintenance facilities 

and parking space for 8,500 cars 

The site at Petaling Hil has a number of 

other historic landmarks which won't be 

included in the development, but 

Merdeka Park, where Merdeka 118 will 

be built, had actually been turned into an 

open air car park. Instead, the Merdeka 

118 development will have access to the 

newly built MRT Sungai Buloh-Kajang 

Line, excavated underneath the southern 

end of Kuala Lumpur old town. 

Affirming its cultural significance, 

118 Merdeka has a unique faceted 

design, a mixture of diamond 

shaped facets which echoes the 

diversity of Malaysians, and also 

resembles the raised hand of 

Tunku Abdul Rahman when he 

proclaimed independence at 

Stadium Merdeka. 

FENDER KATSALIDIS 

Merdeka 118 was designed by 

Australian architects Fender 

Katsalidis, using Graphisoft's 

Archicad 24 as the core 

application. In fact the project 

has been through a number of 

revisions of the software, the 

earliest being Archicad 14 - 

and all the iterations have 

brought fresh and useful 

tools to the process, 

according to Daniel Goldin, 

CAD leader for the practice. 

Karl Fender, who founded 

the firm in Melbourne 

along with Nonda Katsalidis, spoke 

about his experiences over the last ten 

years and why Fender Katsalidis chose 

and continue to use Archicad as the 

core software for their projects. Fender 

Katsalidis is well known for producing 

distinctive landmark buildings in 

Australia and South East Asia. One of 

their earlier projects, the Eureka Tower, is 

Melbourne's tallest building and one of 

the word's tallest residential buildings. It 

was completed in 2006 but is now 

dwarfed by the 650 metre plus height of 

Merdeka 118. 

The distinctive features of many of their 

earlier sculpturally interesting designs 

incorporated a variety of natural 

materials and textures, such as exposed 

steel left to weather and rough-hewn 

timber. Merdeka 118 is no less 

interesting because of its angular 

shapes and extensive use of irregularly 

shaped curtain wall sections. 

Explaining his use of Archicad 

throughout the project during the 

Graphisoft's press launch of Archicad 

24, Karl said that the software was able 

to satisfy all of the practice's creative 

ambitions with no software limitations, 

that it is intuitive and easy to use, and 

the work processes they were able to 

adopt enabled them to work on bigger 

projects in a smaller time frame. 

22 


CASEstudy 

Internal view of Merdeka 118 

The Merdeka 118 foyer 

His comments were echoed by Daniel 

Goldin who spoke about the background 

to the project as part of Graphisoft's 

recent live video streaming event, which 

took the place of the annual Graphisoft 

user conference this year for obious 

reasons. Daniel said that some of the 

companies they worked with on the 

project with were not used to working 

with BIM, but this was not important, as 

they were able to share 3D building 

information using IFC open file formats. 

MODEL AND COMPLIANCE 

CHECKING 

"We started early with clash detection to 

identify design elements that could 

interfere with load bearing elements and 

cause serious problems if not picked 

early in the design process," said Karl. 

This thoroughness was also applied to 

modelling compliance, synchronised with 

the cloud-based model, and all of it 

checked regularly to ensure that 

components from each discipline were 

placed correctly within the model. 

"Engineers, in fact, see exactly the same 

model as the architect, and we use 

Solibri to identify any problems with the 

design - a big help in quality assurance." 

Karl added that "BIMcloud is invaluable 

for sharing information with teams on 

site and other companies working with 

us on the project, and we also use tools 

like Hotlink for managing room layers 

and furniture layouts, which enables us 

to update all of them, if necessary, in 

one step." 

Karl pointed out other Archicad features 

that assisted them on such a major 

project, including the ability to do 

everything in 3D rather than 2D, making 

extensive use of the software's 

messaging and mark-up features. But 

one of the most significant features he 

emphasised further was that the same 

software and model were able to be used 

for everything from concept to 

visualisation and construction. Putting it 

all in perspective, Karl said that the future 

of the practice is based on what they 

produce - and anything they can get their 

hands on to achieve this will be used. 

LIBRARY PART CREATION 

A couple of features were singled out for 

special mention. Using Rhino, Archicad's 

integrated GDL object creation tool for 

Library Part Creation, Fender Katsalidis 

were able to design one of the building's 

objects, representing some of the 

structure's 87 lifts. The created objects, 

with perhaps a local tweak here and 

there to conform to their position in the 

building, were used to populate all of the 

structure's 118 storeys. The software was 

able to automatically place the lift objects 

on each floor and bypass those storeys 

which individual lifts missed out. 

