Smart Cities Report 2015

A supplement of:

SMART CITIES REPORT

buILDING SMART how ConstruCtion is utilisinG tEChnoloGy to build bEttEr SMART MOTORWAyS CrEatinG intElliGEnt hiGhways is vital to smart City infrastruCturE

CREATING A SMARTER WORLD Examining how the GCC construction industry is gearing up to embrace the smart city concept

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Introduction

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Get Smart

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THE SMART FACTOR

S

mart cities, as per the accepted definition, are cities that “utilise digital technologies or information and communication technologies to enhance the quality and performance of urban services, and to engage more effectively and actively with their citizens”.

To me, however, that comes across as a fairly limiting description. A real smart city, in my opinion, is one that looks at its design, engineering and construction from all angles and comes out with solutions that are cost-effective, labour-saving and utilise all available construction technologies to create a city that is built for whatever the future may throw at it.

Therefore, it’s been heartening to see so many contributors espouse similar thoughts.

Obviously, they’re far more articulate and knowledgeable than I ever would be, so I’ll leave it to them to take you through this fascinating topic.

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SMART MOTORWAYS

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CLOUD CONSTRUCTION

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AUGMENTED REALITY Smart Cities Supplement 2015 1

In association with:

Smart cities

The SmarT FacTor Davina Munro analyses what makes a future city smart, efficient and sustainable

a

ccording to a report by the International Electrotechnical Commission, urban spaces are said to grow by almost 150,000 every day, due to migration and births. Between 2011 and 2050, the world’s population is expected to rise by 72% and the population share in urban areas to 67%.

This rise in population and the resulting need for a paradigm shift in urban development and design has led governments around the world to steadily move towards making cities smarter, increasing interconnectedness, simplifying commutes and integrating technology into almost every aspect of a citizen’s life.

We’ve already seen power players like Google revolutionise the automobile industry with their driverless cars; smartphones are becoming more intelligent every 2 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

year; what can we expect from the infrastructure of a future smart city?

Master Planning Addressing the master planning aspect of a smart city, James Kirkpatrick, global director of Masterplanning at AECOM, says that for a smart city, a deep understanding of physical networks such as utilities and transit is needed. This knowledge then needs to be married to social behaviour, macro-economics and environmental issues to create a balanced smart response.

“Scale and density go hand in hand in being critical success factors for a smart city. Ultimately, city development is guided by the exchange between people, and compact, dense urban development is a fundamental element to achieve this in an efficient manner.

“Getting fundamental systems in place and working together will achieve a lot more than large investments in technology that may be on flawed systems. Also, cities that create robust planning and spatial frameworks that address wide-ranging issues, from land planning through urban agriculture to urban resiliency, will be well

Smart cities

Smart Cities Supplement 2015 3

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Smart cities

placed to achieve smart outcomes.”

With this kind of detailing of infrastructure, equal investments and innovation from both the private and public sector will be needed. Kirkpatrick says, “There needs to be a balance between private and public sector.

There is a general impression that the private sector leads the way in innovation for smart initiatives, but the rationale and demand for this innovation is driven by the public sector.”

“Dubai has made the smart city initiative a core principle of its development, and that message is resonating through the private sector. A project like the Dubai Smart Palm, a simple shade structure that provides Wi-Fi and mobile charging, as well as being an information centre, seems small in stature but represents a much bigger idea for Dubai as a city, and its global aims for being a smart city, by providing facilities accessible to everyone.”

Technology is also increasingly helping the master planning process. Kirkpatrick says, “Technical tools that are being developed allow us to better understand, map, model and create solutions for cities. Big sources of data are being developed, refined and specialised that will be phenomenal tools in the near future to guide city development.

These tools will help to plan for housing needs, resolve traffic issues, plan for strategic investment and essentially make city development an increasingly certain process.”

Connectivity and Transportation Networks Another fundamental feature of a smart city is accessibility, and in today’s day and age that means easy accessibility. Cities have always evolved around transportation networks, and in today’s increasingly globalised world, easy connectivity within city 4 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

limits and externally is crucial.

Talitha Fabricius, associate director at Ramboll Middle East, is of the opinion that a significant realm of implementation and effectiveness of smart city systems is in transportation, comprising energy-intensive systems that make cities work. Transportation systems and corridors are the lifelines of cities and largely define their effectiveness, character and economic progress.

“Efficient public transport systems with wide networks and multi-modal interchanges are key to the success of smart cities.

These address the universally accepted objectives of reduced energy consumption, effective mass transit and efficient use of public space. Connectivity in terms of the various public transport modes and their inter-connectivity are therefore crucial for efficient city functioning,” says Fabricius.

“Creating a street hierarchy and network and providing alternative routes for motorists can be effective, making alternative forms of transit

“To build or transform into a smart city, a consortium of regulatory bodies, construction companies and real estate developers, IT organisations and telecom providers needs to be formed”

more convenient, cost-effective and attractive and providing coverage across the entire city. Also, paying as much attention to the bicycle and pedestrian network as to the roadway system is important.”

Fabricius goes on to suggest that designing block sizes small enough for people to have short, convenient travel paths to their destinations goes a long way.

“Creating connections through blocks and public passageways through buildings that are for pedestrians and cyclists only should be considered.”

Other innovations expected to improve connectivity and transport systems in a smart city include Uber-type technology for driverless electric vehicles, says Fabricius, and greater use and provision of space-saving automated car parking systems at key transit nodes will work well too.

Kirkpatrick agrees that driverless cars will not only revolutionise the automobile space but also play a role in defining a smart city’s road infrastructure.

“One concept that is emerging that I think will change city development in the near future is the advent of driverless cars.

These are being tested on streets already, and being used at remote work-sites such as mines.”

“Their impact on cities is already on the agenda of city planners, to see how and what impact there will be on city form.

I think there will be a gradual adoption of this technology that could lead to changes in city design, perhaps we see less parking, as driverless cars can circulate to other locations, which would lead to a different streetscape, and building form and typologies could change to reflect changing needs for car ownership.”

Sustainable Design Sustainability in design is imperative for a city to truly earn

creating connections Designers should create block sizes that are small enough for people to have short, convenient travel paths to their destinations.

the ‘smart’ tag. Materials used in construction and infrastructure especially need to be even more environment friendly and keep the carbon footprint as low as possible.

Abeer Manneh of Woods Bagot says that sustainable design consideration is a core element in achieving a liveable sustainable built environment. “At one end, the urban design approach shall influence reductions in CO2 emissions in transportation infrastructure through means of transit-oriented design (TOD), designing a pedestrian-friendly, safe and walkable environment.”

“To give an example, in a smart city you would expect the citizen to have information on where is the nearest bus stop, and when is the next bus expected to arrive via mobile application.

However, to encourage the citizen to use the bus, the pedestrian path should be safe, the stop should be within a walkable distance, and the outdoor conditions should be relatively comfortable, e.g. provision of shaded walkways.

This would result in less CO2 emissions by using public transport rather than single-occupancy vehicles, reduce fuel consumption, have more lively districts and promote healthier living.”

In terms of material selection,

Smart cities

alone has allocated $816.7 million to sustainability and smart city projects for 2015, so clearly there is a lot of investment in this domain.”

