Three revelations from Bentley’s Year in Infrastructure conference and Going Digital Awards
18 October 2024
Bentley Systems – a US-based technology company serving the building, design and infrastructure segments – held its annual Year in Infrastructure (YI) conference earlier this month, and if 2024 was a harbinger for the future, construction is nearing a fully 3D and 4D future.
The 2024 Bentley Systems annual Year in Infrastructure conference was held in Canada. (Image: Mitchell Keller)
Running along YI 2024 was Bentley’s Going Digital Awards (GDA) competition, with 36 companies presenting across 12 categories.
Within GDA presentations and at keynotes and workshops throughout YI, the message from construction software end users was quite clear: the design and management of major infrastructure projects globally has changed – and is still changing – and largely for the better.
Here’s a look at three key themes from this year’s Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards.
Goodbye 2D design and planning
Perhaps the starkest reality to emerge from Bentley’s regular industry get-together is not that 2D design and planning are slowly being phased out but are abruptly getting pushed aside and buried altogether.
It might be as succinct a signal as ever that BIM, digital twin, and 3D/4D planning technology is moving out of the ‘early adopter’ phase into the ‘early majority’ stage of the technology adoption lifecycle.
Some early adopters, too, have been vocal about the benefits such a move has provided to their projects and companies and are encouraging firms of all sizes to make an investment now (if they haven’t already) in digital platforms before regional competitors beat them to it.
Bentley Systems executives talk to press during the company’s annual Year in Infrastructure conference held in Vancouver, Canada. Pictured from left are chief marketing officer Kristin Fallon, chief product officer Mike Campbell, chief technology officer Julien Moutte and CEO Nicholas Cumins. (Image: Mitchell Keller)
Dan Ashton, technical director at UK-based Proicere, during his award-winning GDA presentation in the Construction category, said it was a disservice to the industry that a more holistic and international adoption of digital design technology has not already taken place.
“It’s almost criminal that, still, 4D-planning is not standard practice on all major infrastructure projects,” he said flatly.
In response to a question from a GDA judge, who wondered if there was a “range of projects” best-suited for 4D design and planning, Ashton expanded on his perspective.
“I don’t think there is,” he responded. “My belief, personally, is that in a few years’ time we won’t have 2D conventional plans.”
He told Construction Briefing that these digital tools are “measurable and scalable”, and often the cost or subscription for software is nominal compared to what it returns.
“If we had a smaller project, and we’re working on some simple things like a crane lift – just a simple one-off operation – instead of planning in [2D software], we’re just doing it in [3D software], instead,” Ashton said, noting his team intends to simply skip the 2D part altogether.
He added that building the model and using the software still just requires one labourer like a 2D platform. “It’s just the way you scale it,” he said.
Speaking for his team at Proicere – which was presenting on a US$1.5-billion plutonium treatment plant build in the UK – he added they would “never, ever go back to just using 2D drawings.
“I truly believe that once we’ve moved fully into the 4D world, we won’t ever look back,” he continued. “We just won’t know how we did it before.”
Ashton was not alone in his confidence among presenters, either. Most GDA nominees, in so many words, recognised in presentations of their projects that – while execution was technically possible in 2D – it would have been costly and impractical.
James Nicole Chavez, an engineer for the Philippines’ Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and GDA Roads & Highways winning presenter, told Construction Briefing as much following his demonstration on a massive highway expansion in Manila.
“A personal opinion; I think it would still be possible, but it would take ages to implement,” he said. “The introduction of 4D and 3D modelling really helped us identify specific areas for special consideration.”
4D-planning in construction helps ‘tell the story of the project’
Networking during the Year in Infrastructure conference. (Image: Mitchell Keller)
While 3D models are widely understood, the extra dimension discussed in 4D planning comes to play with stakeholders’ accessibility and manoeuvrability of the 3D model or digital twin; anything from virtual or augmented reality (VR and AR) representations to shared access of the model across multiple departments and software.
This ‘extra dimension’ doesn’t always help reduce costs or time, which may have prevented some firms in prior years to becoming early adopters, but Proicere’s Ashton noted there are other key returns contractors and developers should be aware of.