Whilst the process of creating and 

placing some objects was simplified, 

others, surprisingly, demanded greater 

positioning and accuracy. Like the tower 

itself, the large foyer was composed of a 

complex series of angled curtain walls. 

The 3D model by itself wasn't capable of 

placing smoke detectors on the different 

sections, as these had to be aligned 

precisely with the detection devices that 

picked up an uninterrupted beam from 

an opposite wall, and had to cope with 

different slopes, sizes and angles. 

CURTAIN WALL CREATION 

The Archicad tool that made the most 

difference for Fender Katsilidis, however, 

was the curtain wall tool. Although the 

tool has been available, and quite stable, 

since 2010 it wasn't much used then. 

Daniel said that Fender Katsilidis did 

consider using an external application to 

create the complex shapes and surfaces 

required, but were delighted to find that 

Archicad's curtain wall tool, using 

scripted components, was able to 

calculate and design all of the 

components of each section. 

All of the components were scripted to 

produce detailed drawings of all of the 

façades, including each individual 

element's components such as 

mullions, as well as entry portals. The 

principal advantage of this was that all 

elements remained in-house within the 

same model and were able to be 

modified centrally, providing a greater 

degree of flexibility and control over the 

whole model. 

Rounding the Q and A off at the end of 

his presentation, Daniel reiterated Karl's 

earlier statements. "The team, which has 

been through many revolutions from 

Archicad 10 to the present, have been 

creative throughout, free from any 

software limitations." 

www.fkaustralia.com 

www.graphisoft.com 


CASEstudy 

Positive Energy Block 

As part of the pioneering EU Horizon 2020 funded +CityxChange (Positive City Exchange) 

project, IES have been using their ICL digital twin technology to help create Limerick's first 

Positive Energy Block 

Limerick is one of two Lighthouse 

Cities selected by the European 

Union Horizon 2020 +CityxChange 

project. Together with fellow Lighthouse 

City, Trondheim, and Follower Cities, Alba 

Iulia, Pisek, Võru, Smolyan and Sestao, 

their ambition is to achieve a sustainable 

urban ecosystem with zero emissions and 

to establish a 100% renewable energy cityregion 

by 2050. 

Limerick's Georgian Innovation District 

Modelling Limerick's Positive Energy Block 

During the first phase of the project, IES 

have been applying their innovative ICL 

digital twin technology and expertise to 

support the creation of a Positive Energy 

Block (PEB) within Limerick's Georgian 

innovation district. 

The IES team began their analysis with 

the creation of an intelligent Community 

Information Model (iCIM) covering the 

whole Georgian Innovation District. Using 

the iCD tool, they were able to create the 

model very quickly by importing data from 

a shapefile, provided by Limerick City & 

County Council, to enrich existing data 

from Open Street Maps, together with 

other available socio-economic data. This 

provided initial top-level understanding of 

CO2 production and energy 

consumption/distribution at a district level. 

Following this analysis, a block of five 

buildings were chosen to be the first PEB 

due to their better than average energy 

efficiency, with engaged and willing 

participants. The buildings are: a LEED 

Gold certified office building (Gardens 

International); a youth services centre; a 

general post office; an auctioneers; and 

the city's Chamber of Commerce. 

From there, IES used a five-step process 

to perform more detailed analysis of the 

buildings identified for the PEB, the aim 

being to test, identify and group 

interventions that would aid the transition 

towards creating Net-Zero Energy 

Buildings (NZEB). 

For each building, the process began with 

the creation of a Digital Twin using the IES 

Virtual Environment (IESVE). These virtual 

energy models were created to replicate 

the actual buildings as closely as possible, 

incorporating real world data from the 

actual buildings, in the form of monthly and 

bimonthly energy bills (a process known as 

calibration). Where real life data was limited 

or absent, IES were able to fill the missing 

data gaps using physics-based simulation, 

integrating a Machine Learning regression 

algorithm - a key distinction of the IES 

digital twin technology. 

The second step in the process was to 

identify simple operational measures 

which the building owners could 

implement at little or no cost, but which 

could still result in significant savings (e.g. 

heating controls, individual room 

thermostats, reduction of the DHW supply 

24 


CASE study 

temperature). By implementing these 

simple operational measures across the 

five buildings, it was determined that a 

collective saving of 79MWh/year, 

amounting to a 5% energy saving, could be 

achieved. However, it should be noted that, 

notwithstanding the Gardens International 

building (which, as a recently completed 

LEED Gold certified building, offered very 

limited savings opportunities) a more 

substantial energy saving of 13% over 

baseline across the other four buildings 

combined could be noted. 