Manneh says the choice should be towards sustainable materials that are re-usable, recyclable or produced with recycled content.

“There are also innovative sustainable products and materials that could contribute positively to the environment, such as bio-concrete that has capabilities to purify polluted air, self-healing concrete that uses bacteria to heal cracks when the building is ageing, bio-bricks that have very low embodied carbon and could be produced on-site. It is imperative to note that the options we have these days are great, and due diligence is required to select the most suitable and sustainable materials within a project’s context.”

“On a building level, green technologies such as water and energy metering and monitoring systems, efficient irrigation systems such as sub-surface irrigation, localised treatment for organic waste, localised wastewater treatment – such as reed-beds that could be integrated into the landscape strategy and the use of greywater within the building – and irrigation are a few examples on how individual buildings can contribute to a more sustainable neighbourhood.”

Another thing that buildings

could also integrate are electric charging stations for e-bikes and electric cars that could also connect to the neighbourhood network, says Manneh. Other technologies like integrated renewable systems will also play a positive role in shifting buildings to become regenerative developments – positive energy buildings.

Technology Of course, no smart city is complete without the integration of technology in every aspect of the built environment. Nicolai Solling, director of technology services at Help AG, is of the opinion that Google’s definition of a smart city highlights just how important the role of technology is in a smart city.

“The integration of technology with traditional building design must take place from the onset of the project. New urban renewal projects have to focus around integrating information and communication technologies [ICT] into the physical building itself, so that when completed, the structure has a ready platform for the deployment of technologies essential to connectivity, efficiency and productivity. Technology is already being leveraged to streamline construction itself with

applications in communication, design, supply chain and logistics, project planning and management, and others.”

For any smart city to function well, active participation and communication is required from participants in the government, construction industry and IT industry, to find integrated solutions to the existing barriers in our cities.

Soling explains, “To build or transform into a smart city, a consortium of regulatory bodies, construction companies and real estate developers, IT organisations and telecom providers needs to be formed. This is because strategy is an area that needs to be addressed so that all the stakeholders are to be on the same page. Guided by government frameworks, these industry majors must correctly align their long-term goals.”

Solling also breaks down the investment we are likely to see for the advancement of technology in smart cities. “IDC, a leading IT research firm, has predicted that ICT spending in the Middle East and Africa [MEA] region will top $270 billion by the end of this yea,r and a lot of this investment will be in technology areas that are seen as being essential to smart cities. Dubai Municipality

Challenges As with anything new, there will be plenty of challenges, Kirkpatrick notes. “One issue with smart city development is that you often see attempts to try it from scratch on vacant sites, as opposed to integration or enhancement of existing urban fabric. This is an immediate challenge to achieving smart outcomes, because although you have a blank canvas to work with, city building is a multigenerational task. The scale of the endeavour of creating smart cities from scratch often leads to abandoned dreams.”

From an IT perspective, Solling notes that while making services available to citizens via web and mobile channels is a core concept for business in a smart city, this gives hackers an incredibly large number of targets. “Attacks such as distributed denial of service [DDoS], or worse still a cyber-attack on the IT systems of essential utilities such as electricity and water, could cripple the smart city.”

Conclusion All in all, the next-generation citizen has a lot to look forward to in terms of easier living, commute options and e-services. Moreover, in terms of future proofing smart cities to prevent them from becoming obsolete, Kirkpatrick notes that cities are remarkably resilient.

“Old cities like Rome, Paris and London with their narrow carriageways have adapted to an automobile-dependent culture and have been able to integrate fibre optics and other new infrastructure networks into their physical infrastructure. I think the lesson is that there is enormous capacity for change in cities, as long as the basic structure is not too complicated.”

Smart Cities Supplement 2015 5

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Q&A

Ahead of the Curve Big Project ME sits down for a quick-fire chat with James Kirkpatrick, global director of Master Planning at AECOM, to find out what makes a smart city possible in the GCC

1

What is being done in the GCC (and specifically the UAE) to push the region towards embracing smart city initiatives?

There is a general impression that the private sector leads the way in innovation for smart initiatives, but the rationale and demand for this innovation is driven by the public sector. Dubai has made a smart city initiative a core principle of its development and that message is resonating through the private sector. A project like the Dubai Smart Palm, a simple shade structure that provides Wi-Fi and mobile charging as well as being an information centre, seems small in stature but represents a much bigger idea for Dubai as a city, and its global aims for being a smart city, by providing facilities accessible to everyone.

6 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

2 3 4

Is there sufficient knowledge and infrastructure in the region to make the smart city concept viable?

The UAE has positioned itself at the centre of the new global economy with its focus on airport infrastructure.

Two thirds of the world’s population is within an eight-hour flight of Dubai, making it a hub for economic and professional activity.

This is drawing the brightest minds around the globe to deliver on the UAE’s strong vision to be a leader in smart city development. The UAE has been ahead of the curve in identifying the need to diversify its economy to be more than just about oil. It has built the social and physical capital needed to achieve this, and continues to look for ways to include innovation in its approaches to these problems.

What are some of the biggest challenges facing the region when it comes to implementing smart city concepts and initiatives?

Time and cost are two of the biggest challenges. The pace of development in the region is so fast, and there is a perception that doing things differently will take more time and cost a lot more than traditional approaches.

As countries across the GCC grow and evolve, and utility subsidies are being reconsidered and the introduction of taxes is being looked at, the benefit that smart systems can bring to holistic change at a macro city and regional scale need to be strongly considered in light of this. Long-term benefits of proper up-front planning and reduced life cycle costs will make smart systems increasingly appealing as efficiencies are looked at across the region.

Discuss the challenges associated with introducing these concepts to existing cities such as Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, rather than starting from scratch.

One issue with smart city development is that you often see attempts to try it from scratch on vacant sites, as opposed to integration or enhancement of existing urban fabric. This is an immediate challenge to achieving smart outcomes, because although you have a blank canvas to work with, city building is a multigenerational task. The scale of the endeavour of creating smart cities from scratch often leads to abandoned dreams. When it comes to existing cities, the challenges are different, but we have seen remarkable outcomes in centuries-old cities like London and New York that have innovated smart solutions to maintain their global city status.

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Q&A

Urban boom One of the challenges facing city planners in the Middle East is the rapidly growing urban populations.

The GCC GeTs smarT

Big Project ME interviews Mohammed Retmi, head of business development, Partnerships & Portfolio – EMI Region at Orange Business Services, about how his company is helping the GCC embrace the smart city concept

8 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

What is being done in the GCC (and specifically the UAE) to push the region towards smart cities?

City planners in the Middle East face a number of challenges, including rapidly growing urban populations, which are putting pressure on the infrastructure; at the same time, governments want to attract new companies and industries to help support the diversification of the economies and realise their visions for sustainable and competitive knowledge economies.

Governments are looking at the development of smart city technologies to provide some of the economic answers, while also enhancing quality of life for citizens, residents and visitors.

The Middle East is highly urbanised; according to UN figures, 85% of the population of the UAE, for example,

already lives in cities. This is expected to increase to 91% by 2050. Governments are turning towards smart city technology to help manage energy and other resources.

