NBS Chorus

NBS’s latest development aims to bring the specification process out from its silo to benefit global team collaboration and provide a single source of truth, writes Martyn Day

It’s all in the name. Based in ments by specialists (as the industry typi- growth for the future, with content and Newcastle upon Tyne, NBS has cally works now), new processes, such as services becoming global and a dedication developed the National Building BIM, can now be connected with specifica- to provide for multiple standards and Specification for the last 40 years. tion creation via NBS Chorus. It means classifications, all served through a single As a commercial and development arm of the most up-to-date specification informa- on-line interface. the Royal Institute of British Architects tion is available to any project team mem(RIBA), NBS has established itself as a ber, anywhere, at any time. With specifica- Chorus advantages reliable source of reference tools which tions covering various design disciplines AEC magazine talked with Dr Stephen support the built environment, covering in a single system, Chorus was developed Hamil, Director Research and Innovation construction engineering services and in its early stages with the aid of signifi- at NBS, about the advantages of this landscape design. As the Industry pro- cant multidisciplinary industry players, approach to providing specification via gressed and adopted CAD, then moved to including Mott MacDonald, Ryder the cloud. He explained, “NBS Chorus has 3D and BIM, NBS has constantly updated Architecture and IBI Group. the potential to transform the way firms its services to build on the advantages of With its historical investment in BIM specify, by bringing the people that matter information models. specification content and its commitment together in the same online space during

For the last few years NBS has mainly to supporting multiple industry stand- specification phases. This means teams been in the news for developing generic ards, NBS Chorus provides a thoroughly can work together in real-time using a sinBIM libraries or parts (National BIM Library), bespoke BIM libraries for ‘‘ NBS Chorus has the potential to transform gle trusted source of the truth, which avoids the creation of unstructured concomponent manufacturers, an online viewer and defining its own quality standards the way firms specify, by bringing the people that matter together in the same online space tent, and removes existing barriers to accessing specification data. for BIM objects, amongst during specification phases “We recognise that many many others. Most significantly, it won a competition for a million-pound contract from the modern and SaaS (Software as a Service) ’’ firms these days work on global projects, while the teams may be spread out in different Government to develop a national BIM front-end to distribute NBS’s constantly offices and time zones. NBS Chorus toolkit to assist in the information devel- maintained and updated building specifi- securely connects them, and provides opment and delivery at each stage of the cations data, which is all authored to the permission-level locking to safely expand asset lifecycle for BIM Level 2 projects. ISO 12006-2 compliant Uniclass 2015 access to include clients, consultants and

As a side note, since 2012, NBS has also standard. contractors. The data owner can allocate carried out a handy survey, which tracks Last year NBS acquired Digicon, the read-only or edit permissions based on BIM adoption in the UK and is always dominant specification company in the each user’s need.” worth a read to identify trends, or to rate Canadian market, which developed multi- One of the core problems with teamyour own company against the industry ple specification products for CAD and work in BIM is lack of consistency and standard (tinyurl.com/NBS-BIM-report). BIM. The move gave some indication of quality in the final documentation, Hamil where NBS was looking to expand to and explained the advantage of using a platAll together now since then, the company has committed to form approach, “Applying a common The latest innovation from NBS takes it supporting Australian specification stand- classification system across a project, firmly back to its roots and brings its ards and practices in the not too distant through deploying NBS Chorus to create specification services very much into the future. It seems that the adoption of BIM a master specification, will result in BIM modern age. NBS Chorus is a collabora- in Commonwealth countries is picking up objects and specifications having a contive specification platform built in the and they are looking to UK-derived BIM sistent structure, as they all have the cloud, to support global design and con- standards in a rush to get their construc- same origin, regardless of which item in struction projects in a way that has not tion industries more efficient and take full the project they describe, and regardless been possible before. advantage of moving to BIM. With its new of which discipline or organisation gen-

Instead of the specifications being dis- SaaS platform and investment in specifi- erated the information. connected from the process, and stored in cation developers in other countries, NBS “By bringing specifications inside the a host of heavily templated Word docu- sees new territories providing additional modelling tool, as opposed to viewing sep-

arate textual documents, it’s NBS Chorus is tecture, together with provid- adopting countries, this is good news for also now possible with Chorus a collaborative ing a platform for developing a broad adoption of British standards, as to review specifications in the specification platform designed to support future collaborative applica- well as for experienced British firms context of the model, which is a global design and tions to BIM users. seeking overseas design and construcsignificant advantage and an construction While NBS is obviously a tion opportunities. even greater benefit for new significant player in the UK, it To deliver on this expansion NBS collaborative working and will improve has perhaps saturated that market, recently received a £31.8m investment the final project documentation.” while other countries, just starting their from the private equity arm of Lloyds