The third stage involved the assessment 

of shallow retrofit measures. This included 

improvements to building airtightness, 

upgrades to LED lighting systems and 

dimming controls, as well as boiler 

upgrades to improve seasonal efficiency 

and size adjustments. When considered in 

conjunction with the operational 

interventions, these shallow retrofit 

measures brought the combined savings 

up to 12% (inclusive of Gardens 

International) and 31% (without). 

The fourth stage considered the impact of 

deeper renovation measures, whilst also 

considering given listed building 

restrictions. Measures for historic and 

conservation buildings were proposed 

including attic insulation, ground floor 

insulation, window retrofit (pane only) and 

changing the gas boiler to an air to water 

heat pump. 

When added sequentially with the 

previous interventions, the total calculated 

savings amounted to 23% (inclusive of 

Gardens International) and a significant 

64% (without). This would improve the 

efficiency of the block to a high enough 

level to reduce the local production required 

to create a positive annual balance, as well 

as ensuring the effectiveness of any 

installed local production. 

Finally, the fifth stage considered the 

integration of Renewable Energy Sources 

(RES), in this case, the placement of 

photovoltaic (PV) panels on two thirds of 

the collective roof space. This addition was 

found to cover 14% of the remaining 

energy demand of the block. Added up to 

the previous measures, this would mean 

decreasing the total energy delivered to the 

block from external, non-renewable 

sources by 34% of the remaining energy of 

the block. All of these measures combined 

will reduce the total electricity demand for 

the block to 0.6GHW/yr, which will then be 

offset by a new innovative tidal turbine 

placed in the nearby river. This is estimated 

to generate 1GWh/yr, enabling the block to 

produce 0.4GWh/yr in total and therefore 

become a Positive Energy Block. 

Significantly, the five-step process outlined 

is one which can be replicated by any other 

district, community or city to help create 

more positive energy blocks and accelerate 

progress towards net-zero targets. As the 

project progresses, IES will collaborate with 

project partners to integrate a number of 

new and innovative features, such as 

socio-economic modelling, within a realtime 

operational energy trading and 

demand response platform. This will ensure 

that scenarios and analysis conducted for 

Limerick's Bold City Vision in 2050 not only 

takes energy into account, but also looks at 

the impacts on economic growth and the 

wellbeing of citizens. 

www.iesve.com 


SOFTWAREfocus 

A license to design 

Software subscriptions are growing in popularity as they meet the needs of both software developers 

and their customers, according to Vectorworks CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar 

Why do architectural studios 

adopt one particular 

application rather than 

another? I suppose there are a number 

of reasons - familiarity with an 

application having used it at university 

or at another practice, or because it 

met the needs of the projects it was 

intended to be used for, or it viable 

under the financial constraints of a new 

design studio. Whatever the reason, 

once a practice starts to grow and take 

on more staff or the scope of its work 

widens, all subsequent software 

decisions revolve around the key 

architectural package. 

That's why the initial decision has to 

be soundly based and why the needs 

of both the customer and the software 

provider are conducive to forming a 

long and fruitful partnership. As a 

customer you need the developer to 

maintain the software to a high 

standard, to incorporate the latest 

techniques and technologies to meet 

the challenges of an evolving industry, 

and to provide support and advice 

whenever it is required. To be able to 

do that, the software developer has to 

be able to guarantee sufficient 

commitment from its customers to pay 

for the development and support. 

A range of software licensing and 

maintenance options designed to 

handle this have been adopted by 

software developers. The requirements 

for design studios vary though, and a 

degree of flexibility has to be built into 

the system to enable it to share 

licenses between architects and 

designers if they are not being used to 

their maximum, to use the same 

license for both office and home use 

or to acquire licenses on a short-term 

basis to handle projects with a limited 

duration. 

Increasingly, though, a software 

subscription is seen as an alternative to 

the existing software licensing and 

maintenance options. Nicole Davison, 

VP of Sales at Vectorworks explained, 

"We value our customers, so we 

prioritise offering purchasing options 

and solutions that make the most 

sense for them. With this in mind, we've 

chosen to offer perpetual, perpetual 

with maintenance, network, single-user 

options for perpetual licenses, and 

subscription with single-user options, 

so that we can customise a solution 

that's best for our customers and their 

varying needs. 

Additionally, our philosophy is to 

reward customers for their longevity 

commitment. A customer who commits 

to the long-term by purchasing a 

perpetual license and staying on our 

maintenance plan always receives the 

lowest price for our product." 

Her comments were echoed by 

Vectorworks CEO Dr. Biplab Sarkar. 

"Historically, our goal has been to 

maintain cost of ownership lower than 

our primary competition. Vectorworks is 

a value-priced product over time, and 

we find that these cost savings allow us 

to best support our customers. 