Growing tourism is also driving smart city investment and development in the GCC, as Dubai and the UAE prepare to host World Expo 2020 and Qatar readies for the World Cup. These global events demand new infrastructure to accommodate the influx of visitors, but they also create a global showcase.

Dubai Smart City is arguably the most ambitious development in the region.

The master plan features 100 smart city projects covering urban planning, transport, communications, electricity and infrastructure. It also includes communications services

Q&A

which help increase citizen and tourist engagement, through smartphone apps for example.

new smart developments on the foundation of the network, which is where our global smart cities experience, expertise and resources become valuable.

There is a tremendous contrast between the Middle East and Europe; a McKinsey review of 50 European smart city projects found that nearly all were launched as pilot schemes, with little appetite for the potential risk in large-scale investments.

Is there sufficient knowledge and infrastructure in the region to make the smart city concept viable?

The GCC may face similar growing pains and infrastructure challenges as other parts of the world, but it also has some major advantages. There is no doubt that the region benefits from strong leadership with clear visions, and this means that it will move beyond other regions in the development of smart cities – and much faster. In fact, the scale of smart city developments in the region means that these projects – the models created and unique experiences gained – are likely to inform the development of smart cities everywhere. This is experience and expertise that can be showcased through the smart city itself, and even exported.

What are the biggest challenges facing the region in implementing smart city concepts and initiatives?

Perhaps the biggest challenge is the scale of the ambition.

Nowhere in the world have there been smart city projects launched on this scale and with this amount of energy and drive behind them.

The big vision, the leadership and the resources are all in place, but these are new models and so require new thinking; it is not a question of importing a model from elsewhere. Even finding the right partners who can match the vision, scale and speed of these projects is a challenge.

Orange Business Services sees a great opportunity within this digital transformation of cities in the region to create a role as digital partner to governments and developers looking to build

“Smart cities are built on the foundations of the digital network, which injects intelligence into the city infrastructure.

Software, connectivity, sensors, cloud solutions and M2M enable a wide range of infrastructure elements to share real-time data together, and also with management systems”

From a construction viewpoint, how can we create coordination between the various stakeholders on smart projects – developers, consultants, contractors, suppliers, subcontractors and ultimately end users?

City planners need a partner to help in assessing, designing, building and running smart cities, and playing the role of master systems integrator in these very complex smart city ecosystems. Connecting a city’s digital components demands robust networks to support them. A smart city is all about digitisation – the digital network is the foundation on which the smart city is built. This digital partnership is critical to success and must be in place at the outset, even at the conception of the vision of the ultimate smart city.

A lot of the concepts and ideas of smart cities centre around processes and initiatives that come after the buildings/ infrastructure is built. How can we apply these ideas to the construction process?

Smart cities are built on the foundations of the digital network, which injects intelligence into the city infrastructure. Software, connectivity, sensors, cloud solutions and M2M enable a wide range of infrastructure elements

to share real-time data together, and also with management systems. This provides city authorities with the insights they need to stay in control and make their cities function efficiently and create the highquality lifestyle and experience for citizens and residents through access to services. But it all starts with the network.

Discuss the challenges associated with introducing these concepts to existing cities like Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, rather than starting from scratch.

Smart city projects in the Middle East are not all always gleaming new cities in the desert. Some projects are brownfield sites, and these include Dubai and Doha, where the aim is to create smarter cities – or even the world’s smartest city, in the case of Dubai.

But there are greenfield developments as well, including King Abdullah Economic City in Saudi Arabia, Lusail in Qatar and Masdar City in Abu Dhabi. These create the opportunity to interconnect the different city services right at the start and to build the city on the network foundation; of course, this is more of a challenge with an existing city.

This is where we clearly see the difference in the scale of projects in the Middle East and the rest of the world.

For example, in Saudi Arabia, Orange Business Services has been working with the Al Ra’idah Investment Company to develop the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD), the largest of four smart cities the country is building with an investment of $70 billion. This new city will create a smart city experience, covering mass transit and energy supply and management, as well as other services.

Smart Cities Supplement 2015 9

Comment

Benoit Dubarle

INTELLIGENT GREEN BUILDINGS: THE FOUNDATION OF SMART CITIES

Benoit Dubarle, Country President – Gulf Countries & Pakistan, Schneider Electric, on the need to adopt smarter construction techniques to protect resources

Urban demographics today have given rise to new social and economic changes. Infrastructure is being used beyond capacity, leading to a scarcity of essential resources.

The efficient use of energy is pivotal for the growth and maintenance of cities. Aging systems use more energy for upkeep and less for growth. As the model of smart cities evolves around livable, sustainable and efficient spaces, there is a greater deal of importance attached to smarter construction techniques. With precious resources dwindling, we need to adopt these techniques right away.

To me, smart construction is directly related to the optimised use of resources, costs and time in an energy-efficient way. Smart solutions are a great way to do that in every sub-field of construction.

Whether it is residential units or infrastructure in a utilities plant – it’s all about leveraging ICT to study data and analytics.

Urban occupants today seek an interactive experience the minute they wake up. In buildings, interconnecting systems with automation offers residents convenience and smart energy monitoring channels. Such ICTintegrated systems will pose a challenge to the business model of 10 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

traditional construction firms. By integrating components of design, technology and connectivity, construction will play a key role in altering infrastructure and urban efficiency across our cities.

Designing green, highperforming buildings is another important route to efficiency.

There is a reduced risk of depreciation and reduced overheads on repairs or energy costs. It also maximises resident comfort and satisfaction and asset value, while minimising environmental impact. At Schneider Electric, we believe this yields triple bottom line benefits – for people, profit and the planet.

By using renewable energy and advanced building technologies powered by Big Data in the cloud, net zero energy or even positive energy buildings will be instrumental in defining and developing our smart cities. Of course, all buildings also need a long-term energy management plan which measures energy, resolves operating problems, improves comfort, optimises energy use and proactively identifies energy conservation opportunities. Such buildings can respond to internal and external factors such as weather, building

“To me, smart construction is directly related to the optimised use of resources, costs and time in an energyefficient way” equipment conditions, fire hazards and indoor air quality.

Using tools such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), we can change the way buildings, infrastructure and utilities are planned. The Dubai Municipality mandated this in 2013 for buildings over 40 storeys and government projects. Project successes from Abu Dhabi’s Midfield Terminal Complex to KA-CARE in Saudi Arabia came from BIM implementation.

Reducing energy consumption and the carbon footprint in the long run is impacted by how we construct and live today. Designing for better and greener life cycle performance

of buildings is the stepping stone toward creating a smarter city for tomorrow. Once this is done across the region, buildings can become more intelligent with embedded technologies such as BMS. Through Building Management Systems (BMS), residents, healthcare units and educational facilities gain a greater degree of control when monitoring and managing their infrastructure. The real-time data available for consumption provides analytics which can reduce risks and energy consumption. Recently, Abu Dhabi Municipality launched an LED lighting system which can reduce the cost of public lighting by 60-75% over the next 20 years.

Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxureTM solution for green buildings is an example of this – it delivers reliable integration between building infrastructure systems, services and applications. We can create synergy of technology and design to achieve positive environmental impact. Once this is done across the region, infrastructure will form the basis of cities that are smarter, convenient and connected.

