Presentation by Esra Kurul & Tim Carey (Willmott Dixon Construction, Scape & Oxford Brookes University) at COMIT 2016: Digitally Building Britain, September 2016 More information: http://www.comit.org.uk/liveblog

1. A BIM ENABLED
COLLABORATIVE PLATFORM
IN PRACTICE

2. CONTEXT
Principally due to demographic factors, there is currently an acute
national shortage of primary school places.
However, following recent Capital Spending Reviews, the availability of
appropriate government funding to meet this demand is limited.
A solution to address this issue partly lies in improving the processes
through which new schools are delivered in order to ensure that well
designed, environmentally friendly facilities are delivered as efficiently
as possible – with particular regards to Capital Cost.
This project focussed on bringing about such improvements by
developing a novel approach to project delivery – one which
harnesses the power of BIM as a vehicle for collaboration.

3. The project has tested the proposal that such an approach would
support:
 stakeholders, designers and supply chain partners in a creative free-
thinking environment (i.e. Design Review Meetings); and
 the project delivery team during the construction phase; and
 continuous improvement of the design by using operational data.
Our results show that this BIM-enabled approach provides additional
support for collaborative evaluation of existing approaches,
envisioning and agreeing radical approaches and innovations for
adoption.
The Scape National Major Works Framework through which Sunesis
projects can be delivered and the long-term relationship between
design partners have proven equally important factors for collaboration.
OUR PROJECT

4. (Project Lead)
(Academic Partner)
(Framework/Procurement Partner)
PROJECT TEAM STRUCTURE

5. 250,000 primary school
places needed by 2020
Schools budget protected
but pot size the same
Cost of creating places
£12bn, government's
commitment £7.35bn
C2025 - 33% cost
reduction, 50% reductions
in time and GHG emissions
Need to build more
school places at reduced
cost & faster
THE CHALLENGE

6. The market leader in
delivering pre-designed
education buildings.
Since 2010 Sunesis has
successfully delivered
£110m of new facilities to
delighted private and public
sector clients - over 9,500
new school places.

7. +
test
collaborative
BIM (cBIM)
 a suite of pre-designed low impact
designs
 each has a defined layout, an upfront
specification and a known time to
construct
 sold on an all inclusive lump sum fixed
price basis from Day 1
 can be procured via any OJEU-
compliant Framework, or direct to the
Private Sector
 offers significant efficiencies, and
responds to the James Report
CURRENT MARKET
OFFERING

8. What was our aim?

9. Opportunities identified through this industry-led
project:
 Common Data Environment
 BIM as a marketing tool
 Bespoke Energy Performance Plug-In
 Closing the feedback loop from operations to
design review
HOW DOES OUR SOLUTION MEET THIS
CHALLENGE?

10. COMMON DATA ENVIRONMENT
(AUTODESK BUZZSAW)

11. BIM-RELATED MARKETING

12. Test case output 1: Compare project design and actual
consumption category
Comparison of Oakfield project design and actual (line chart)
• Identify unusual
discrepancies
between design
bench marks and
actual consumption
values (e.g. ICT +
Msc power)
BESPOKE ENERGY PERFORMANCE PLUG-IN

13. BESPOKE ENERGY PERFORMANCE PLUG-IN
Test case outputs 2: View actual periodic
consumption in different categories

14. Test case outputs 3: Compare different projects
• View individual
consumption
categories and
compare with
other projects
based on Gross
Internal Floor
Area (GIFA)
BESPOKE ENERGY PERFORMANCE PLUG-IN

15. Design review meeting as a collaborative platform
Experienced Participants, low levels of BIM-readiness
• The Product Director of the Main Contracting (MC)
• The BIM Manager of the MC
• Consultant Architects
• Structural Engineers
• Supply chain partners
Focus
Reduction of time taken to achieve weather tightness
Approach
Structured discussion
following a set agenda

16. • A collaborative team willing to improve the
product through sharing and by making
suggestions
• Limited use of federated BIM & construction
simulation from the model
• Time-lapse video of the construction phase
preferred for visualisation
• Digital 2D drawings were used
Observations on the design review meeting

17. Design Review Meeting Findings
4D Made sharing ideas easier
visualisation Encouraged participants to share ideas
Made communication more effective but did NOT
facilitate collaboration in the first place
Did NOT make it easier to co-ordinate designs
during the meeting
Neutral on identifying programme reduction
opportunities or potential conflicts
Facilitated a more effective sharing of ideas but
did NOT help with real-time evaluation of the
implications of suggested changes

18. Participants with high-levels of BIM Readiness
Product Manager,
Main Contractor
The BIM Director,
Architectural Design Consultants
“..when you bring the model up there, you
are not trying to interpret it from a 2D
drawing. It is the same as standing on site
and looking at the detail and saying ‘can
we do that better…”
“You do not have to explain something
to somebody. You can point to it. You
can say: ‘look this is what I am talking
about’. It is much easier than saying:
‘you know the little bit under the eaves
…’”

19. To date Sunesis has delivered:
 Over 8,500 new school places
 100% on time
 100% within budget
 100% client satisfaction
The use of BIM has helped Sunesis
projects be delivered faster for
Plymouth City Council – without any
compromise in quality:
• Knowle Primary - Keynes2 2FEN – 30
weeks in lieu of 36 weeks (-6 weeks)
• St Matthews - Dewey 3FE – 39 weeks in
lieu of 45 weeks (-6 weeks)
STEP-CHANGE IN PERFORMANCE

20. STEP-CHANGE IN PERFORMANCE

21. SUNESIS CLIENTS

22. SUNESIS CLIENTS

23. • Development of EFA FOS-compliant Sunesis Keynes3, again
using BIM as a design enabler
• Further development of BIM-led design review tools (Oculus
Rift, etc.) – particularly in a cloud environment
• Use of the same for improved Client engagement/interaction,
including BIM-enabled website.
• Closer integration with Sunesis supply chain members as part
of a move towards BIM Level 3
• Strategic aim to deliver 10 Sunesis projects in 2016, and 16 in
2017 – all to BIM Level 2.
NEXT STEPS

24. • Robust evaluations of ‘real-life’ BIM implementation are
emerging.
• BIM and other means of nD visualisation as enablers rather
than collaboration tools in themselves
• Need to scope BIM implementation to determine projects that
would benefit from implementation
• A BIM implementation matrix: project type, scale, complexity,
procurement method, and the ease with which internal
processes can be incorporated
CONCLUSIONS

25. Tim Carey
Product Director, Willmott Dixon
tim.carey@willmottdixon.co.uk
Esra Kurul
Senior Lecturer, School of the Built Environment,
Oxford Brookes University
ekurul@brookes.ac.uk
Sunesis website
http://www.sunesisbuild.co.uk/
R&D Project Website
https://sites.google.com/a/brookes.ac.uk/bim-enabled-
collaborative-platform-for-low-impact-schools/
KEY CONTACTS