Continuing to offer versatile purchasing 

options to our customers around the 

world allows us the flexibility to 

challenge our competitors who have 

limited offerings." 

Vectorworks customers now have the 

option to choose between perpetual 

licensing and subscription terms that fit 

their business requirements best. "In 

fact," Dr. Biplab added, "the option is 

growing in popularity with Vectorworks 

customers, particularly in the 

entertainment industry, contractors with 

fluctuating workforces and architects 

who like to budget by project." 

LICENSING OPTIONS 

There are, basically, two types of 

Vectorworks licenses: subscription 

licenses that renew both monthly and 

annually, and a perpetual license with 

an optional yearly maintenance 

program, Vectorworks Service Select, 

that offers a free upgrade every year 

and additional services such as access 

to additional content libraries, 

discounted training, expanded cloud 

storage, premium tech support and 

26 


SOFTWAREfocus 

much more. 

Licenses can be shared between 

architects when necessary, if they meet 

the requirements of the End User 

License Agreement (EULA). For the 

single-seat license series E, 

Vectorworks can be activated online for 

two computers (workstation and 

mobile/home) but can only run on one 

machine at a time. The Internet 

authenticated network license series G 

can be installed on multiple computers 

and will run on as many machines as 

the user needs, depending on the 

number of seats allocated in the Site 

Protection Server (license manager). 

Users of Vectorworks will already 

know that the software comes as a 

series of products that focus on 

particular sectors of the market, with 

individual Vectorworks subscription 

license options for Fundamentals, 

Spotlight, Architect, Landmark, and 

Designer. Additionally, both Spotlight 

and Designer can be purchased with 

the inclusion of Braceworks or 

ConnectCAD, as well as the 

combination of Braceworks and 

ConnectCAD together. Design 

resources like Marionette, the 

Vectorworks Algorithms-Aided Design 

(AAD) tool, are built into all the 

modules of Vectorworks. 

Sarkar was particularly keen to 

highlight the levels of support available 

to Vectorworks customers. "All 

Vectorworks prospects are entitled to 

our technical support for 30 days, 

which is the length of a free trial, and 

have access to all of our support 

platforms such as Vectorworks 

University and Forum, which they will 

find online." All software purchased 

directly from Vectorworks, he explained 

further, offers free tech support via 

phone, email, or fax for 12 months from 

date of purchase. Users who then opt 

to become members of Vectorworks 

Service Select have priority access to 

technical support professionals. 

When asked which licensing option is 

preferred, Sarkar was quite adamant. 

"A perpetual license with maintenance 

included (Vectorworks Service Select) 

is our most popular licensing option. A 

perpetual license means customers 

own the software forever, and you can 

use it as long as your operating 

system remains compatible. 

Customers who aren't on maintenance 

can upgrade it for up to three years at 

a discounted price." 

"Actually, Vectorworks Service Select 

is the best way to get the most out of 

Vectorworks software," he added. "Our 

members receive an immediate 

upgrade of new product releases 

including Service Pack updates, priority 

technical support, and early release of 

all content through our Resource 

Manager. Further, members receive 

special member-only features in 

Vectorworks Cloud Services such as 

Photos to 3D Model, cloud rendering, 

and more." 

ONBOARDING 

Additional support is also given to new 

customers who are immediately 

enrolled in one of our Vectorworks 

onboarding programs. This ensures 

that there is a smooth and successful 

introduction or transition to 

Vectorworks by providing appropriate 

resources, training, technical support 

and communication channels - and 

access to training is, of course, 

available 24/7 through Vectorworks 

University and the Forums. 

SUBSCRIPTION BILLING 

Monthly and annual subscriptions are 

both available, allowing customers to 

subscribe for as long as they need to 

cater for special projects or temporary 

staff. Monthly and yearly subscriptions 

are automatically renewed each month 

or year, unless customers opt to cancel 

up to four days before the renewal date 

to avoid the charges for the next billing 

cycle. If you are able to plan ahead for 

the whole year you could save a bit of 

money. Yearly subscribers will only pay 

for 10 months and get two month's 

subscription cost free. 

Sarkar said that not only is a 

Vectorworks perpetual license offer a 

better value compared to 

subscriptions, but it is a better option 

when compared to their competitors. 

Image courtesy of Vectorworks, Inc. 

MIGRATING CUSTOMERS 

Handling the subscription requirements 

of a busy studio is quite 

straightforward, compared to the 

demands of a practice migrating its 

core design applications to a new 

supplier. It's a decision that can't be 

taken lightly and demands the full 

support of the new supplier throughout 

the necessary upheaval. Besides the 

staff having to acquaint themselves 

with the new software, there will be 

numerous projects either in progress or 

completed and filed away having been 

created using the previous 

applications. 