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Building smart

Jerusha Sequeira sits down with experts to find how the construction industry is using technology to build smarter 12 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

Smart construction

Smart Cities Supplement 2015 13

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Smart construction

l

ast year, Dubai Municipality announced that it was mandating the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) for architectural and MEP works on all buildings 40 storeys or higher, setting a benchmark for GCC governments to promote the use of technology on construction projects.

The move will no doubt bolster the rate of BIM adoption on projects across Dubai – something that’s been a long time coming. After all, it’s widely remarked that the construction sector in the UAE and wider GCC hasn’t really been at the forefront of embracing new technology. As the world inevitably moves into the digital age, however, the industry has to follow suit and find more efficient and advanced ways of delivering projects.

Big Project ME wondered, therefore, how construction firms are currently leveraging technology to work smarter, both on-site and off-site, and the advantages involved.

“Worldwide, the usage and pickup of technology in the construction industry has not been as quick as other industries like aviation or automotive, for instance,” points out Hady Amal, sales manager MENA, at Bentley Systems. “But in the last five to ten years, we have noticed that there is an increased interest in improving the technologies and the methodologies of running a construction project.”

This is mainly because the industry suffers from huge levels of wastage and inefficiency, he notes. To tackle this, contractors 14 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

Execution plan In order to effectively implement BIM, contractors and consultants should have an execution plan from day one of the project.

and consultants are increasingly turning to technology like BIM, 3D printing and augmented reality to maximise collaboration and efficiency on projects.

In order to effectively implement technology like BIM, an execution plan from day one is crucial for contractors and consultants to work together, says Pavithran KV, design and BIM director at Brookfield Multiplex. “Brookfield Multiplex carries out a lot of design-and-build projects where we appoint our consultants, so we work together and create a BIM execution plan from day one.”

The contractor works with the consultant based on this plan, he notes. “It’s a live document so as we proceed with the project, we revive the BIM execution plan. If it’s a client-appointed consultant and if it’s a big project, they may have a BIM execution plan, so we would follow that and also give our suggestions.”

He acknowledges, however, that for all its benefits, BIM is used more in the office, while most of the work in construction naturally occurs on-site. “Hence, there is a disconnect between the site and the office. No matter how much technology is used in

“Collaboration is a huge way to eliminate additional costs and errors. because you’ve got many eyes looking at the same thing and it speeds up the whole process” the office, at the end of the day, paper and pencil is used on-site.”

Brookfield Multiplex is now working on taking technology to the site, such as taking BIM models on an iPad to the site, for instance. “In the future, I would say this would become a lot more prevalent. I also see technology-driven construction becoming more common because manpower is becoming a big challenge everywhere, so robotic construction and 3D printing could become more widespread.”

3D printing, however, is already in use and is gaining traction in the construction industry as it becomes more affordable, points out Etienne Mouton, head of technology at WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff Middle East.

“The advancement of 3D printing in the last ten years or so has changed the face of construction.

You can 3D print parts of buildings, parts of mechanical equipment or an entire masterplan for an urban planning development.”

3D printing technology can be particularly beneficial for construction work in remote areas, he adds. “If you’re in a remote area, such as in the middle of the desert, and you don’t have access to materials, you can 3D print a part and you can avoid delays on projects.”

WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff also uses technology like project management information systems, which enable clients to have more control over their projects.

“That can be integrated into BIM technology or geospatial technology, so it’s extremely powerful just to give clients an overview of the development of progress so that they can virtually see things and plan ahead. You can plan your logistics, you can plan your costs.”

Smart construction

Augmented Reality A key advantage of technology playing a greater role in the construction process is allowing different participants to visualise the project before starting work, in order to detect potential clashes, minimise wastage and subsequently cut back on costs by eliminating the need for rework.

Technology giant Trimble announced this year that it’s working with Microsoft to develop a new generation of tools integrated with the HoloLens holographic platform on Windows 10, which it says will improve collaboration and efficiency in the design, construction and operation of buildings and structures. Microsoft HoloLens is a head-mounted, holographic computer that, when used by architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) professionals, extends interaction with 3D models beyond the confines of a 2D computer screen, creating new ways for stakeholders of complex construction projects to visualise, collaborate and share ideas.

Given the nature of the construction industry, it’s inevitable that changes are constantly made during a project.

Technology like HoloLens can enable a user to look at a halfcompleted building or structure, visualise what it will look like when complete and make adjustments on the fly, explains Daniel Smith, enterprise account manager at Trimble Buildings.

“All of that data is live and being collaborated on. Architects, engineers and the construction team are all working from the same data instantaneously. We’ve got a solution called Trimble Connect that allows all of these different parties and different software systems to come in and pick an update and share that data.

“So collaboration is a huge way to eliminate additional costs

and errors, because you’ve got many eyes looking at the same thing, and it speeds up the whole process as well. Statistically at the moment, 60-80% of projects are delivered late or over budget, and if you can reduce that in any meaningful way, you’re looking at massive revenue improvements.”

BIM AdoptIon: ARe SMAlleR fIRMS SeeIng the AdvAntAge? While the construction industry at large appears to be recognising the value of BIM, one wonders whether smaller and medium-sized contractors are also jumping onto the BIM bandwagon.

It has mainly been larger contractors that are willing to invest in BIM, but Bentley Systems is now trying to reach out to smaller firms as well, Amal notes.

“We have made announcements for one of our solutions, like ProjectWise Essentials, which ensures that these technologies are available in small and scalable packages for small- to medium-sized organisations,” he says.

There is value in BIM adoption for smaller contractors as well. “One of our users has estimated that they have saved up to 25% of their time in using BIM on a small villa project.

So BIM is as useful on small projects as it is on larger and more complex projects.”

“Having the right processes in place is what can make a person BIMcapable. Having a 3D model is not by itself BIM, but the way that 3D model is organised and maintained, the way it has a revision history and history of how an asset has developed, is what makes it BIM.”

Benefits While enhancing collaboration among different stakeholders on a project is a major plus of using technology like BIM and Augmented Reality in construction, contractors and consultants can avail of several other advantages.

Key among these is the ability to plan ahead of time and make informed decisions, helping reduce costs and wastage.

Software providers like Bentley Systems work on capturing and sharing live information to make it available to different project stakeholders, who can make decisions related to resources in a timely manner, Amal says.

“The problem that we have in the construction industry is that there is tonnes of information scattered everywhere. What Bentley does is that all of this information is centralised and organised such that it is easy to get to the specific bit of information that is relevant to that situation. This overall helps to reduce wastage, because you are taking informed decisions based on a lot of information that you gather analytically.”

Another important advantage of using technology is greater transparency in the construction process, professionals say. The use of project management or document management platforms, for instance, leads to a clear record of changes made on a project, eliminating the possibility of a ‘he said/she said’ scenario.

“Very often in our industry, a large project will end up in a

dispute resolution committee or a chamber of commerce where they try to resolve some kind of dispute they have,” says Andrew Killander, VP Major Projects at Aconex, a company specialising in online document management, web collaboration and project management software for construction.

These disputes generally tend to pit the word of one party against another. “When people use [software like] Aconex, there is never any doubt what has been sent or received. It’s in black and white. This transparency is by far the largest contributor to people executing work faster.”

