Mola architecture

‘ Barry McAuley, Ph.D. Post-Doctoral Researcher 086 014 4853 bmcauley@cita.ie www.bicp.ie

BICP Case Study: Cherrywood Development Background The Cherrywood development represents a â‚Ź2 billion investment that will turn a dormant site at Cherrywood in South Co. Dublin into a substantial and largely selfcontained suburb. The two primary components of this investment include an existing 53,000m2 office park and a 390-acre master-planned development site. The Cherrywood site is planned to include a new, retail-led mixed-use Town Centre; up to 3,800 apartments and houses; and zoning capacity to expand the second largest office park in Dublin to three times its current size. The Cherrywood project will see the development of 5.4 km of roads and 82 acres of parkland over the next 18 months.

The Town Centre will be the beating heart of Cherrwood and will have a dedicated Luas stop directly at its entrance.

Figure 1 provides an overview of the Cherrywood masterplan.

Execution Plans (BEP). They have also responded to Contractors who are now preferring to use BIM to respond to complex constructability issues. They have primarily seen a significant uptake in BIM from M&E contractors due to the available advanced clash detection tools. This has resulted in MOLA tailoring their BIM experience to each individual client.

MOLA organize all their training in-house and have a dedicated BIM Manager to provide this service. This includes 4D and 5D related services i.e. clash detection, scheduling, quantity take off, etc. There has been a significant investment provided from the senior management to ensure that the correct resources are available i.e. hardware and software. Plans are in place to begin Navisworks training to ensure further constructability capabilities can be realized.

Collaborative Process MOLA were responsible for overseeing the initial design development in partnership with London-based architectural firms Dunnett Craven and Levitt Bernstein, as well as Polish based Architectural firm IMB Asymetria.

Levitt Bernstein and IMB Asymetria were the concept architects for the residential design and Dunnett Craven for the commercial design of the scheme. To successfully achieve the designs for both the commercial and retail requirements of the project, MOLA decided to use, inhouse, BIM technologies primarily in the form of 3D design tool Autodesk Revit.

Figure 1: Cherrywood Masterplan

MOLA Architecture MOLA were employed to act as executive architects for Town Centre One (TC1) and Town Centre Two (TC2).

They have responded to the market request for BIM and have now tendered for a number of BIM specific projects.

These include public works projects for which designers will have to complete BIM capability questionnaires to ensure they can provide BIM services. They have found that private sector clients are commonly working with specialist consultants to advise them on their Employer Information Requirements (EIR) and BIM

Before moving forward with BIM processes, the PAS 1192-2:2013 and PAS1192-3:2014 suite of standards were consulted to ensure all workflows represented best practice. MOLA created their own internal BEP based on these guidelines to ensure that the correct quality procedure checks were in place.

It was agreed at concept stage that the three Concept Architects who were developing the residential, retail and office blocks would use Autodesk Revit 2016. The design of both the Structural/Civil (ARUP) and the M&E (OCSC) packages for TC1 and TC2 were developed through work books and sketch diagrams which provided the information necessary for the concept Architects to allow

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for structural and M&E zones within their design. Full Revit models for the Structure and M&E are to be developed post planning.

The application of a BIM platform to develop the three main elements of the TC1 and TC2 sites provided MOLA with a good starting point for when they took over the further development of these blocks and production of planning drawings. Considerable rework was still required by the MOLA team to bring the initial models up to a planning level and to also incorporate changes to the initial client scheme requirements prior to lodging for planning.

This was essential in both producing and keeping the model live, so that it was an accurate representation of what was to be built. The aim of the team moving forward was to use the model to generate the majority of 2D drawings that would form the planning submissions.

the high level of car parking and road infrastructure required within the planning application. While external structural consultants are focused on these items they have not used BIM tools or processes to-date. This has resulted in MOLA having to develop their own structural model to ensure that the proposed planning solution is functional.

Figure 2 provides a CGI of the Cherrywood development.

They brought in consulting Architects O’Mahony Pike (OMP) to assist with the residential design required for TC1 and TC2. This required both firms sharing models to ensure that the commercial and residential requirements fitted seamlessly within the overall Cherrywood masterplan. MOLA collaborated with OMP on the BEP to ensure that the correct shared parameters and naming conventions were used.

Figure 2: CGI of Cherrywood Development

MOLA were responsible for the management of the central master model which incorporated all of the TC1 and TC2 structures. The federated model was primarily used for collaboration and sharing of information, as well as for printing purposes. Some of the buildings within the central model could only be represented as a massing element due to some of the other external design teams using AutoCAD and Sketchup. This resulted in poor interoperability with Revit.

This will ensure that the statutory planning bodies have the most functional design to assist with their final planning decision. By working in partnership with OMP within a BIM environment it has enabled them to see how potential changes could impact their designs. BIM has permitted a transparency that could not have been realized through the application of existing 2D processes.

While DropBox has been primarily used as the Common Data Environment (CDE) of choice it was widely accepted that post tender a more BIM compatible platform will be required.

The Revit Model has also been used as the primary basis to generate various 3D visuals.

Through the application of BIM at the planning stage it has enabled better future proofing of the design, as potential clashes could be eliminated before they move toward the post planning design stage.

MOLA are now finding that through the correct application of BIM technologies and processes it has increased staff productivity which has result in the better use of project resources.

Acknowledgements Antonio Ianni, Nigel Neely and Kieran Fitzgerald (All MOLA Architecture)

Planning Stage BIM has enabled an extensive understanding of the design due to the extensive analysis performed compared to traditional workflows. This has proved important due to

Case Study prepared by Dr. Barry McAuley (CitA/DIT), Dr. Alan Hore (CitA/DIT) and Prof Roger West (TCD).

Published: October 2017

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