Africa Surveyors Nov-Dec 2020 digital issue by Nailex Africa Publishing

Volume 3 issue no. 12

November - December issue 2020

Africa Surveyors What does the future look like for BIM?

Hilti Unveils BIM-enabled Construction Jobsite Robot Consortium wins grant to accelerate drone inspections Implementation of precision farming in swine project granted

In this issue...... Topcon GNSS and Survey Instruments Headed to Africa to Assist Bridges to Prosperity Efforts ....pg 16 www.africasurveyorsonline.com

How African countries can mobilise private capital for their infrastructure drives ....pg 14

SA and Nigeriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first woman professor in construction management....pg 18

November-December issue l 2020

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CONTENTS

Contents 26

Current Issue In this issue, we look at the future of BIM market

REGULARS News Briefs

Events

Innovation

Opinion

Project review

Managing Editor

Francis David

COVER STORY

Editor-in-Chief

BIM: What does the future look like for BIM?

Augustine Rang’ondi

Editor Dorcas Kang’ereha

Writer

Features

Construction Management: SA and Nigeria’s first woman professor in construction management

Violet Ambale Harriet Mkhaye Irene Joseph Innocent Momanyi

Surveying and Mapping: Topcon GNSS and Survey Instruments Headed to Africa to Assist Bridges to Prosperity Efforts

Sales Executives

Precision Farming: Grant awarded for

East Africa

Jimmy Mudasia Lydia Kamonya Caiser Momanyi Vincent Murono Sheila Ing’ayitsa

South Africa

Paul Nyakeri Sean Masangwanyi Lisa Brown Thembisa Ndlovu

implementation of precision farming in swine project

Engineering: University of Pretoria opens Engineering 4.0 campus

Urban Planning: Surbana Jurong Launches Next

Generation Digital Facility and Asset Management Solution

Tender: A call for tenders for the construction of the Ruzizi III dam

Nigeria

Emelda Njomboro Uche Maxwel

Published by:

Nailex Africa Publishing Nairobi, Kenya.

20 35

ADVERTISER'S INDEX Building Smart........................................................................IFC Saab..........................................................................................IBC Ranhill.......................................................................................OBC Dmg events.............................................................................pg 8 Geoconnect Asia...................................................................pg 9 MacArtney...............................................................................pg 13 Pertamina................................................................................pg 24 Evologics..................................................................................pg 25 DMG Events............................................................................pg 31

The Editor accepts letter and manuscripts for publication from readers all over the world. Include your name and address as a sign of good faith although you may request your name to be withheld from publication. We can reserve the right to edit any material submitted. Send your letters to: info@africasurveyorsonline.com

Disclaimer:

Nailex Africa Publishing makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the contents of its publications, but no warranty is made to such accuracy and no responsibility will be borne by the publisher for the consequences of actions based on information so published. Further, opinions expressed on interviews are not necessarily shared by Nailex Africa Publisher.

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November-December issue l 2020

News BRIEFS

Kenya to host innovation centre for African youths

enya is set to host a technology hub for young people in Africa. The project, which is a partnership of 20 African countries, is aimed at providing a geographic data platform for innovative youth to realise their potential. The platform dubbed GeoHub is spearheaded by Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD). It will enable the youth to connect themselves to all opportunities available from geospatial technologies, to develop products that serve member states in businesses or entrepreneurial arrangements and spur growth. RCMRD, is a 20-member state organisation with

operations in Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa among other Eastern and Southern African countries. RCMRD Director General ,Emmanuel Nkurunziza, said GeoHub will provide an opportunity for the youth to tap into latest technologies to meet challenges that the society faces. “We are aware that data is going to be very critical. We are aware that internet of things is providing opportunities unheard of. We are aware Machine Learning and artificial intelligence are going to be the critical things if we will be able to manage what we have been doing mechanically with human brains,” said Dr Nkurunziza.

Nigeria’s institution seeks training for young engineers

ogo wants to be a member of the Global Green Growth Institute. The draft bill relating to it was examined on 28 October last in the Council of Ministers. This step reaffirms the will of this West African country to move towards an economy that is both prosperous and low carbon.

he Nigerian Institution of Mechanical Engineers (NImechE) has called for the training of young engineers to enable Nigeria benefit more from the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCTA) in 2021. The Chairman of the institution, Mohammed Ndaliman, made the call in Abuja at the grand finale of its design and creativity challenge project, organised for young Nigerian engineers. Tagged “Forging Africa’s Future Mechanical Engineers (FAFME)”, the project is jointly funded by Royal Academy, United Kingdom and Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) to boost the capacity of young mechanical engineering students and graduates. Three winners emerged in the competition with a sum of £1000 shared between the first place winner, the runner up and third place winner. Ndaliman,

The project will expand the supply of public transport accessible to as many people as possible, and will help promote the use of a clean, low-carbon mode of transport and improve the quality of public transport service in the economic metropolis. The two new tramway lines will be built in Casablanca, a metropolitan city in western Morocco. Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is supporting Morocco in the development of sustainable cities with efficient and low-carbon means of transport. This approach has led to the loan agreement signing between the agency and Casa Transports, a local development company (SDL) set up in 2009 and responsible for the sustainable

who was represented by the Chairman, FAFME implementation board, Robinson Ejilah, an engineer, noted that AFCTA would be the real test for continental economy growth, adding that there was need to prepare Nigerian engineers to provide the needed leadership to drive the trade agenda. The first commercial deal of AFCFTA will take off on January 1, 2021 but it is expected to be fully operational by 2030. “The take-off of AFCTA will require enormous human capacity development and this calls for investment in human capital development to close the huge gap for Nigerian engineers to provide the needed leadership to drive this focused initiative and agenda,” he stated.

Two new tramway lines to be built in Morocco

asa Transport SA has signed a loan agreement of 1.1 billion dirhams (100 million euros) with the French Development Agency (AFD). The agreement associated with a technical assistance grant of 5.5 million dirhams (500,000 euros) for the realization of the project of lines T3 and T4 of the Casablanca Tramway. The signing took place in the presence of HE the Ambassador of France to Morocco.

November-December issue l 2020

Togo eyes membership of the Global Green Growth Institute

and inclusive development of public transport in Casablanca, Morocco’s economic capital. The 100.5 million euros allocated by AFD will be used to build two new lines (T3 and T4) of the Casablanca tramway with a view to improving the mobility of city dwellers in a sustainable manner. “The implementation of lines T3 and T4 is an important step in the implementation of Casablanca’s urban transport plan, the long-term objective being to provide a quality public transport network that is as wide as possible and offers efficient intramodality with other modes of transport”, explains Nabil Belabed, Casa Transport’s Director General. The financial and technical partnership between AFD and Casa Transport was launched in 2012. The first 23-million-euro financing was allocated to the construction of the first tramway line in the urban area. It was followed by a second financing of 30 million euros in 2017 for the construction of the second line. These loans were accompanied by subsidies of €1.3 million and €500,000 to finance strategic studies and technical assistance on the environmental and social aspects.

Created on February 16th, 2010 in Rio de Janeiro, GGGI is an international organization that promotes green growth, a growth paradigm characterized by a balance between economic growth and the environment. It implements programmes in 27 partner countries, providing technical support, capacity building, planning and implementation of green and bankable policies and investment projects. Togo’s future development programme will focus more on ecology. For the West African country is preparing to join the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). The draft bill relating to this has been studied by the government, meeting in the Council of Ministers on October 28th, 2020 in Lomé. In the long term, this membership will enable Togo to strengthen its anchorage in a green economy, whose current National Development Plan (PND), which aims at 7.6% growth by 2022, is already focused on a sustainable and climate-resilient economy. The second largest GGGI member country in Africa At present, Rwanda is the only African country that is a member of the GGGI. It is on this basis that in September 2019 the organization assisted Rwanda in drawing up a programme for the development of ecological secondary cities, the aim being to cope with the population growth of the East African country. It is therefore as the second African country that Togo will join the GGGI, if it is not overtaken by one or more other countries on the continent. A hypothesis supported by the memorandum of understanding that the organization signed with the African Development Bank (ADB) in 2018. In the said protocol, the two structures commit themselves to promote programmes, projects and activities in the area of green growth in African countries.

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News BRIEFS

Arbor Metals extends Gold trend at Rakounga Gold Project, West Africa

rbor Metals Corp. (the “Company”) (TSXV:ABR) (FWB:432) is pleased to report results from its recently completed 55-line Km soil sampling program conducted on the 250-sq km Rakounga Gold Project, located in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Tangier Med Port Wins Award for Sustainable Development

he Tangier Med port in Morocco has been awarded the 2020 “ecoports” label award for its sustainable development approach. Since its commissioning in July 2007, this is the third time the port has received this label from the European Sea Ports Organization (Espo), which attests to its compliance with environmental standards. Tangier Med port is located on the Strait of Gibraltar, some 40 km east of Tangier, in the north of the Cherifian kingdom. The European Seaports (Espo) recognizes the efforts made by the port’s cargo port managers to protect the environment, thus awarding the “Ecoports” label.

