“Do you know what the most precious thing in Dubai is?” asks Nabil Akiki as he settles down for a chat with Big Project ME in his offices at the construction site for the Viceroy Dubai Jumeirah Village project. “It’s the sun. We’re living in a city in which the most precious thing is the sun. This is something a European friend of mine told me. Imagine how simple this is. But to see and enjoy the sun, you need to have an outdoor space.”

This simple observation reveals the inspiration behind the SKAI Real Estate Development project in Dubai, which is impressive for its sheer audacity, if nothing else. Envisioned as a 60-storey tower that will house serviced apartments, residences and a five-star luxury hotel run by the Viceroy Hotel Group, what really makes the project stand out is its extraordinary design.

IN PICTURES: Viceroy Dubai Jumeirah Village under construction

As Akiki, a trained architect and the CEO of SKAI Real Estate Development, explains, the concept comes from his desire to create a building that marries the functionality of a city apartment with the sense of freedom and space of a countryside villa.

“I was brought up in a mountain village in Lebanon. I used to live there for three months of the year, during the summertime. It was an outdoor space. We used to entertain, cook, sleep and play outdoors. You had the horizon open to you, mountains to climb and beautiful views. From there, I could even see the Mediterranean.

“But from September each year, we would have to go back to Beirut and live in an apartment, so that we could go to university, to school. We had to live there, because the mountain was very tough to live on in winter,” he recollects.

“I had both experiences, and the contrast between having that open space in the summer, and an enclosed space in a congested city like Beirut, made me ask myself how I could compensate and have the same luxury of an outdoor space that would allow me to enjoy the sun and the weather in a city. That was my motivation and inspiration behind this concept.”

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Of course, it wasn’t easy to do, as Akiki freely acknowledges. Having envisioned a tower that rotates by 30 degrees on each floor, integrates sky gardens and offers all-around views, while making use of natural ventilation and cooling, he and his team at SKAI Real Estate Development were now faced with the task of actually building it.

“I remember the first time I did the model, it was just on a small piece of cardboard so that I could explain what was on my mind. When I showed it to a consultant, they said, ‘That’s impossible. We can’t do this!’ “They were telling me that while they fully respected what I wanted to do, it was very challenging and that it wasn’t possible, and so on.”

Undeterred, he and his team went back to the drawing board, refining the concept through many rounds of revision, figuring out how to resolve mechanical, electrical and plumbing issues and actually make it a viable project. To assist, SKAI Holdings, parent company of SKAI Real Estate Development, eventually appointed renowned global consultancy Atkins as lead designer of the project.

IN PICTURES: Viceroy Dubai Jumeirah Village under construction

“In a normal building, you have your shaft and all your bathrooms one on top of the other. This is the conventional way of doing things. But when you have a rotating and revolving apartment, then you don’t have bathrooms in the same location, nor do you have the kitchens [aligned]. You don’t even have the shaft.

“That’s why we had to convert them to the core – to the centre – of the building, where we have the staircase and the elevators. Then we run them vertically, but from there to the apartment it’s horizontal, below the slabs. There were challenges, but with the efforts of the consultant and our in-house team, we’ve managed to overcome all of this, and you can now see the beauty of the concept.”

In fact, SKAI is so confident about the viability and success of the design and concept, they have had it globally patented in 168 countries.

The tower consists of 234 hotel rooms, with 13 suites. It also has 117 two-bedroom apartments and 104 one-bed apartments, and 33 larger units with four bedrooms each. These are spread across the top 11 floors of the building, and come with a large garden area and a terrace. In total, the building will have 45,450sqm of landscaped gardens, with a total of 271 swimming pools.

In addition, deep soil beds will be placed in every apartment, allowing trees to be grown at a height of 270m. Ground and podium levels will have dining venues and all the required amenities of a five-star hotel. The building has been designed with a distinctive ‘star-wing’ design, with the floor plans consisting of three wings. The total area of the site is 6,000sqm, and the total built-up area, once complete, will be 150,000sqm.

IN PICTURES: Viceroy Dubai Jumeirah Village under construction

With consensus reached on the design and engineering of the building, appointing the right contractor for the project was the next crucial step. Luckily, this was easily resolved through the appointment of China State Construction Engineering Corporation (Middle East), the developer’s longstanding partner on several projects in Dubai. Having worked together on the Viceroy Dubai Palm Jumeirah, the two companies have a close relationship and mutual trust, which made the contractor the perfect partner for such a complex and demand construction project.

“For China State, this is our second investment in a project. The first one was the Viceroy Palm Jumeirah. We joined this project not just as a contractor, but as a partner. We’ve also invested in this project and we’re actually shareholders. We’re partners with the client for this project, we’re not just working as a contractor,” says Andy Zhao, China State’s project director for the Suites in the SKAI project.

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Working on a similar basis to the Viceroy Palm Jumeirah project, China State Construction Engineering Corp (Middle East) has come on board as a key investor and contractor. The contractor has a small percentage of equity stake, with SKAI holding the majority of the equity stake for the development.

As Akiki explains it, the decision to bring China State on board as an investment partner was an easy one, as it meant the developer had a contractor whose interests were perfectly aligned with its own – the minimisation of costs.

Zhao adds that coming on board is part of China State’s development strategy. With tourism in Dubai continuing to have a positive outlook, the contractor believes that investing in high-profile and high-quality projects will garner significant rewards.

“The company believes that this is a very good project and we believe that Jumeriah Village Circle has a lot of potential as an upcoming area,” he says. “We have a very close relationship with SKAI Holdings from the Viceroy Palm Jumeriah.

“That project was very good, and as far as I know, the sales have been very good in the market. So that’s good for both China State and SKAI Holdings. This is why we decided to continue the relationship to finance this second project.”

IN PICTURES: Viceroy Dubai Jumeirah Village under construction

China State’s stake in the project also helped secure the necessary funding for the project, says Akiki. With construction expected to cost $150 million, financing was obtained through a consortium of banks, including three from China.

“For Chinese government banks, they have a lot more trust in dealing with a Chinese company that is well established and also a governmental company,” he points out. “This formula was very beneficial for all parties and puts us all in an aligned interest perspective to do not only this project, but we’ve also started two other buildings in Jumeirah Village together. They’re the contractor on them. The prospects are open for many more projects to come in the near future. It’s still under discussion, but we have very promising developments in the pipeline, which we’ll announce in time.”

For now, though, the focus is firmly on the Viceroy Dubai Jumeirah Village project. When Big Project ME visited the site, construction work was in full swing, with the raft having been completed and work on the first above-ground levels begun.

“Piling work had already started at the end of last year. But for structural work, as China State, we came on board in early June. As part of the current plan, we’re looking at the end of 2017 for only this tower,” says Andy Zhao.

“The challenging points for this project, from a construction point of view, is first of all the time schedule. It’s very tight. We roughly calculate that there’s less than 20 months for structural work. That’s just over one and a half years. You need to finish the big raft, plus complete the entire structure, in less than 20 months. That’s a very tight schedule.

“The end date of 2017 includes everything. It’s 20 months for the structure, and another 10 months for MEP, interiors and fit-out. But that overlaps, and it’s very challenging work.”

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The raft was completed successfully early in September 2015, and in many ways it was a spectacular feat of engineering and planning by the entire construction team. Not only did they have a single pour of 11,000m3, they also cast for almost 32 hours continuously.

The raft itself included 16 layers of rebar, amounting to 3,500 tonnes, and at certain points had a thickness of up to 9 metres, Zhao says. And that wasn’t even the most challenging part of the job.

“When we cast the raft, there was not a lot of wiggle room. We had every truck coordinated from the entrance of Jumeriah Village Circle, not even the entrance of the site. It was coordinated from the point where it had to arrive. Every truck had a number, so it would know where it was going,” relates Youssef Romanos, technical manager – Engineering Department for CSCEC (ME).

“Every pump, every truck was coordinated, and we knew exactly where each one was, and at what location. We had to know their every move, because there was no space [around the site]. This was planned months ahead, so we had no surprises. We were casting 11,000 cubic metres, we couldn’t afford to have any surprises!

“We planned it to the minute. Unibeton was the supplier, so we coordinated with them, we had people on every crossing of the rounds – this truck goes there, this truck goes there and so on. We had, in total, nine pumps around the site.”

IN PICTURES: Viceroy Dubai Jumeirah Village under construction

To carry out such a complex task on time, the contractor had to get night work permits to carry out two shifts per day. They also used two luffing cranes and mobile cranes to help shift material, in addition to 650 labourers working around the clock.

With work on the ground levels in progress, Zhao and his team have already begun mapping out the construction of the higher levels, in collaboration with Atkins and the SKAI Real Estate in-house team.

“Another challenge is the design complexity. This tower is a special design. Mr Akiki initiated the idea – each floor rotates 30 degrees. Each unit has a fantastic view. In a traditional building, the view is usually from one or at the most two sides. Here, every unit has a view from three sides. It’s really fantastic,” Zhao enthuses.

“But this design causes much complexity for construction. Because it’s turning, even the so called typical floor is not the same design for each floor. Also, the levels are different, so you have unique designed table formwork for each floor. Usually, for traditional towers, the back propping is not more than two floors, but we have to have it at four floors, because there are openings due to the turning of the floor slab.”

In order to achieve the design of the building, the engineers on the project have decided to use a central core with outrigger beams protruding, taking the weight of the units being built and allowing the construction of Akiki’s vision, as Romanos explains.

“You’ve seen the slab rotating 30 degrees on every floor. When it’s rotating, there are outrigger beams that are rotating with it. There are slabs that are rotating. So the formwork of the core itself, at every level, the formwork is turning.

“At the connection between the outrigger beams and the core walls, you’ve got a deep column. That’s also changing, and that’s only on one level. If you look at the 3D model of the core itself, you have a cylinder with columns protruding out and rotating every floor, so the jumping form of the core is extremely difficult.

“Then you have the challenge of reinforcement of the outrigger beams, which are changing at every level, and then you have the slab itself. The formwork of the slab, because it’s rotating, the key is to find a typical form that – even when it’s changing – can cope with it.”

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MEP systems are another major challenge, as Akiki has alluded to earlier. Given the rotation of the building, Atkins’ engineers have already done the coordination between the MEP systems and the structure, says the China State duo.

“It’s extremely hard, even the slabs have, in some places, 15-metre spans, and it’s very shallow post-tensioning. You can’t just put an opening wherever you want for the MEP. Atkins have already done the coordination themselves, and have assigned MEP openings, so we’ll have to trust that at this point, and hope that we won’t have any problems.”

Understandably, given the complexity and time sensitivity of the project, CSCEC (ME) is keen to avoid costly errors during the construction process. As a result, the team has invested heavily in Building Information Modelling (BIM), to exactly map out and plan the entirety of the project.

“[Having the rotating floors] is why we have BIM technology on this project,” says Andy Zhao. “At the beginning we built a 3D model, and to assist us we built a formwork system, and also a system that designs the MEP, the architecture and the structural coordination. It’s quite important!”

“We used BIM to build the entire model of the project, and now we can identify any discrepancies. It also helps us visualise [the construction]. Otherwise, it would have been difficult. But now we can visualise it on the computer and design the formwork and other systems.”

“For every floor, we put in the framework and started rotating it,” chimes in Romanos. “And with every rotation, we found the adjustment it needs to carry the double height and triple height floors. In some places, the openings are turning, and in other places, they’re not turning enough. So you’ve got double and triple heights, and we ended up having tables on four or five levels. This was really a challenge.”

Despite the numerous challenges and technical difficulties this project poses, Nabil Akiki has no doubt about its importance, not just as a business venture for SKAI Real Estate Development, but for the wider construction industry in Dubai.

IN PICTURES: Viceroy Dubai Jumeirah Village under construction

For all its complexity, the project’s design has a number of sustainable and environmental benefits. Having received permits to build without height limitations, Akiki and his team were able to expand the construction vertically and create a building that he likens to a “breathing sponge”.

“We’ve done, in collaboration with the consultant, a lot of studies for the air circulation – how the ventilation is happening all over this rotating void. The results are amazing. The temperature is cooled by one to two degrees by the natural ventilation of the building.

“Lighting is another benefit. There’s natural lighting coming in. You have daylight, but it’s not direct sunlight. [Look at] the benefits of these elements – natural light, ventilation and also the quantity of the gardens. If you take the sum of all the gardens in the building and you spread them out, it’s bigger than a park! It’s a vertical park that has been built into a building. It’s like merging conventional residential apartments into a park. That’s what the green regulations everywhere look for,” he asserts.

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Given the odds faced by the entire team in bringing this hugely impressive project to life, it’s fair to ask if at any point they ever thought it would not actually come to fruition.

“No, never,” is the categorical response from Akiki. “I was fully convinced – from the first moment – that it was doable, being a developer and an architect with more than 20 years of experience.”

