Putting up buildings is a jerky, uncoordinated process. Project teams consist of multiple partners who all generate the information that will let them do their bit in their own IT systems. Information exchange remains a rudimentary business. Designers, estimators, procurement departments and building managers bung stuff in the post or email each other with attachments. Come the start on site, and structural members and services don't line up with the architect's design, or pipes end up in steelwork, leading to redesign, delay, poor quality from quick solutions, and extra cost.
The aim of the PII project, run by Be, Teamwork and the International Alliance for Interoperability, is to get projects to work from one smart design that flags up potential problems and lets all team members take the data directly into their own systems.
Construction.com
But isn't this push towards 3D object modelling and a common data environment far too ambitious for construction – the weak man of British industry in its use of IT? Well, no, because far from being a low-tech grunt profession, construction makes extensive use of IT, as Construction Manager found when it asked some of the most progressive players about their use of collaborative IT (see table, page 28).
When it comes to communicating with external members of a construction team, IT rules. Email is the lowest common denominator. On larger, longer projects, collaborative extranets have taken over, pushed initially by clients but now by contractor converts too. Extranets take out paper distribution costs by giving the project team an easy way to distribute drawings, store information and keep track of comments and requests. They also offer basic document management, although some contractors use dedicated systems where there is no project extranet.
There are some flies in the IT ointment – in particular, the unavailability of broadband in some areas and long lead times for high-speed comms links to some sites, along with slow progress towards direct electronic trading to get supplies. But the general picture is of an industry at ease with IT.
CAD LET US IDENTIFY ERRORS AND has SAVED US 60% on DESIGN AND 40% ON THE TIME
DAVID KERR, TAYLOR WOODROW
Pushing for more
The PII research seeks to entice construction further down the digital road, demonstrating that you can load information into CAD drawings which is crucial to all the members of the project team – designers, M&E engineers, contractors, suppliers, and so on – in a form they can import into their own systems. The technique is known as 3D object or data-centric modelling.
It works like this. As well as being shapes in a CAD program fitted together by designers to create the physical dimensions of the building, 3D objects describe relationships with other objects and services, and can hold business information. A floor object, for example, could list costs, thermal and acoustic insulation values, a hotlink to the manufacturer and installer, the required maintenance regime, variations, service connections, and so on. All members of the project team will feed off this data, channelling the information of interest to them straight into their own systems. For example, steelwork and cladding fabricators can stream the data straight into computer-controlled machinery to organise production and control what is delivered to site.
Taylor Woodrow has used 3D objects in off-the-shelf CAD for its Grand Union Village project in west London. "It let us identify errors and has saved 60% on the cost of the design phase and 40% on the time," says CAD project modelling manager David Kerr. "We added units at cheaper cost: £8m in extra sales for a cost of £5m."
Despite the early adoption by construction of killer applications such as CAD and mobile phones, individuals can be reluctant to embrace change. The culture is not peculiar to construction. It's one reason why the PII project is doing its research on live projects: successful IT implementations will create converts who will then push for data-centric systems on their next projects. Malcolm Dodds, Be's research director, says construction companies will realise they have no alternative.
Whatever the practical difficulties of adoption, construction wants to enable integrated teams. Without the IT underpinning, UK contractors will face the prospect of losing their business to organisations that have used IT to change their processes – foreign construction firms as well as shipbuilding, automotive and pharmaceutical companies.
When the customer is not always right
Behind the technical drive towards 3D object modelling and a common data environment lies the need to integrate design teams. Construction’s instinct is to focus wholly on the cost of building, but the integrated design team takes into account non-building costs, which are far higher. Malcolm Dodds, Be research director, quotes the 1:5:200 rule, which puts the 25-year cost of maintenance and facilities management, and the people and processes that inhabit the building at some five and 200 times respectively the cost of construction. Integrated information allows all those costs to be considered at the design stage. Instead of having a ring-fenced construction budget which the project team can’t exceed by a penny, an integrated team, with all the key contractors, suppliers and building manager on board as well as the architect and main contractor, can justify spending more on the construction of the building if it saves money downstream. Dodds gives the example of a call centre operation, where the client gave the nod to a change in design to incorporate rest areas. Through the integrated team meetings the architect learned of the high turnover of call centre workers and suggested the rest areas as a way to reduce it. Construction costs increased significantly but the churn rate was slashed.Talking the talk: Digispeak
Broadband:A cable that can push large amounts of data around fast. Essential if you don’t want to wait all day to send and receive drawings and other big files. CAD:
A package that lets you design your building on a computer screen rather than paper. The software that sent drawing boards to the skip. Collaborative project extranet: A website where project members can view and store all documents and information that affect the building. The bits you can see may be limited to your part in the project. Can be run by an IT company (BIW Information Channel, Causeway Collaboration) or a member of the construction team. Keeps everyone up to speed on what’s happening. Document management system:
A program that lets you log details of who has been sent what paperwork and when. Some systems will also hold images of the documents themselves (designs, invoices, requests for information etc) and automatically route them to the next team member who needs to see/approve them. Prevents buck passing. E-procurement:
Tenders, quotes and purchases sent from one company’s computer to another. Could kill off the fax machine and put your mobile to its proper use: calling home to say you’re on the train and will be home soon! ERP:
A set of programs from one software house that can meet all your IT needs and can swap data with each other.
Source
Construction Manager
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