How Virtual Design Improves Multidisciplinary Coordination in the UK

Posted by Kuldeep Bwail on February 27th, 2020

Political uncertainty over Brexit is impacting the UK construction industry with a slowdown. Many construction firms are not keen on hiring new workers and are seeking ways and means to decrease their workforce sizes. However, the show, or work in this case, must go on. In the complex arena of multidisciplinary coordination, the move towards using virtual design. Virtual design is gaining popularity in the UK. Virtual building design, using BIM (Building Information Modelling) construction tools such as Revit BIM, is a specialised field of expertise that UK firms can now source in overseas companies as a timely, cost-effective and reliable option.

Virtual building design involves creating a virtual, holistic construction design solution with contributions from designers, architects, engineers and other construction professionals. Design consists of interfaces and junctions between different disciplines of construction, such as structural, architectural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Integrating these systems to function effectively is known as multidisciplinary coordination. This can be a complex procedure.

Missing data, miscommunication, inconsistent documents, inexperienced personnel, mistakes in resource allocation, etc. are some of the challenges that may be encountered in the process of multidisciplinary coordination. Others include design clashes, which are either ‘hard clashes’ or ‘soft clashes’. A hard clash could be a design, for example, where the pipework route runs through a steel beam. A soft clash can be cramped spaces to install or maintain components or the lack of consideration of safety regulations. Such challenges have increased with the increase of technical features in buildings, the increase of available materials, strict rules and standards and a larger number of specialist designers.

It is essential to ensure that multidisciplinary coordination results in a clash-free design that integrates the designs and contributions of different project stakeholders and contains all the relevant project data. This way, project costs, delays, disruptions and rework can be significantly reduced and even possibly eliminated.

Using virtual design and Revit BIM services, a project’s computer-based descriptions can be viewed digitally. The BIM model will be integrated so that all project stakeholders can access all shared data, and any change or modification will be highlighted and changed for dependent aspects of related multidisciplinary models. This can also be done using Autodesk 360 BIM design software.

One of the concepts that have been enabled by using virtual building design is that of Spacetime or the fourth dimension. In addition to the three space dimensions, a fourth – time – can also be represented.

Also, advanced concepts and procedures, such as computer vision, artificial intelligence and the architecture of transmission (AoT) are enabled through virtual design. The architecture of transmission is a management process that is object oriented and takes the project through its life cycle.

Procedures for ProperMultidisciplinary Coordination

The lead designer integrates different disciplines in the following ways:  

• Ensures collaborative practices
• Coordinates quality control features
• Adopts standard methods and procedures
• Coordinates the preparation of production information to contractors and suppliers
• Reviews designs developed by contractors and suppliers

Drawings by different designers are compared and cross-checked. This process used to be performed manually, but now, this can be carried out digitally. Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a process that helps create and manage digital project data for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of buildings. Using BIM technology, project stakeholders collaborate with each other and provide detailed information at every stage of the project.

The actual process involves the following:  

• Each discipline’s model references models of other disciplines (architectural, structural, MEP, fire protection, landscape) using specialised clash-detection software.
• Interferences, spatial conflicts, restraints and sequencing problems are identified through clash detection, communicated with the relevant participants and resolved during the development of the design.
• In retrofit projects, the scan data and ‘new design’ model can be compared.
• Coordination models and interference drawings can be accessed through mobile apps at any time or place, such as offices or project sites.
• Final material quantities are determined and the project is delivered on time, reducing the number of RFIs, change orders, etc.

Virtual design can play a useful role in this process. The methodology of virtual design includes managing integrated multidisciplinary models, including the finished building, workflow and the organisation of the design team.

The theory of virtual design involves the following:  

• MEP modelling: product, organisation, process
• Analysis: model-based design, including quantities, schedules, costs, 4D interactions and process risks
• Visualisation
• Business analytics: with a focus on strategic management
• Economic impact analysis, i.e., models of both the cost and value of capital investments

Studies have shown that in the UK construction industry, 30 percent of projects result in rework, with 40-60 percent labour productivity and wastage of 10 percent of materials used. Using virtual design and adopting BIM processes have helped make the coordination process an effective strategy to effect operational efficiency.

The adoption of BIM technologies can help avoid clashes and help spatial coordination between multidisciplinary components. Designers can work on separate models that can be integrated into a single detailed model, and more than one person can work on the same model at the same time. Standard methods can be set in BIM, and clash avoidance and detection are executed as part of the process. Clashes are identified, clash reports are generated, and clashes are resolved with clash-detection software. The use of BIM technologies can also help predict future problems and avoid them.

Several reports in the UK suggest that BIM can help the government save approximately 400 million pounds a year. When UK architectural firms struggled to identify design connections between elements, project engineers developed BIM models using technical drawings using Revit, Navisworks and 3ds Max. Design communication became easier with the transformation of 2D drawings to BIM models. Modelling became easier and hosted more data with BIM, and firms saved money and time.

When interdisciplinary coordination is not efficiently executed, several things could go wrong, such as:   

• Over-shooting budgets due to material wastage and rework
• Incomplete data available for project stakeholders
• Faulty decision-making, undiscovered clashes that result in delayed deadlines
• Interdisciplinary workflow and design complications

Some of the common interdisciplinary clashes that are overlooked are as follows:  

• Without a structural plan, an M&E engineer cannot design HVAC component locations and slots for elevators.
• Without a detailed architectural plan, a structural engineer cannot erect a pillar.
• Erecting columns should not hinder outside or inside views.
• M&E components cannot be installed without ascertaining the structural strength of the building.
• Workmen need to have precise information about structural strength before they can commence drilling and pounding the building.
• Load calculations and structural integrity must be precise, checked and re-checked for high-rise glass buildings.

To prevent the many potential clashes between disciplines, stakeholders from all three disciplines must understand each other’s needs and project technicalities. Using BIM technologies, coordination between architects, structural engineers and M&E engineers all improved.

Interdisciplinary coordination can be more efficient if the following methods can be adopted:  

• BIM models can be created with as-built and design data
• BIM platforms can enable stakeholders to edit, modify and communicate design changes
• M&E clash-detection software can detect design clashes through coordinated models

Adopting the right methods can ensure that the engineering requirements of a building are integrated into the planned design and aesthetics. Virtual building design, using Revit BIM tools, can facilitate the perfect marriage between design and aesthetics before any actual construction begins. The BIM construction method aims to make everyone happy with both design and implementation. With the right design partner, UK construction firms can avail of high-quality and cost-effective BIM services for interdisciplinary coordination from anywhere in the world, especially India, where there is a large supply of technically qualified and experienced BIM and visual design experts.