“This is not the first time we’re exploring the outdoor space. If you see the project on the Palm, the outdoor space is very visible and it constitutes a major part of the design. Also, in Jumeriah Village, there are three or four buildings that are purely residential, and the optimisation of the outdoor space is there as well.

“It’s always been on my mind, and I’ve carried it through all the designs that we do as developers. But with this concept, I felt that ‘Yes, I’ve done it’. Before, it was like they were trials, but in this one, it’s happened. When I saw it materialised in a small model in my hands, I was pretty sure about it!”

Project stats

Project Name: Viceroy Dubai Jumeirah Village
Project Developer: SKAI Real Estate Development
Project Contractor: China State Construction Engineering Corporation (ME)
Construction cost: $150 million
Total area: 6,000sqm
Total built-up area: 150,000sqm
Height: 60 storeys
Project Type: Mixed-use hospitality and residential

The Middle East is all abuzz with excitement about smart cities – and rightfully so! Economic, social and technological factors have converged to make the region prime and ready for wide-spread Smart City developments. Design and planning of these cities of tomorrow are already underway, with governments in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar already solidly backing such initiatives.

As the region ushers in this new era of advancement, much has been predicted and promised about the integration of ICT in every aspect of the completed city developments. There is, however, no reason the benefits of technology cannot be leveraged much sooner than that – at the construction phase itself, where mobility can streamline operations.

The computing capabilities of mobile devices have advanced to a level that has made them capable of aiding the planning, designing and building phases. But turning mobility into an effective tool requires not only computing power but also connectivity. And at job-sites, wired connections are not feasible and cellular networks are not always available. A strong case can therefore be made for developers to use Wi-Fi solutions. These are not only easy to install and manage, but are now also affordable and rugged enough to see deployment in harsh construction environments.

Facilitating workflow

It isn’t uncommon for construction workers to still rely on paper documentation. Besides being cumbersome to transport and maintain, these documents need to be regularly updated, often at the site itself. With the introduction of tablet devices, mobile project management has emerged as a worthy replacement for age-old methods. Coupled with the broad ecosystem of feature-rich mobile applications and the ability to draw from vast amounts of remotely stored data and cloud services, these devices are capable of granting contractors, engineers and supervisors access to blueprints, schematics and other vital documents. Moreover, with the ability to instantly push updates to all members working on the project, mobile computing devices can aid collaboration and revolutionise the building information modelling (BIM) process in real time.

With site-wide high-speed wireless connectivity for all mobile devices, workers gain the ability to transfer high volumes of data back and forth between each other and HQ. This significantly streamlines communications, while cutting costs and improving operational efficiency. It also has attractive green side-effects, as staff no longer have to make regular trips to and from HQ.

Enabling asset tracking and better inventory

At job-sites, company assets are a major investment and the progress of construction is heavily reliant on their functionality. Heavy equipment such as cranes, bobcats and cement mixers are often required to be left on-site overnight. This makes them a prime target for theft. Asset tracking technologies help monitor equipment in remote locations and automatically detect and report suspicious behaviour. These systems can also determine utilisation of expensive equipment to help supervisors determine if it is being over- or underutilised.

Developers also benefit from automated maintenance schedules, logs and reports. Cheap and easy RFID technology makes automation of inventory management possible. By knowing in advance which materials will soon run out, construction companies can anticipate and avoid material shortages, eliminating losses in productivity.

All these systems can only be deployed on a robust Wi-Fi platform. Connectivity is becoming essential to procurement, logistics and workforce planning.

Site security

Another vital area of a construction site where mobile technology can be applied is video surveillance. Not only does this enable better collaboration and remote supervision, it is essential to site security. High-speed connectivity for robust and cost-effective camera equipment means ready availability of high definition video, making both identification and collaboration easier. These video systems are also a key part of asset tracking systems.

Assessing Wi-Fi solutions for the construction site

The challenge for the developer is to find a robust enterprise-class WLAN that is affordable in terms of capital expense and operational overhead. While construction companies may be staffed with savvy IT professionals at headquarters, they have limited resources and RF expertise at remote locations. Consequently, they must use mobility solutions that are simple to set up, highly reliable and can be managed centrally. While portable enough to be transposed from one site to another, these systems must also offer enterprise-grade WLAN functionality.

As construction integrates more deeply with IT, network uptime will become an increasingly important factor. It is therefore prudent to invest in network management tools to provide maximum network availability. Software that periodically backs up all device configurations on the network is simple but extremely useful.

Finally, developers must also invest in training personnel in new technologies. To ensure a smooth transition from traditional methods to the modern mobile construction site, it is best to ensure that all team members are well-versed in and comfortable with all aspects of mobile technology. Once this has been achieved, smart construction will usher in the era of the smart city.

Ammar Enaya is general manager of Aruba Networks Middle East, an HP Company.

Arabian Gulf projects worth almost $3 trillion are boosting demand for BIM technology in the region, says technology firm Tekla Building & Construction.

“Counting both ongoing and planned construction projects, the GCC’s construction pipeline totals $2.8 trillion, especially in mixed-use mega-developments, airports and seaports, and transportation infrastructure,” the company said in a statement, quoting figures from Deloitte.

“In anticipation of this growth, architects, engineers, contractors, and real estate companies are posting strong demand for building information modelling (BIM) software to create 3D constructable models that can enhance collaboration, visibility, and efficiency across the design, build, and operate stages of projects.”

Dubai Municipality recently expanded the mandate for using BIM for a wider range of projects, including all government buildings, and smaller projects that are at least 20 storeys tall.

“The Middle East is seeing nationwide transformation in construction innovation, with projects for mega-events such as World Expo 2020 in Dubai and 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar stretching design boundaries. Advancing government BIM mandates further demonstrate the Middle East’s desire to be on par with global innovators in the construction field,” said Paul Wallett, area business director at Tekla Middle East.

To strengthen its grasp on the technology, Tekla’s parent company Trimble acquired Norwegian firm Vianova, which provides BIM software for infrastructure design.

“Further integrating with Trimble in 2016 will help bring us closer to our customers in the Middle East. From BIM to holographic technology to real estate management software, we’ll deliver best practices in technology to help the Middle East’s architecture, engineering, and construction firms deliver on innovation agendas,” said Wallett.

Tekla’s BIM software Tekla Structures 21 and Tekla Structural Designer, along with Tekla BIMsight, an open BIM viewer, and Tekla Field 3D for viewing BIM models on smartphones and tablets, will be showcased at Tekla’s exhibit at The Big 5.

Contractors in the UAE are yet to understand the full potential of building information modelling (BIM), and need to ‘breathe a little’ amid a regional construction boom, a leading expert says.

With Dubai Municipality mandating BIM for large construction projects, there has been a scramble to implement the technology, says Paul Wallett, area business director at Tekla Middle East.

But contractors need to analyse the full benefits of BIM, Wallett told MEConstructionNews.com at The Big 5 exhibition in Dubai.

“Education is still the paramount thing that we’re doing. Contractors are still, in a lot of respects, exploring what BIM means to them as individual businesses. What we’re trying to highlight, as a solutions driven BIM provider, is to try and find solutions that are fit for purpose,” he said.

“People do rush in, we hear the word ‘mandates’, and obviously the revised BIM mandate came out earlier this year, and again the same questions came up. People need to breathe a little and they need to understand a little bit more about what they need for their own deliverables.”

With construction projects worth $2.8 trillion in the pipeline in the GCC, Wallett said that the industry needed to prepare itself to be more transparent, or it would struggle to push forwards with the collaboration desired by contractors.

“What does hold collaboration back are people’s fear of litigation and the ramification of legal issues,” he explains. “What it hinges on, certainly in this region, is having contractual documents that allow people to work in integrated project delivery.

“Will that ever happen in a strong way in this region? That’s difficult to say,” he said.

Participation at this year’s The Big 5 International Building & Construction Show, which kicks off on Monday, is set to rise 6% to 85,000 participants, organisers said.

The Middle East’s largest construction show is expected to include participants from across the world, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, India, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Egypt and Pakistan the top countries by representation.

A strong European presence is also expected at the trade show, with Italy, Germany, Spain, Greece, and the UK ranked among the top exhibitor countries.

TOPIC: The Big 5
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A total of about 3,000 exhibitors will demonstrate construction products at the 2015 edition of The Big 5, which runs from November 23 to 26 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

“While other events in the region may focus on real estate or property development, The Big 5 spans the entire construction industry, from inception to design and construction,” said Nathan Waugh, Event Director of the two co-located shows, Middle East Concrete and PMV Live.

“With tighter budgets and greater demand on profit margins, the chance to be able to witness products, technologies, heavy machinery, and other equipment is important,” he added.

Middle East Concrete and PMV Live will feature 75 free CPD-certified workshops focusing on a range of topics including green building certification, sustainability, business intelligence, design and architecture, affordable housing, and technology in construction.

Technology in focus

With nearly $3 trillion worth of projects in the pipeline in the GCC, contractors should look to adopting construction software to ensure swift delivery, industry experts said ahead of The Big 5.

Governments also seem to be realising the importance of technology in construction, as illustrated by the Dubai Municipality recently expanding the mandate for using building information modelling (BIM) for a wider range of projects, including all government buildings and projects of at least 20 storeys tall.

“The Middle East is seeing nationwide transformation in construction innovation, with projects for mega-events such as World Expo 2020 in Dubai and 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar stretching design boundaries. Advancing government BIM mandates further demonstrate the Middle East’s desire to be on par with global innovators in the construction field,” said Paul Wallett, Area Business Director, Tekla Middle East.

Other significant projects in the region using BIM include the Abu Dhabi Midfield Terminal Building in the UAE; the Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies and Lusail Multipurpose Sports Hall in Qatar; and the King Abdullah Financial District in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Relationships are complex more often than not, and require constant communication to keep things functioning smoothly. In the construction world, a high level of communication between key disciplines is crucial because it not only keeps a building standing, but fully operational as well.

As the years roll on, towers in cities are getting bigger, and these complex developments have resulted in consultants paying closer attention to the relationship between architectural features, structural framework and the integration of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.

While collaborative work on any project is key and dependent on people, true collaboration only happens when all participants have the right mindset, points out Andrea Scotti, director of Abu Dhabi at Burohappold.

“Collaboration is something you must go through on every single project because there are several disciplines, several aspects and thus competing priorities between the different stakeholders. It’s about people embracing the client’s vision for the project, understanding the parameters or key performance indicators [KPIs] that are important for each stakeholder, and then actually going above and beyond the standard scope of service to make it all happen.

“In my opinion, success is based on people. The more people understand that any project is a complex process of continuous adjustments, the better the collaboration is with the different team members, which ultimately results in a better outcome.”

Projects these days are also an opportunity for different disciplines to learn from one other, adds Melkan Gursel at Tabanlioglu Architects.

“Interdisciplinary design is to challenge and to teach each other. Mixed-use projects, high-rises are complex constructions. In addition, experimental buildings or the extreme structures designed to be impressive need to be designed together with engineers.”

When it comes to MEP, providing the structural engineer with the initial calculations for elements like the size of tank for water and the number of transformers required for electricity is important. Nabil Shafa Amry, manager of MEP at Lacasa, says, “The first step in MEP design involves calculating the scope of services required from us as a whole. This means summing up the quantity of water required for domestic use and the fire reserve, as well as the total electrical load and air conditioning.”

“Based on the quantity of water needed for domestic use and the fire reserve, I can give the structural engineer the size of the tank. However, we only decide the capacity of the tank depending on whether it’s above the ground or below. It then goes to the architect, who along with the structural engineer designs the dimensions, space requirement and where to fit it in.

“The same goes for electricity. We estimate the load, and based on that we know how many transformers or substations are needed and the size of them. Once this is done, the architect decides where to accommodate it. As per DEWA requirements, the substation should be located close to a municipal road, so the architect loses some area from the facade for the substation.

“Finally, the third piece of information we need to provide is the air conditioning. ACs are either in-house machines and chillers or district cooling, which needs an energy transfer station [ETS]. This station has a certain size depending on the load of the AC.

“We give the architect the size and he takes a call on where to put it. Then the structural engineer designs the slab based on the sizes of the equipment of the ETS as well as the entry and exit for the water pipe. But to do all of this, we have to work as a team.”

Integrating the demands of the MEP division is a vital part of any building’s functionality and safety. Demands are varied, but as Scotti points out, the focus should be on delivering an integrated final product and not only a well-executed structural or MEP design.

“With the final goal in mind, it is then clear that different disciplines are pretty much competing for space in a very organic way, almost like a body forming with bones giving it structure and then blood vessels and nerves forming around them.

“It is about integrating the different aspects of the design and not merely accommodating the demands of other designers. It is about combining the key aspects of every discipline into a coherent final product. We call this Integrated Design.”