Adopting the NBS Chorus service will BIM journeys, are looking to the UK for Banking Group. I suspect we will see represent a welcome change to the frac- technologies processes and standards to more acquisitions and expansions into tured way many firms create specifica- quickly accelerate BIM adoption and new BIM markets. tions today and development-wise, usage. The cloud route obviously gets NBS is planning a series of UK events appears to be a very logical step for NBS to NBS content everywhere and to launch the service, in take. Looking at other features in Chorus, it isn’t scared of acquiring or NBS also develops a Viewer that allows Manchester (2 October), it also offers querying and reporting tools, partnering with local specifi- you to view and Newcastle (4 October) and enabling group-think solutions as well as cation developers. I suspect, print specifications, Edinburgh (10 October). More ‘who did what & when’ accountability, through Chorus, NBS will schedules of work and contract preliminaries details can be found at thenbs. together with the tracking of changes. become a significant exporter written using NBS com/discover-events This will be super powerful on large BIM of BIM knowledge to early specification software ■ thenbs.com/nbs-chorus projects when auditing data. It has the advantage of operating outside existing document management systems but for those that already use project hosting sites, NBS is also looking at possible integrations with key market players.

Conclusion Chorus represents a significant investment in development work for NBS. However, looking at the cloud infrastructure it has created, Chorus appears to be a fundamental technology test case, which it needed to create to enable its next generation of 21st century solutions for multiple construction information and content problems. I suspect we’ll see other NBS content and services offerings running on the baseline archi-

Seeing the future

Alasdair Kirkwood, commercial director at L&M Survey Services, looks at why HDR (High Dynamic Range) camera technology has the ability to transform survey data inputted into the BIM process.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) cameras produce images that are revolutionary in terms of quality and content, compared to those carried out using existing LDR (Low Dynamic Range) cameras.

A shortcoming with LDR technology over the last few decades has been that it has struggled to keep pace with data requirements, specifically the need for precise, accurate information for inputting into the BIM process. Take just one example; LDR cameras have difficulty capturing scenes that contain very light and very dark areas.

What tended to happen was that the camera was adjusted so that it could capture either the dark or the light areas, but not both. For instance, if the interior of a building on site was being photographed, everything inside might appear dull and underexposed whilst a near perfect view through the window was captured. Alternatively, the inside of the building might have the right exposure levels — albeit with darker areas on the unlit corners — but with overexposure in the window appearing as a bright white mass.

For everyday images this may not necessarily be an issue, but with visual asset management in the surveying sector, under and over exposure can result in loss of vital data. For example, the light areas in the window or the dark corners in the room could be hiding a critical service, fire stop aperture or issue with the masonry. The problem can also be exacerbated in specialist surveying environments such as rail where it is common to have very light and dark areas, such as those in underground works or derelict structures that may not have services connected. Alternatively, surveys may need to be carried out at night, in the case of rail, meaning LDR cameras require cumbersome lighting that can also present health and safety issues.

The recent uptake of High Dynamic Range (HDR) cameras in the surveying sector is helping to address the shortcomings of traditional Low Dynamic Range (LDR) technology. The basic premise of HDR cameras is fairly straightforward; the camera captures several versions of the same image using different levels of exposure. The technology then blends these images together, creating an amalgamation, which means that it includes different exposures all in the one, final image.

If we again take the scenario of the internal survey of a building on site, the HDR camera would take a number of images at different exposure levels and then combine these so that the inside of the room was at optimal exposure – even the dark corners – whilst ensuring correct exposure on the window, avoiding it appearing as a whiteout area. The end result is an image that is close to, or sometimes better than, what the human eye sees.

Applying the technique to visual asset surveys therefore has the potential to revolutionise the way in which data is captured, presented and used. That has huge implications for BIM because it means better quality information is inputted into the BIM schedule from the start of the project. The real benefit of commissioning surveys using HDR images is that they contain pixels with a much greater range of light and colour, which greatly improves the overall quality of visual surveys — reproducing real-world appearance and an ability to ‘see in the dark’.