When contracting for the plutonium treatment build, Ashton said Proicere’s primary purpose for the client was to “support timely delivery with no compromise on quality. So, cost, although still important, wasn’t the driving factor behind this project.”
For one reason, the science-heavy build involves unique piping, ventilation and a complex layout that emphasises security and reliability.
More important than money was ensuring all stakeholders and subcontractors had an advanced understanding of the design and build.
“[Bentley software] enabled ourselves and the project teams to efficiently visualise the plan… and to execute complex construction tasks through digital rehearsal,” Ashton said.
Another GDA winner (in Bridges & Tunnels), American construction company JMT also emphasised communication and comprehension as being key gains to implementing 4D on an expansive over-water bridge project in the US.
“The bridges were modelled with OpenBridge Modeler to evaluate and clearly define the bridges. With the model built, the team was able to bring it to life with LumenRT to generate the important phase animations to tell the story of the project,” said Garth Donahue, JMT Design Center of Excellence director.
Vince Novak, JMT’s digital experience director, went on to detail how the animations were used to inform the public, including state and regional officials, during public meetings held on the project. One venue even involved a VR/AR representation of the scheme (including a virtual welcome room with fact sheets and designs of the project on display).
“The virtual public meeting… saw over three-times more engagement with the public when compared to traditional in-person public meeting venues,” said Novak, noting how 4D design compliments non-build aspects of project development, as well.
Time and money savings are still enormous advantages to 4D planning
Webuild’s Alessandro Pagano discusses a project during the Bentley Systems Going Digital Awards’ Construction category. (Image: Mitchell Keller)
That’s not all to say that the GDA presenters’ projects didn’t save time and money: they most certainly did.
As is the expectation with most advanced technology, the majority adoption phase typically happens when users are confident in a return on their investment, and it is clear modern planning software is delivering ROI when used appropriately.
While financial savings might be a bit more elusive, especially on extremely complex builds like Proicere’s plutonium storage project, reductions in time were universal among the 36 GDA nominees.
One of the more staggering reductions came from a project by Italy-based Webuild; a runner-up in the GDA Construction category.
In that scheme, the contractor was tasked with building a new headquarters for a Milan, Italy-based energy company. The design called for a unique “landmark bridge” connecting two sections of the structure.
Alessandro Pagano, Webuild’s BIM coordinator in the BIM management department, noted an initial solution for raising and placing the bridge was estimated to take 85 days. After running 12 different construction simulations through a 4D modelling programme, the project team found a solution that could reduce the time spent on this single aspect of the $185-million plan.
“The team was able to shrink the duration of the bridge construction from an initial 85 days to the actual four days,” said Pagano, to audible surprise from those attending the presentation.
But Webuild’s time gains were not unusual among the GDA finalists. Beijing Shougang International Engineering Technology Co., a runner-up in Water and Wastewater, reported a 50% time-savings in the design lifecycle. Runner-up Arcadis said (in competition for the Structural Engineering category) analytical models were created with “the click of a button”, which the Netherlands-based consultancy said dropped modelling time by 95%.
Direct monetary savings were announced on most projects, some counting the savings in tens-of-millions of dollars (due to reduced needs for labour, shortened timelines, and fewer construction errors). But, beyond the explicit savings, there was extrinsic financial value, as well.
One example was from SPL Powerlines UK (SPL); winner of the GDA Rail and Transit category for their Midland Main Line Electrification project across England, UK.
“SPL used ProjectWise as the basis for their connected data environment, sending and receiving information from 20 design organizations on the project. They also created an iTwin for further improved visibility of all design data. In just one month, their first-time submission success rose from 41% to 67%, freeing up time to achieve compliance,” said SPL, but the real advantage came from labourers feeling comfortable with the work. “Because everyone had access to the information that they needed, site walkouts reduced by 94%, ensuring safety while reducing carbon emissions and project costs.”
So, even though it’s called the “Going” Digital Awards, it’s becoming more obvious with each passing year that major infrastructure and construction works might already be there.
CONECTAR-SE COM A EQUIPE