The geochemical survey was established to fill open space on the property between the concession boundary on the north and a previous soil sampling grid located to the southwest. A total of 778 samples were collected from stations spaced at 50 meters along lines that were 200 meters apart. Samples were collected at a depth of 50 centimeters below surface.

drill programs. The larger the footprint, the great the potential,” continued Mr. Ferguson. Samples were collected placed in 3 mil poly plastic bags with an identifying tag and shipped to Actlabs Ouagadougou, for gold analysis. Gold Results from the survey outline a board 2800-meter long gold in soil anomaly trending in a southwest to northeast direction. The gold anomaly extends to widths 400 meters along its strike, and correlates well with the dominate soil gold geochemical trend identified in 2018 on the property. The Company will now incorporate the new data with existing data to plot priority drill targets for the 2021 exploration campaigns. More information on the 2021 exploration plans, and the scope and location of the work will be released in the coming weeks.

“This is very positive data that extends the known gold trend at Rakounga,” said CEO, Mark Ferguson. “We know that a little further north east along this trend there is significant gold mineralization. We also know the extreme south western portion of this trend has already returned positive drill results. This bodes well for Arbor’s plans. Our goal is to increase known mineralization along trend through multiple

GIS for appropriate flood risk planning in Sudan

“We congratulate the Port of Tangier Med for successfully renewing the EcoPorts Environmental Management Standard (PERS). Its quality approach aims at the continuous improvement of its performance in terms of energy efficiency, reduction of the use of natural resources and the preservation of biodiversity at marine and coastal level,” explain Espo’s managers. Compliance with the PERS standard is independently assessed by Lloyd’s Register, a British maritime classification society. The certificate granted by the company to ports is valid for two years. At present, there are 24 PERS certified ports worldwide, about a fifth of the 117 ports in the Ecoports network. The port of Tangier Med is the only African port to have received this label. Obtaining the “Ecoports” label According to Espo, PERS certification requires the port to propose a series of measures to demonstrate effective environmental management. These measures range from identifying and monitoring the most relevant environmental challenges to improving communication with the local community and increasing transparency through the creation and publication of an environmental report. Espo is not the only organization to praise the environmental policy of the Port of Tangier. A few months earlier, the international certification company Bureau Veritas awarded the “Safeguard” label to the Tangier Med port. According to the company, which specializes in testing, inspection and certification, this label attests to “the port’s commitment to offering passengers a reliable and safe travel area”.

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he benefit of this project is to map flood hazard and to determine flood risk zones for early warning system in state of Khartoum, Sudan as the pilot project In order to use the same method to identify the flood hazard in other states of Sudan, using Geographic Information System gvSIG to reduce the vulnerability of people and public and private property for sustainable economic development.

country a natural disaster zone. GIS is powerful tool for identifying and mapping of potential flood risk zones. To determine flood risk zones for early warning.

In mid-July 2020 Floods have ravaged Sudan. Climate changes are responsible for flood occurrence in Sudan which are result of high temperature , precipitation, heavy rain and seasonal variations.

The Open Source Geographic Information System gvSIG has become a reliable alternative for many users, especially for less development countries like Sudan, where limited budgets projects cannot provide the cost of installing and maintaining the commercial software.

At least 100 people have died and more than 110,000 homes destroyed, residents take refuge in high places, and some families were forced to take shelter and protect themselves in schools and other local building. The Sudanese government declared a state of emergency for three months and designated the

Some researchers applied a GIS-based approach to conduct flood hazard mapping with different parameters (i.e. land use, land cover, DEM, soil, river network, and slop).

The present pilot project proposes technique of flood sensitivity mapping using Geographic Information system gvSIG and factors as elevation, slope , land use, flow accumulation, surface roughness, topographic wetness index and curvature of the topography were digitized and then contributed in the mapping of flood.

November-December issue l 2020

international

Revit Project Cleanup has just gotten easier

deate Software, an Autodesk® AEC Industry Partner and Autodesk® Authorized Developer, is pleased to share enhancements to Ideate StyleManager, its Revit solution that allows users to analyze, delete or merge non-standard Revit styles. “Unapproved or non-standard styles within Revit models, templates or family files cause poor deliverable quality as well as delays due to the need to republish the documents,” said Glynnis Patterson, Director of Software Development, Ideate Software. “In June 2019, we launched Ideate StyleManager with tools for managing the styles of nine Revit functions, including Object Styles, Line Styles, Line Patterns and Fill Patterns. This month, we launched six new tools that directly address requests from users, including Viewports, Dimensions and Arrowheads.” Eric Miller from Bora Architecture & Interiors said, “As we are fundamentally updating our templates, we have found the definitions for text and labels within tags and symbols to be an absolute nightmare. We are delighted that the new version of Ideate StyleManager addresses this issue.”

FARO launches new WebShare Software ‘Enterprise’ feature FARO® Technologies, Inc., a global leader for 3D Metrology, AEC (Architecture, Engineering & Construction), and Public Safety Analytics, has announced the release of its new WebShare Software Enterprise offering. An extension of the widely-used FARO Webshare platform, the Enterprise feature allows data to be stored on a company’s private server or cloud infrastructure, ensuring full control over the security of its 3D reality data and a fast and easy way to provide access and share project management workflows. The Enterprise feature also offers single sign-on support to simplify the log-on process and avoid managing multiple passwords. FARO WebShare is a cloud or server-based hosting platform offering real-time access to the latest as-built 3D reality data for worldwide project management and Scan-to-BIM workflows. WebShare supports data of unlimited size and is source agnostic. The data can also be viewed, evaluated, and shared by authorized persons only, by using a web browser. All common industry standard formats for downloading data are supported, enabling seamless and collaborative workflows. WebShare supports multiple reality data sources and provides users a conversion-free way to export point clouds, including to other popular industry standard formats like Autodesk ReCap and

Bentley Pointools. For the AEC industry, FARO WebShare also enables the integration of 3D reality data as part of Digital Twin for the operation and maintenance of buildings and facilities, and the continuous monitoring of the construction process. Best suited for large organizations in manufacturing, process, or government work, WebShare is ideal for those who prefer to host their own data while remaining committed to the highest security standards that FARO offers. “WebShare Enterprise marks another important step in driving industry applications that can leverage Digital Twin technology,” said Vito Marone, Senior Director of Software Product Marketing at FARO. “On the heels of our recent acquisition of ATS, we will continue to introduce solutions that enable customers to save time and money and improve project efficiency and reliability.”

Teledyne Optech launches new service center in Europe

One unique enhancement included in the November 2020 release of Ideate StyleManager is the ability to analyze, delete or merge Text Types and Font styles: Text Types – Unapproved text types that make their way into projects or templates cannot be purged when they are in use Fonts – They can be displayed in tags, title blocks or other annotation families, making non-standard fonts hard to track down Finding, analyzing and fixing non-standard Text Types and Fonts is easy with Ideate StyleManager. The new version of Ideate StyleManager also makes it easy to analyze and correct the styles of: • Filled Regions • Viewports • Dimensions and Arrowheads The November 2020 release of Ideate StyleManager also includes: • • • •

Performance improvements Language support for Spanish, Japanese and French An “Isolate Similar” function that allows users to compare materials that have many key properties in common The ability to delete unplaced groups, which will streamline cleanups of Viewports, Line Styles, Text and other styles

November-December issue l 2020

eledyne Optech, a Teledyne Technologies [NYSE:TDY] company and global leader in advanced lidar sensors is pleased to open a new customer service center dedicated to the service of equipment for their European clients. Located in the Netherlands, the new service center will be a European hub for clients to have their airborne, mobile and static 3D sensors serviced augmenting its existing in-field service and providing quick turnaround on repairs. “We are proud of our customers and inspired by the work they do with our sensors and we are equally invested in their success. It is exciting for us to expand our world-class customer service by providing a local service center for our European clients,” said Michel Stanier, Executive Vice-President and General Manager of Teledyne Optech. The new service center will support more than one hundred clients in Europe and the Middle East and will provide repairs and replacement parts with quick turnaround time and plans to include a full-time

service manager and loaner pool. Teledyne Optech is a part of the Teledyne Imaging Group and a world leader in high-accuracy lidar 3D survey systems, integrated cameras, and productivityenhancing workflows. With operations and staff worldwide, Teledyne Optech offers both standalone and fully integrated lidar and camera solutions for airborne mapping, airborne lidar bathymetry, mobile mapping, terrestrial laser scanning, and mine cavity monitoring, as well as space-proven sensors. Teledyne Optech supports its clients with an around-theclock team, on-site service, and regular efficiency enhancements to the workflow of its integrated systems. Teledyne Imaging is a group of leading-edge companies aligned under the Teledyne Technologies [TDY] umbrella. Teledyne Imaging forms an unrivalled collective of expertise across the spectrum with decades of experience. Individually, each company offers best-in-class solutions. Their tools, technologies, and vision solutions are built to deliver to their customers a unique and competitive advantage.