"During the onboarding assessment," 

Sarkar explained, "the customer 

success team will craft a plan to assist 

customers migrating from other 

applications, helping them to import 

files, develop templates, standards, 

and new workflows to guarantee the 

success of new customers when 

moving to Vectorworks. This can extend 

right up to the offer of a customer 

consultancy service if firms require a 

more hands-on approach". 

Vectorworks provides a couple of 

licensing options for individual groups, 

such as those in education. These 

include the single-seat license series E 

for individual students, which they can 

download and manage through the 

Vectorworks Student Portal throughout 

the duration of their education. 

Vectorworks offers a free network lab 

license for educators and educational 

institutions. 

www.vectorworks.net 


CASEstudy 

Quality assured 

Using Solibri to fine-tune BIM models ultimately helped improve the passenger experience at 

Copenhagen Airport 

The sounds of trolley bags' wheels 

rolling on the tiled floors, 

announcements about departing 

flights and lively chatting echoes 

throughout the terminal as people walk 

towards gates to catch their flight. 

Some of them linger in the terminal 

shops looking for gifts to take home, 

while others sit in 

cafés 

enjoying a cup of coffee and relaxing 

before embarking on their outward 

journey from Denmark. This is everyday 

life at Copenhagen's airport. 

It is the biggest, and busiest, airport in 

the Nordic countries, conveniently 

located very close to the centre of the 

country's capital. The number of 

passengers travelling through 

openhagen Airport is increasing, though, 

from the current throughput of around 30 

Million people every year. To 

accommodate the expected 

increase, a busy schedule 

of improvements has 

now been 

implemented. 

"Our strategy is to have one airport 

that has all the terminals and piers 

under one roof, and we are increasing 

the capacity of the existing buildings 

and areas to accommodate the rise in 

the number of passengers and to 

improve the passenger's experience. 

Because of this, we have around 100 

different building projects in progress 

every year," explains Michael Ørsted, 

the Head of Department Technical 

Knowledge at Copenhagen Airport. To 

handle the large volume of projects 

more efficiently, Michael and his team 

have employed the latest design and 

model analysis software, in particular 

BIM and Solibri, which have improved 

the quality of the project's performance 

and, at the same time, achieved 

28 


CASE study 

impressive cost savings. 

This is an example of an owneroperator 

taking the initiative, firstly by 

developing a system of checks to 

guarantee design quality and to save 

money by eliminating design errors, 

and then passing those rulesets on to 

the design supply chain for them to run 

their own checks before models are 

submitted. By doing this they only have 

to run sanity checks on submitted 

designs. The success of this approach 

is encouraging Michael to take it even 

further, with a desire to bring the Solibri 

guarantee of quality to every 

construction project in Denmark. 

TURNING QUALITY ASSURANCE 

STANDARDS INTO RULES 

Michael and his team handle all data 

and BIM models, offering a link 

between asset management, 

operations and ongoing projects at the 

airport. One challenge they have been 

faced with, together with the some of 

the Asset Managers involved in the 

projects, is the problem of ensuring the 

quality of the documents and drawings 

they receive, especially the large 

quantities of 2D drawings that are 

produced. This makes it hard to see 

the overall scale of the project and how 

different designs are linked without 

using 3D models. 

"We are trying to offer a better tool for 

our Asset Managers to ensure 

improved quality for all the building 

projects we have here at Copenhagen 

Airport. We were used to using Solibri 

in our projects for clash detection and 

consistency checks, so it was a natural 

choice for us to start using it more 

widely and to benefit from some of its 

other powerful rules. 

"Now we are automating quality 

checks in Solibri by implementing the 

Asset Managers' quality assurance 

standards into rules and to use them to 

check all the models," Michael 

elaborated. "We are handing out these 

rulesets through our website to all of 

the participants in the projects. It also 

allows our Asset Managers to demand 

that these rules are being used by all 

the stakeholders." 

"This means that errors should be 

found by the construction and 

engineering teams at an early stage in 

the project, instead of the Asset 

Managers discovering them later. This 

has also improved collaboration 

between all the different teams and 

given us a way to make sure every 

demand from the operations is 

considered early on." 

FINDING ISSUES EARLY 

Michael is already seeing some 

concrete benefits of using Solibri in 

their projects. "There was a baggage 

handling project where we needed to 

make sure that large equipment could 

fit into a technical room and elevator 

system. When we did the checking in 

this project, we could see that the 

access to the technical room was 

okay, the access to the elevator was 

also okay, but on the way from the 

elevator to the technical room, we 

noticed that the path was actually too 

narrow in one corner. 