Syed Tauheedullah, senior lead structural designer at Lacasa, lays out the MEP requirements. “Some demands from the MEP division are just the location and the loads. For example, the water tanks, the substation and also the AC machines that need to be installed, for which we have to make stands.”

“It’s the duty of the structural engineer to make the foundation, and we have to ensure that the vibrations coming from these machines do not affect the comfort of the tenants and people working in the building.”

Buildings must also exhibit a strong connection between architecture and structure, and thus balancing structure with the vision of the architect is needed. Scotti notes that there has always been a healthy tension between form and function, and the best outcome happens only when they are integrated into one final concept.

“We will not successfully deliver on the architect’s vision by simply forcing a structural solution into the architectural vision and vice-versa. It is about integrating the key architectural aspects into the structural solution, and the key structural functions into the architectural solution.”

Tauheedullah adds that there are plenty of examples where the structural engineer has to work around the design envisioned by the architect. He remembers one project in particular where the architect wanted the structure to be completely glass and recalls how he worked around it.

“For a very high or tall elevation of glass you need to provide an expansion zone which needs to be hidden, so I had to recommend a location for it. Now glass is a brittle material that cannot sustain heavy wind loads and other loads, so we had to build support features from the inside. This had to be coordinated with the architects so that they were hidden from the tenant, and we had to ensure that all he would see is a nice glass room and not the ugly support.”

Over the years, the understanding between these three divisions has grown, and engineers are now more mindful of an architect’s needs. “In recent times, engineers claim to be designers as well, so they are expected to find creative and innovative solutions according to the design. Moreover, they may inspire the design through their technological abilities,” says Gursel.

“I believe that with this recent development, engineers are better able to understand and accommodate the vision of architects, as they have an understanding of the design process and how to feasibly implement this into the structure.”

The role of a structural engineer requires him to fully understand the role of every other discipline so that each activity is synchronised and happens in a timely manner. The same reasoning and accommodation is also required by the architects and MEP teams.

Amry says that it all boils down to professionalism and coordination. “The role of the structural engineer is vital in coordination with us. Sometimes, we may change the location of a cut-out or a shaft, and the structural engineer takes up the challenge of how to solve this structural element.”

Gursel adds, “The design process is not limited to architecture. It is a collaboration between urban planners, traffic consultant, computational scientists, chemical engineers, sociologists and many other imperative factors, and structural engineers are a key member of this big team.”

Technology and the use of new tools like building information modeling (BIM) considerably enhance production and coordination between different aspects of design. “The really interesting aspect of BIM is the digital platform, which allows a much easier exchange and collection of data. At the end of the day, in its simplest form, BIM is a database where all the information about a building or about a development is saved and then made available for everyone to use,” says Scotti.

“The potential of this is huge, as it could completely change the way we structure our industry.”

Apart from being a physical entity, a project is a complex environment, Scotti continues, because of different stakeholders, people and their interests. He says that people, in fact, are one of the biggest challenges when working together. “It is the interaction with people that either makes things very easy or very difficult, and once again it is about people, their mind-set and their approach.”

“In terms of difficult projects to coordinate on, I would say that a few years ago this would have been technical in nature, related to complex structures or geometry. Nowadays, technology is there to help reduce these complexities.”

Gursel adds, “For an architect, one of the challenges is having your vision compromised. There are times we need to realign our vision due to some deterring aspects; however, often it is just as simple as having the team comprehend the vision and finding the best way to implement this into the structure. I believe communication is the key here.”

The scope of structural engineering and its relationship with other disciplines is evolving, and with the integration of technology adds more value to a project.

Scotti concludes: “Good structural engineering must adapt in order to become a dynamic process that integrates the needs of all the other disciplines, the client’s visions and also the interactions of the end users with the final and built design. Obviously, BIM will be a huge enabler of this transformation as it will make disciplines (including structures) just different facets of integrated design.”

Tauheedullah adds that structural engineering will continue to be the backbone of a project. “After all, it is we who make the building stand and who accommodate the vision of the architect as well as the safety of the public. At the same time, we have to be economical with what we do. Structural engineering is required even if you want to put something small on the roof. If you put it in the wrong location, it will cause a lot of vibrations and other problems.”

“The boundaries are dissolving in this era, so it’s got to be a genuine collaboration where all parties support, challenge and question each other. This evolving relationship will only strengthen and better the relations between the two,” Gursel concludes.

Experts from across the GCC’s construction industry will gather at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai on November 1st to discuss the future of building information modeling (BIM) in the region.

Held by CPI Media Group’s Construction Division, the Middle East BIM Summit 2016 will bring together speakers and panellists from across the region to discuss and debate the pressing issues facing the industry.

With an anticipated audience of around 250 guests, this first edition of the ME BIM Summit will explore the future of BIM usage in the region. With implementation case studies, panel discussions and keynote presentations that cover a variety of themes, attendees will be educated about what they can expect over the coming years, how they can realise a return on investment (ROI) and enjoy the many other benefits that BIM brings to an organisation.

Panel speakers will range across the sectors involved with BIM, including senior level government officials, BIM implementation experts, software developers and senior leadership from construction contractor and consultant companies.

Also included in the one-day summit is a CPD workshop that will allow attendees to further enhance their knowledge of BIM and contribute towards their continuous personal development.

MEConstructionNews.com is also part of CPI Media Group.

VISIT THE MIDDLE EAST BIM SUMMIT 2016 WEBSITE HERE

If you’re a consultant, you are regularly faced with major challenges, one of which is decision-making. Delays and rework caused by late decisions made by your team, the client or stakeholders pose a significant risk for construction projects.

We’re in the business of building. Private and government clients procure infrastructure and building projects expecting a return on their investments. Market conditions are entering a tough period for the GCC. During 2016, GDP growth is half what it was in 2012 and will continue to hover at around 3.0%. Government revenue is dropping but populations are growing. While across the GCC there is a project pipeline for construction and transport infrastructure valued at $705 billion, the already crowded supply chain has to find more ways to reduce risk while still delivering competitively and safely.

Immersive Technology (ImT) is an emerging solution for engaging audiences in construction projects, helping collaborators experience their project at the human scale and intuitively interact with spatial information. IT vendors are supplying data management and visualisation tools to help collaborators understand their projects as well as the impact of their decisions.

Digital design is a norm in the construction industry and offers opportunities for stakeholders to reduce risk and costs. ImT is the missing piece for clients and stakeholders to review this digital data, providing spontaneous ways to interact with it.

ImT is an umbrella term for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), virtualisation, mixed reality and other interactive experiences. Virtual reality is a visual and aural experience using a headset covering the user’s complete field of vision, giving the experience of being entirely wrapped in a digital environment. Augmented reality imposes digital content onto the real world by using a smartphone, a headset or other projection hardware. Digital content can comprise 3D models, animations or multi-media. Other ways to engage with digital content include immersion projection caves which are three (or more) sides of a room with 3D projection and head tracking to provide a life-like experience similar to VR but without a headset.

Immersive technology provides value for all stakeholders during every stage of the construction lifecycle. Masterplanners use visualisation for public consultations and stakeholder interfacing. During this stage, clients communicate their plan, garner approvals and engage consultancy services. Virtual and augmented realities are fantastic engagement tools, leveraging the web to spread content. In the early design stages, clients and consultants work back and forth, realising the design intent and solidifying the physical form of the project. Virtual reality also provides an interface to understand the breadth of a project for final users, while providing a digital meeting space for collaborators to work together.

Contractors face different challenges, working within a defined scope and budget to deliver projects on time. On large projects, the major challenge for all parties is understanding and quantifying the volume of work. Easily quantifiable and understandable projects give confidence to the client. Delivery of the project has its own challenges, and contractors typically need to further develop the design as well as deliver the project. This is where immersive technology helps contractors visualise and integrate models when bidding. They can also leverage the spatial data during the delivery phase. Users and facility managers use AR as a way of finding inspection data where it’s needed.

Infrastructure stakeholders differ from private development stakeholders. During the early stages, the client and statutory authorities are recipients of the design data, whereas in later stages the contractor and technical contributors such as structural engineers are recipients. Immersive technology is the perfect tool for both stages, enhancing traditional drawings, renderings and documentation. In developments for private clients, use of design data also changes from concept to schematic design. The client remains custodian and uses the data to communicate, conceptualise and quantify design development. Typically, the client engages a third party to manage transfer and use of data. Immersive technology allows non-construction professionals to review, evaluate and quantify parts for the developing data set.

Digital delivery is here to stay and adoption is extending across all markets, including construction. We are entering the period of virtual reality, normalising the use of headsets to explore digital models. Apple, Microsoft, Qualcomm, Samsung, Facebook, Google and other digital giants are heavily investing in the development and promotion of immersive technology in an attempt to revive a stagnant mobile industry, as well as create new ways of selling ImT services.

In 2017, we are likely to see a maturing of virtualisation technology with ‘mixed reality’ devices capable of fully immersive experiences as well as augmented experiences. The entertainment industry sets the standard for computer visualisation and interactivity – achieving this level of realism is challenging in the construction industry. Movies and games sell millions of copies, but immersive experiences are procured and consumed by a much smaller group. Immersive technology leverages 3D models developed for traditional visuals and animations, providing innovative and additional ways to interact with the same content.

Within the construction industry, Building Information Modelling (BIM) projects provide a perfect platform for use of immersive technology across the project lifecycle. BIM implies the use of data-rich 3D models with increasing levels of development during design progression. Immersive technology integrates into every stage, from concept through to bidding and tendering, to documentation, supervision and operation.

A BIM project involves digitally savvy collaborators, so VR and AR are a natural extension for all parties. ‘Instant VR’ allows designers to explore their schemes with low visual fidelity and instantly accessible PC hardware typically found in engineering offices. High-quality visuals and interactivity requires additional data embedded in the BIM and high-end hardware to deliver. To leverage BIM data fully and integrate immersive technologies, the use of virtualisation must be identified by the client at an early stage.

Immersive technology reduces risks and costs involved with design, programme, construction management, procurement and operation – encompassing the full construction lifecycle. Immersive technology is scalable, from simple cardboard VR viewers to million-dollar holographic rollercoaster simulation. This year will see VR become mainstream for gamers and early adopters. In the near future, we will see the growth of immersive technology into a viable media experience for a range of audiences, benefiting all collaborators in the construction industry.

Charles Dunk is Associate Director, Immersive Technologies, UAE & Oman at Aecom

The GCC market for interior contracting and fit-outs, based on the approximate number of projects completed in 2015, is estimated to have been a massive $7.06 billion last year. And the market is expected to grow 25.62% to $8.87 billion by the end of 2016, based on the projects expected to be completed by the end of this year.

These figures from the January 2016 edition of the GCC Building, Construction and Interiors Market review by Ventures are indicative of the growing importance of fit-out contracting as a market segment in the construction industry.

With budgets belts tightening in the region as oil prices continue to remain in a lull, developers and owners are increasingly looking to get more bang for their buck. There is a renewed emphasis on refurbishment as owners look to retool existing structures to serve new needs and demands, while the introduction of green building ratings and codes has forced a change in mind-sets across the industry.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the fit-out and interiors contracting market. Long considered the step-children of the construction world, fit-out contractors are now asserting their dominance and vitality in a market increasingly in need of their services.

As so often in the Middle East, Dubai is a barometer for this change in perception, with Expo 2020 sparking a surge in development, particularly in the hospitality and retail markets. However, this growth is not limited to Dubai and the UAE, with markets like Saudi Arabia and Qatar also showing significant increases in market share between 2015 and 2016. In fact, the Kingdom, with its heavy investment and social infrastructure programmes, has the largest market share of the big three in the GCC, followed by the UAE and Qatar. Kuwait is also slowly catching up with Qatar in terms of interiors and fit-out spend.

“Clearly the growth rate for the interior fit-out market was maintained and even accelerated in 2016,” says Ravikumar KS, executive director – International Operations at S&T Interiors and Contracting. “At S&T, we’re anticipating good opportunities in primary markets like Oman, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar (in view of 2020 and 2022 respectively). Our projects reflect this trend, as we’re executing work at hotels in Oman, along with retail packages and wooden panelling and doors for Muscat International Airport. So far, 2016-2017 has been positive.”

He adds that the hospitality market is expected to pick up pace, with three- and four-star hotels likely to compete with a saturated luxury hotel segment. This will offer increased opportunities to fit-out contractors in the region, given the need for budget and business hotels to have high-quality finishes and interiors, at reasonable prices.

Dimitri Papakonstantinou, managing director of Plafond, a multi-disciplinary firm that specialises in fit-out, adds that while the fit-out industry faced some uncertainty in 2016, this reflected a wider trend in the construction market.

Citing oil prices and the slowdown of the world’s major economies as major contributing factors to this uncertainty, Papakonstantinou says that contractors in the GCC should consider themselves fortunate to be positioned in a region that is still very active compared to many other parts of the world.