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international

Trimble and Deloitte collaborate to deliver Innovative Cloud-Based Real Estate Management Solutions

rimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today a collaboration with Deloitte as part of Trimble’s Real Estate Global Alliance Program. This alliance brings together the technology and cloud hosting experience of Trimble’s ManhattanONE business with the implementation experience and global footprint of Deloitte’s Real Estate Transformation & Technology practice. Trimble’s ManhattanONE™ software suite is a comprehensive Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) solution for centralizing key real estate functions and data analyses essential for optimizing real estate performance, improving decision-making and enhancing employee experience. With simple and flexible access to current and future software modules—across leasing, financials, space, projects, maintenance and sustainability—organizations can more easily manage the features and functionality they need as their real estate requirements evolve. Deloitte will work with Trimble to bring the powerful capabilities of ManhattanONE to clients worldwide, leveraging Deloitte’s substantial experience with the deployment of real estate management technology platforms. Deloitte’s Real Estate Transformation & Technology practice helps organizations across industries address considerable opportunities

and challenges spanning space and portfolio management, lease accounting/administration, facilities and construction management, and more.

This process of giving live feedback enables a workflow that secures optimal results. Images are then automatically uploaded to Pix4Dcloud for a fast generation of scaled and georeferenced 3D models and points clouds that can be measured, shared and exported. Pix4Dcatch enables professionals in the construction, inspection and public safety sectors, amongst many others, to save time and money, giving them the opportunity to expand their business offering to

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avVis, an innovator in indoor mobile mapping, today introduced the Cloud Processing Add-on for NavVis IndoorViewer, a cloud-based tool that enables users to quickly and easily convert laser scans into survey-grade, photorealistic point clouds from data captured by NavVis M6 and the new wearable device, NavVis VLX.

“It has never been more important to use the right tools and technolo gy, and the best data available to make critical business decisions,” said Francisco J. Acoba, managing director and leader of Deloitte’s Real Estate Transformation & Technology practice in the U.S. “We are excited to be working with Trimble to deliver innovative solutions to help customers manage their real estate portfolios, including returnto-office planning and strategic alignment in today’s environment.”

The fully integrated NavVis indoor mapping solution is relied upon by laser scanning service providers, professional surveying firms, and Architecture/Engineering/Construction (AEC) companies.

“We’re excited to be working with Deloitte to bring a scalable and innovative portfolio of solutions to our global customers. ManhattanONE was built on the pioneering vision that integration and modularity are not mutually exclusive. With all the functionality available in one complete package, customers can now more easily unlock the potential of their real estate management and decision-making,” said Craig Gillespie, business area director, Trimble Real Estate. “Deloitte brings a highly strategic view of the business problems we are solving for across industries, and the execution capabilities to deliver value enabled by the flexibility of our ManhattanONE software solution.”

Pix4D launches new ground image capture app for 3D modeling

ix4Dcatch empowers users to easily create ground-based 3D models using an iOS mobile device. No need to be an expert, the user simply scans the area of interest with Pix4Dcatch. The app records pictures along with GPS positions. Compatible with recent iOS devices, but optimized for the newest iPad Pro and iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max with LiDAR sensors, scanning is done with real-time 3D meshing for scene completion feedback.

NavVis Introduces Processing in the Cloud for Even Faster Laser Scanning Workflows

include rapid creation of accurate 3D ground models. Christoph Strecha, Founder and CEO of Pix4D, comments: “Until very recently, capturing accurate ground data for 3D modeling most often required specialized hardware or add-ons, as well as professional expertise. The strength of Pix4Dcatch is allowing anyone using consumer devices to easily acquire the right terrestrial data for digitizing the space around them and turn it into accurate 3D models. It is the missing link in data acquisition and complements Pix4D’s software solutions.” He adds “In previous years, drones have become accessible to a big audience. In response, Pix4D innovated to release Pix4Dcapture, a free mobile app that quickly became a reference tool for drone mapping. Today mobile devices are not only high-quality image capturing tools but are also becoming professional measurement tools, enabling Pix4D to leverage their use to offer end-to-end workflows to our customers.”

“We wanted to offer our users a processing tool that significantly speeds up and simplifies their workflows, so they can benefit both in the short and long term,” said Lisa Cali, NavVis Product Head for Web & Cloud. “The Cloud Processing Add-on for NavVis IndoorViewer makes this possible.” NavVis revolutionized indoor mobile mapping with the introduction of trolly and wearable mobile data collection systems that rapidly capture survey-grade point clouds and 360° HD imagery in spaces such as manufacturing facilities, office buildings, and construction sites. Once the data is captured, the entire NavVis post-processing and visualization workflow can now be conducted in the cloud. NavVis users traditionally invest in their own computing infrastructure to convert the scan data into photorealistic point clouds, a timely process even with a powerful desktop computer. Now with the Cloud Processing Add-on for NavVis IndoorViewer, users have the option to upload multiple datasets from anywhere with an internet connection and quickly process enormous data volumes by maximizing the power of cloud computing. “Powerful cloud computing makes the NavVis processing workflow faster and more efficient, allowing multiple data sets to be processed in parallel while, at the same time, ensuring advanced data security,” said Cali In addition, NavVis has streamlined the new processing software for easier uploads and set up. The intuitive interface enables the user to choose point cloud settings in advance and flags potential errors that could interrupt the run. Processing begins automatically and throughout the task, the user can view a live progress bar and even request to receive an email notification when the job is complete. “Incredibly straightforward and a true time saver. The convenience of the cloud allows us to process multiple datasets from any location,” said beta program participant Neil Wakeman, BIM Technology Lead, Wade Trim Group.

November-December issue l 2020

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November-December issue l 2020

INNOVATION

FARO® launches latest Vantage Laser Tracker 6dof probe

ARO® Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: FARO), a global leader for 3D Metrology, AEC (Architecture, Engineering & Construction), and Public Safety Analytics, has announced its next generation Vantage Laser Tracker 6 Degrees of Freedom (6DoF) Probe. The new 6Probe offers exceptional portability and is compatible with FARO VantageS6 and VantageE6 Laser Trackers, enabling users to build, inspect and measure products faster and with greater accuracy. The 6Probe is a cost-effective 6DoF solution that meets the dynamic measurement, speed, and accuracy requirements of the most challenging industrial applications. With kinematic self-identifying styli, users can now change probing tips quickly and measure without any recalibration and also measure hidden areas outside of the tracker’s line of sight, with wider acceptance angles. The result is an advanced tool upgrade designed to enhance productivity and efficiency. In fact, the typical user of the new 6Probe can now save at least 30 minutes of time on any given workday. “The next generation Vantage Laser Tracker 6DoF Probe extends maximum measurement consistency and reliability in a variety of working environments, delivering best-in-class performance through faster and easier probing than previous models,” said Leo

Martinez, FARO Product Marketing Manager. “With Super 6DoF and conventional 6DoF probing, FARO offers the industry’s most comprehensive 6DoF solutions available.” 6DoF and standard probing are enhanced by FARO ActiveSeek™, a feature to automatically locate and follow the active target. FARO trackers support the patented Super 6DoF TrackArm solution, which allows the Vantage and one or more FARO ScanArms to work together to create an integrated contact and noncontact 3D measurement system for large-volume measurement. With a range of up to 60 meters (with

a 4-meter reach), Super 6DoF eliminates line-of-sight challenges and expands measurement range while maintaining superior accuracy. The Vantage platforms offer comprehensive, large-volume 3D measurement up to 80 meters, significantly streamlining processes and reducing inspection cycle times while ensuring complete confidence in the results. The Laser Trackers maximize 6DoF measurement capabilities via the optional 6Probe, enabling precise measurement of hidden areas and small features.

Quanergy introduces Industry-Leading M8-Prime 3D LiDAR Sensor

uanergy Systems, Inc., a leading provider of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors and smart perception solutions, has unveiled the new M8-Prime series of 3D LiDAR sensors for mid-to long-range industrial applications requiring a high degree of accuracy and precision in industrial markets particularly in warehouse logistics and container ports and terminal automation. Featuring an extended range up to 200 meters, the M8-Prime Series provides a market-leading angular resolution of 0.033 – 0.132 degrees that enables the sensor to reliably detect and identify objects with pinpoint accuracy. The M8-Prime Series generates exceptionally clear and detailed 3D point clouds by capturing over 1 million data points per second—more than double the volume of data captured by competing solutions. Like all LiDAR sensors from Quanergy, the M8-Prime Series operates reliably in any ambient lighting and weather conditions and maintains its high performance day or night. The M8-Prime Series features a 360-degree field of view, which enables flexible installation and provides complete coverage of scanned areas. The M8-Prime Series is compact and lightweight for deployment in tight spaces. The sensor is easy to install and configure thanks to standard M12 panel mount connectors and a user-friendly sensor API. Built upon the superior scanning technology of previous models, the M8Prime Series is the new standard in Quanergy’s portfolio of 3D LiDAR sensors. The sensor’s superior detection accuracy is uniquely suited for industrial markets, particularly in warehouse logistics and container port and terminal automation applications which require a high degree of certainty of an object’s location and position. The M8-Prime Series of 3D LiDAR sensors is immediately available.

