Digital transformation across the RIBA: plan of work, part 1: stages 0-1
This article is part of an ongoing series about how digital technologies can be used to transform the way firms in the AEC space complete work and collaborate with the wider supply chain.
This article covers stages 0-1 of the RIBA Plan of Work; click here to see our articles on stages 2-3,4-5, and 6-7.
Work would be much easier if it wasn't for clients and partners, right? Sometimes it can feel that way for AEC professionals. Client expectations seem to be increasing all the time, while volatility in the supply chain and the growing complexity of the supply chain make it sometimes seem impossible that the project will even get done, let alone on time and on budget.
But there is hope.
As you will no doubt have seen from the RIBA Plan of Work's 2020 update, technology is playing a much larger role in the way buildings are designed, planned and constructed. Our series of articles is exploring how digital tools can have a serious impact on every stage of the RIBA Plan of Work - with some examples included so that the whole thing doesn't feel like meaningless buzzword bingo.
So, let's get started!
Stage 0 - strategic definition
Key activities at this stage include building a business case, budget forecasts, a sustainability strategy, and gathering preliminary data such as site surveys.
At this phase, digital tools have the potential to provide this information faster and more accurately than a team armed with calculators, spreadsheets, and measuring tape. It's also an opportunity for you to set up an IT infrastructure that can support the project (or any future project) so that you can make use of the best tools, and make data available to the right people at the right time. With those things in mind, some important activities that you can undertake at phase 0 include:
- Setting up a project brief and document library within a virtual project room, housing all the data you're gathering - both now and in subsequent phases. You know how important BIM plans are in modern construction; setting one up now and adding in the right data will help you to realise the full potential of BIM in your project.
- Scanning the site (or sites if you are considering multiple sites) using LiDAR, photogrammetry or both, and adding that data to the BIM plan. This data is essential for your stage 0 surveys, and can also be reused in subsequent phases as we'll see.
- The IT infrastructure that underpins the BIM plan and all its associated data needs to be set up now. A Cloud File System such as Claranet CloudFS powered by Panzura would be ideal, providing you the ability to store massive amounts of data without having to invest in expensive hardware, and the ability to share that data with anyone who needs it.
- Starting to track the potential costs of the project, particularly with regards to technology. The sooner you have an understanding of the likely costs of your project, the better able you will be to control those costs.
- Doing the same with the environmental impact of the project. A sustainability strategy is a key deliverable at stage 0, so any information or estimates of your project's carbon footprint that you can make at this stage will help your strategy.
- Setting up a cloud centre of excellence, or CCOE. This is a body of experts that helps guide and make key decisions about how digital technology can support the project. The sooner the CCOE is created and begins work, the more impact it can have on the rest of the project.
Putting these things in place can feel daunting; fortunately, organisations like ours can support you through the processes, providing managed services that give you insight and control over your costs and sustainability, as well as helping you implement the right technology to support the project. Better still, since the foundation you're building here can be reused across other projects, the time you spend on this phase will absolutely pay dividends later - so it's well worth doing.
Stage 1 - preparation and briefing
At this stage, digital tools and partners will continue to help you gather information and prepare the project brief. The field data you gathered at stage 0 can be reused here in feasibility studies and lower-level spatial requirements, and additional data such as the responsibility matrix and the project and digital execution plans can be added directly into the BIM plan to make it accessible to all.
From an IT infrastructure perspective, your focus should still be on gathering, housing, and making available the data about the project. We'd recommend looking at building a high-speed environment that can handle very high quantities of data; possibly a private or hybrid cloud solution.
Consultative services such as Claranet FinOps and GreenOps can continue to add value here (and at every stage of the project) informing your budget testing efforts and your sustainability strategy, making them both more accurate and getting you to the results you need faster.
Finally, at stage 1 it's a good idea to identify a data practice partner. A data practice partner provides expert analysts who can take the project data you generate and draw out additional insights from it to further help the project.
How might this all look in the real world?
To help you visualise how this all fits together, let me introduce you Bill Dings Ltd. Bill Dings is a developer that is looking to create an office space that can be leased out to multiple tenants. Here's how their project might unfold...
Bill Dings starts by engaging Claranet to help them take the very best approach to technology on this project. Together, they create a CCOE, involving trusted partners who are known to take a forward-looking approach to technology, Bill Dings' own tech leaders, and Claranet experts. The CCOE determines that the project should be built using Microsoft Azure technology, to make the best use of all the emerging technologies that could help the project. This will also enable the building to be operated using cloud technology once handed over, eliminating the need for on-premise technology such as data centres and physical equipment in the complete building.
Bill Dings starts gathering the information needed to ratify the project, taking surveys of local greenfield and brownfield sites that could be used for office space, gathering scan data using Leica Geosystems laser scanners. That data is imported into Autodesk Revit to help analyse each site for suitability, with all the files and data for the project hosted on Claranet CloudFS powered by Panzura.
Claranet's FinOps service is engaged early on, giving the team projected costs for every stage of the project, while GreenOps is deployed to forecast the carbon footprint of the project. Both these services will cover the entire project and the whole life of the completed building.
Thanks to all this technology, the right site for the development is modelled and identified much faster than on previous projects, and the necessary documentation to progress to stage 1 is generated with ease. Bill Dings now gets to work on stage 1 deliverables. Additional internal teams based across the globe are brought in to assist, as well as a few external consultants; because the data is stored in CloudFS, it's easy to share the data with anyone who needs it, whether they're a part of the company or a third party.
The scan data captured at stage 0 is used for more detailed measurements, generating lower-level spatial requirements that form part of the project brief. Assets including the responsibility matrix, the project and digital execution plans, and the information requirements are captured and stored in the Revit model, in the beginnings of the BIM plan that forms the golden thread of information through the project.
The CCOE now recommends that the project be built on high-speed infrastructure using Nutanix to ensure the very best performance for project teams. Because of this, it's possible for the teams to use Microsoft Hololens to visualise the project in VR, and mixed reality when actually on site, aiding their work and stakeholders' understanding of progress.
As more data comes into the project and estimates can be made more accurate, FinOps services continue to refine the projected costs for the project, speeding up budget testing and reducing the chance of overspend further down the line. Project planning also starts to scale up, with a greater level of accuracy made possible thanks to the detailed data already in the project.
What happens next?
Well, that's covered in our next article, which look at phases 2 and 3 of the RIBA Plan of Work. By the end of phase 1, your firm should have a solid IT foundation on which to get into the real meat of any construction project. The choices you've made and the investments in infrastructure you've made will make it easier to involve any team, anywhere, on any project - and to give them the data they need to make the right decisions quickly. From there, the only way is up...
Click below to read the next article in our series.
If this article has raised questions about how your organisation's IT supports digital construction and the digital built environment, and you'd like some expert and friendly advice, please get in touch with us and arrange a time to talk.
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