“During the preparation of our budget for the financial year 2016-2017, we did anticipate the effect the global uncertainty would have on growth. Although we did still budget to grow during this financial year, our growth was slightly slower than the two preceding years. To date we have been achieving our budgeted turnover and profit month-on-month, so I am pleased that we are on target to achieve a growth of around 17%,” he says.

“Regionally, we have seen the most activity in the Dubai market, which is where the majority of our works are currently carried out.”

This market outlook is reflected by the likes of Laurent Farge, general manager of ALEC Fit-Out, and Marcos Bish, managing director of Summertown Interiors. They both tell Big Project ME that while conditions in the market are challenging, there is considerable scope for optimism, particularly in Dubai.

“If we look at 2016, it’s very similar to 2015. I think you can look at it in from the point of view of being a cycle. We’re currently at the bottom of the cycle, I feel. I’m expecting, and hoping, that towards the end of 2016 we’ll get out of that dip and things will start to pick up again. This is something we’ve been anticipating over the last two years, in fact,” says Bish.

“This year is not much different to last year, however, in that we see a lot of activity in the market. Our estimation team is very busy all the time. But the only thing we don’t see is projects being awarded quickly. If we go back to two or three years ago, you could price a project and usually within one or two months, you either won it or lost it.”

Bish puts this down to the decision-making process becoming more considered at the client level. Given the emphasis of value for money, decisions are now often made by committee, with sign-off eventually coming from the board or managing director. Quite often, tenders submitted get rejected as they don’t meet the approved budgets, which means the contract goes up for another round of bidding, or contractors are asked to value engineer their bids.

Complicating matters even further is that developers may decide to put projects on hold, or cancel them entirely, until market conditions are more favourable. This creates issues for fit-out contractors, as their estimating teams are very busy but projects are quite slow to drop.

Laurent Farge explains that with the market becoming very price-sensitive, fit-out contractors must be able to differentiate between offering value and being the lowest bidder, if they want to be successful and competitive.

“I believe that they [developers and clients] have found that fit-out contractors can bring alternatives to the table. At the moment, what we see is that when we price a project as per specification, most of the time we’ll have to reduce the price. Let’s say that we go into a tender and price a job as per specification. Usually we’ll have to go down by about 20% or 25%, meaning that we’d be higher by about 25% of the client’s budget.

“This is what is happening. A client will give a budget to an interior designer, then the interior designer will work it out, and then, most of the time, they’ll achieve the look, but not the money that the client wants to pay. So then this is where we start to offer alternatives, such as value engineering and all that.”

Papakonstantinou adds that one of the other major challenges facing fit-out contractors in the current market is a lack of time spent detailing the design and understanding the costs involved. This inevitably leads to delays during the execution of the work, which only serves to exacerbate the problems.

“In general, I believe that contractors are required to take extensive risks during tight estimation timeframes, with sometimes incomplete documentation. Combined with sometimes extensive changes that the client requests during the construction of the project, this can lead to delays in completion, works carried out of sequence and additional costs – often to the contractor.”

In order to combat these issues, Farge says ALEC Fit-Out has made a point of selecting and targeting the right projects, and urges other contractors to follow suit.

“Doing due diligence on clients, as well as understanding the consultant team working on the project, are key considerations for us prior to bidding for work. We believe that we’re one of the best in the market, but we don’t want to be the cheapest. We want to offer our clients a value-for-money proposition, a fair price that the client is happy with.

“Obviously, we need to be much more aggressive from a procurement point of view, and we all need to make sure that we spend the right amount of resources on a project. What we expect now is that sometimes a project manager will have to do more than what he used to do. We try to put in the right management for a project, and we try to make sure that we’re competitive. Compared to other companies, we’re quite expensive, so we need to make sure that our guys do more than what others do,” he asserts.

This sort of attitude fosters repeat business; Marcos Bish believes establishing a relationship with repeat customers is crucial to the success of any fit-out contractor in the market today. He estimates that 50% of Summertown Interior’s business comes from repeat business, which highlights the importance he places on having happy customers.

“We always have business going from our clients,” he says. “The other 50% that we’re looking at is basically business development, where we need to get new projects. When we combine that with the environmental trends that we see, we also see that 50% of our business is green these days.”

“So for us, a growing market is the green fit-out. I would say that we always have 50% of repeat business, and that we couple that with our growing green market.”

Sustainability is indeed a rapidly growing segment in the GCC’s fit-out contracting market, especially in the wake of the introduction of green building codes and rating systems, such as the one recently introduced by Dubai Municipality.

“We see two types of green projects. One is the green projects that are designed and executed to be green, but have no certification. And then the other green business is where the client actually wants a certificate. 99% of the time, that is LEED certification.”

Ravikumar KS agrees, pointing out that sustainable solutions are gaining momentum in the market as the understanding around environmentally-responsible projects grows.

“We have successfully completed a number of projects across the region with the directive to obtain sustainability accreditation through LEED. Al Alila Jabal Akhdar Hotel, Oman is one of the key projects where we have helped our client achieve LEED. It is constructed according to LEED principles, and is the first hotel in the Sultanate of Oman to gain LEED Silver Certification.”

Bish says he quite often encounters clients who seem almost afraid of embracing sustainability, because they lack a complete understanding of what it entails.

“Sometimes it’s confusing and clients can be scared of going green, because it’s new and it sounds complicated. This is where we can come in. We can actually say, ‘No, it’s not more expensive. It is not complicated and you’re not the ones who have to do it. We are the ones who will drive it and deliver it to you,’” he explains.

“That is very important for the client to understand – that it’s the contractor who has to deliver a green project. Maybe in cooperation with other parties around the table, but even if nobody else cooperates, it’s still the contractor’s responsibility.

“I think, first of all, you have to make the client comfortable with that. Secondly, everybody always says that green is more expensive – this is again where we come in and say, ‘No. Not necessarily.’ If you start to put in water desalination systems in your backyard, if you go for solar energy which has a long payback period, then yes, it will cost money. But normal decent fit-out, by default – in our opinion – should already be green, without any additional costs.”

Another emerging trend Papakonstantinou has noticed is the increased use of BIM on projects. As a keen advocate of the technology, he hopes it will continue to spread through the region.

“At the moment some major projects are taking BIM on board. However, to fully benefit from the advantages of this, it has to be implemented from the outset of the project design and include all stakeholders, from the client to the designer to the contractor.

“Considering the complexity and sheer size of the projects carried out in the UAE, this will certainly be the way forward to minimise the impact that changes have on a project as well as highlight conflicts in the design early on,” he says, adding that Plafond is actively using BIM on some of the projects it is currently executing.

Finally, Farge has noticed an increased number of design build opportunities in recent months. Given the depth of ALEC Fit-Out’s resources, this is something he’s keen on exploring further.

“We have a collaborative approach to design/fit-out solutions, which has seen our team align with leading local and international consultants. Their creative flair and space planning capabilities are complemented by our detail development, coordinated finishing and value engineering capabilities, thus ensuring that the client receives the best possible solution, in line with their design brief and project budget,” he concludes.

Construction technology has seen tremendous progress over the years, with the introduction of building information modelling (BIM), the steady integration of virtual and augmented reality, and the use of converged security systems and drones on construction sites.

In fact, the benefits of these new systems and devices have been so well received that governments and developers are now beginning to acknowledge the effectiveness of implementing them while working on a development.

The first big shift that happened in the industry was the move from using 2D drawings and models for projects to using 3D technologies, says Suhail Arfat, head of Autodesk Consulting Middle East.

“We’ve noticed that there is a dependence on the usage of BIM, where it becomes easy to visualise, simulate and plan a project from its conceptualisation to implementation phase. BIM has also helped diverse project teams to collaborate on a real-time basis, minimising expensive reworks, significantly reducing project costs and improving efficiency.”

He says that he sees the onset of cloud and mobile technologies ushering in another disruption in the industry as it moves towards a new way of working and managing projects.

Speaking about the progress that BIM has seen, Charles Dunk, associate director of the Immersive Technology Group, UAE & Oman at AECOM, says that while it is well established in the architecture and building sectors, civil engineering is yet to fully embrace it across the construction lifecycle.

“Large infrastructure projects make use of geographic information systems (GIS) to collaborate with stakeholders and statutory authorities, so a GeoBIM approach needs to be established for these projects. Work using GeoBIM has started and is expected to grow over the next 10 years.

“Traditional BIM reduces risk for all parties and makes prefabrication a viable option, further reducing time and costs while improving safety and quality. However, consultants, clients and contractors around the world still have many steps to take before realising the dream that is PAS-1192 and Virtual Design and Construction (VDC).”

But it’s not just the implementation of BIM that deserves attention. Nour Kassassir, CIO at Parsons MEA, addresses the other aspects of construction technology that are used to optimise the lifecycle management of projects through team collaboration.

These include requirement management systems, mobile field tools for facility condition assessment (FCA), and project management information systems to monitor, measure and manage project schedules, scopes and budgets.

“We have used these technologies on many roads, bridges, airports, land development, buildings and water projects in GCC countries. Such technologies have proven themselves cost-effective by allowing consultants, contractors and the supply chain to bring the work where the production staff is, instead of bringing the production staff to where the work is.

“Moreover, mobile technologies that are specific to the construction industry, such as the field defects tracking system, have allowed field staff to be more productive. These technologies have made data available at the fingertips quite literally of project staff, which has enabled swift, fact-based decisions and has avoided unnecessary delays to project schedules.”

Mike Abrahim, buildings development director at Parsons MEA, also shares his thoughts on several other technologies that have been introduced in the last few years which he believes have been game changers for the industry.

“Technology like high definition surveying (HDS) scanning systems are capable of performing 360-degree corridor surveys at more than 50 miles per hour. In fact, combining HDS technology and drone surveying could certainly enhance what these tools can accomplish for the architecture, engineering and construction industry.

“Even things like 3D concrete printing could reduce the time required to produce a critical construction component by several orders of magnitude, from weeks to mere hours. Dubai was actually one of the first cities to experience such a technology earlier this year with the launch of the first 3D printed building.”

While increasing efficiency is one of the main objectives of new construction technology, improving the connection and coordination between those in the field and in the office is another. Arfat notes that with the onset of cloud and mobile technologies, the entire construction process is slowly moving towards becoming more virtual. In fact, he points out that in most markets, construction workers use mobile devices on-site to implement real-time improvements.

Kassassir also agrees that remote or offline access to the same construction data that can be accessed from the office is paramount to improving collaboration on construction projects.

“Ubiquitous access to the internet, wireless email, field and material inspection apps, defects tracking and management apps, GPS and wayfinding apps, and other construction field-mobile apps for iPads and tablets have been designed to optimise the collaboration process between construction field staff and the office staff.

“But the proper implementation of any technology requires the effective focus on the three Ps – people, process and platform. A mature, defined process, supported by well-trained people and enabled by a mature platform, will yield the inevitable result of effective connection and coordination between any collaborating parties, as well as construction field and office staff.”

Development of software and devices that could help improve health and safety on-site is another area of focus for specialists and developers. Arfat says that in addition to unmanned aerial vehicles becoming increasingly cheaper and easier to fly, they are now capable of carrying equipment ranging from small GoPros to more expensive digital SLRs and video cameras which help monitor construction sites.

“Autodesk is now utilising drones to help design and develop maps from an aerial perspective. In hindsight, a drone can capture an aerial perspective of a building, then Autodesk ReCap 360 can stitch the images together to form a 3D model, capturing the building’s exterior clearly,” he adds.

Dunk, however, stresses that when it comes to health and safety, one must not solely rely on technology. For him, the golden rules have always been eliminate, reduce, isolate and control.

“The best way to reduce accidents is to eliminate hazards. If the hazard can’t be removed, then exposure to them should be reduced. Hazards are isolated and controlled using personal protective equipment (PPE) or other methods. So the best way to reduce accidents is better procedures rather than better technology.

“An example is roof construction, where falls from height pose a big risk. To eliminate fall hazards, roofs are constructed at ground level and craned into position. HSE is a very human issue and while technology can help, education and procedures will always be important.

“BIM and 4D technologies help contractors plan their work effectively, if involved early in the design process. Immersive technology such as virtual reality (VR) can also be used for training. Augmented Reality (AR) can overlay data to the real world, possibly providing HSE information for site workers. However, the distraction could cause more issues than it fixes.”

Despite the rapid evolution of these gadgets and applications, construction technology faces a number of challenges. Kassassir says that perhaps one of the biggest roadblocks is that once an application is developed or launched, it takes a lot of time and effort to change.

“In today’s world, we need to be able to respond to changes in a timely manner and to provide solutions that suit our clients’ needs. By its very nature, construction technology requires time and financial resources to change; this might be one of the challenges that software developers need to take into account by always looking for ways to make technology respond quickly to customised needs.”