"Our Asset Managers just wouldn't 

have been able to find this problem 

without Solibri. It would have cost us a 

lot of money to fix that afterwards, if 

we hadn't found it so early in the 

design stage. 

"Another example is a project where 

we found that one of the accessible 

toilets was not the right size. By using 

Solibri we then noticed that, actually, 

every accessible toilet had the same 

problem, not just this one instance - 

something the Asset Manager would 

have difficulty in finding from 2D 

drawings. 

"Our engineering team has calculated 

that we have saved more than 

€400,000 euros in this project by 

finding issues that we wouldn't have 

recognised or identified before. The 

external contractors are now motivated 

to use the system because, after all, 

they want to handover projects that are 

compliant with the airport's needs and 

not to have discussions about whether 

or not to take actions on some of the 

findings that they have made!" 

MOTIVATING DENMARK'S 

INDUSTRY 

Besides his work at Copenhagen 

Airport, Michael is also involved in the 

development of the whole of the 

construction industry in Denmark, as 

he is the chairman of the Digitalisation 

group within the Danish Building 

Owners' organisation. "We share our 

Solibri knowledge with other building 

owners. In fact, we have just recently 

started a collaboration with some of 

the largest building owners here in 

Denmark, in order to convert some of 

our national building requirements into 

rulesets. 

"The aim is to have an open system 

that is free in Denmark, where we 

could hand out these rules to every 

project to make sure that current 

building regulations are met. We are 

seeking external funding for this 

initiative to enable us to spend more 

time on it, and to have the majority of 

our national regulations set up as 

rulesets for future projects. 

"This would mean that every project 

in Denmark would have quality 

assurance as a minimum goal, and 

that building regulations are met on all 

future projects." 

www.solibri.com 


TECHNOLOGYfocus 

A CDE shared 

The Integration of Asite and 3D Repo's BIM data management solutions streamlines the working 

processes of both approaches to the CDE and the BIM data model, writes David Chadwick 

Asite and 3D Repro Integration 

3D Repro Issues List 

Asite, the global cloud-based 

collaboration and Common Data 

Environment (CDE) platform, and 

3D Repo, pioneers of Software-as-a- 

Service (SaaS) solution for Building 

Information Modelling (BIM) data, have 

announced that they are joining forces. 

Their aims are to leverage the capabilities 

of each of their solutions to provide 

improved services and streamline their 

workflows further, improving collaboration 

and reducing the complexity of BIM data 

management. 

This new integration will enhance the 

standard process of uploading 3D 

models and other BIM related 

deliverables to Asite's CDE, providing 

instant and synchronous access to those 

files in 3D Repo. Instant access to both 

platforms saves the user time, instead of 

having to upload files to multiple 

locations. Both solutions will benefit from 

the bidirectional functionality of the 

integration, as files uploaded to 3D Repo 

will similarly be automatically synched 

back to Asite. 

Asite enables organisations to store and 

manage all project data in one central 

and secure repository, a CDE or 

Common Data Environment, providing 

the tools to plan, design, and build with 

seamless information sharing across the 

entire supply chain. Asite has been used 

by many leading AEC companies on 

global projects, including Crossrail and 

the expansion of Dubai International 

Airport; offering streamlined workflows, 

efficient information management, and 

full document control that complies with 

global standards. 

3D Repo has been used on many large 

construction projects including Wood 

Wharf and King's Cross railway station to 

name a few. Synchronising 3D Repo and 

Asite's CDE is going to save valuable 

time on construction and infrastructure 

projects where hundreds or thousands of 

model federations and other deliverables 

are uploaded. 

The news comes concurrently with the 

latest update by Buro Happold, 3D Repo 

and a consortium of partners on the AEC 

Delta Project, a new industry open 

standard for sharing data mentioned in 

our news pages in the last issue, aimed at 

streamlining BIM data access even further. 

AN INTEGRATION Q AND A 

It's always interesting when two 

companies decide to join forces and 

integrate their technologically differing 

solutions. I spoke to Tom Coleing, 

Marketing and Comms Manager at Asite, 

who explained in greater detail what Asite 

and 3D Repo contribute to an overall 

project management environment. 

The first question I asked Tom related to 

the supremacy of the model. Asite's 

Project Portfolio Management already 

enables clients to view cloud based 3D 

models in a Common Data Environment. 

