News
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Earth Pyramid gets Arup backing
It's almost six years since Leeds-based engineer Mark Steele took a call from Steve Ward, the pioneering force behind a bid to construct a giant pyramid dedicated to peace and the environment. The rest, as they say, is history in a very real sense
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3D Repo gets Navisworks, BCF support
3D Repo has launched a new version of its cloud based BIM collaboration platform that offers additional support for some of the leading software packages used within the AEC sector, such as Autodesk Navisworks
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Event Focus |
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COBie or not COBie?
David Chadwick looks at some of the issues covered during the CAD User Seminar on COBie, held at the London Transport Museum in May in association with Vectorworks
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Shaping the future
Instead of leveraging the tools of the past, information modelling should be planning for the future and taking advantage of the latest trends in 3D, virtual reality modelling and the cloud
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Technology Focus |
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Building with numbers
Andrew Watts, CEO of international building engineers Newtecnic, explains how the construction industry is reducing cost, risk and waste with maths, and looks at how new research and practices are delivering construction industry innovation from concept to fabrication and operation
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BIM with DFMA
Usha B Trivedi explains why DFMA is a natural ally for BIM, helping to change the way buildings will be put together in the future
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Case Study |
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Building bridges
The opportunity to compare the results of photogrammetry with laser scanning at the London Bridge Station redevelopment, using Bentley's ContextCapture, has provided some fascinating results
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Comment
The Role of COBie
The grave disaster at Grenfell Tower has generated a mass of wild accusations and speculation as the victims relatives, support and action groups thrash around for someone to blame. I hesitate to add to them, as too many questions remain unanswered.
I haven't a clue whether the refurbishment of high-rise tower blocks that consist of a mixture of private apartments and social housing would come under the heading of public projects, subject to the Governments BIM initiative, but our recent Open Forum on COBie raised some pertinent points.
Relating his experiences in the delivery of BIM projects, Stephen Holmes of Cadventure, pointed out the dangers of over-delivery, as well as under-delivery of COBie data. Architects specifying building components should be wary of going beyond the stating of required purpose and performance levels of supplied components - mainly because they may unwittingly be taking on responsibility for elements where they lack expertise, but also, post tender, such components may be substituted for cheaper and less effective components by the appointed contractor.
Building models should be properly validated, using appropriate tools, not only to iron out design issues between the architects, structural engineers and MEP models, but also to ensure that all building codes are adhered to, including fire-resistant doors and escape routes, before they are exported as COBie data.
The availability of COBie information should, therefore, be capable of providing the vital links between the design, construction and operation of buildings needed to establish the full responsibilities and culpabilities of the organisations involved.
David Chadwick
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