“BIM represents a paradigm shift”, says Jon Olav Upsal, project manager for infrastructure at Multiconsult Kristiansand. “BIM means a similar change in our mind-sets as when we changed from the drawing board to CAD.”

“It´s not a big barrier tools-wise, but work methodically you have to think through everything in a different way to obtain all the benefits. Similar to changing to CAD you cannot expect full value immediately, but the results show up pretty fast.”

Multiconsult Kristiansand is at the forefront when it comes to BIM for infrastructure. Building on their experience with the same work methodology from oil/gas projects they have in addition built up a 3D visualization group with a background in multimedia and gaming technology.

The office in Kristiansand is multi-disciplinary. Approximately 75 employees work with infrastructure, buildings/real estate and energy.

BIM crucial for the project

The road project they recently completed is a 7 km stretch of the E18 from Tangen at Kragerø to the Aust-Agder border. Multiconsult was awarded the project on the basis of a mini competition in a framework agreement that NPRA has with five consultancy firms in the region.

“We won based on price, expertise and understanding of the task”, says Upsal. “The reason for the price “win” was that we chose to run it as a BIM project and actually could lower the price somewhat compared to traditional pricing.”

“BIM is providing very good tools to determine the appropriate discipline interfaces and correctly match in terms of quality, quantity calculations, etc.”, adds Ernest Haugland, discipline leader for road at Multiconsult Kristiansand. “The project had very short execution time. To get an optimal implementation with high quality, we wanted to run it as a BIM project.”

Several tools tested

“We have previously tested various types of software tools in projects, but when we got the opportunity here to try Vianova´s new BIM solution Novapoint and Quadri, we seized the opportunity. We have worked extensively with Novapoint earlier, so we wanted to see what Vianova had developed Quadri into, and see if it could meet NPRA´s model requirements.”

“And it looks very good”, Upsal points out. “Not everything has admittedly worked perfect, but most issues have been solved along the way. Some of the challenges we for sure caused ourselves, some were based on deficient terrain data delivered at the start, and some came from small bugs and deficiencies we found in the software.”

“We notify Vianova once we face problems, and get instantly assistance”, adds Tim Zapart, discipline leader for 3D and visualization. “When we find bugs, actually most of them will be fixed by the next program update. For mutual benefits.”

“During the project period we have received three software updates. A lot has happened through these. If we initially had the version we have now, we had probably avoided many challenges. But that's how it is with new software. It constantly evolves.”

The discipline models were designed in Novapoint Road, WS and Electro – and constantly collaborated in Quadri. In addition was Revit used for structures, and a little Civil 3D for terrain shaping of the construction pit. Everything was multidisciplinary coordinated in NavisWorks. Multiconsult sees with great expectations to the newest collaboration tool from Vianova, Quadri Easy Access which is now launched.

Collaboration in the Cloud

Altogether 10-15 people were involved in the E18 project from Multiconsult. With most of the road and WS planners sitting in Kristiansand, others were working in Skien (also road engineeres) and Oslo (electro). They all worked with the same Quadri collaboration model in the cloud. Quality assurance was spread across the different offices.

“Design-wise we now see much better what we are doing, and we get much better control”, praises Ernest Haugland. “Just the fact that you get real time updates has a very important value. We can all work simultaneously with the joint model and communicate better, interdisciplinary not the least. It provides both flexibility and quality assurance. We see the others' discipline models, avoiding interdisciplinary collisions, and manage to adapt to the others much better. Hence also the end-result becomes higher quality.”

“The collision control in the collaboration model is not only done in retrospect. Here you in a way do it before it happens”, points out Upsal. “It makes you start focusing more on the good design solutions in the process, and think interdisciplinary collaboration.”

Model-based decisions

“What was essential in order to succeed with the E18 project, with such short deadlines, was to get the road geometry locked quickly”, continues Upsal. “As we worked model-based, NPRA got insight into the model continuously, and were therefore able to spend only two days to verify it. When this was locked, other designers could start to model structures along the road and others to work with shaping the terrain, designing drainage, lighting, etc. In addition to side roads and interim roads. Everyone got confidence that it was no changes in road geometry.”

“We delivered no drawings before the proposed final documents”, he says. “With the exception of a few verification drawings we have communicated with the client using only the model. When we finally had to produce drawings from the model it has worked well, despite a few small bugs which we managed to discover.”

Motivated project participants

“I must also add that the project team has been extremely motivated and skilled, despite having more or less to learn the new tools themselves. Only one person took a basic course”, says Upsal.

“Some of the feedback I have received from users have for example been "this really rules" and "this was so much fun that I did not want to go home when the workday was over."

“If there are things that do not work well Vianova prioritizes to get it out in the next feature pack”, adds Tim Zapart to. “They have been very helpful and responds promptly to our questions, with good feedback. We have had a very good dialogue, both by phone and in regular meetings.”

Business benefits

“Our opinion is that this BIM methodology enables us to harvest a financial gain directly in the project. The fact that we now can design correct first time around, enables us to deliver according to budget. You get better quality assurance and minimizes your own risk”, says Upsal.

Even better next time

“Using Novapoint here has developed our own and NPRA´s expertise. We have thought of this as a pilot project, learned a lot along the way, and spent quite a lot of time just exploring and learning things. So I think that at the next opportunity, there are many points we can improve on to retrieve additional time and quality.

“There is still a potential there. I do not think we have exploited everything yet and look forward to the further development of Novapoint and Quadr. We will now evaluate our experiences and discuss further roll-out in Multiconsult”, concludes Jon Olav Upsal.