November-December issue l 2020

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INNOVATION

Phase One Unveils PAS 880 Large-Format Nadir & Oblique Aerial Camera System

hase One, a leading provider of geospatial solutions, has unveiled the PAS 880 fully integrated large-format nadir and oblique camera system for aerial mapping. The PAS 880 integrates a 280-megapixel (MP) nadir camera with four oblique 150 MP cameras into a single pod to simultaneously capture photogrammetric 2D and 3D digital imagery. “The outstanding image quality and accuracy combined with unsurpassed data collection rate make the PAS 880 the most productive large-format aerial mapping solution on the market today, based on established Phase One technology,” said Dov Kalinski, Phase One VP of Geospatial Business. Operating at a remarkable 2 frames/second capture rate, the PAS 880 covers extremely wide flight lines with 20,000 pixels across in nadir and 14,000 pixels in each of the oblique angles. The system can be operated at a variety of airspeeds, altitudes, and lighting conditions for cost-effective blur-free image collection, with a maximum spatial resolution of 2.5 centimeters at 600 meters altitude. The combination of 90mm nadir and 150mm oblique camera lenses

ensures balanced ground resolution. The high-resolution 2D imagery collected by the PAS 880 will meet or exceed traditional photogrammetric nadir mapping requirements supported with oblique images, while the combination of nadir and oblique for 3D data will be ideal for city mapping and related applications where a 360-degree perspective is required. These include Smart City management such as municipal planning and environmental monitoring as well as insurance, asset inventories, tax assessment, computer simulations, reality/digital twin capture, and mass modeling. “We designed the PAS 880 with the same reliability and affordability our aerial mapping customers have come to expect from a Phase One solution, ensuring an ROI that is unmatched by other oblique and nadir systems,” said Kalinski. As is true of all Phase One Aerial Solutions, the PAS 880 is a tightly coupled hardware and software system. Each system is delivered with a seamlessly integrated high-level GNSS/IMU, where customers can choose between two accuracy levels. The PAS

880 comes equipped with the new generation of Phase One flight and sensor management software, developed for efficient, effective, and economical management of the entire oblique and nadir data capture workflow. The software includes iX Plan for mission planning; iX Flight Pro for flight management, data collection and image-status monitoring; and iX Process for fast and high-quality image processing. Phase One designed an open system to allow for additional processing with thirdparty photogrammetric applications.

Teledyne DALSA introduces a thermal camera

eledyne DALSA, a Teledyne Technologies [NYSE:TDY] company and global leader in digital imaging technology, is introducing a new member of the Calibir camera series, the GXF model, which is dedicated to elevated skin temperature screening.

The camera is based on the Calibir GXM, and is optimized for measurement accuracy and thermal stability in the human temperature detection range. The camera can be delivered with a VGA or QVGA resolution and different lenses to cover a horizontal field of view range from 24 to 70 degrees. An IEC 80601-2-59-2017 certification of a system, including the new GXF camera is pending. Like the Calibir GXM models, the new GXF camera is NDAA, Section 889 compliant. Samples are available now. Teledyne DALSA is part of the Teledyne Imaging group and a world leader in the design, manufacture and deployment of digital imaging components for the machine vision market. Teledyne DALSA image sensors, cameras, smart cameras, frame grabbers, software, and vision solutions are used in thousands of automated

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inspection systems around the world and across multiple industries including semiconductor, solar cell, flat panel display, electronics, automotive, medical, packaging and general manufacturing. Teledyne Imaging is a group of leading-edge companies aligned under the Teledyne umbrella. Teledyne Imaging forms an unrivalled collective of expertise across the spectrum with decades of experience. Individually, each company offers best-in-class solutions. Together, they combine and leverage each other’s strengths to provide the deepest, widest imaging and related technology portfolio in the world. From aerospace through industrial inspection, scientific research, spectroscopy, radiography and radiotherapy, geospatial surveying, and advanced MEMS and semiconductor solutions, Teledyne Imaging offers worldwide customer support and the technical expertise to handle the toughest tasks. Their tools, technologies, and vision solutions are built to deliver to their customers a unique and competitive advantage.

November-December issue l 2020

engineering

University of Pretoria opens Engineering 4.0 campus the N4 and the data collected can be used to model many aspects of transportation systems – improved and optimised pavement design supports longerlasting pavements that serve the economy and social well-being of society, he points out.

he University of Pretoria (UP) has officially unveiled its Engineering 4.0 facility, which will focus on South African research initiatives conducted on smart transport, smart cities and smart infrastructure. Billed by the university as a first for Africa, Engineering 4.0 is an initiative between UP, the South African National Roads Agency (Sanral), the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and integrated forestry company York Timbers, focused on research and training for smart transport systems. Situated on the Innovation Africa@UP campus in Hillcrest, Pretoria, Engineering 4.0 has its home in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology (EBIT). “Through its focus on the development of integrated transportation and infrastructure systems, Engineering 4.0’s research is concentrating on the reduction of energy consumption levels in transportation, maximisingproductivity in industry and creating a higher quality of life for people,” explains professor Wynand Steyn, head of the Department of Civil Engineering. “The research focuses on road construction, road use, traffic flow and smart transport systems, now and into the future. We are researching road construction materials, vehicle-pavement interaction issues, infrastructure materials and management, exhaustrelated emissions, semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles.” Smart transport, cities and environments are part of an integrated system that encompasses digitised transportation systems, parking management,

reduced traffic congestion and addressing environmental problems, notes Steyn. Among the projects that will come out of the Engineering 4.0 campus are smart roads and infrastructure which talks to smart vehicles in efforts to reduce traffic congestion and ensure the safety of passengers and cargo in SA. “This can help in areas such as agriculture and logistics, where transporting food can be improved to reduce wastage or damage to fresh produce. The new facility will also address the shortage of civil engineers in SA,” adds Steyn. The collaboration will further develop the skills required to design, construct, maintain and rehabilitate the extensive roads network in the country that is vital for accessibility and mobility of its communities, and in support of economic opportunities. “This facility is a place where novel ideas, scientific research, global expertise, students, academics, entrepreneurs and industry partners can meet to generate new thought leadership, innovation and training opportunities through collaborative partnerships,” says professor Sunil Maharaj, dean of EBIT. “A flagship project is an active 2km-long test lane on Pretoria’s N4 highway, where we collect real-time data and use big data analytics and the Internet of things to do tests and an analysis on how different road surfaces perform, how traffic moves on the highway, the density and type of traffic, emissions testing, and air quality monitoring.” The data will be monitored from a data house next to

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Other features of Engineering 4.0 include: • A national roads reference laboratory: Is the only site in South Africa for the independent testing of materials for the road construction industry. Standard testing will largely be conducted on road materials originating from Sanral (for national roads projects), the provinces and neighbouring countries. • The York Wood Engineering Laboratory: Aims to expand the footprint of mass timber construction, using advanced engineered wood products on the continent, in collaboration with civil and chemical engineering, architecture, materials science, data science, genetics and other related bio-economy disciplines. • A training laboratory: Will train and certify road materials technicians employed by various testing laboratories. Once their skills are certified, laboratories can provide accurate test data to engineers. The aim is to ensure materials testing in the field is up to standard. Engineering students will be trained and certified in this facility, which has virtual reality options for learning about testing techniques. • A concrete laboratory: This consists of preparation areas, curing and humidity rooms, and a test floor where various concrete and structural testing can be conducted for use in areas that include road construction and infrastructure. • Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT) Track: The 100 x 6m APT track allows for the construction of different pavement structures and their accelerated evaluation, using a mobile APT device. This enables engineers to monitor the expected behaviour of a pavement over a fraction of its life. For the smart cities research, UP says it will work with a team of academics, including social and environmental scientists, economists, urban planners, architects and lawyers, with the aim to redesign and integrate living spaces to promote social cohesion. UP vice-chancellor and principal professor Tawana Kupe says Engineering 4.0 will share its vast resources in technology and data sciences with all faculties via the institution’s Future Africa institute and campus, a platform for developing inter- and trans-disciplinary research networks within the university and the global research community. “We thank our partners and value their contribution to this landmark collaboration. Working together means we can achieve much more in solving Africa’s grand challenges,” explains Kupe.