With 3D repo integrated within this 

system, I asked whether clients would be 

looking at an Asite or 3D Repo hosted 

model? The answer was that it all 

depended on what the user wanted to 

achieve. Both viewers have functions in 

common, but 3D Repo is more suited to 

model coordination and issue 

management, whilst Asite is a CDE, so 

the focus is on the wider information 

management process, irrespective of the 

file format. 

To put that into context, as part of the 

design workflows established in a CDE 

for model files, the model file may be 

coordinated and commented on using 

3D Repo. However, in order to take 

action on those comments, you may 

want to draw upon files and electronic 

forms from the CDE in order to enrich the 

discussions around issues - this can be 

done in Asite's 3D viewer. Alternatively, 

you will need to come back into the CDE 

to accordingly approve or reject the 3D 

model file. 

30 


TECHNOLOGYfocus 

3D Repro SafetiBase 

Asite - editing the task configuration 

Considering a construction workflow, 

users may use 3D Repo's SafetiBase to 

identify issues but then to take action on 

those, users would go back into Asite to 

raise contractual communication forms 

such as an RFI or Site instruction. 

THE BENEFITS OF INTEGRATION 

Asite's collaborative BIM model 

underscores the company's portfolio 

management solution, the numerous 

capabilities of which are listed on Asite's 

website. I asked Tom which of these were 

specifically enhanced by integration with 

3D Repo? As Asite's collaborative BIM 

module is completely integrated with the 

remaining platform to facilitate portfolio 

management purposes it is able to offer 

various services. These include: 

coordinating models; managing revisions 

of files; individual object management; 

searching for objects based on 

metadata; preparing COBie reports for 

federated model creation; exporting 

single IFC files from federated models 

(containing all the federated file's data) 

and procurement services for objects. 

Conversely, 3D Repo's models are more 

suited for managing the coordination of 

models, identifying risks in SafetiBase, 

issues within models, and locating 

models on GIS (a handy inclusion as 

GIS/GML Support is an additional 

functionality that is not available in Asite 

at the moment). 3D Repo also supports 

a couple of additional file formats and 

has several more plug-ins within model 

authoring and validation software that 

Asite does not have. Therefore the 

integration will enable clients to take 

advantage of features that may not be 

available in either one of the platforms. 

Have Asite's metadata searches been 

enhanced by 3D Repo's data handling 

capabilities? The model files already exist 

in Asite before they are pushed into 3D 

Repo. The models available in Asite and 

3D Repo should, therefore, not be 

different, and Asite's capabilities would 

remain unaffected by this. In Asite you 

can already view and query the object 

properties available in model files. 

Is the integration a step in the direction 

of replacement of COBie data exports - 

with the aim of providing asset 

managers with a totally 3D based 

building model? As above, the IFC 

dataset should already exist in Asite. So 

whether users export the product and 

manufacturing information exchange 

through COBie or not is the user's 

choice, but Asite allows users to export 

COBie data, unlike 3D Repo. 

Tom said that Asite are looking at 

enabling third-party suppliers to add 

metadata to objects in the model, for 

example product serial number, and this 

is what will get the industry away from 

exporting the data in the first place. 

Where does Asite Adoddle figure in all of 

this? Is field based project collaboration 

a feature of the 3D Repo integration? 

Unlike Asite, there is no 3D Repo 

mobile/tablet app currently available. 

Adoddle has an H&S compliance 

feature. Will this be integrated with 3D 

Repo's SafetiBase? Not during this initial 

integration, but since the risks raised 

through SaftiBASE can be considered in 

a similar way to issues, it can be 

developed as part of the solution if there 

is interest. 

Emphasising the nature of the 

integration, Nathan Doughty, Group CEO 

at Asite, explained that model files within 

Asite can be pushed into 3D Repo, 

where users can then raise issues within 

them. As these issues are raised, they 

will be synced and visible in Asite as an 

issue. Similarly, issues can be raised in 

Asite's model viewer, and those issues 

will be visible in 3D Repo. The basis for 

the integration is the exchange of BCF 

file content. This exchange will be 

managed by an API call so the whole 

exchange flow will be automatic and 

enable bidirectional syncing of issue. 

The integration is seen as a positive 

step by Nathan with major benefits for 

their clients. "We're delighted to be 

working with 3D Repo on an integration 

to align our platforms and create a 

seamless experience that further 

improves coordination for our shared 

customer base, and will ultimately save 

time on construction projects globally." 

His comments were echoed by Dr Jozef 

Dobos, the founder and CEO of 3D 

Repo. "Asite provides a single point of 

access, validation, and quality assurance 

for project deliverables which many of 

our customers are already using. 