Adding to that point, Dunk says that open source software is putting pressure on software developers, which is why many companies are championing data storage and cloud computing, where the profits are high.

“Getting software developers to include features in their offerings that contradict their profitability is difficult. It is also challenging for software developers to work with their competitors, so communities that develop cross-platform file formats help bridge the gap.

“The bespoke nature of construction and projects makes it difficult for developers, consultants and software developers to predict future technology needs. BIM is a great tool for all players in the consultant-contractor-client-technology provider group to rally behind, and invent tools that drive innovation across the construction lifecycle.”

While the industry and developers need to find a way to iron out these issues, the expectations for future technology are exciting for construction professionals. The trio believe that the key is digitisation, and that in the near future the industry will see paper systems continue to be supplanted by digital systems.

“As computing power grows, we’ll see more complex structures and more efficient buildings. In the further future, use of carbon nanotubes, the Internet of Things, lightweight conducting polymers, quantum computing, meta-materials, artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles will generally shape humanity and the construction industry in unforeseeable ways,” Dunk concludes.

Promotional content supplied by Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, today announced the project finalists in the 2016 Be Inspired Awards program. The annual awards honor the extraordinary work of Bentley users advancing infrastructure design, construction, and operations throughout the world. Ten independent jury panels comprising distinguished industry experts selected the 54 finalists from more than 300 nominations submitted by organisations in 80 countries.

The finalists will present their innovative projects in front of their peers, the jurors, and the more than 100 members of the media at The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference, taking place Nov. 1-3 in London, U.K. This global gathering of leading figures in the world of infrastructure design, construction, and operations will feature:

• a series of thought-provoking keynotes by Bentley senior management as well as guest speakers comprising prominent industry thought leaders;
• interactive, invitation-only summits where attendees will explore the intersection of technology and business drivers, and how they are shaping the future of infrastructure project delivery and asset performance;
• informative industry forums featuring speakers from prominent organisations including Microsoft, KPMG, AECOM, Shell, Applied Research & Associates, Atkins, and Black & Veatch;
• the announcement and celebration of the Be Inspired Award winners at an evening ceremony and gala on Nov. 2; and

• Special Recognition Winners’ presentations on Nov. 3.

The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference is an ideal opportunity for management-level executives in architecture firms, engineering firms, construction companies, and government or owner-operator organisations responsible for the design, delivery, and/or operations of infrastructure to share best practices and meet infrastructure professionals from around the world. All those who submitted a nomination in the Be Inspired Awards program are also encouraged to attend.

Bentley Systems Chief Communications Officer Chris Barron said, “The Year in Infrastructure Conference promises to be a one-of-a-kind networking and learning experience for infrastructure leaders from around the world. Presentations and industry forums will highlight industry best practices and provide valuable insights on BIM advancements and innovations in technology that are helping improve project delivery and asset performance. The Be Inspired award presentations will showcase the year’s most outstanding advancements in global infrastructure. The conference is in London – a city famous for its distinctive skyline and landmark structures, many of which were designed and built by leading AEC companies with the help of Bentley software. We look forward to welcoming the many senior executives from infrastructure organizations around the globe who will convene at the Hilton London Metropole.”

The Be Inspired Awards finalists for 2016 are as follows:

Innovation in Asset Performance

• Danfoss – Facility Optimization and Energy Management – (Nordborg, Denmark)
• Emerson Process Management – Integrated Operations Center – (Austin, Texas, United States)
• SKA South Africa – MeerKAT – (Carnarvon, Northern Cape, South Africa)

Innovation in Bridges

• Guizhou Transportation Planning Survey & Design Academy Co., Ltd. – Guizhou Ping-Luo Expressway Pingtang Bridge – (Qiannan, Guizhou, China)
• MCC TianGong Group, Tianjin Corporation, Ltd. – BIM Technology Application in Bageng Bridge Project of Guangxi Baijing Expressway – (Baise City, Guangxi Zhuang, China)
• Ministerio Obras Públicas de Chile – Chacao Bridge – (Island of Chiloe, Llanquihue, Chile)

Innovation in Building

• China Aerospace Construction Group Co., Ltd. – Inner Mongolia Ethnic Minorities Cultural Sports Center – (Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China)
• Johnson Pilton Walker – 5 Martin Place – (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia)
• Morphosis – Hanking Center Tower – (Shenzhen, Guangdong, China)

Innovation in Construction

• GHD, Inc. – Ordot Dump Closure – (Ordot, Guam, United States)
• Insight-WFP – Houston Refinery – (Houston, Texas, United States)
• Shell Global Solutions International BV – Visibility into the Path of Construction for Prelude FLNG – (Goeje, South Korea)

Innovation in Government

• AECOM – Dholera SIR – (Dholera, Gujarat, India)
• Los Angeles Community College District – BuildLACCD – (Los Angeles, California, United States)
• Research and Design Institute for Urban Transportation “MosgortransNIIproekt” – Comprehensive Engineering Plan of the Road Infrastructure in Moscow – (Moscow, Russia)

Innovation in Land Development

• Beijing Shougang International Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. – Xishi Winter Olympics Square Project of Shougang Industrial Area Transformation – (Shijingshan, Beijing, China)
• Tract Consultants Pty., Ltd. – Phillip Island Penguin Viewing Platform – (Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia)
• Voyants Solutions Pvt., Ltd. – Feasibility Study and Associated Preliminary and Detail Designs in Secondary Cities and Agatare Informal Settlement – (Kigali, Nyarugenge, Rwanda)

Innovation in Manufacturing

• GEA Equipamentos e Soluções LTDA – Yeast Concentrate Evaporator – (São Paulo, Brazil)
• Tamco Switchgear Sdn. Bhd. (L&T Group of Companies) – Intelligent and Optimized Engineering of Control Systems – (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)
• Unipar Carbocloro – Polishing System for Mercury Abatement Tower – (Cubatao, São Paulo, Brazil)

Innovation in Mining

• Hatch – Export Lump Screening Study – (Whyalla, South Australia, Australia)
• OJSC Magnitogorsky Gipromez – Plate Rolling Shop – Continuous Hot-dip Galvanizing Unit – (Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia)
• Tetra Tech Proteus – Tanami Expansion Project – (Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia)

Innovation in Offshore

• LLC Volgogradnefteproekt – Management of Engineering Data During the Filanovskiy Field Development – (Astrakhan, Astrakhan Region, Russia)
• Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Ltd. – Re-qualification/Life Extension Study of Fixed Offshore Platform Structures – (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)
• Seaway Heavy Lifting – DSO Sonam Topside Installation – (Lagos, Nigeria)

Innovation in Power Generation

• Black & Veatch – Sewaren 7 Combined Cycle Project – (Woodbridge, New Jersey, United States)
• East China Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. of China Power Construction Group Corporation – Jinsha River Longkaikou Hydropower Station Project – (Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China)
• Northwest Electric Power Design Institute Co., Ltd. of China Power Engineering Consulting Group – Fuping Thermal Power Plant Engineering of Shenhua Shendong Power – (Weinan, Shaanxi, China)

Innovation in Project Delivery

• AECOM – R Line – (Aurora, Colorado, United States)
• Black & Veatch – Business Transformation – (Overland Park, Kansas, United States)
• Mott MacDonald Bentley – Mott MacDonald Bentley Project – (United Kingdom)

Innovation in Rail and Transit

• Banedanmark – The New Line, Copenhagen-Ringsted – (Copenhagen, Capital Region, Denmark)
• FUT-Sweco/Typsa JV – Metro Extension in Stockholm – (Stockholm, Sweden)
• Mott MacDonald, Ltd. – Northern Line Extension – (London, England, United Kingdom)

Innovation in Reality Modeling

• CH2M Fairhurst Joint Venture – A9 Dualling Program – (Glengarry to Dalraddy, Scotland, United Kingdom)
• City of Helsinki – Helsinki 3D+ – (Helsinki, Finland)
• Kano Laboratory, Waseda University, Obayashi Corporation – Automated Recognition of Work Progress at a Construction Site – (Tokyo, Japan)

Innovation in Roads

• Beta 2 Engenharia – Roundabout of Ribeirão Preto – (Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil)
• Costain Carillion Joint Venture – A5 – M1 Link, Dunstable Northern Bypass – (Dunstable, England, United Kingdom)
• Inspec Nederland BV – A27/A12 Ring Utrecht – (Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands)

Innovation in Structures

• Estaco S.A. – Oviedo Automatic Parking System – (Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia)
• RASANA Engineering Co., LLC – Nakheel Mall on Palm Jumeirah – (Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
• WSP Parsons Brinkerhoff – 22 Bishopsgate, London – (London, England, United Kingdom)

Innovation in Utilities and Communications

• Elia – Advanced Substation Design in a Managed Environment – (Brussels, Belgium)
• Hubei Electric Engineering Corporation – Miaoshan 220kV Secondary Transformer Substation – (Wuhan, Hubei, China)
• Snam – CARTESIO – Planning and Maintaining Nationwide Gas Transportation Network – (Milan, Italy)

Innovation in Water Network Analysis

• NJS Engineers India Pvt., Ltd. – JICA Assisted Ganga Action Plan – (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India)
• Roy Hill Iron Ore – Water Supply and Dewatering Network Optimization – (Pilbara, Western Australia, Australia)
• Sabesp – Modeling in Crisis – (São Paulo, Brazil)

Innovation in Water Treatment Plants

• GE India Industrial Private Limited – RO#3 & ZLD System – (Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, India)
• MWH UK – Woolston Water Treatment Works Redevelopment – (Southampton, England, United Kingdom)
• United Utilities – AMP6 – CDP – (Warrington, England, United Kingdom)

About The Be Inspired Awards Program and The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference

Since 2004, the Be Inspired Awards program has showcased excellence and innovation in the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure projects around the world. The Be Inspired Awards program is unique – the only competition of its kind that is global in scope and comprehensive in categories covered, encompassing all types of infrastructure projects. In the awards program, which is open to all users of Bentley software, independent panels of industry experts select finalists for each category. For additional information, visit www.bentley.com/BeInspired.

Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference is a global gathering of leading executives in the world of infrastructure design, construction, and operations. The conference features a series of presentations and interactive workshops exploring the intersection of technology and business drivers, and how they are shaping the future of infrastructure project delivery and asset performance.

Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference will include:

• The Project Delivery Summit (by invitation only)
• The Infrastructure Asset Performance Summit (by invitation only)

• The Building and Facilities Forum
• The Rail and Road Forum
• The Oil, Gas, and Chemical Forum

• The Utilities Forum
• The Visions for the Future Forum
• The Be Inspired Awards Ceremony

The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference Sponsors

• Platinum: Microsoft
• Gold: ARC Advisory Group, BNP Media, Civil + Structural Engineer, Construction Week, Engineering News-Record, Geospatial Media + Communications, Informed Infrastructure, New Civil Engineer, PennEnergy, com, SPAR 3D

For more details and a complete list of sponsors, including Silver level, click here.

Media Day

On Oct. 31, more than 100 journalists from leading media outlets around the globe will gather at the Hilton London Metropole for Bentley’s annual Media Day briefing. These journalists will also participate in The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference.

For additional information about The Year in Infrastructure 2016 Conference or to register click here. Follow us on Twitter @bentleysystems and follow the news leading up to this event with this hashtag: #YII2016. Like Bentley on Facebook: http://facebook.com/bentleysystems

About Bentley Systems

Bentley Systems is a global leader in providing architects, engineers, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators with comprehensive software solutions for advancing the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure. Bentley users leverage information mobility across disciplines and throughout the infrastructure lifecycle to deliver better-performing projects and assets. Bentley solutions encompass MicroStation applications for information modeling, ProjectWise collaboration services to deliver integrated projects, and AssetWise operations services to achieve intelligent infrastructure – complemented by worldwide professional services and comprehensive managed services.

Founded in 1984, Bentley has more than 3,000 colleagues in over 50 countries, more than $600 million in annual revenues, and since 2008 has invested more than $1 billion in research, development, and acquisitions.

Additional information about Bentley is available at www.bentley.com. For Bentley news as it happens, subscribe to an RSS feed of Bentley press releases and news alerts. Visit The Year in Infrastructure Conference website for highlights of Bentley’s premier thought-leadership event. To view a searchable collection of innovative infrastructure projects from the annual Be Inspired Awards, access Bentley’s Infrastructure Yearbooks. To access a professional networking site that enables members of the infrastructure community to connect, communicate, and learn from each other, visit Bentley Communities.

To download the Bentley Infrastructure 500 Top Owners ranking, a unique global compendium of the top public- and private-sector owners of infrastructure based on the value of their cumulative infrastructure investments, visit BI 500.

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More than 200 delegates from across the GCC gathered together on November 1, 2016, at the Jumeriah Beach Hotel’s Meyana Auditorium for the Middle East BIM Summit 2016 – organised by CPI Media Group.