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OPINION

How African countries can mobilise private capital for their infrastructure drives

iven the pressure on investment yields in developed markets, African nations have an opportunity to attract private-sector funding as they embark on infrastructure development programmes to boost their economies. As is the case in other markets, infrastructure investments will be key to reigniting Africa’s economic growth and development in the wake of Covid-19. The continent also needs to address its substantial infrastructure deficit. According to the African Development Bank, the infrastructure funding gap is in excess of $100-billion a year. Considering that many African nations now find themselves in weak fiscal positions, governments are turning to public-private partnerships to deliver large-scale projects.

Author: Standard Bank corporate and investment banking CE Kenny Fihla

Market dynamics could well support the mobilisation of private-sector capital and expertise. Compared with developed economies, where interest rates are zero or negative in many cases, returns in Africa can be highly attractive to both global and local investors. At the same time, infrastructure assets in general are well suited to institutional investors as they are long term in nature and often deliver stable, inflationlinked annuity-type returns. However, to successfully crowd-in the private sector, governments need to ensure they create attractive investment conditions. This involves managing political risk, ensuring that long-term infrastructure planning is robust, building capacity to ensure projects are well structured and bankable, creating policy certainty, and stamping out corruption.

“

We believe that many African countries are moving in the right direction with regards to protecting investor interests, and we see growing interest in assets on the continent. We consider infrastructure to be the backbone of any economy, and have streamlined our strategy for the sector to align our resources with key themes on the continent.

To successfully crowd-in the private sector, governments need to ensure they create attractive investment conditions. This involves managing political risk, ensuring that long-term infrastructure planning is robust, building capacity to ensure projects are well structured and bankable, creating policy certainty, and stamping out corruption.

”

November-December issue l 2020

One sector that we are focused heavily on is transportation. The continuous development and maintenance of transport infrastructure is vital to supporting demand growth, which is being fuelled by the continent’s youthful and increasingly urbanising population. Strong transport networks are also crucial in enabling the efficient movement of commodities and agricultural products. We continue to seek innovative ways to bank strategic port, road and rail infrastructure projects that encourage intra-African trade and promote regional integration. We are working with various development finance institutions, export credit

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OPINION

agencies and multilateral organisations to mobilise infrastructure funding. Stronger demand for natural resources as global economies recover, alongside investments in efficient ‘pit to port’ or ‘farm to fork’ transportation and logistics infrastructure, will no doubt boost long-term economic growth. And large-scale infrastructure development will assist the continent’s construction and cement sectors, which are significant employers. In our view, as long as the focus remains on investing in productive infrastructure on which other sectors can operate, infrastructure will drive the economic recovery.

outlines strategies to reduce carbon emissions and prepare society for the effects of climate change. The government has estimated that the cost for implementation over ten years is around $4.69-billion, and that it expects to mobilise publicprivate partnerships, debt instruments and equity instruments from the private sector, among other sources of finance. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa recently emphasised the need to build a new, inclusive, climate-resilient economy. There is also a Climate Change Bill under consideration, and plans to

establish a Presidential Climate Change Commission, which will be tasked with coordinating the national response to climate change and implementing the carbon tax. I am certain that we are going to see Africa’s sustainable bond markets grow. Given the scale of the climate crisis and the dire inequality characterising societies around the world, the focus on social and economic impacts is here to stay, and African policymakers and corporates need to position themselves accordingly.

Sustainability should be top of the agenda African nations also have an opportunity to capitalise on the increasing demand for sustainable investment options, including green bonds, and to ensure that the economic recovery is underpinned by sustainability. In recognising this trend, Standard Bank last year established a dedicated Sustainable Finance Business Unit to deliver on client demand and maximise our social, economic and environmental impact. Across Africa, we have seen substantial growth this year in demand for bonds that finance social projects. In South Africa, the government has announced that it intends to open the fifth bidding window for the next phase of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme before the end of the year, and domestic banks are already onboard. Further, South Africa’s Cabinet approved the National Climate Change Adaptation Strategy in August, which

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November-December issue l 2020

Surveying and mapping

Topcon GNSS and Survey Instruments Headed to Africa to Assist Bridges to Prosperity Efforts

shipping container with several pieces of key GNSS and survey instrumentation is bound for the East African country of Rwanda. The equipment, an in-kind donation from Topcon Positioning Group, will be used in support of Bridges to Prosperity, an organization committed to building trail bridges to improve the lives of people in rural areas worldwide. According to Bridges to Prosperity (B2P), almost a billion people around the world lack safe access

November-December issue l 2020

to critical resources like healthcare, education, or employment due to an impassable river. Building safe, structurally sound trail bridges for people to travel by foot, bicycle, or motorcycle has an immediate, impactful effect on the lives of those in the area. “We are fortunate that, even with challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been able to implement new safety measures with limited disruption to our building schedule,” said Devin Connell, B2P’s corporate program director.

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Surveying and mapping “Right now, our surveying efforts predominantly involve simple equipment such as auto levels and range finders, which can be time consuming when complex survey information is needed. The equipment from Topcon will increase our surveying capabilities, streamline the design process, and support us in building more trail bridges for isolated communities.”

without having us there. They want to be able to hit the ground running once the equipment arrives and this will help make that happen.” Connell said that their improved survey capability will help accelerate the company’s bridge building. “We go out and survey a year in advance, looking at as many as 100 different remote sites and, tough as it might be, establish priorities with the local governments. We are looking forward to our continued growth in 2021 and, thanks to the generosity of companies like Topcon, that process will be a much better one.”

In addition to the instruments — a pair of GNSS receivers, two total stations and data collectors — B2P will have access to the Topcon suite of software products, which will assist both the design process and the transfer of files from the field to their remote office or the engineering team working with them. According to Ron Oberlander, vice president of Topcon Global Professional Services group, however, the company’s role extends well past the equipment itself.

“

“We are excited to be a contributing part of this program,” he said. “But, in order for B2P to use these solutions to their fullest and increase their overall productivity, a training effort will be needed and we’re already setting plans in place for that to happen. In addition to conducting online virtual training sessions with B2P staff, we are making eLearning possible by allowing access to MyTopcon, our company knowledge portal. With these tools, they can gain familiarity with their receiver or total station or use the Topcon software to learn how to collect points — all

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We are fortunate that, even with challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been able to implement new safety measures with limited disruption to our building schedule.

November-December issue l 2020

”

construction

SA and Nigeria’s first woman professor in construction management

Prof Abimbola Windapo

hen Abimbola Windapo graduated from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1987, she did so as the first woman to study building. And now, with an ad hominem promotion to full professorship from the University of Cape Town (UCT), she is also the first woman professor in the field of construction management in South Africa and her native Nigeria.

‘

She has certainly delivered on the objectives she set when she entered engineering, which is evident in her research, roles and recognition

’

18 18

For Professor Windapo, this confirms that she is truly “a role model for women, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to give them hope that nothing is impossible”. Transforming her field – both in and outside of the university – has been a constant in Windapo’s decades-long career. In what remains a maledominated industry and faculty, Windapo has made numerous important contributions, including research into sustainable contractor development and serving as the chairperson of the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment’s (EBE) Transformation Committee from 2015 to 2017, a period of student protests across UCT’s campuses.

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Further contributions and recognition include graduating five PhD researchers, receiving the 2020 National Science and Technology Forum-South32 Award in the Engineering Research Capacity Development category, being invited to coordinate the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction’s TG81 Task Group, and receiving various grants from the South African National Research Foundation (NRF), the Construction Industry Development Board and the Royal Academy of Engineering. Abimbola Windapo Prof Abimbola Windapo recently received the NSTFSouth32 Award in the Engineering Research Capacity Development category. For the ceiling-smashing Windapo, the ad hom promotion, which is effective from January 2021, is particularly meaningful because it is recognition of her research, teaching, social responsiveness and administrative abilities from the “top-ranked university in Africa”.

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project management

Prof Abimbola Windapo recently received the NSTF-South32 Award in the Engineering Research Capacity Development category.