The practical uses of HDR technology ‘ScanLight’ lighting system, which would the brightness, zoom in, open reports and are far reaching and range from an ability be able to capture all the detail present measure dimensions straight from the to identify anomalies that the human eye despite the complete darkness. images (possible due to the capture of stecould miss, for example, hairline cracks in A two-person team, using three HDR reo-pairs on the same location). All this substrate, through to completing detailed cameras, was deployed and completed amounted to a new form of deliverable surveys in dark, hard to reach places, such the survey of the approximately 1,000m that simply could not have been captured as the rail tunnel on page 50. All that is long tunnel over three nights. Image- or presented using any other means. aside from HDR providing better quality pairs were recorded every ten metres at and more usable information for BIM. chainages that had been marked out with A glimpse of the future survey chalk and referenced to a mile- High Dynamic Range imaging is set to HDR for BIM marker, located just outside the tunnel. grow in popularity — the benefits are Within the area of BIM, HDR camera Three image locations were captured simply too obvious to ignore — however, technology is able to provide 3D docu- simultaneously and the cameras then most of today’s digital cameras used in mentation, GIS and geomatic information moved on to the next three locations. The the surveying sector are not yet HDRat every stage of the life cycle of the asset. SceneCam images were supplemented capable. To create HDR image files, sevThis extends from feasibility and topo- with additional images captured using a eral shots of the same scene at different graphic surveys, measured building sur- standard frame digital camera. The imag- exposures have to be taken and advanced veys, scan-to-BIM, as-built modelling, es captured the whole tunnel environ- software then used to create an HDR point cloud management and distribu- ment and the standard frame camera cap- image. LDR survey cameras are unable tion to as built-data collection. tured sub-surface details like the insides to do this.

The data captured by HDR integrates of catch-pit chambers and inside the cov- As such, a revolution in visual data capinto all the major BIM compliant tools, ered cable-housing. ture in the surveying sector has been long such as Revit and Bentley’s suite of infra- The SceneCam camera captures a sin- overdue, although it was always going to structure design products. It also provides gle, continuous image around a full 360 happen because of the limitations of LDR hands-on help with BIM implementation, degrees in the horizontal and 300 and the fact that advances in BIM rely on workflow, documentation management, degrees in the vertical, using a slit aper- precise, real-life images. Latest HDR camclash detection and modelling, asset man- ture and a fish-eye lens. No stitching of era surveys now have the capability of agement and knowledge management. Essentially, HDR creates accurate, ‘‘ Practical uses of HDR technology are far reaching feeding better quality information into the BIM process, from the beginready-to-use models for buildings and other struc- and range from an ability to identify anomalies that ning of the project, all the way through to the handtures, bringing the real the human eye could miss, through to completing over of documentation. world into BIM. Increasingly, BIM will detailed surveys in dark, hard to reach places Our clients are constantly asking for more be used in the refurbishment of existing buildings and it is in this area that HDR offers a images is required. The camera captures ’’ site information because it saves time and money at every stage of the project. That’s one of the number of benefits. It enables precise cap- 26 F-stops simultaneously. In daylight reasons why we added spherical HDR ture of high definition 3D data that can be this would capture all the lighting condi- imagery to the normal topographic survey used to create a parametric 3D BIM model tions present, allowing the viewer to look deliverables, 2D, 3D drawings and Revit using the precise depiction of the real into the darkest shadow yet still retain Models as well as complete site, full colour world from HDR camera technology, in detail in the brightest areas. On this occa- 360 tour with the ability to take dimenthe form of a point cloud. It is then possi- sion it allowed the viewer to brighten the sions from anyone’s desktop. Any docuble to use the point cloud as a modelling data from dark conditions to a detailed, mentation can be attached to the spherical reference, enabling various views of the vibrant data-set. images, from survey data and drawings, point cloud to be extracted. It is also possi- Once the fieldwork was complete the as-built information, reports, safety notes ble to create high resolution images as processing began, and this could be car- or handover documentation. All in a simwell as spatial and panoramic model ried out on site. The images required no ple-to-use interface that anyone can use views of the asset. On a practical level, too, ‘cloud-processing’ so all data was retained without having a CAD licence or specialist our SceneCentre Overlapping HDR 360 by the operator. The spherical images software, from wherever they sit. images create a ‘Virtual Tape Measure’ were imported directly into Spheron’s It is foreseeable that BIM will soon function allowing measurements to be own SceneCenter software. This software require all inputted information to be taken from any authorised PC or tablet. was used to prepare the deliverable for the from HDR technology, certainly for those project – a complete visual tour of the tun- that require accurate point cloud presenTunnel vision nel. The spherical data set was added to by tation of data. In itself, high dynamic In July 2017, L&M was asked to complete importing the additional images and then range imaging offers a radically new an inspection survey of a working rail- PDF drainage reports of the catch pits and approach of representing survey data. way tunnel in the East Midlands. The other reports too, all of which could be Instead of using the range of fixed colours Spheron SceneCam solution was chosen viewed within the software. Once com- and limited range of exposures, HDR as the best tool for the job due to its 32-bit plete the report allowed the viewer to nav- manipulates and stores all colours and High Dynamic Range (HDR) ‘SceneCam’ igate through the tunnel in a similar way brightness levels visible to the human eye. camera and its battery powered to Street View. The viewer could increase ■ lmsurveys.co.uk