Entitled ‘The Future of BIM in the GCC’, the inaugural summit brought together speakers and panellists from around the world to discuss and debate the issues and challenges facing BIM implementation in the region.

The full-day event was launched by Abdulredha Abu Al Hassan, Director of the Buildings and Facilities Department and Chairman of the RTA’s BIM Committee, who gave the keynote address and presentation to the assembled delegates.

Focusing on the RTA’s BIM Strategic Plan and Road Map, the keynote touched upon the authority’s achievements and future objectives for the implementation of BIM across all its projects.

“It is about implementing change across all industries. Another potential is its capability to lower the environmental impact of the construction sector, by reducing waste, cutting carbon footprint and improving energy performance and life-cycle management of the built assets. BIM is a key enabler [of this],” Mr Abdulredha Abu Al Hassan said during his speech, which outlined the RTA’s vision for Dubai and how BIM could help achieve it.

The Future of BIM Summit also hosted a number of other experts and executives from across the construction sector, with Richard Shennan, Mott MacDonald’s Group Practice Manager – Buildings and the Group BIM Champion, also presenting fascinating insights into the application of BIM for better business outcomes.

Three panel discussions were also held during the day, with each panel focusing on key aspects of BIM implementation and understanding. They were: ‘The Reality of BIM Implementation’; through to ‘The Future of BIM’ and finally; ‘BIM and MEP Engineering’.

Other notable presentations on the day were from Laura Smagin, Digital Information Manager Specialist in BIM, from Atkins, and from Charles Dunk, Associate Director, Immersive Technologies, UAE & Oman at AECOM.

Finally, the day was wrapped up with two CPD-certified workshops from RICS and CIOB. Attendees for these free-to-attend workshops gained an insight the pivotal technical issues that are influencing the way BIM is used in the GCC.

“For me, the resounding statement from today was that BIM is acting as a collaborator. We know that it’s the future. It’s not something that we’re not going to be able to do. It’s part of our industry now, and it’s a part of future,” said Chris Seymour, Chair of the ME BIM Summit 2016.

“In a way, it’s forcing us to finally collaborate as an industry, and I think that’s a really great thing,” he added in conclusion.

CPI Media Group would like to thank our partners and sponsors for the Middle East BIM Summit:

Mott MacDonald – Gold Sponsor
Autodesk, Egyptian Steel and Viewpoint – Featured Sponsors
CIOB, RICS, Dubai Economic Council, MEFMA, The BIM Hub and B1M – Partners

It’s fair to say the GCC construction industry has undergone something of a cultural revolution over the last half decade, with the aftermath of the financial crisis pushing companies to re-evaluate how they work and operate in tighter financial times. In the UAE, the biggest indication of this cultural shift has been the embrace of construction technology by the Dubai government, which has mandated the use of BIM on major construction projects.

This mandate has sparked a flurry of interest among contractors and subcontractors from across the GCC, with several unfamiliar with the technology and its applications, which go far beyond just design and planning. While this interest is certainly welcome, it also has led to a growing awareness that much more needs to be done to bridge the knowledge gap in the regional industry.

However, this is easier said than done, given the wide range of understanding and capabilities in the regional construction market. While the UAE may be making great strides in pushing forward with the use of software technology and processing in construction, markets like Saudi Arabia face significant challenges as contractors remain focused on cashflow concerns and payments – an understandable attitude, given economic conditions in the Kingdom.

Despite these challenges, Abdul Elbilly, CEO of International Engineering + Architecture Group, says Saudi Arabia is a market ripe for the introduction and use of construction technology. However, he tells Big Project ME that his firm is taking a rather different approach to the Saudi market.

“Our success in the digitisation process for design and construction comes from the fact that we don’t sell software or licences, rather that we’re implementers – we focus on the client’s output and we optimise the client’s existing infrastructure. Equally important is that we bring stakeholders closer to the projects, which in turns prompts an effective decision-making process,” Elbilly says as he explains the approach taken by his firm from its very first projects six years ago, to where it is today.

“When most digital providers were busy lecturing contractors and owners about BIM technology, we came to contractors with solutions about improving productivity and optimising our clients’ logistical infrastructure,” he recollects. “The clients felt comfortable with our approach as they were paying for output and not for licences and technology.”

In fact, Elbilly explains, his company ended up doing more digital projects in the Kingdom compared to its competitors, because it focused on the value proposition of digitisation rather than the technology itself.

“Our digital team integrates with the client’s project site; we blend with the client and become a part of the team and not an additional cost.”

Describing itself as an “Internet of Things VDC (virtual design and construction) provider”, IEAG is an Australian company with a Dubai hub, through which it provides BIM, construction and contract management to clients, with Saudi Arabia its biggest market.

“IEAG’s focus is on Saudi Arabia,” says Elbilly, speaking in his office at Dubai Internet City. “Digital FM is our core offering [in that market]. We’ve split our business 70%-30%, with 70% in the Asia Pacific region, with a focus on Australia, while also targeting Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Singapore is a good market for us with their standardisation and prefabrication, which is an area we’re mastering because we do the framework for fabrication.”

“Dubai is a hub for us, we bring in our product developers, planners and development managers from our global network to assist the team with product development, training and workshops. Dubai is an ideal platform for IEAG global initiatives and market access.”

Having first entered Saudi Arabia six years ago, the company has developed a digital collaboration platform that allows it to bring all the elements of design, construction, project and contract management together into one digital hub.

“We expanded our platform to digital planning and sequencing by rending project milestones, linking the platform to the schedule and reporting project progress in a 3D virtual environment. This allows the stakeholder to mitigate risk in real time and control both cost and time.

“Unfortunately, most contractors view schedule as a client requirement, with deliverables planned based on their cashflow and resources, and not as required per the contract. This process results in delays, more disputes and a confrontational relationship between client representatives and contractors.”

Given the changing dynamics in the construction market, Elbilly expects a unified approach to be increasingly prevalent in the coming years, with contractors now desperate to improve productivity and performance.

“Contractors are interested in productivity – they are now operating in a low-yield competitive environment and they don’t have the financial resources to invest in technologies. We form a partnership with our clients to cover the investment related to digitisation, while we let the contractor focus on what they do best,” he says, outlining IEAG’s business strategy.

“It might sound funny, but you can educate and inform the market by selling no digital. You don’t sell the technology of the platform; you sell the output of the platform. If their issues are BOQ validation, then you focus on BOQs. But how you do the modelling, it’s irrelevant to the client, so long as you give them the output that they want.

“We provide digital PMO – first we build a digital representation of the project, eliminate design clashes and discrepancies, and we integrate time into the model, while also working with the client on model validation. We then take the as-built site data and we enrich the model, and through various design templates, we feed the site output into the model,” he explains, adding that IEAG’s studio and on-site operations collaborate and share data in real time and speak one language.

Among the biggest challenges facing the construction industry in the Middle East is the structure of contracts. Elbilly is scathing in his assessment, highlighting how fragmented and self-preservative they tend to be, which does little to encourage the collaboration and cooperation vital for the industry.

“If you look at the structure of the contract in the Middle East, it’s the most fragmented contract. Everybody is trying to protect himself, even though they’re all working in the interest of the owner. I look at the project structure in the region, and it’s fragmented, it’s confrontational. When you look at BIM as a database, the accountability platform becomes integral to the delivery. We all have to collaborate from one source,” he asserts.

“Productivity is a chronic disease to the construction industry. Every other industry has moved forward – like manufacturing and fabrication, for example. The construction industry seems like it’s stalled in time. Typically, the main contractor’s role in the current market is to manage the contract. Improving site productivity without effectively managing the subcontractors will not bring benefit to the overall site performance. The integration delivery process is the key driver to improving productivity across the project delivery lifecycle.”

To that end, Elbilly explains that IEAG works to tailor technology and digitisation to suit the delivery methodology of each contractor it works with, in line with market trends. With its platform created to cope with a variety of challenges, he says the future is quite promising for the firm.

“The market is down in construction, but digitisation opens another door. If you optimise your virtual model, it’s unlimited in procurement, in operations and maintenance, in inventory tracking, in monitoring and in risk mitigation. It doesn’t even have to just be used for construction – restoration, renovation, expansion are all avenues for us.

“We know that Saudi Arabia is in a recession, and 2017 is likely to be no better. Maybe the recession will be a little deeper, but Saudi Arabia will always be the largest market, and if you look at the Kingdom’s budget now – I think it’s $240 billion to $300 billion – the bulk of it is for operational maintenance.

“Digitisation of operations and maintenance is our core business. We focus on facilities management, on IoT applications in a building, and we team up with companies that provide us with sensor technology. We link these sensors to the digital models as applicable and when required, and then we can show stakeholders the savings in operations and how we can optimise their assets.”

Finally, Elbilly points out that shifting economic forces in the region mean governments, owners and developers will now be exploring different ways to finance projects. As a result, construction technology of the kind IEAG offers is becoming ever more crucial to the health of the industry.

“The market is changing. PPP and BOOT will be the trend in project finance and operation. PPP is based on project lifecycle – it’s about optimising the operation of the built environment.

“Integrated project delivery processes will be a key factor in PPP’s success. Therefore, contractors, designers and operators will have to think about digital integration to work within the PPP model.

“Digital facilities management is an integral and core process of our platform. There are currently many millions of square metres of building without even the as-built record available. By us digitising these through laser scanning and drone technology, we can create a virtual model of the asset. This allows operators to manage the facilities cost-effectively, while the model itself can be used for renovation and expansion, if necessary.”

With governments and municipal authorities becoming more supportive of the use of technology in construction, Elbilly sees continued growth in usage and adoption within the industry, a trend that will only be of continued benefit to contractors, owners and developers, he insists.

“Government intervention and support can have a significant impact on the adoption of digital and integrated project delivery process.

“The US, UK and the Scandinavian countries are at the forefront of these national initiatives [and we’ve seen the results in those markets],” Elbilly points out.

“Any mandated digital application is a bonus to our processes and our platform. The more processes we digitise, the more we can centralise the delivery.

“This in turn provides one point of accountability. Digitisation and integration of the design and construction industry is having an amalgamation effect on the built environment, on project cost, fabrication, procurement, project management and even facilities management.

“By simplifying the planning process and visualising the milestones, contractors have now changed their attitude towards scheduling, because they can now see the visual impact of delays on their future cashflow and payment.

“With the plethora of information available from the digital sequencing, contractors have now started to look at integrated procurement processes in a new light,” he asserts confidently.

Held by CPI Trade Publishing’s Construction Division, The Middle East BIM Summit returns on November 1, 2017 with a mandate to look beyond BIM.

This year, expert speakers and panellists will bring into focus the evolution of construction technology as contractors, consultants and developers look to take the next step forward. Attendees will be treated to in-depth presentations, case studies and workshops from leading experts as they unveil how BIM and its related technologies can lead the way to improved efficiency and performance across the board.

Experts from across the GCC’s construction industry will gather at the Habtoor Grand Resort, Autograph Collection in Dubai on November 1st to discuss the future of building information modeling (BIM) in the region.

With an anticipated audience of around 250 guests, this second edition of the ME BIM Summit will explore the future of BIM usage in the region. With implementation case studies, panel discussions and keynote presentations that cover a variety of themes, attendees will be educated about what they can expect over the coming years, how they can realise a return on investment (ROI) and enjoy the many other benefits that BIM brings to an organisation.

Panel speakers will range across the sectors involved with BIM, including senior level government officials, BIM implementation experts, software developers and senior leadership from construction contractor and consultant companies.

Also included in the one-day summit is a CPD certified event and will include a workshop that will allow attendees to further enhance their knowledge of BIM and contribute towards their continuous personal development.

MEConstructionNews.com is also part of CPI Trade Publishing.

For further information, visit http://mebimsummit.com/

Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has been awarded the Building Information Modelling (BIM) certification by the British Standards Institute (BSI), making it the first government entity in the world to obtain the certification.

In a statement, the RTA said that the certifications obtained are: BIM Kite-Mark PAS 1192-2:2013, BS 1192-4:2014 and BS 1192:2007. Mattar Al Tayer, director general and chairman of the board of executive directors of the RTA, said that he was delighted at the RTA obtaining the certificate.

Highlighting the efforts taken by the authority to achieve the certification, Al Tayer paid tribute to the endeavours made to nurture an advance asset management environment.

“This certificate prompts us to enhance the effective communication between RTA officials and entities of relevance to our scope of business. Thus, it paves the way for taking non-conventional decisions and assists us in realising our interests in a short time in line with the Smart Government initiative.

“The initiative seeks to rank Dubai as the smartest city in the world using state-of-the-art techniques for achieving distinctive government performance,” he concluded.

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Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading global provider of comprehensive software solutions for advancing infrastructure, today announced the finalists in the 2017 Be Inspired Awards program. The annual awards honor the extraordinary work of Bentley users advancing infrastructure design, construction, and operations throughout the world. Ten independent jury panels comprising distinguished industry experts selected the 51 finalists from more than 400 nominations submitted by organizations in more than 50 countries.

