Double vision

The collaborative efforts of a UK real estate advisor and a Parisian BIM supplier developed a digital twin for Aurora, a 4,830 sqm office building in Ealing for one London client, the Moorfield Group

For many high-value, commercial A French affair ing invaluable asset information to the property redevelopments, the A chance encounter in the summer of city authorities for future-proofing the client’s expectations are to have 2017 with Joël Lucas of Paris-based BIM ageing infrastructure. the chance to visualise and ‘expe- Strategies at the TechXLR8 event in Rupert immediately saw the potential rience’ the asset before work has even London introduced Rupert to a brand- for this technology in the commercial real begun onsite. These often take the form of new form of building documentation. estate industry and invited Joël and his beautiful and captivating ‘artist’s impres- BIM Strategies has been utilising team to become ‘Entrepreneurs in sions’ or ‘fly-throughs’ – which no doubt mobile mapping technology alongside Residence’ (EiR) at GVA, as Rupert catch the eye, but are often lacking accu- digital BIM since 2014. The company was explains, “The aim of the EiR programme racy or specific details. involved in a competitive tender commis- was for both parties to benefit from each

Conversely, the client also needs the sioned by Paris City Council in 2016 to other’s expertise and to seek new busihard facts – room & facility specifications compare data collection methodologies in ness opportunities. Having worked along& net floor areas to allow for occupancy a rather unusual location – the Parisian side each other for a few weeks, the potencalculations, fire procedures, rent calculations and an endless array of other requirements. These often take the form of rather less glamorous ‘‘ I am most excited by the prospect of visualising the twin in a ‘live’ capacity through tial uses of what Joël was creating started to flood in.” A capital idea The team didn’t have long to 2D drawings or spreadsheets. monitoring of human movement and vitals wait to test one of these But what if the client could have both, all in one Rupert Parker, GVA potential uses on a live site. An existing client of GVA, model? That was the desire of London-based commercial property advisor GVA, as Rupert sewer network. The task was to quickly ’’ the Moorfield Group, had recently finished the extensive contemporary refurbishment of an Parker, Head of Futureproofing, explains, and accurately collect 3D geospatial data office building in Ealing, west London, “In the burgeoning London commercial along a 1.2km section of the network, and, and were looking to market the property. property market, our clients are increas- compare the results to an asset informa- The five-storey Aurora building was ingly demanding technology-driven tion system from the 1990s. considered a prime candidate for scanresults. Gone are the days when a 2D After three days of intense testing in ning and creating a digital twin, as refurfloorplan and a few site photos would the complex, cramped environment, the bishment had just been completed and suffice. On multimillion pound property handheld ZEB-REVO scanner from the property was vacant. The team got to developments, our clients need to know GeoSLAM was considered the best tool work in the autumn of 2017. how the end deliverable will look, feel for the job. The 3D data from the sewers Firstly, the building was surveyed with and operate. Thus, we are increasingly was used as the source material for BIM the ZEB-REVO scanner. Collecting over turning to technology such as VR, AR Strategies to build a fully-interactive, ‘dig- 40,000 data points per second and with a and BIM to deliver these results.” ital twin’ of the sewer network – provid- simple ‘walk and scan’ methodology, the

almost 5,000m2 property was scanned in less than two hours. It took another two hours to collect the thousands of digital images which were desired to add texture and context to compliment the 3D data. In less than ½ a day on site, all the required information had been obtained.

The digitisation of real estate The geospatial data was fed into Autodesk Maya to build the 3D model – and was then ‘textured’ in Unreal Engine – an application more familiar to computer games designers than BIM modellers. The result was an interactive, first-person experience of the asset which could be viewed as a computer animation to prospective tenants – no matter where they were in the world. But it was also so much more. As well as showcasing a modern property in an engaging and memorable way, the digital twin also holds a wealth of data on the built asset, as Joël Lucas explains, “Now we have a first-person walkthrough experience, and the centimetregrade accurate survey data in one model. Furthermore, we have enabled the future addition of other practical functionalities – including internet of things (IoT), CCTV, sensors, emergency escape plans and so on. For me, this is the new BIM – all information, all Aurora reception held in one easy to visualisation in access place.” Unreal Engine

Rupert Parker agrees that the power of this offering lies in the wealth of opportunities that it presents, in order to meet the diverse requirements of his client base, “The model is a blank canvas which can be seen as the basis for digitisation of real estate. Working together, BIM Strategies and GVA can develop the model for any clients’ desired use. I am most excited by the prospect of visualising the twin in a ‘live’ capacity through monitoring of human movement and vitals - creating an element of understanding of human interaction with environments never before seen in real estate.”

The five-storey, 5,000m2 Aurora building was surveyed with the ZEB-REVO scanner in less than two hours

The success of the pilot scheme has garnered a lot of interest in the London property market – especially the abili-

ty to create glamorous and lifelike walk-throughs in as-yet unrenovated properties. The successful

collaboration, a result of a chance encounter, seems likely to flourish – and

the team are not afraid to think big.

“The augmented digital twin is the first step,” said Joël Lucas. “Future offerings will include services for entertainment, marketing, building management, asset management, safety & security –

there is no limit!”

■ geoslam.com ■ bim-strategies.com