Turner Construction Company uses Autodesk BIM 360 Glue to
help keep a complex construction project on track at the Oakland International
Airport.
Founded in 1902 by Henry Turner, New York-based Turner
Construction Company has grown to become one of the largest construction
management companies in North America. Today, the company oversees an average
of 1,500 projects each year and employs 5,000 people throughout the world.
Turner Construction Company is a leading advocate in the development and
utilization of technology tools and green construction practices, with the
largest number of LEED-accredited staff and largest volume of green
construction activity in the United States. To that end, the company makes use
of Building Information Modeling (BIM) to create information-rich virtual
models to address potential construction issues before actual construction
begins, ultimately improving project outcomes. In 2011, Turner Construction
Company was recognized by Building Design & Construction for having the
largest volume of projects utilizing BIM tools (4.6 billion).
Turner Construction Company was tapped in early 2012 to
build the new US$26 million central utility plant for the Oakland International
Airport in Oakland, California. Although the shell of the 8,300-square-foot
plant is relatively straightforward, the structure will house an extremely
intricate network of electrical, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
systems, all of which are critical to keeping the airport running efficiently
around the clock.
The Challenge
“It’s a complicated facility, with very dense mechanical
and electrical scope,” says Lincoln Wood, engineer at Turner Construction
Company. “Building it requires a complex coordination effort because the
efforts of many subcontractors must be integrated. Much of the equipment—the
electrical switchgear and mechanical equipment, including boilers, pumps, and
cooling tower—is interdependent. Everyone—from the architect, contractor, and
subcontractor to the owner and facility manager, must be in complete
agreement—from the submittal stage all the way to delivery, installation, and
operation. If something isn’t right, there’s the potential for a domino effect
that compromises our entire timeline and budget. There is a lot of risk.”
The Solution
To improve cross-disciplinary collaboration and decision
making during the pre-construction process, Turner built a data-rich 3D model
of the central utility plant using Autodesk® Revit® Architecture and Autodesk®
Revit® Structure software and then brought it into Autodesk® Navisworks® Manage
project review software. The firm decided that BIM-based collaboration needed
to continue during the construction phase in order to help keep the project on
schedule. So Turner leveraged cloud-based BIM with Autodesk® BIM 360® Glue to
give its diverse team of subcontractors access to the 3D model wherever and
whenever they needed it.
Wood explains, “Autodesk BIM 360 Glue has been a very big
part of the Oakland Airport project. Users are able to visualize the building
and walk through all areas virtually. It helps to break down the barriers that
hamper collaboration between our team and the subcontractors. Not only does it
promote timesaving, there is value in the service’s ability to facilitate more
accurate project documentation and record keeping. The benefits are obvious to
all of us.”
Easier, More
Secure Collaboration
Although some of the core project team members had never
worked in a 3D environment before, they quickly got up to speed. “With BIM 360
Glue, it’s not just a quicker learning curve,” says Tyler Goss, regional
virtual design and construction manager for Turner Construction Company. “It’s
the speed of adoption. People who I never would have expected in a thousand
years to be able to pick up and engage with a 3D model now love it.”
“BIM 360 Glue really clicked for people,” says Wood. “It
speaks to both the foreman out in the field and the engineer in the office in a
way that’s just direct. It’s clean. It’s simple.”
According to Wood, part of the reason that subcontractors
felt more quickly at ease collaborating in Autodesk BIM 360 Glue was because
they were confident that it provided a more secure working environment.
Autodesk BIM 360 Glue offers custom permissions to a user’s needs and ability,
enabling appropriate access to the model, while helping to safeguard against
unwanted changes. “Just a few clicks, and you are in the model, and it feels
secure,” he explains. “BIM 360 Glue retains a history of each model version
that can be accessed at any time. There’s a feeling that the information is
safe and always accessible without any tampering ability.”
Accelerated
Workflow, Improved Decision Making
By incorporating Autodesk BIM 360 Glue into its pull
planning sessions, the project team was able to better streamline its workflow
while promoting more informed and accurate decision making. With support from
an intelligent 3D model, subcontractors are better able to quickly discover any
major problems, collaborate on solutions, and keep the project moving forward.
“All of the subcontractors come together at critical path
junctures during construction to re-evaluate and confirm the schedule for the
next phase of work,” says Wood. “We start by determining the end goal for the
phase and work backwards, getting everyone in the room in agreement. Using
Autodesk BIM 360 Glue, I’m working with a live model. As decisions are made, everyone
can see what’s happening.”
In Wood’s view, having a more accurate model available
helps the team avoid any confusion or guesswork. “By consolidating all of the
information in one model,” he says, “no one is guessing which version is the
most current. To me, that makes Autodesk BIM 360 Glue a powerful coordination
engine that helps us minimize any rework. The software helps keep everyone on
the same page.”
Bringing 3D
Visualization to the Field
To further enhance cross-team coordination, Turner made Autodesk
BIM 360 Glue available to subcontractors on the job site, through an app
available on Apple® iPad® mobile devices. “The mobile app is a lot more dynamic
than software that can’t leave the office, because it ties everyone together at
the point of delivery,” says Wood. “There’s the foreman in the field, looking
at the iPad during a scheduling pull planning session. So is the project
manager who is the primary decision maker regarding money, timing, and
commitments, along with the detailer, who could potentially be back in the home
office, editing shop drawings and submittals, or even adding comments—all of
these people are actively participating in the same meeting.”
“Having Autodesk BIM 360 Glue on the iPad helps bring BIM
visualization to the people who are actually building the building—they have
great ideas, but have traditionally lacked a way to share them efficiently,”
says Wood. “The mobile app is the next horizon of coordination and
communication with the field. As a contractor, I think the field is in a
position to really leverage this technology in exciting ways.”
The Result
Currently, the Oakland airport utility plant project is
almost halfway through completion and progressing on schedule and on budget,
thanks, in part, to the accelerated workflow and informed decision making
supported by Autodesk BIM 360 Glue. Turner Construction Company is also
planning to use Autodesk BIM 360 Glue for the next phase of the Oakland airport
construction project, a retrofit of Terminal 1, which will also involve
complicated logistical components, including coordinating with the U.S.
Transportation Security Administration. “To me, it’s a no-brainer,” says Wood.
“The scope of work is much bigger and there’s going to be a lot of
coordination. Autodesk BIM 360 Glue is not just visualization. It supports
information collaboration and has improved our efficiency.”
Source: AutoDesk
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