This is because project stakeholders can easily see who has completed their assigned tasks or is holding up a process. This is in contrast to the past, when people could “hide behind” manual methods of document delivery and simply say an item was lost in the mail, Killander notes.

“That transparency really drives behavioural change, where the project participants actually make things go faster. That accountability and transparency does absolute wonders to projects.”

In addition, Smith points out that technology can help determine the financial viability of a project even before it’s built. Trimble, for one, provides software that allows developers to conceptualise the financial viability of proposed projects by taking into account other properties owned by the developer in the same area and how they’re performing.

Going a step further, one could even play out different scenarios for how the building should be built, and how it should be used. A developer can look at how assets like air conditioners or boilers are performing in existing buildings to determine the best way for a new building to be engineered.

Smart Cities Supplement 2015 15

In association with:

In profile

“A smArt motorwAy is A motorwAy thAt cAn provide intelligent informAtion to the user And significAntly improve their journey, And the reliAbility of their journey�

Big Project ME sits down for a chat with Imad Nassereddine, regional transport solutions director for Mouchel Consulting Middle East, to find out why smart motorways are an essential part of any smart city 16 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

In profile

Smart Cities Supplement 2015 17

In association with:

In profile

t

he traffic problems that Dubai residents suffer on a daily basis are among the reasons many residents in the city refuse to buy a car. In certain parts of the city, it’s common for commuters to be stuck in bumper-tobumper traffic for hours on end, especially on weekends.

Although the Dubai leadership and the Roads and Transport Authority have invested billions of dirhams in developing and enhancing the emirate’s highways and roads to alleviate congestion, there is still a lot of scope for improvement.

With Dubai harbouring ambitions of becoming the region’s first smart city, perhaps it’s time to look at some alternative ideas that reinforce the smart thinking aspect of city management and planning. The UK has long been a proponent of the concept of smart motorways, and the UAE could certainly learn a thing or two from how it manages congestion on its motorways and inter-city roads.

Imad Nassereddine, regional transport solutions director for Mouchel Consulting Middle East, certainly believes so. He tells Big Project ME that road and transport authorities in the UAE need to start planning now if they really want to find a way to resolve their traffic problems.

“A smart motorway is a motorway that can provide intelligent information to the user and significantly improve their journey, and the reliability of their journey. It has got a certain amount of intelligence that can 18 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

plan for now In order to find a solution to traffic problems, regional governments need to start planning immediately, Nassereddine says.

manage traffic behaviour and, in doing that, increase the capacity of the road,” he explains.

“It also has the benefit of reducing the number of collisions and making the roads safer. The way you do that is by doing a number of things. The managed motorway is actually a number of tool kits, it’s not like you bring everything and you do it. There is a selection of tools and ways that you can use in order to develop that.

“For example, one road might need metering, while another road does not need it. Both can be a managed motorway without one tool or another. Another issue could be the problem of accidents because of queues, so for that, you need a queue detection system.

Basically, you have tools that you can use and you implement them as you require, for a specific location and for specific problems that you may have on a typical

“If you’re planning to put a managed or smart highway in operation, then at some point you’ve got to start thinking of implementing a legislation that allows you to have the approach you need”

motorway. That’s how I see how a managed motorway should be.”

Implementing these tools in the Middle East is a challenge, however. Although the tools Nassereddine mentions are already in place, they’re being implemented in different ways.

“If a managed motorway is to work, then you need CCTV coverage. We have a lot of roads in the UAE and in the GCC that have that, but are they integrated with other systems? That is the question. From that point of view, there are basic tools that have been implemented along the roads, but they haven’t been integrated to be fully managed or as part of a smart motorway.”

Doing so won’t be very easy, and Nassereddine suggests that the introduction of specific legislation would go a long way towards ensuring their proper implementation.

“In order to manage a motorway, you need enforcement, and in order to enforce something, you need the legislation to do that. Legislation in this part of the world, and in other parts of the world, they take a really long time. If you’re planning to put a managed or smart highway in operation, then at some point you’ve got to start thinking of implementing a legislation that allows you to have the approach you need.”

However, achieving a truly smart motorway also requires the cooperation of the end users – the drivers on the roads. This poses a particular challenge, given the rather ‘interesting’ approach to driving here in the GCC. While the UAE has a lot of speed enforcement cameras and mobile enforcement units on the roads, the rest of the GCC tends to rely purely on speed enforcement cameras. This allows drivers to speed up in areas that are not monitored and slow down

In profile

in others, which doesn’t really achieve the purpose of the law.

The disparity in driver education and culture also makes the implementation of smart motorways a challenge. While planners in the UK can work on the assumption that drivers on their roads have all been UKeducated and -trained, the UAE (and GCC) roads are populated with drivers from all around the world, with very different levels of training and education.

“It’s not a standardised system and you have people who have driven differently in their home country, and the locals who drive very differently as well. There is a need to manage that so that you have the right behaviour from different drivers and users that are on the road,” Nassereddine points out.

To counter requires thinking outside the box, he says, such as educating drivers in languages that they may be

“If a managed motorway is to work, then you need CCTV coverage.

We have a lot of roads in the UAE and in the GCC that have that, but are they integrated with other systems?

That is the question”

more comfortable in, rather than just one common language.

“In the UK, when you drive, you have one language, but here you have a minimum of two languages. In fact, in some areas, they’re using Urdu as the mother tongue just so that they can talk to truck drivers. You have to keep that in mind when you’re planning a smart motorway, or any kind of traffic information for drivers.

“The other thing could be using pictorials instead of words. These are some of the things that we have to think about when we are trying to pass the message on to drivers or users in a way that they can understand it better. Part of being a smart motorway is passing the information on to the client.”

Returning to the legislation aspect of smart motorways, Nassereddine reveals that Mouchel is talking to the relevant government departments to educate them and steer them towards thinking about

the right issues for trafficrelated legislation.

“You need to go to the legislation and get some amendments done, and those need to reflect how the whole system will be operated. Legislations in the UK can’t be brought here, because you have to look at the end users and the local conditions, what the priorities are for governments, and then do things.

“Over here, security is much higher than other parts of the world, so that’s something that needs to be kept in mind. You need to be careful about the security of the information, how you relay it and how it’s used.

“I think the GCC has a lot of data that can be made available.

If this data is used in the right way, and in a secure way, then the customer would be able to use it smartly and efficiently, and that’s really one of the basic steps for a smart city or motorway,” he concludes.

managing behaviours Part of the smart motorways process is educating drivers about road rules and safety.

Smart Cities Supplement 2015 19

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Augmented Reality

Augmented world With the prevelance of Wi-Fi and mobile internet in society, users in cities can interact and feedback more data than ever.

Augmented ReAlity And SmARt CitieS

Charles Dunk from AECOM explains how Augmented Reality integrates smoothly with smart cities

20 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

Augmented Reality (AR) is the concept of overlaying digital content on the real world using the screen of a smart device or head-mounted display, such as Microsoft Hololens or Google Glass.

Digital content can be almost any form of media, including text, images, videos, sound, 3D models and animated content. A good example of AR is when museum visitors point their smartphones at artefacts or paintings and see animated content mix with their camera view, such as a mini character walking around the exhibit or an audio track offering further explanation.