The finalists will present their innovative projects to their peers, the jurors, industry thought leaders, and more than 120 members of the media as part of related infrastructure forums at The Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference, October 10-12 in Singapore at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre.

This gathering of leading professionals in the world of infrastructure design, construction, and operations will feature:

• thought-provoking keynotes by Bentley senior executives and prominent industry thought leaders
• live technology presentations from Bentley’s alliance partners – Microsoft, Siemens, Bureau Veritas, and Topcon
• opportunities for attendees to meet and have one-on-one discussions with awards finalists
• informative industry forums and panel discussions featuring speakers from Microsoft, Siemens, Bureau Veritas, Australia Road Research Board, Applied Research & Associates, Building and Construction Authority of Singapore, and more
• Be Inspired Awards finalists’ presentations on October 10 and 11
• The evening ceremony and gala featuring announcement of the Be Inspired Awards winners on October 12

The Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference is an ideal opportunity for management-level executives in engineering firms, architecture firms, construction companies, and government or owner-operator organizations responsible for the design, delivery, and/or operations of infrastructure to share best practices and meet infrastructure professionals from around the world. All those who submitted a nomination in the Be Inspired Awards program are also invited to attend.

Bentley Systems Chief Communications Officer Chris Barron said, “The Year in Infrastructure Conference is a one-of-a-kind networking and learning experience for infrastructure leaders from around the world. This year we have an unprecedented number of participants for the Be Inspired program, and are pleased to congratulate and acknowledge all of the participants for their excellent work and inspiring projects. Conference attendees will have the chance to meet the awards finalists, and see them present their projects, which represent this year’s most outstanding BIM advancements in global infrastructure.”

This year’s conference will be held for the first time in Singapore at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre, one of the most iconic buildings in Asia. The structural design of Marina Bay Sands was done by Arup and was Bentley’s 2010 Be Inspired Award winner for Innovation in Structural Engineering.

Mike Lee, vice president of sales, Marina Bay Sands, said, “Marina Bay Sands is honored to be the chosen venue for Bentley Systems’ first-to-Singapore conference. Our relationship with Bentley dates back to our construction days, as our iconic building was structurally engineered using Bentley Systems software. We look forward to welcoming Bentley and its delegates to our integrated resort to experience its multitude of business, leisure, and dining offerings under one roof.”

The Be Inspired Awards finalists for 2017 are as follows:

BIM Advancements in Bridges

• AECOM – Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge – (New Haven, Connecticut, United States)
• Arcadis-WSP/PB Joint Venture– Citylink Tulla Widening– (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
• Long Jian Road & Bridge Co., Ltd. – Heihe – Blagoveshchensk Heilongjiang River (Amur River) Road Bridge Project– (Heihe City, Heilongjiang Province, China)

BIM Advancements in Buildings and Campuses

• Morphosis – The Bloomberg Center – (New York, New York, United States)
• Shalom Baranes Associates – Cannon House Office Building Renewal – (Washington, District of Columbia, United States)
• WSP – 1 Blackfriars, London – (London, England, United Kingdom)

BIM Advancements in Construction

• China Construction Sixth Engineering Division, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin Tianhe-Cloud Building Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. – Sanya New Airport Reclamation Project – (Sanya, Hainan, China)
• JMC2 – Heaven Sent – (Simi Valley, California, United States)
• Leighton Asia – Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge – (Hong Kong)

BIM Advancements in Environmental Engineering

• NJS Engineers India Pvt. Ltd. – JICA Assisted Ganga Action Plan-II – (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India)
• Raymond Vogel Landschaften AG – New Landscape for New Hydropower Plant in Hagneck – (Hagneck, Canton Bern, Switzerland)
• Stream Environment Sdn. Bhd. – Automated Waste Collection System for Changi Airport Terminal 4 – (Singapore)

BIM Advancements in Manufacturing

• CPC Corporation, Taiwan – Talin No.12 Topping Unit Project– (Kaohsiung, Taiwan)
• PJSC Giprotyumenneftegaz – Central Production Facility, Novoportovskoye Field – (Tyumen Region, Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District, Russia)
• Satria Technologies Sdn. Bhd. – Sustainable Solutions for Control and Protection Systems – (Klang, Selangor, Malaysia)

BIM Advancements in Mining and Offshore Engineering

• AMEC Foster Wheeler – Gruyere Project – (South Dorothy Hills, Western Australia, Australia)
• Offshore Oil Engineering Co., Ltd. – PL19-3 Oil Field Jacket Design and Development of ‘Fixed Offshore Structure Design Tool’ Software – (Tianjin, China)
• Volgogradnefteproekt, LLC – Design of Electro-Technical Solutions and Systems for Control of the Conductor Supported Platform of Filanovsky Field– (Caspian Sea, Astrakhan Region, Russia)

BIM Advancements in Municipal Operations

• AAM Group – Creating Singapore’s National 3D Map Using Mobile Mapping – (Singapore)
• Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited, PowerChina – Application of BIM Strategy for Shenzhen Qianhai Municipal Infrastructure – (Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China)
• Tianjin Municipal Engineering Design & Research Institute – Construction and Design General Contracting of Retrofit Project at Haiyu East Line Municipal Road – (Sanya, Hainan Province, China)

BIM Advancements in Power Generation

• China Water Resource Pearl River Planning Surveying & Designing Co., Ltd. – Wugachong Reservoir Project – (Pu’an County, Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, China)
• COBA – Engineering and Environmental Consultants – Kholombidzo Hydro Power Electric Plant – (District of Blantyre, Malawi)
• PowerChina ZhongNan Engineering Corporation Limited – Digital Delivery of Qiongzhong Pumped Storage Power Station – (Qiongzhong County, Hainan Province, China)

BIM Advancements in Project Delivery

• A Natural Gas Company – Implementation of a Comprehensive Technical Records & Information Management Program Powered by ProjectWise – (Canada)
• Ghafari Associates, LLC – General Motors Productivity Improvement Program – (Various Locations, Michigan, United States)
• Mott MacDonald and the Costain, VINCI Construction Grands Projets, Bachy Soletanche Joint Venture – East Section of the Thames Tideway Tunnel – (London, England, United Kingdom)

BIM Advancements in Rail and Transit

• China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co. Ltd.; Yungui Railway Yunnan Co. Ltd. – Application of BIM Strategy for Dali to Ruili Railway Project – (Baoshan, Yunnan Province, China)
• Jacobs/Zephyr UAS – Mapping 42 Miles of California High Speed Rail Corridor Utilizing UAVs – (Burbank to Los Angeles to Anaheim, California, United States)
• MRT Corporation Sdn. Bhd. – Klang Valley Mass Rapid Transit (KVMRT) SSP Line – (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

BIM Advancements in Reality Modeling

• CEDD-AECOM-The Earth Solutions – Development of Anderson Road Quarry Site – (Hong Kong)
• The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Architectural Engineering – Virtual Penn State Campus – (University Park, Pennsylvania, United States)
• The Sanborn Map Company, Inc. – Sanborn3D HD Maps for Autonomous Driving: Santa Clara – (Santa Clara County, California, United States)

BIM Advancements in Roads

• AECOM (Poland) – Road Design and Inter-disciplinary Coordination of the E10 Avvakko-Lappeasuando Project – (Gällivare kommun, Norrbottens län, Sweden)
• CCCC First Highway Consultants Co., Ltd. – Application of BIM Strategy on the Transformation of Meiguan Expressway to Urban Road Design Project – (Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China)
• CH2M Fairhurst JV – A9 Dualling – Glen Garry to Dalraddy – (Dalwhinnie, Highlands, United Kingdom)

BIM Advancements in Road and Rail Asset Performance

• New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) – NJDOT / Public Private Partnership of a Bentley-Hosted SUPERLOAD System for Oversize / Overweight Vehicle Permitting and Routing – (Trenton, New Jersey, United States)
• Oregon Department of Transportation – TransInfo – A Connected Data Environment for Transportation – (Salem, Oregon, United States)
• Highways England – Network Occupancy Management System (NOMS) – (Strategic Road Network, England, United Kingdom)

BIM Advancements in Utilities and Industrial Asset Performance

• AES Indianapolis Power and Light – T&D Implementation of Asset Risk at Indianapolis Power & Light – (Indianapolis, Indiana, United States)
• BP – Khazzan Central Information Store (CIS) – (Khazzan Field, Block 61, Ad Dhahirah Governorate, Oman)
• North Caspian Operating Company N.V. – Kashagan Oilfield Corrosion and Inspection Management Project in the North Caspian Sea and Bolashak Operating Production Facility – (Atyrau Region, North Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan)

BIM Advancements in Utilities Transmission and Distribution

• Hubei Electric Power Survey and Design Institute – Macheng Caijiazhai Wind Farm Project – (Macheng, Hubei Province, China)
• Pestech International Berhad – Automation and Integration of Substation Design Work for 230kV Project – (Kratie and Kampong Cham, Cambodia)
• Pacific Gas & Electric Company – Reality Modeling in Bentley Substation – (San Francisco, California, United States)

BIM Advancements in Water and Wastewater Plants

• Beijing Institute of Water – Tongzhou Water Works of Beijing South-to-North Water Diversion Project – (Beijing, China)
• Shanghai New Jinshan Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd. – Xinjiang Water Purification No.2 Plant and Supporting Pipe Network – (Jinshan District, Shanghai, China)
• MWH Ltd. (operating in CiM6 alliance) – Netheridge STW – (Gloucester, England, United Kingdom)

BIM Advancements in Water Networks

• Manila Water Company, Inc. – Manila Water Natural Calamity Risk Resiliency and Mitigation Masterplan – (National Capital Region, Rizal Province, Philippines)
• Enorsul – Sanitation Services – Optimization of Water Distribution System and Reduction of Losses – (Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil)
• AEGEA – AEGEA Prolagos Sewerage Master Plan 2041 – (Região dos Lagos, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Since 2004, the Be Inspired Awards program has showcased excellence and innovation in the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure projects around the world. The Be Inspired Awards program is unique – the only competition of its kind that is global in scope and comprehensive in categories covered, encompassing all types of infrastructure projects. In the awards program, which is open to all users of Bentley software, independent panels of industry experts select finalists for each category. For additional information, visit www.bentley.com/BeInspired.

Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference is a global gathering of leading executives in the world of infrastructure design, construction, and operations. The conference features a series of presentations and interactive workshops exploring the intersection of technology and business drivers, and how they are shaping the future of infrastructure project delivery and asset performance.

Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference will include:

• The Buildings and Campuses Forum
• The Digital Cities Forum

• The Industrial Forum

• The Rail and Transit Forum
• The Roads and Bridges Forum
• The Utilities and Water Forum

• The Be Inspired Awards Ceremony

• Alliance Partner Pavilion and Sessions

• The Project Delivery Summit (by invitation only)
• The Infrastructure Asset Performance Summit (by invitation only)
• The CIO Summit (by invitation only)

The Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference Sponsors

• Platinum: Microsoft
• Gold: ARC Advisory Group, BNP Media, Engineering News-Record, Informed Infrastructure, New Civil Engineer, PennEnergy, Reliabilityweb.com, SPAR 3D, Water & Wastewater International

For more details and a complete list of sponsors, including Silver level, click here.

The Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference Alliance Partners

• Bureau Veritas
• Microsoft
• Siemens
• Topcon

The Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference Supporting Partners

• Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE)
• Bluefield Research
• Building and Construction Authority, Singapore
• CEATI International, Inc.
• Chemtech Foundation
• FIG (International Federation of Surveyors)
• InfoNetrix
• Institution of Engineers, Singapore
• ISGF (India Smart Grid Forum)
• Korea BIM Association
• Newton-Evans Research Company
• OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium)
• Singapore Exhibition & Convention Bureau
• Your Singapore
• Zpryme

For additional information about The Year in Infrastructure 2017 Conference or to register, click here.

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3D printing has been the subject of debate for many years, but few seem to have a clear understanding of how it will affect their specific industry and it has recently been discussed intensively in construction circles.

Dubai is firmly at the forefront of this trend, with the emirate a leading hub of 3D printing technology. It is anticipated that 25% of new building plans will be 3D printed in the next decade. The Dubai Future website explains that the overarching strategy is to adopt the emerging technology in order to cut costs, with a focus on the medical and construction sectors in particular. The technology has the potential to restructure economies and labour markets, and to redefine productivity.

I particularly see the MEP sector benefiting from 3D printing technology, which will change our lives and the cities we live in. I am not going to argue here that conventional construction practices will become obsolete, as buildings can now be essentially manufactured from scratch with a big 3D printer that can mix cement, steel and plastics; there is still a long way to go before we reach that stage! Nonetheless, incremental improvements will be achieved through the adoption of 3D printing and related technologies such as BIM.