“Also, it is going to open more doors of opportunities because people now start taking you seriously and are interested in you,” she said. ‘A man’s world’ Entering and succeeding in a male-dominated industry wasn’t an entirely new experience for Windapo. Growing up in Nigeria, she was the youngest in a family of four children, surrounded by brothers. But being the only girl in this “man’s world” had its benefits; it meant support from her brothers, their help with algebra and trigonometry homework and taking up sports such as football, judo and karate (which Windapo took up both competitively and defensively). “In 1987 she broke barriers by graduating from the University of Ife as the first woman to study building.” In 1987 she broke barriers by graduating from the University of Ife as the first woman to study building. She then began working for multinational construction company Bouygues Nigeria Limited as a studies and planning engineer. While working on numerous high-profile projects, Windapo completed a Master’s in Construction Management from the University of Lagos and later registered as a builder with the Council of Registered Builders of Nigeria. In 1996 she left Bouygues and joined Lagos State Polytechnic and later the University of Lagos in 1998. While there, she obtained her PhD in Building and graduated in 2005. She continued providing professional building services at the University of Lagos and was conferred with a fellowship of the

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Nigerian Institute of Building in 2007. Two years later, Windapo joined UCT while continuing to research and render professional services in the construction industry after registering with the South African Council for Project and Construction Management Professions as a professional construction project manager and mentor. Change the narrative Asked what attracted her to engineering, Windapo said it was “pervasive problems such as unaffordable housing, overcrowding, inadequate infrastructure and service delivery, unhygienic environment, destitution and high rental costs”. She said these factors are responsible for the establishment of informal settlements, and health issues, which lead to a reduction in productivity and aggravation of crime. “All human beings should have access to comfortable accommodation in a conducive environment.” With the scarcity in infrastructure in Africa, Windapo decided it was necessary to change this narrative, and early on in her career, she recognised the importance of housing and infrastructure and of finding new ways of adapting approaches and building materials so that “people could have a fundamental right to housing as required by the Constitution”. “All human beings should have access to comfortable accommodation in a conducive environment,” she said. Windapo has held true to her initial reasons for entering the field. When she started working in South Africa, she responded to the high failure rates of many construction companies, particularly in the

small- to medium-enterprise sector, and the poor health and safety records in the industry. “There were gaps in knowledge and societal needs that called for the research,” she explained. “Before my research in this area, there was no previous recipe for sustainable contractor development, while the practices used by construction companies in ensuring health and safety were not established in the literature.” Thus, the goal of Windapo’s research was to “show ways of transforming the construction industry while providing jobs, alleviating poverty, developing scarce skills and reducing the impact of construction activities on the environment through sustainable practices”. Research, recognition She has certainly delivered on the objectives she set when she entered engineering, which is evident in her research, roles and recognition. But she has no intention of slowing down and remains committed to improving the industry for the greater good. The research will continue, involving two aspects of innovation: organisational/business technology and the development of ideas premised on the adoption of the new design, technology, material component and construction methods that could be acquired by local tradesmen in solving the housing problem. “This is based on a belief that the science of materials, infrastructure and construction businesses can change access to basic infrastructure and job opportunities across Africa,” explained Windapo.

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1919

cover story

What does the future look like for BIM? The impact and importance of BIM has intensified over the past two years, resulting in a huge shift in the evolution of the construction industry

November-Decemberissue issuel 2020 l 2020 2020 November-December

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BIM in manufacturing

hen discussing Building Information Modelling, we automatically assume its relation to the engineering or construction industry. This is understandable considering both industries have used intelligent software to deliver a model that aligns with companies BIM requirements to plan, design and complete building and infrastructure developments for many years by leveraging the functionality to improve decisionmaking, design workflows and to reduce build costs. However, as these industries continue to focus on efficiency gains and build cost reduction, the influence of BIM is starting to permeate into the building supply chain, particularly the manufacturing sector. This is resulting in increased demand for building products to be hosted online in BIM formats and be transferable into interactive designs to help construction project teams develop accurate plans and conduct clash detection to avoid costly rework prior to building work.

What does BIM mean for the manufacturing sector? The impact and importance of BIM has intensified over the past two years, resulting in a huge shift in the evolution of the construction industry. One of the key developments is the drive for construction and fabrication to be conducted offsite, areas more aligned to the manufacturing industry. Through the deployment of BIM, repetitive building types such as hotels, student accommodation and apartments are constructed both onsite and offsite as a way of improving efficiency and safety. Building Information Modelling was developed as a coordination tool but its use has now spread further to support construction, operations and maintenance. Customers are not only using this digital collaboration tool to specify their building designs but also internal fixtures, fittings and products relevant to the building’s function and the main benefit is that products are now more likely to be considered during the design and tender stages of any project.

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What does the future look like for BIM?

The move to offsite builds is becoming increasingly commonplace, with the use of BIM a big driver for making this possible.

BIM Level 3 is in its early stages as there are still several obstacles to overcome, which includes a wider use of the BIM Level 2 processes. Although there is limited information around BIM Level 3, the ideology has been generally agreed, however there are very few specifics about what this may look like in action.

Manufacturing organisations that fail to evolve will be left behind by tech-savvy rivals and will find the prospect of winning new business an uphill struggle. There is also the very real possibility of losing customers. Today we are at a critical point requiring significant changes in behaviour, driven by reduced skills availability, increasing costs, a greater focus on building outcomes and digital technology as an enabler.

The idea for a central, collaborative model of BIM Level 3 is that there is no danger of any data inaccuracies or duplications of work.

What does this mean for manufacturers? The move to BIM Level 3 by 2025 means that BIM Level 2 will likely become ubiquitous within this time frame. Additionally, companies wishing to supply into BIM Level 3 projects may well need to be informed enough to contribute to the central model, which is a step further on from the current process of simply providing 3D model geometry in a compatible format. With the BIM Level 2 mandate, it’s no longer a nice to have, but instead an essential way of working to reduce project costs and the time required for completion. We’re seeing in the changing world of construction that the lines between this industry and manufacturing are becoming increasingly blurred.

Every day more specifiers are using BIM libraries to populate building design briefs and proposals. It’s important for manufacturers to know that their products are at the forefront of the selection process by specifiers and that their brand profile is as recognised. Developing new product concepts is great, but manufacturers need to address issues that decisionmakers are concerned about and provide solutions they are prepared to adopt.

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feature

Hilti Unveils BIM-enabled Construction Jobsite Robot

ilti, an innovator of tools, technology, software and services to the commercial construction industry, today introduced its first robot, Jaibot, for semi-autonomous mobile ceilingdrilling. The Hilti Jaibot construction robot will help Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing installation contractors tackle productivity, safety and labor shortage challenges. With this new construction automation solution, Hilti makes a further step toward the digitization of construction sites.

The Jaibot executes its tasks based on building information modeling (BIM) data. The robot is a completely cordless and easy-to-use system that doesn’t require expert skills. It locates itself accurately indoors, drills the holes dust-controlled and finally marks them according to the trade. This is what makes the solution ideally suited for the mechanical, electrical and plumbing trade (MEP).

leveraging the opportunities offered by digitization will compensate for it. We do this by intelligently linking processes, teams and data,” said Jan Doongaji, Member of the Executive Board, Hilti Group. “With Jaibot, and in close collaboration with our customers, we are further stepping toward realizing the efficiency that digital transformation can and will bring to construction sites.”

“The productivity of the construction industry has been lagging behind other sectors for years. Margin pressure and shortages of skilled labor are already facts of life in our industry and make it increasingly difficult to overcome productivity shortfalls. But

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BIM Paradigm shift in the construction industry underway Time and budget overruns are common, especially for large construction projects. Significant productivity gains are possible with digitally planned construction projects and their realization with the help of robotic solutions. BIM-enabled robotic solutions also make the construction process more transparent with improved execution speed, constant performance and fewer errors. Daily progress can be reported from the field to the project office via cloud computing. Potential conflicts between the trades involved on a jobsite also can be detected at an early stage and then limited, resulting in more projects delivered on-time and within budget. Helping workers with the most physically demanding tasks Safety played an important role in the development of the Jaibot. It is designed to assist tradespeople in physically demanding, repetitive installation tasks such as drilling numerous holes overhead for many mechanical, electrical or plumbing

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installations. It is navigated by the worker via remote control and uses reference data from a robotic total station, the Hilti PLT 300. Holes within reach are drilled automatically. “We looked at which routine work on the construction site is among the most stressful, and that is primarily overhead work,” said Julia Zanona, Product Manager for Robotics at Hilti. “From the beginning, it was important to us to develop a robotic solution that supports our customers where it is most needed. The Hilti Jaibot takes over the most strenuous and exhausting tasks, working alongside the installation team.”

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SMART SUBSEA SOLUTIONS Delivering data in most adverse conditions: underwater acoustic modems with advanced communication technology and networking Accurate USBL and LBL positioning of underwater assets Modem emulator and other cost-saving developer tools Autonomous surface vehicle for bathymetry, monitoring and AUV support

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bim

No More Repetitive Revit Tasks with Ideate Automation

An important solution for architecture, engineering and construction businesses that use Autodesk Revit® software for large or complex building information modeling projects

deate Software, an Autodesk® AEC Industry Partner and Autodesk® Authorized Developer, is pleased to announce the release of Ideate Automation for Revit, a scripting tool for use with Ideate BIMLink. It is designed to significantly reduce costs by letting repetitive, time-intensive, low-value BIM tasks run silently in the background, freeing designers and engineers for higher-level, more valuable work. It is an important solution for architecture, engineering and construction businesses that use Autodesk Revit® software for large or complex building information modeling projects. “Automating repetitive tasks is one of the surest and most straightforward ways to improve the bottom line,” said Glynnis Patterson, Director of Software Development, Ideate Software. “Not only does Ideate Automation allow staff to spend more time on meaningful work, it also ensures that task outcomes are highly predictable and standardized.”