There are commonly two flavours of AR: visual AR and geo-located AR. Visual AR uses the camera of a smart device to recognise and track the surrounding environment, overlaying digital content in situ.

Geo-located AR uses a GPS sensor along with a magnetic compass and inclinometer to understand where a smart device is located and what it’s looking at. Sometimes geo-located AR also makes use of the camera or other onboard sensors to improve tracking.

AR requires development and then deployment. Development usually takes place on a PC using software to link an environment or GPS coordinates with a 3D model, video or other digital content. AR is deployed to smart devices, typically using apps and cloud storage. If visitors want to experience AR in a museum, they download an app which includes media content and tells the smart device how the content interacts with each exhibit.

Geo-located AR is developed in the same way, but instead of being triggered by the exhibit, the media

Augmented Reality

understanding variables With better understanding of relationships between variables, cities can run infrastructure and buildings in the most efficient way.

content is triggered by a GPS coordinate. When users reach that coordinate, the digital content is overlaid on the camera view. There are already many examples of geolocated AR games that make use of GPS coordinates to get gamers to explore an urban environment, picking up 3D animated talismans or destroying a virtual enemy base.

Smart cities are places where a large network of sensors, sometimes call the Internet of Things (IoT), is used to study, analyse and manage infrastructure.

Examples of sensors include air quality monitors, traffic light sensors, light meters, flow meters, cameras and even smartphone sensors. All this data is fed into a command centre for processing, decision-making, communication, long-term planning, management of assets and control of critical infrastructure.

The theory is that more sensors and more controls enable more efficient city management. Relationships between air quality, electricity demand, public transportation, road networks, building uses and more can be evaluated.

With a better understanding of relationships between these variables, city authorities can run their infrastructure and buildings in the most efficient way, cutting costs and improving metrics such as sustainability or liveability.

These embedded sensors and data coming from smart devices can be combined into a rich tapestry of real-time metrics. This is not quite ‘big data’, but super computers such as IBM’s Watson and Google’s D-Wave can find relationships not otherwise obvious.

AR integrated with smart cities connects city users with a wealth

of knowledge and information using a smart device in their pocket. A smart city makes use of smart device sensors and provides users with location-relevant digital content. When a large number of civic-minded city users provide their GPS position during a morning commute, a smart city can send all travellers real-time status updates of the entire transportation infrastructure.

Machine learning makes this guidance better each time.

A real wealth of information shows city users building performances, status of critical infrastructure, crime figures, transportation issues, land values, air quality and much more.

Engineers could point a smart device at a road and see an X-ray of the underground utilities, along with information about which services are functioning and which

require immediate maintenance.

AR and smart devices gather and disseminate knowledge between city users and an information hub.

The quality of determining geographic location is continually improving with technology such as the European Space Agency’s rival to GPS, Galileo, or tracking technology such as Google Project Tango or BAE’s Navigation via Signals of Opportunity. When a sensor or smart device knows its position to centimetre accuracy, this provides an even richer dataset for analysis and decision-making.

Augmented Reality combined with a smart city sifts terabytes of data and provides it to city users where and when they need it.

With Wi-Fi and mobile internet, city users can now interact with and feed back more data than ever before, to the benefit of everyone.

Smart Cities Supplement 2015 21

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Cloud construction

How building Projects can benefit from cloud

Phil Auguste of Conject explains how construction projects are ideally suited to cloud-based software

22 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

Construction projects are especially well-suited to cloudbased software solutions. For many of the staff running these projects, the office is temporary accommodation on a site.

Those in a managerial capacity are more mobile, travelling between office and site and at times overseeing more than one project. Combined with this, other members of the project team, such as designers, project managers and engineers, may not be on the project site at all, based in: a) Other local offices b) A different geographical region in the same country, or c) Located internationally.

With this set-up, only cloudbased software – Software-asa-Service (SaaS) – can address the challenges that come with project teams working from

multiple locations, all needing access to the project’s key software such as document management, procurement and cost control systems.

With the cloud, users, regardless of where they are situated, can get immediate access to all the project’s applications using web access, with programs, files and data fully available, supporting a multitude of devices: PC / laptop, tablet and smartphone.

Without a cloud infrastructure, software would need to be established on servers at each physical location, or in the case of remote workers, individual software copies installed on each computer or device. This usually means the IT infrastructure becomes fragmented and decentralised, leading to less control and

Cloud construction

increasing the risk of both data loss and more inconsistencies in project performance reporting.

Operational benefits gained in using cloud solutions Some of the main benefits for construction companies deploying cloud-based solutions are: Easy collaboration with the project team A web-based infrastructure supporting application software makes it far easier to send and receive tender bids, RFIs and RFQs, along with all the supporting data, i.e. drawings, bills of quantities and specification documents.

Building Information Modelling reinforces the case for cloud-based collaboration – as emphasised by the following extracts I picked

out from a recently published article at the BIMHub. “Combining cloud solutions with Building Information Modelling creates data access for a client, where a request for a change order can be made and the architect would then make changes to the building model.

“As a result, the contractor would access the new information, determine and order the exact amount of material needed and make necessary changes to the construction schedule.

The collaboration between client, architect and contractor is handled efficiently and at any given time of the day.”

Efficient management of large files Drawings, CAD files, multimedia presentations and BIM models are getting bigger and

bigger all the time, creating huge challenges for the project team in how they pass files along for use by internal project participants, as well as external subcontractors and vendors.

Emailing large files can be unpredictable due to domain restrictions on file sizes. Sharing files in public cloud solutions creates risk, especially as most of the content is clientsensitive information.

A cloud-based collaboration solution is designed by its nature to enable simple and fast uploading of large files into a central system.

This establishes a secure hub, from which links to the content can be sent to project team members for sharing and collaborating.

When revisions to these centrally managed files are made, only the original file is replaced,

and users have automatic access to the latest version of the file.

Mobile support To leverage the cloud for enhanced productivity, the solution should ideally support all the devices that the project team uses – from smartphones to tablets and laptops.

Mobile solutions drive efficiency gains, ensuring that documents can not only be viewed on mobile devices, but also support editing and mark-up without the need to purchase third-party applications.

Minimises need for IT While reduced reliance on IT is true of any cloud-based solution, the appeal for construction in adopting a cloud strategy should be greater, as project sites exist in a state of temporary-ness. Fees associated with cloud-based solutions are

fast and simple A cloud-based collaboration solution is designed to be simple and fast to use.

Smart Cities Supplement 2015 23

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Cloud construction

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generally all-inclusive, with the provision of software itself, support, hosting services, software updates and maintenance back-ups ensuring all your hosted data is online, always available and safe and secure.

Commercial benefits of cloud solutions Deploying software in the cloud is a predictable and affordable way for companies to pay for their software investment, removing the need to pay large upfront installation and ongoing maintenance costs usually associated with on-premise software. Businesses using software in the cloud can focus on making the project productive and profitable, without worrying about unexpected ‘lumpy’ software fees.

There are a couple of notable additional gains for construction companies: Billing software costs directly to the project By invoicing fees to a project, your purchase will be an operating expense rather than a capital expense. At times, a client will

24 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

also request specific software programs to be used on a project. The costs associated can form part of the project’s preliminaries in the original estimate, and can later be passed on to the client as part of the contractor’s deliverables.