3D printing for modelling and planning needs should be distinguished from adopting it for building construction per se. With all due respect for everything one reads about innovation such as BIM and smart cities, a truth that is often neglected is that there has been much less innovation and development in the construction sector than in industry in general.

It could even be argued that, over the years, technology has hampered efficiency in construction. Particularly in the US and Europe, it can often seem that the more resources and technology that are engaged in any given construction project, the greater the delays and the more problems.

The more people and stakeholders involved in a project there are, the greater the complexity – and the inevitable risk associated with increased mistakes. There is no shortage of examples of the dire consequences of this, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, for instance, shows that no project is immune to human error. The Economist reported this year that the snagging list was seemingly never-ending, from missing check-in counters and luggage conveyor belts to ill-fitted and malfunctioning fire-safety walls, pipes and cables. The current delay is clocking in at nearly a decade.

How has it become a seemingly impossible task to build something as straightforward as an airport? In theory, construction projects should be rather simple. You gather the information about the scope of work, price it correctly and then deliver the project. However, when projects do not happen according to plan, whatever the reasons or inevitable excuses, it is all mostly down to human error.

Herein lies the real and immediate promise of employing new technologies such as 3D printing. They are better tools to expose flaws in the planning process, before these escalate into problems that have to be dealt with on the construction site. In other words, they cut down on delays. More creative solutions to design problems can be achieved when we work in a virtual environment that is manifested physically. This is because it allows us to test different ideas, and even make mistakes, without there being any associated cost.

Beyond visualising a building project and how the different parts all fit together, the next step in 3D printing is using it to manufacture entire prefabricated sections that simply slot together, without the possibility of humans misinterpreting the drawings. Again, this is not a new approach or methodology. Off-site factory-based manufacturing techniques have been common in construction for a long time.

Pre-manufactured formwork ramps up efficiency, but does not really help much in planning the MEP fit-out. There has been a significant limit to the levels of intricacy and customisation achievable up to now. The latest developments use laser measurements fed into a BIM model and exported to a 3D printer, so that separate customised components can be composited layer by layer.

This means perfect incorporation of the MEP architecture into the layout of the panels and walls, with ducting and wiring planned and controlled precisely. For example, a section of a building can be pre-manufactured in a single unit that caters for all the service requirements of a building. Customised design and delivery not only render the construction process more efficient than traditional techniques, but also create an architecture that is integrated fully with the engineering function in order to make buildings perform better.

All this results in productivity gains, reduced labour costs and safer working environments. In the coming decades, there is reason to believe that construction will move more and more into a controlled factory environment, for stricter quality control and more rapid production and efficient utilisation of resources. I foresee 3D printing used on-site mostly on large-scale and specialised projects with a high proportion of unique components.

Finally, realising the full potential of 3D printing will enable construction in remote locations where access to building materials is restricted. One idea currently on the table is even using 3D printing to build a village on the moon, using lunar soil!

Boris Ritter is the general manager of Sesam Business Consultants.

In October this year, the Ministry of Infrastructure Development revealed that it has overseen the maintenance and development of 107 projects over the course of 2017, as part of its bid to meet public expectations. These development works are aimed at improving the performance of schools and federal and local buildings across the country, says Eman Almansoori, director of the Tenders and Contracts Department at the Ministry of Infrastructure Development.

She estimates that 25% of these projects are in Fujairah and 24% are in Sharjah, with 16% in Ras Al Khaimah, 13% in Ajman and the remainder spread across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Umm Al Quwain. The ministry also maintains 25 schools around the UAE, she adds.

In addition, the maintenance projects in Fujairah cover a number of health centres in Dibba Fujairah, Twain, Halah, Qadfaa and Wadi Sir, along with mosques, court buildings, cultural centres and other municipal buildings. The maintenance projects in Ras Al Khaimah include projects as varied as healthcare centres and hospitals, mosques, schools and even the development of the Shawka Dam outlet, Almansoori adds.

The wide range of projects overseen by the Ministry of Infrastructure Development is indicative of the work being carried out by the Tenders and Contracts Department, Almansoori tells ME Consultant during an exclusive interview at her ministry office in Dubai.

“The Tenders and Contract Department is like the investment arm of the ministry. We deal with the contractors and the consultants. When there is a project in the pipeline, we start the work with the documentation, we coordinate with the other departments in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and see what they need. We look at what sort of outcome we need from the project and then we put it out to tender and start it,” she explains.

Given the scope of projects her department oversees, Almansoori points out that it is crucial to have as wide a reach as possible, and as such there is extensive advertising of tenders on the ministry’s website and its various social media accounts.

“We also have workshops with the contractors and consultants, and through these channels we try to spread our tenders,” she notes. “The problem we have sometimes is that we don’t have enough contractors that apply for our tenders, so we have to try and extend these tenders out and find other channels to spread the word. The workshops we run work really well for this.

“We need to let the contractors and consultants know about the ministry and inform them about the value of the projects that the ministry is doing on a yearly basis. Sometimes, they don’t know what we actually do and what’s our domain. When they do, they will be more interested in joining us,” she asserts.

Once the ministry has the attention of contractors and consultants, Almansoori says the next step for the Tenders and Contracts Department is to choose the right companies. To do this, they have a classification system in place to help vet the companies and place the right firms in the right jobs.

“It all starts when you choose the correct consultant. Once you choose the right consultant, then you need to have a clear scope of work – what you want delivered and a clear idea of what you need. We have classifications in place for the contractors. For some projects, we go for prequalification, so that we can choose the right consultant or contractor for a project.”

Choosing the right consultant comes down to a variety of criteria, she adds, with price just one of the considerations.

“Their experience is crucial, as well as their financial capabilities. We need to make sure that they can handle the project until the end and won’t have to stop in the middle of a project. Then we also consider the staff and the previous projects they’ve worked on as well,” Almansoori outlines.

However, she remains firm in the belief that the efficiency and performance of the department can improve, and to this end is leading a push towards adopting new technologies and methodologies.

“With our staff, we always try to qualify and update them to any changes in this domain. Everything is done online, starting with registration and the opening of tenders. Now we’re adapting to smart technology and taking everything online, from registration all the way through to the final agenda. As a contractor or consultant, you start the procedure with registration, then classification, and then you participate in the tendering of a project. After that, you try to secure the bid and then submit your bid.

“Keeping in mind that process, I’ve been meeting with companies to see how we can develop and implement smart solutions that will change the traditional processes to the smart city concept. We’re now finalising with some companies in regards to that – to use smart technologies from registration up to the tendering stage, and all the way to the contract award stage.”

Although BIM is currently a construction industry buzzword, Almansoori says the Ministry of Infrastructure Development has long espoused its use for projects, asserting that all bidders for its tenders must highlight their capabilities with the technology.

“We already use BIM within the ministry – it’s been there for about two years now. All the consultants and contractors need to submit their drawings and plans with BIM.”

The department’s work doesn’t stop once the contract is awarded. While the ministry has different departments tasked with handling different aspects of work and projects, the Tenders and Contracts Department must still keep an eye on the overall picture.

“After we sign the contracts, we send all the contracts to the authorised people to take the next step. But even if we have a consultant on the project, we still have to supervise it as the ministry. If there’s any questions or problems of a contractual nature – if there are variations or something – then we can involve ourselves at this stage. But if everything goes well, then we finish our job at the handover stage.

“But there is something else that we do. After finishing the project, we have to take the feedback about the contractors’ and consultants’ work and how they did and all that. This is because we have to put their details back for registration and classification – basically, we have to either upgrade or downgrade them according to their performance on a project.”

Finally, with construction disputes and litigation increasingly prevalent in the UAE construction industry, Almansoori says the Tenders and Contracts Department takes special care to ensure that documentation signed is clear and detailed, so that conflicts don’t arise later on.

“Everything comes from the document. According to my research and experience, most of the problems come from the document stage. If you make sure that your tenders and documents are complete, and that everything is covered there, then you can reduce most of the claims and disputes. You just have to make sure that both parties know their rights and what their responsibilities are. This can reduce most of the claims,” she concludes.

Over the last two decades, there have been many digital transformation initiatives in the Middle East to drive the region forward as part of the smart agenda. Numerous implementations – e-commerce platforms, Internet of Things (IoT) systems, data analytics, 3D printing, robotics and artificial intelligence applications – have been developed and trialled as part of the quest to become a digitally advanced region.

The rise of disruptive digital technologies has also become prominent in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. With buildings becoming increasingly complex in design and execution, traditional approaches are no longer suitable. Radical new innovations are required, and Atkins, one of the world’s most respected design and engineering and project management consultancies, is at the forefront of this movement.

Adoption of BIM
As a leader in the use and integration of technology, Atkins has been helping to shape the adoption of building information modelling (BIM) – the digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a building – since its inception. The team has been strategically proactive in leading the exploitation of BIM to implement better integrated design solutions for clients’ projects since recognising long ago that BIM represents the future for the industry.

When the design and build contractors consortium appointed Atkins in 2006 to deliver the multi-disciplinary detail design for the civil works elements on the Dubai Metro project, BIM systems were not commonly used in mainstream civil engineering, despite their roots going back to 1963.

Using Revit 2008, Steven Anderson, a product manager at Atkins, led a small team to drive BIM implementation and develop multi-discipline design models to demonstrate buildability and coordination on the Green Line section of the project.

Commenting on the process, Steven says: “We learned new skills and used technology which allowed us to resolve design problems within the models rather than on-site. In 2008, BIM was mostly undercover, as we were also learning how to use and best implement the technology, solving design challenges and building models virtually before building them. This also gave the client and the construction teams an understanding of how the stations and other facilities would be put together, with all the internal systems fully integrated.”

This visionary project was the catalyst for the planning and implementation of new metro networks across the GCC. BIM has redefined project delivery in the design and engineering industry, changing everything from the design workflow and the software used by engineers, to the design skills required and the visualisation of the project with clients.

When implementing BIM, Atkins focused on four areas: policy, process, people and technology. Atkins is involved in more than 50 projects around the world where BIM is being successfully applied to deliver projects more efficiently and effectively than traditional methods would have allowed.

These projects are primarily delivered through a design-build process. With this approach, the use of BIM has proven invaluable to the project team, beginning with the design phase and continuing through planning to a project‘s construction, commissioning and operation.

In 2011, Atkins was appointed lead designer for King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, one of the largest and most complex airport projects in the world. This was the first major multi-disciplinary project where BIM was embraced across the Atkins group, and information management started to gain traction. At this stage, the maturity of BIM was mainly driven by the requirement to coordinate design and provide material quantities for the site construction teams.

In recognition of the strength of Atkins’ growing design and BIM capability in the region, it was named Consultant of the Year at the 2016 MEP Middle East Awards.

Massive shift to VR and AR
As a result of these early initiatives, Marc Durand, director of digital disruption for MENA, believes Atkins is at the forefront of innovation and drives digital transformation in the construction industry. Atkins uses digital tools to drive new and innovative ways of working with clients, by mixing software and technology into product delivery.

An example of this is MR (mixed reality) technology, which offers the possibility to bring members from anywhere into a project eco-system, linking all the visualisations with engineering innovations.

Using virtual reality (VR) to engage stakeholders in the design helps ensure clear, comprehensive understanding between the client, the design intent and contractor. In the past, projects in the Middle East have required numerous design changes as a result of problems understanding 2D drawings. Immersive environments help demystify the understanding of data. Not everyone can do coding or manage databases, but everyone can quickly learn to navigate a virtual model and access data through it.

Marc adds: “Atkins will continue to put a lot of resources into developing a whole line of products, to drive further innovation within the organisation.”

The impact of future digital innovation
With this in mind, as clients become more educated, technology will enable more co-creation with clients on projects. With the capabilities of clients growing, there will also be more rapid growth and adoption of these digital tools. There will be more integration and thirst for access to information, even before a project has started.

The latest computer technology will allow real-time rendering with better graphics and displays, to enable better engagement with clients. This will also make it easier to immerse clients in the design ecosystem to make sure they fully understand the design intent. It will enable the industry to ultimately design with clients in real time, with real-time output, by placing clients into a simulation before buildings are built. Clients are moving into faster understanding, acceptance and decision-making, including deep dives into topics, without limiting the number of design possibilities.

In the past, Atkins research and development teams have made a number of other important contributions to both the company legacy and the wider industry. Working with early computer technology in the 1950s, Atkins developed stress analysis tools, project planning programmes and one of the first optimised structural computer-aided design packages in the industry, eventually supporting its teams in putting computers to work across the business.

Development in computer services also helped to quickly design things that were cheaper – but still needed the engineer to fit all the answers together. Computers were so cutting-edge that most of the time was used to test exactly what could be done to benefit the business.

Today, this legacy of innovation remains in the Atkins culture, enabling teams to meet the technical challenges of clients’ most complex infrastructure projects.