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Michael Hartley, Technical BIM Manager at Ramboll said, “We were waiting with anticipation for the release of Ideate Automation and we have not been disappointed by its potential. We have started implementing Ideate Automation and the tool is already influencing our workflows. Ideate Automation is allowing us to perform previously fragmented automation tasks and increase our efficiency whilst offering us new possibilities for data collection. This is one tool we have been missing and finally helps connect the dots!” There are hundreds of tasks within the Revit project environment that could be relegated to Ideate Automation. The software is optimized to work with Ideate BIMLink, which enables Revit users to pull information from a file into Microsoft Excel for editing and then push volumes of precise, consequential BIM data back into the Revit model with speed, ease and accuracy.

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BIM

Asite joins the Construction Industry Institute

The organization brings together construction leaders to help shape and move the industry forward

site has joined the Construction Industry Institute (CII) based out of the University of Texas in Austin.

The CII is a consortium made up of over 140 leading owner, engineering-contractor and supplier firms from both the public and private sectors, brought together to enhance the business effectiveness and sustainability of the capital facility life cycle through CII research, related initiatives, and industry alliances. As Asite continues to grow in the North American market, this partnership is a demonstration of Asite’s commitment to the region and its aim to become a leading SaaS provider for infrastructure developments and capital projects across the continent. Chris Peters, Asite Senior Vice President of North America said: “For over 30 years, CII has been working to apply research and best practices to create positive change in the industry. Here at Asite, we are thrilled to be joining the CII and become part of this effort to identify opportunities and invoke true change. As we continue to grow in North America, we appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with industry-leading organizations and become a key

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player in this region. We know we have value to add, and we are excited to bring our level of expertise and knowledge to the conversation.” Gene Brieck, Asite Vice President of Sales for North America said: “We are delighted to join the Construction Industry Institute (CII) based here in Texas. Our membership with CII is a perfect fit for Asite as we share the value of working collaboratively to develop the innovative solutions that will, ultimately, drive our industry forward. Working as an R&D research lab for capital projects, CII is consistently at the forefront of new industry developments, and we are excited to now be part of this team and that journey.” Asite’s growth in North America has already seen the US team grow exponentially, with more growth expected in 2021. The company's expansion in the US is evidenced by a new office in Houston, joining the New York office. Asite’s CII membership will help to further these aims. The CII creates competitive global market advantages for its members through its research-based and member-driven creation of knowledge and CII best practices.

Working with the CII will help provide Asite with a decisive industry edge and provide the company with access to leading academics, identifying the most significant opportunities for industry improvement. Asite’s open construction platform enables organizations working on capital projects to come together, plan, design, and build with seamless information sharing across the entire supply chain. Asite’s comprehensive range of solutions connect dispersed teams across the lifecycle of capital assets, enabling them to build better and build resilience. With Asite, capital project owners stay at the forefront of innovation, maintaining a golden thread of information throughout a project to facilitate the creation of digital twins. Based at The University of Texas in Austin, the CII is a consortium of more than 140 leading owner, engineering-contractor, and supplier firms from both the public and private arenas. These organizations have joined together to enhance the business effectiveness and sustainability of the capital facility life cycle through CII research, related initiatives, and industry alliances.

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architecture

Surbana Jurong Launches Next Generation Digital Facility and Asset Management Solution

A structural view of a tenant unit at ALICE@Mediapolis, allowing real-time overview of the facilities management needs using OMNI

urbana Jurong, a global multidisciplinary urban, infrastructure and managed services consulting firm, has developed the next generation Digital Facility and Asset Management solution to enhance the work process and operational efficiency of buildings. Named OMNI, the innovative digital platform will raise the competencies and standards of the facilities management industry, keeping pace with rapid technological advancements in the built environment. The innovation of OMNI is aligned with the national thrust to leverage technology and uplift the facilities management industry. The industry has traditionally been known to be slower in its adoption of digital solutions within the built environment sector. As part of its efforts to harness technology, SMM Pte Ltd, the facilities management arm of Surbana Jurong Group, has created an advanced Facility and Asset Management service offering. Dubbed â&#x20AC;&#x153;OMNIâ&#x20AC;?, this Digital Facility and Asset Management platform solution integrates both Building Information Management (BIM) and SMART Facilities Management (SMART FM) technologies,

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urban planning

thereby enhancing the full life-cycle of the facility and asset management. OMNI collects both the building information and dynamic data generated from the Internet-of-Things (IoT) sensors for big data analytics. This allows the building operators to optimise and develop a more efficient work strategy for corrective and preventive maintenance. Building operators can also access accurate, real-time information anytime. The platform has a set of modules to support the key functions of facilities management, including space management, asset management, maintenance management, reporting and analysis, and mobile application for users on the go. It provides performance metrics and planning tools for users to efficiently manage the assets and facility operations. The platform is also seamlessly integrated with intuitive dashboards, instant messaging, faulty system tracking and real-time data analysis.

Use of OMNI at ALICE@Mediapolis To further drive smart building management,

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for tenants, visitors and the landlord. OMNI’s integration of BIM with Smart FM technologies makes the platform a natural fit with the profile of ALICE@ Mediapolis as Singapore’s first truly-smart business park development, and this deployment is also in line with our position as a market-leading developer and design-and-build partner, with a progressive approach in adopting game-changing, industrytransforming technologies.”

Boustead Projects Limited, a leading specialist in smart eco-sustainable real estate solutions, started the initial deployment of OMNI at the Boustead Development Partnership’s ALICE@Mediapolis business park development in July 2020. As a pilot project, the innovative solution was used for space management, asset management, maintenance management, reporting and analysis. Based on ongoing beta testing and data collected to-date, OMNI may be able to achieve an improvement of more than 30 percent in overall work productivity, with at least a 50 percent increase in building information access and a reduction in manpower requirements through accomplishing more efficient processes for the work required. The official commissioning of the platform will commence in December 2020 Mr Thomas Chu, Managing Director of Boustead Projects Limited said: “ALICE@Mediapolis broke new ground in how BIM, digitalisation and cloud-based technology were extensively used to collaborate and integrate stakeholders’ inputs at every stage of the development, as well as in its incorporation of smart building technologies to enhance the user experience

Mr Wong Heang Fine, Group Chief Executive Officer of Surbana Jurong Group said, “As a leading consultancy in the built environment, Surbana Jurong has adopted digital technology as a way of working for every project and to drive better outcomes for our clients. Being the first consulting firm in Asia to be awarded the ISO 19650 accreditation is a testament to our compliance with the highest BIM modelling standards in projects. The integration of BIM and Smart FM into facilities management is a technological breakthrough for Surbana Jurong and it underscores our commitment to transform the facilities management industry and ensure that buildings stay sustainable and liveable.”

November-December issue l 2020

precision farming

Tami Brown-Brandl, Ph.D., professor of biological systems engineering at the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

SD Animal Health has awarded the 2020 High-Quality Pork — Precision Farming Award to Tami Brown-Brandl, Ph.D., professor of biological systems engineering at the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Brown-Brandl and her team received the award, which grants up to US$200,000 towards project implementation with an interested customer in 2021, for their project, “Next-Generation Grow-Finish Swine Health and Growth Monitoring.” The winning project demonstrated the benefits of using an radio-frequency identification (RFID)

technology and depth cameras to monitor feeding/ drinking behaviors and weight gain in pigs to accurately detect abnormal events and acute and chronic illnesses. This data can provide critical information in real time which could help farmers make better pig management intervention decisions, potentially leading to substantial economic benefits for pig producers worldwide. Using the gran, Dr BrownBrandi and her team plan to further develop the monitoring system and other technology solutions to improve early illness detection and market weight estimation, ultimately improving precision animal management for the swine industry.

November-December issue l 2020

“This award is truly an honor – what an exciting time to be working in animal agriculture,” said Dr. BrownBrandl. “The producers, scientists and engineers working in the area of precision animal management are truly shaping the future of animal production. I appreciate MSD Animal Health joining us in helping lead that charge.” Dr. Brown-Brandl was selected through a competitive process that included a diverse pool of candidates from around the world, including Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and South America. Entrants presented a wide array of projects, ranging from product convenience to workforce safety and improved animal handling.

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mining

Gold Bull appoints VP Exploration and Geology Advisor

old Bull Resources Corp. (TSX-V: GBRC) (“Gold Bull” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce it has promoted Mr. David Johnson to Vice President – Exploration and welcomes Mr. Randy Vance as a key Geology Advisor. Gold Bull CEO, Cherie Leeden commented: David is already a highly regarded Gold Bull team member and we are delighted that David will be leading our ambitious upcoming exploration endeavours in the role of Vice President – Exploration. Geophysics is going to play a critical role in defining new discoveries in the Great Basin and David will continue to lead our team in that discipline. I am also excited to welcome Randy Vance to our technical team. Randy is a well-respected Geoscientist who boasts a wealth of experience. Randy will serve to both mentor and challenge our Geology team in our pursuit to define and acquire additional ounces. A summary of the new appointments is provided below: David Johnson: Vice President – Exploration

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and Inversion (CEMI), funded by a WMC Company Fellowship. He also holds a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance from the Securities Institute of Australia.