Matching software licensing to project profile Construction companies typically ramp up and scale down manning levels based on the stage, size and scope of their projects. The ability to vary licence terms based on duration of the project, or add to the user community as and when the project team expands, provides an attractive and flexible licensing approach which does not put a strain on a contractor costs.

A flexible billing approach is seen as an attractive characteristic of cloud-based solutions.

Things to consider in moving to cloud-based collaboration solutions When reviewing the need for construction collaboration

“With the cloud, users, regardless of where they are situated, can get immediate access to all the project’s applications using web access, with programs, files and data fully available, supporting a multitude of devices”

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software, these three main points should be considered: 1. Whether your supplier will allow flexibility in their licence agreement for ramping up and scaling down in line with the profile of the project 2. Importantly, can the supplier demonstrate a first-class hosting environment, with mirrored backups to an alternative data centre, ensuring your service continues in the event of total system failure?

3. What happens to your data at the end of the project?

Will your supplier provide you (or your client) with an archive of all the project data as part of their service?

With telecommunications networks becoming more affordable and available even in the most remote areas, coupled with an industry shift to cloud-based solutions with favourable pricing models, there is no time like the present for the construction industry to benefit from investing in cloud-based solutions.

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Advertorial

Supporting the Cloud

Ravi Pincha, CEO, ISS Middle East explains how the services it offers on the SAP platform can benefit the construction industry What services does ISS offer the construction industry?

How can ISS support local construction businesses?

ISS offers services around SAP Platform which provide end-to-end solutions for the construction industry. These are services around ERP, Line of Business Solutions, Analytics, Mobility and Cloud.

Dramatic changes in the workforce and invasive technologies stand poised to fundamentally change the way construction operates. A new breed of construction worker and revolutionary digital technologies will determine the construction companies that succeed and thrive versus those that struggle or cease to exist.

Companies will use these changes to grow margins, by focusing on the highest margin projects, increasing productivity and reducing cost/schedule surprises.

In a market where one bad project can eliminate a company’s entire annual profit, it becomes imperative for construction executives to find ways to eliminate surprises, take on more complex projects and attract the best talent. Digital technologies will play a major role in attracting and retaining the brightest people that will help transform the industry.

Local construction businesses often have challenges in terms of the ability of their system to support complex business needs and scale of operations.

ISS offers end-to-end solutions for the construction business.

While Core ERP-Suite on HANA offers end-to-end execution capability, SAP Contact Center offers call centre management capability.

SAP Hybris & C4C offer customer engagement and management capability.

Ariba business network seamlessly connects our customer to a world of suppliers and helps reduce cost significantly.

Supplier relationship management applications offer end-to-end vendor management and advanced collaborative capability, including tendering and bid management. This helps in streamlining the bid process for subcontracting.

Successfactor offers complete HCM suite on cloud, with Fieldglass offering the capability to manage a large workforce.

Product lifecycle management offers online CAD integration.

Commercial project management offers advanced

26 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

project management capabilities.

The core includes EHS – Environment, Health & Safety and applications designed to manage environment, health and safety-related matters. The real estate management solution is built in core, offering solutions for land, commercial and residential real estate management. The facility management solution is offered with the help of CRM services and facility management solution with the core.

ISS offers local expertise to implement the above solutions, with a team of 150+ consultants and growing.

How can SAP products help enhance construction projects?

We are witnessing an unmatched era of true business innovation.

SAP has aligned its product suite with breakthrough technologies that have matured and hit scale together, empowering construction projects in distinct ways.

Hyperconnectivity: Virtually every person and every machine is connected, disrupting all the established rules around business channels. Seamless connectivity through PCs, laptops and mobile devices drives the digital construction movement,

with tighter collaboration of projects, information, services, people and knowledge.

Super computing: The limits of 20th-century computing power are gone. Digital construction powered by networking and inmemory computing allows the creation of infinite new business opportunities. It is simplifying the IT landscape, collating OLTP and OLAP systems, enabling single truth and big data handling and analytics, and empowering business with decision-making.

Cloud computing: Technology adoption and business innovation now move at lightning speed.

Technology infrastructure is now rented to eliminate barriers to entry. SAP’s new applications and platforms allow more advanced collaboration with suppliers, partners and customers.

Smarter world: Sensors, robotics, 3D printing and artificial intelligence are the new normal. Wearable technology such as smart glasses and smart watches are changing the game.

Innovation is happening at warp speed, and digital construction will separate leaders from followers. SAP with IoT helps connect to devices and helps companies with new avenues to reach out to their customers.

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Comment

Keith Miller

Opening the dOOr tO smart cities Keith Miller, director of Smart Cities within Atkin’s Advisory Services division in the Middle East, explains how Dubai’s new Open Data law could be the first step towards turning it into a smart city Dubai has moved another important step forward towards its smart city goals this month, with the passing of the Dubai Open Data law. This will allow the sharing of non-confidential data between government entities and other stakeholders – an essential move which provides the legislative framework for Dubai to progress into a smart city.

It catapults Dubai alongside the most progressive and developed cities on the planet.

What’s really impressive is the level of leadership buy-in for the new law: it has been sponsored

by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of 28 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

Dubai and General Supervisor of Dubai Smart City. Not only that, but it was announced by none other than His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai.

What this tells us, if there was ever any doubt, is that Dubai is very serious about becoming a smart city. It has all the backing that it needs, so we can expect activities to keep moving in the right direction and for the legislation to progress quickly along the principles outlined by the Open Data committee earlier this year.

The law opens the door for a new wave of data-enabled services using technologies

such as cloud computing and will encourage a new wave of significant investment in Dubai’s digital economy.

The result – and the aim of any smart city – will be to enable better, more efficient and responsive public services and allow the private sector to supply innovative solutions which really meet the needs of end users. Service providers, both public and private sector, will be able to use open data to better understand, predict and respond to the needs of their customers.

Another linked key benefit is that the Open Data law will enable the development of

“Dubai is very serious about becoming a smart city.

It has all the backing that it needs, so we can expect activities to keep moving in the right direction”

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changes to the law The Open Data Law will need other changes in insurance and liability law to support it.

intelligent mobility and support for driverless vehicles, which require open data to operate.

Cities already benefiting from this include London, New York and Singapore, providing their citizens with the first generation of new solutions where mobility is delivered as a service, and where people can engage with multiple transport options easily.

Atkins is now working closely with many cities to help them create a vision for Journeys of the Future using open data; these are the exciting first steps to the driverless vehicle services that we can realistically expect to appear in volume as we approach 2025.

Nevertheless, there are still important hurdles to leap. Even when open data legislation is in place, there will need to be an appropriate level of governance, business transformation, education and behavioural change. The Open Data law will need other changes in insurance and liability law which are equally complex before we embrace a very new way of using transport as a set of universally available services.

These are significant practical issues, but the biggest will be data and cyber security.