Integrating with Asite is a natural fit for 

3D Repo and follows in the footsteps of 

other existing integrations across the 

entire market creating a truly 

collaborative ecosystem for the entire 

AEC industry." 

www.asite.com 

https://3drepo.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

CASEstudy 

Chasing pavements 

A map of pavement widths helps local authorities with social distancing plans 

Spatial analysis by Esri UK 

has found that 70% of 

pavements around the 

country are less than 3 metres 

wide, making it difficult for 

pedestrians to remain 2 metres 

apart and follow government 

guidelines for social distancing. 

Using measurements from 

Ordnance Survey, Esri UK has 

created a map of all pavement 

widths, discovering that only 30% 

of Great Britain's pavements are at 

least 3 metres wide, 36% are 

between 2-3 metres and 34% are less than 

2 metres wide. 

Esri UK, the mapping and spatial 

analytics company, has released the new 

map data for free to help the public sector 

and other organisations respond to 

government guidelines for social 

distancing, as councils adapt their 

infrastructure to make walking safer for the 

public. Over 60 local authorities are using 

the new pavement map data including 

Glasgow City Council, Stirling Council and 

Dover District Council. Measures being 

introduced around the country include 

widening pavements, removing street 

furniture or reallocating road space for 

pedestrians. 

Oliver Penman, Senior Information Officer, 

GCC Corporate GIS, Glasgow City Council, 

said "This map is a vital tool to help us find 

the right solutions to support social 

distancing. Where it may not be feasible or 

cost-effective to look at extending 

pavement space, we can review other 

options such as clamping down on 

pavement parking and reducing speed 

limits, to cut danger on residential streets." 

The map is part of Esri UK's Covid-19 

Disaster Response Programme, created to 

provide any organisation with new 

mapping and analytical capabilities for free, 

to help manage their response to the 

pandemic. Local authorities, for example, 

are using Esri's mapping and analysis tools 

to help adjust their service provision, map 

vulnerable communities, deploy volunteers 

and communicate with citizens. 

"The pavement map is designed to help 

local authorities and related organisations 

prioritise their efforts, to ensure the safety of 

the public, as lockdown restrictions are 

being gradually eased," said Paul Clarke, 

head of Esri UK's Government practice. "By 

giving them an instant view of the situation 

they're faced with, the map reduces the 

time needed to manually measure 

pavements and not rely on records which 

may be out of date. Easy access to current 

pavement width data will help all councils 

make faster decisions with greater certainty 

and ensure walking is as safe as possible." 

Esri UK has made its ArcGIS software free 

to use along with a huge free data 

repository, the Covid-19 Data Hub, with 

over 80 different types of carefully selected, 

authoritative location data, including 

Coronavirus cases, health, infrastructure 

and population data. New data is 

continually being added to equip 

organisations with valuable insights as the 

situation evolves over time. As social 

distancing requirements change, for 

example, the pavement dataset will be 

evolved to meet these changes. Most 

importantly, all of the data has been 

carefully curated to make sure that it is the 

best available from reputable sources. 

Esri UK created the Covid-19 Data Hub to 

bring a wide range of incredibly 

useful datasets together in one 

place. The data can be integrated 

into existing ArcGIS systems or 

used to create a host of brand new 

rapid response GIS dashboards 

and mobile solutions, specifically 

designed for Covid-19 initiatives. 

Organisations of all kinds are 

turning to geographic information 

systems (GIS) to help them make 

rapid decisions in this everchanging 

and unpredictable world. 

Esri's ArcGIS platform provides 

them with the dashboards, apps and tools 

they need to analyse, forecast and 

understand the situation. Yet technology 

alone is not enough. Authoritative data is 

vital, otherwise the decisions they make 

could be flawed. 

The map is free to use from Esri UK as 

part of its Disaster Response Programme. 

Esri UK are able to provide the OS 

MasterMap free to Local Authorities as the 

data is covered by the PSGA agreement 

(Public Sector Geospatial Agreement). The 

data can also be made available free to the 

private sector, via the Ordnance Survey 

Mapping for Emergencies programme. 

Esri UK created the new interactive map 

using its ArcGIS mapping software, using 

the latest MasterMap Topography Layer 

from Ordnance Survey (OS). OS 

MasterMap Topography Layer is the most 

detailed and accurate view of Great 

Britain's landscape - from roads to fields, 

buildings, trees, fences, paths and more. 

Using its GIS software, ArcGIS Pro, Esri UK 

extracted all the pavements and applied 

different colours to identify different widths. 

In the image above represents pavements 

of 3+ metres; orange shows widths 

between 2-3 metres and red denotes 

pavements of less than 2 metres wide. 

Local authorities and organisations can 

access the pavement map at: 

https://bit.ly/2PapBq4 

www.arcgis.com 

34 


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