Mr. Johnson is a global mineral explorer with over 25 years experience across a wide variety of geological terrains, deposit types and geographic areas. With several discoveries to his credit and expertise in applying geophysical methods he brings a wealth of knowledge to the group. He led a successful in-mine exploration team at Independence Group and has been a key driver of the planning process for 2021 at Gold Bull.

Randy Vance: Geology Advisor

Mr. Johnson has held technical specialist positions with major mining companies (Western Mining Corporation, Rio Tinto) and mid-tier producers (LionOre, Independence Group). He has served on the boards of private (Revelation Geoscience, a Vancouver-based multi-disciplinary geoscience consulting firm acquired by CSA Global) and public (Cassini Resources Ltd, an ASX-listed junior explorer) companies. As a consultant, he has provided advice to explorers in Australia, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Scandinavia. Mr. Johnson graduated from University of Melbourne in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science with Honours in Geology. From 1995 to mid-1997, he completed a Master of Science degree at the University of Utah within the Consortium for Electromagnetic Modeling

Mr. Vance is a Geologist with forty years experience (including 26 years with Newmont) of exploration in a wide variety of metallic deposits, including epithermal gold-silver veins, gold skarns, intrusionrelated Au-Cu and IOCGs, and sedimentary-hosted massive sulfide deposits in the Belt Supergroup. Mr. Vance boasts extensive knowledge and specialized expertise of low-sulfidation bonanza veins, epithermal hot spring, and sediment-hosted goldsilver deposits in northern Nevada and the western U.S. Mr. Vance is a proven leader of exploration teams in near-mine and grassroots environments, beneath headframes and in the bush. Mr. Vance has an ability to recommend and execute effective exploration programs using geology, geophysical surveys, remote-sensing tools, and regional concepts. He has participated in and managed small teams that discovered or expanded gold and silver deposits at Midas, Hollister, True North (Alaska), and Fire Creek.

November-December issue l 2020

construction

Causeway launches facial recognition solution for safer sites

he latest Causeway Donseed release includes new contactless facial recognition technology, which enables construction contractors to verify identity at sign-in and sign-out without any skin contact Social distancing caps resource numbers and limits productivity, while infection risks complicate health and safety management. Errors can close sites. It is essential contractors know who is attending site. This new Causeway Donseed release puts safer site access and greater control of time and attendance within the grasp of construction firms through contactless biometric identity just when they need it most. All within a tough economy that makes maintaining cost controls and productivity critical. Construction projects depend on the presence and movement of large workforces across multiple subcontractors and labour agencies. Knowing who is or has been on-site, when, and for precisely how long is crucial both to controlling associated costs, reducing risks, and proving that you

have done so. More than 2500 sites already utilise the Causeway Donseed biometric solution to do just that. Now, the solution brings a powerful upgrade to help contractors bear the Covid era challenge. Contactless facial recognition contactless facial recognitionBy deploying the new facial recognition solution on-site, contractors of all sizes can capture Covid-secure, non-skin contact time and attendance records for any site or zone. It can eliminate the hygiene concerns of physical sign-in and reduce the risks and delays of processing unreliable paper-based timesheets. It is unique in offering both fingerprint recognition and facial recognition verification options on a single portable device. The facial recognition solution is also now available on a mobile app (iOS and Android). In a time of industry uncertainty, it has never been more important for contractors to establish greater

cost controls that can have a direct impact on project profit margins. With the Causeway Donseed solution timesheets are built accurately and in real-time, giving constant visibility and reducing unnecessary risks and costs from mistaken, inflated or rounded up logging of on-site hours, as well as data entry errors. Accurate hours using facial recognition clocking-in VKE Contractors is an innovative construction solution specialist, principally providing groundwork, RC frame and structural alteration subcontract services to the construction industry. Before facial recognition technology on-site, VKE Contractors were relying on paper timesheets across to collate time and attendance records and manage health and safety. VKE Contractors implemented the Causeway Donseed facial recognition solution in 2019, making the switch on just 1 site initially. They have since implemented facial recognition clocking-in onto 4 more sites. VKE Contractor’s office manager, Iona Bensusan, said: “As a business we knew that we needed to steer away from using paper timesheets to manage time and attendance on site. “The use of paper timesheets limited the visibility that we had on a project, particularly from head office, and created additional workload for the accounts department who would have to collate timesheets from each site to process the payroll. “We were also concerned that paper was open to manipulation and errors. “With facial recognition, we can now quickly verify identity at the point of sign-in/out on site. This allows the accounts department to process payroll with much more accurate time and attendance data.”

November-December issue l 2020

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drones

Consortium wins £30m grant to accelerate drone inspections

ees.ai, leading a consortium of eight partners that include NATS, Vodafone, Skanska and Sellafield, has won a share of £30m from the Future Flight Challenge, a proportion of which has been allocated to address the Covid-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has seriously impacted our industrial and engineering industries. In construction alone, total output plummeted 45% in April resulting in fears that half a million jobs could be lost*. Society has a deep need for these industries: in 2018 they employed 19% of the UK workforce and generated 23% of UK turnover. And everyday – notwithstanding the pandemic – construction progress needs to be managed; infrastructure assets require constant attention; and components need to be monitored. Leaving this work undone can not only be costly, but deadly. To address this need, the consortium is developing an advanced drone system that will facilitate better and faster exchange of information between offsite and

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onsite teams; help increase productivity and health & safety of onsite workers; and reduce the number of visits to site overall. The solution teams human pilots operating beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) in a control room with highly-automated drones on the client site to enable the remote execution of complex, close-quarter missions on industrial sites. This solution unlocks the remote capture of aerial data at enterprise scale for the first time. NATs (the UK’s main air navigation provider) and Vodafone are technical partners for the project. sees. ai’s solution will be operated by Terra Drone (one of the world’s leading drone service providers) for tests with end-clients Skanska; Skanska Costain STRABAG working in partnership with HS2; and Atkins. Sellafield’s in-house drone team will test the sees.ai solution on their site. These companies see the value in aerial intelligence but have been unable to access it at the scale and quality required. For them, the sees.ai solution is a potential way forward.

sees.ai CEO, John McKenna, said: “As the COVID-19 crisis continues, there is mounting pressure to keep our construction sites, industrial sites and infrastructure running, while protecting people’s health. Our solution will bridge the gap between offsite and onsite teams, allowing crucial work to continue and increasing productivity, without risking people’s safety.” Gary Cutts, Future Flight Challenge Director said: “At this very challenging time for the international aviation industry, it is a great testament to the UK’s drive and ambition that we have had such a strong response to the first funded Future Flight competition. The breadth, quality and creativity of the bids has been exceptional and the economic and social benefits offered are very significant. The projects we are now launching will position the UK strongly to drive the 3rd revolution in aviation.”

November-December issue l 2020

tender

A call for tenders for the construction of the Ruzizi III dam (147 MW)

From left: Minister of Infrastructure of Rwanda, Ambassador Claver Gatete, Acting Minister of Energy and Water Resources of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pierre Kangudia and Minister of Hydraulics, Energy and Mines of Burundi, Como Manirakiza signing Ruzizi 3 Power project agreement

uzizi III Energy is launching a call for expressions of interest for the construction (EPC) of the Ruzizi III hydroelectric power plant. The project company will receive applications until February 14th, 2020 for this prequalification. The Ruzizi III hydropower project will be located on the Ruzizi River on the boundary of Rwanda and the

Democratic Republic of Congo and is being built as a public-private partnership. The intended installed capacity is 149 MW, subject to final definition studies. The private sector project sponsors are Industrial Promotion Services of Kenya and SN Power of Norway. Public parties are the governments of Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda.

November-December issue l 2020

The EPC contract will include the engineering, procurement, construction, testing and commissioning of a 45-m-high embankment dam with associated spillway, low-level outlet, and ecoflow powerhouse, a 3.8-km-long, 6- to 7-m-diameter, concrete-lined headrace tunnel from the reservoir to the powerhouse; penstock and unit penstocks; power station and switchyard; a 8.3-km-long 220-kV double-circuit transmission line connecting the Ruzizi III substation to the regional dispatch station in Kamanyola (DRC); access roads from Bugarama (Rwanda) and Kamanyola to the dam site; and all ancillary and related works. The power station will have three generating units, giving an installed capacity of at least 150 MW. Ruzizi III Energy Limited will pre-qualify contractors and consortia to tender for the RIII-EPC contract. Pre-qualification documents will be made available, in electronic format for free, in a dedicated virtual data room. Submissions are due Feb. 15, 2021. RuziziIII_EPC_Prequalification@ruzizienergy.com is the email address for all queries related to the prequalification and for interested applicants to request access to the VDR.

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