As our world becomes more interconnected and reliant on open data sources, cyber-attacks

“The law opens the door for a new wave of data-enabled services using technologies such as cloud computing and will encourage a new wave of investment”

become more able to damage feeds. Similarly, as driverless vehicles use the new generation of WiFi standards (802.11p, etc) for information on traffic lights, accidents, other car positions, etc, the need for strong cyber protection architecture will become critical. Only then will we truly be able to move from driver assist options to true autonomous vehicles linked to everyone’s smartphone and position, ready for whenever they need mobility as a service.

However, these challenges will be faced by every leading city, and Dubai is with the leading pack – a trailblazer for the region.

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Comment

Philip Janssens

The imporTance of Bim

Philip Janssens, manager of Victaulic Construction Piping Services, explains how BIM systems offer considerable advantages and benefits right through all stages of a project BIM is a process that enables architects, engineers, contractors and owners to collaborate throughout the lifecycle of a building, from earliest design concept to demolition of the building. It works on the principle of spending time and effort at the very outset to reduce the risk of problems on-site that can be difficult to resolve, cause delays and incur additional costs.

More than just 3D drawings, BIM concepts include collaboration between trades that have previously worked independently. Using software such as Revit, a 3D computer model that represents the physical and functional 30 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

characteristics of a facility can be created. This becomes a visual communication tool shared by all stakeholders that can be used to effectively manage project information for consistent, accurate and coordinated models.

In practice, each partner owns their own model. The coordination team brings together the models, integrates the information and carries out clash detection to identify any pipe collisions or interferences within the model. Once clash detection is run, trades will come together in coordination meetings to discuss and troubleshoot issues found in the models.

This allows open communication

and quick resolution during planning stages.

Since it forms a reliable basis for decisions regarding design details, scheduling and clash detection, BIMled projects can be planned and executed more quickly, economically and sustainably.

Early adopters and legislation Although the concept of BIM got off to a slow start, it is now gaining ground globally, including in the Middle East.

Regulation in many US states has led to a doubling of BIM adoption over the last five years, while the Netherlands has seen a threefold rise from under

10% to over 30% of projects using BIM in the same period.

The greatest rate of increase, however, has been in the UK, where BIM-led initiatives have risen from under 5% to over 30% of building and infrastructure projects. BIM is now standard practice for many leading construction companies, and as its use gathers pace, supply chain companies are responding.

There is also a recent EU directive to encourage, and even mandate, its adoption in member states by 2016, and the UK, the Netherlands and Norway have already made BIM mandatory for publiclyfunded building projects.

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Further down the line, BIM can advise what maintenance is needed – when a component needs to be replaced or a piece of equipment serviced, for instance – helping owners draw up a maintenance schedule to ensure optimum system performance and thereby contain costs. This facility can be especially useful for retrofits.

It is a prime enabler for lean construction that can be relied upon to facilitate prefabrication, since contractors can use the 100% correct model to determine cut lengths of piping and start prefabricating assemblies with total confidence. Just as prefabricating in ideal conditions off-site delivers greater efficiency on-site, so using BIM removes uncertainty and eliminates problems during construction and installation. The philosophy is the same: spend time at the earlier stages to reduce problems and time spent in the field where the risk is greatest. a level playing field BIM creates standardisation and a level playing field for all.

“Compared with traditional building contracts, BIM creates standardisation and a level playing field for all, making cost estimates more accurate”

Standardisation and scheduling Compared with traditional building contracts, BIM creates standardisation and a level playing field for all, making cost estimates more accurate and comparison of quotes easier. The traditional bidding process starts with conceptual designs submitted by the consultant, on which contractors base their quote. This often requires bidding contractors to seek more information from the engineering office, make assumptions or take on a large measure of responsibility.

Having all the information contained clearly and accurately within the model in advance

means the job can be priced easily, helping owners to compare bids and reducing risk for clients and contractors alike. Changes can still be made at a later stage if required, but unnecessary change orders that can add significant cost to the project and delay completion are eliminated.

Similarly, BIM helps keep projects on track due to its work scheduling capability.

The model can be used to map a timeline for construction that shows when and in what sequence components need to be installed. As a result, downtime is avoided, productivity is boosted and owners can see how quickly the work will progress.

Continuous improvements Where changes are needed, they can be made safely, quickly and easily. For instance, if an elbow needs to be moved to avoid hitting another component, this can be done in minutes using the model but might take hours in the field. Clicking on a component identifies the product and gives dimensions.

If the designer changes the diameter, the component also changes and the layout drawing and bill of materials are automatically updated. This would be much more complicated, time-consuming and costly using another method.

With BIM software programmes such as Revit, users can draw all piping and other disciplines from the building to the ducting and electrical work Smart Cities Supplement 2015 31

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in one model and coordinate to ensure there are no collisions or interferences between the different systems or trades.

The 3D model is a powerful visual representation of how a building and its services fit together – useful for contractors and engineers to walk clients through so that they can see how things are positioned.

It confirms, for example, that prefabricated sections can be dropped in as required and that there are clear access routes for maintenance staff – or otherwise clearly shows if there are clashes, in a way that would not be possible with other methods.

Manufacturers and their role

Leading manufacturers in the pipe-joining sector have taken steps to allow users to

right-first-time results Using BIM to focus on design detail and pre-construction work delivers right-first-time results.

32 Smart Cities Supplement 2015

“Just as CAD and prefabrication revolutionised design and construction and became the industry norm, so BIM is set to become standard practice for the efficient management of building projects”

effectively integrate products into BIM software systems.

At an individual project level, company experts work with designers who include systems in their drawings to help them understand how products can be best used and routed in specific software.

For example, Victaulic works with major BIM software manufacturers including Autodesk, Bentley, Progman and Stabiplan to ensure that its products can easily be used within their packages, such as AutoCAD, Revit MEP, Fabrication, MagiCAD and StabiCAD. Projects that have produced drawings using the extensive Revit BIM-enabled Victaulic CAD library include the London Heathrow Airport New

Terminal 2 – a recent Building Services Project of the Year finalist – and the Weggeler Centre, Almelo, a flagship BIM project in the Netherlands.

Just as CAD and prefabrication revolutionised design and construction and became the industry norm, so BIM is set to become standard practice globally for the efficient whole-life management of building projects.

With a growing number of products and increased support available to partners, the way forward to project success is clear. Using BIM to focus on design detail and pre-construction work delivers right-first-time results on the job and allows easy maintenance and smooth operation for the life of the building.

6 December 2015 The Terrace Between the Towers, Jumeirah Emirates Towers www.meconsultantawards.com

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▲ Consultant Team of the Year ▲ Multi-discipline Consulting Company of the Year ▲ Structural Engineering Company of the Year ▲ MEP Engineering Company of the Year ▲ Quantity Surveying/Cost Consulting Company of the Year ▲ Architectural Company of the Year ▲ Interior Design Company of the Year ▲ Urban Design and Landscaping Company of the Year ▲ Project Management Company of the Year ▲ Construction Law Advisory Company of the Year ▲ Specialist Consulting Company of the Year ▲ Project of the Year ▲ Outstanding Individual of the Year NOMINATION ENQUIRIES Davina Munro Deputy Editor +971 4 375 5475 davina.munro@ cpimediagroup.com SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES Michael Stansfield Commercial Director +971 4 375 5497 michael.stansfield@ cpimediagroup.com

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