Avanti is go

Construction’s historical emphasis on competitive tendering has forced the industry to search for ways to cut costs, deliver faster and maintain quality so that margins can be realised. Techniques such as prefabrication are not new but are being revisited in the drive for lean construction. Integrated teams and collaborative working have also been put forward as mechanisms for improved efficiency in construction.

The DTI, through its Partners in Innovation programme, has made available £750 000 over a three-year period to provide consultancy and a new business methodology to assist the move to more collaborative ways of working. The programme, called Avanti, provides experienced consultants to assist projects to move towards shared use of IT systems, electronic data and co-ordinated design. Avanti has been working to produce the documentation and toolkits required to support projects and enable a sustained method of working with agreed industry standards.

It has reached the stage where it is being implemented on a number of live projects ranging from a few million pounds to over £300 million. The largest of these is a major hospital PFI scheme at St Helens being developed by Taylor Woodrow. M&E contractor NG Bailey is part of the team at St Helens.

On these projects, Avanti has been invited to assist the teams to work collaboratively by generating an agreed set of working practices to share knowledge and data in a free but managed environment. The business change process enables a seamless transfer of data enriched at every stage of the supply chain without the usual redesigning, redrawing or rekeying.

The methodology and working practices are based on experience accumulated on projects over a long period. They have been applied to small projects, houses, retail developments, offices and major construction schemes and therefore are scaleable. It is a return to the best practices that the industry had developed, but forgotten; reapplying them to make more effective use of current and emerging technologies.

Case studies on previous projects have shown a reduction in waste and a 50% drop in the average overspends on projects, while ensuring less risk to the bottom line for the whole supply chain. Better profits for all should follow.

So how does it work?

Most design offices, specialists and manufacturers in the industry have developed their own working practices, usually based on extranets and published methods such as BS 1192 and the CPIC (Construction Project Information Committee) document A code of procedure for the construction industry. One company’s practices often differ subtly (and sometimes significantly) from another’s. They may also be based on out-of-date paper-based transactions that prevent sharing and reuse of data.

Through the Avanti consultation activity teams are encouraged to develop standards and practices for the project so that data can be shared and reused. This enables spatial co-ordination to occur as part of the process carried out by all parties taking responsibility. To do this, one of the main requirements is to format CAD data so that it can be reused and to generate data to full size. In a 3D world these two requirements, spatial co-ordination and format, will enable the industry to build models that represent the virtual construction – what will be delivered and erected on site – and not just the designer’s view. This requires a disciplined and fully managed design, manufacture and construction process ensuring delivery to time and quality.

To make the process of generating the model as simple and cost-effective as possible, the members of the supply chain must make their individual models available in a format that can be reused by all. If the architect makes the model available then the structural engineer can build their frame with reference to the spaces allocated. Eventually this frame will be replaced by the fabricator’s model with all of the attendant brackets, plates and bolts. This model will also drive the CNC machines to produce the items to be delivered to site for erection.

For the m&e design and fabrication, a similar process can be followed with the fabricators’ model fully co-ordinated against the architectural fabric and the structural frame. A true virtual construction model is the result. With the correct building tolerances built into the model, prefabrication will achieve the spatial correctness required.

While we have spoken for the most part about the designer, specialists and manufacturers, the main contractor has a major role to play as part of the team.

Avanti also requires that the management of the data at all stages of the process will deliver the right information to the right people at the right time. The programming of the delivery of information for the total team will become vital to the successful outcome of the project. It will need to be more sympathetic, proactive and less reactive and adversarial; trust must be developed and maintained within the team.

For those projects and companies that have not moved to a 3D object world, Avanti will also provide the same opportunities for a 2D base project. The same methods and practices can be applied to best advantage and provide a smooth transition from 2D to 3D when required, as the working practices do not need to be reinvented. Most of the current Avanti supported projects are, in fact, 2D.