From cradle to grave with BIM
Published Thu 28 Jan 2010
NC Architects discovers that moving to Autodesk Revit Architecture pays dividends
Derek Marshall, a Director of NC Architects (NCA) says “There is only one way to make a Mondeo and that one way is used to make all the versions.” He adds, “It’s not like that in the building industry, though, there are very many different ways of putting up one building and there are many more professions involved in building it. The construction process is a highly fragmented affair. Normally, within a development organisation, one consultant will handle the planning, another will handle the technical side, yet another consultant will handle the sales layouts and another set of people will do the estimating.” He continues, “This way of working leads to co-ordination errors, duplication and misunderstandings. In addition, the component parts of the building industry are all at different stages in their use of CAD technology with none of the parts communicating with each other.” In seeking to address these issues and to improve workflow and efficiency, NC Architects has committed to Autodesk Revit Architecture and Building Information Modelling (BIM).
NC Architects produced a number of test images to see the quality of Revit’s Mental Ray-based rendering engine.
Building Information Modelling
In addition to resolving the actual design of a building, Building Information Modelling (BIM) models the information associated with that design through the entire life cycle of the building. In Derek’s experience, “People spend an inordinate amount of time looking for all the associated information - scheduling, what bricks were to be used on this site, window colours etc. Having all that embedded in a Revit BIM saves time and reduces duplication of effort and data. It reduces the risk of errors of omission and interpretation and improves communications between all parties involved in the building process.”
NC Architects
Based in Swindon in the UK, NC Architects has over thirty years experience in large-scale residential and commercial projects, motor dealerships, health and veterinary services. Most senior staff are directors and shareholders of the practice, which ensures each and every project is carried out to NCA’s benchmark high standard, delivering the very best results for its clients. Clients include Bellway, Careys, Dick Lovett Group (Porsche, BMW and Mini dealerships), Preymesser Logistics and the Taylor Wimpey Group. The firm has won a number of design and conservation awards and is a recognised RIBA Chartered Practice and member of the Association of Consultant Architects.
Surviving the last recession
In 1987 the practice was beginning to look at computer technology as an efficiency aid. “There was some resistance to moving from the drawing board to CAD and it was not until I started to do numerous identical window drawings on a big project that the penny dropped - it WAS quicker with CAD!”
Derek was convinced and the practice made the transition to AutoCAD in the late 1980s. He continues, “The adoption of AutoCAD allowed us to win more work without which, we would not have made it through the painful recession of the early 1990s.”
Derek recalls, “We were just working in 2D at that stage. Then we employed an architect who was an experienced ArchiCAD user who showed us what could be achieved by working in 3D. We installed two seats and used them in the planning area for concept design and visualisation. It was the only affordable modeller at the time and introduced the practice to the power of 3D design.”
This 3D view aerial view, rendered in Revit, is a Swindon scheme for Bellway PLC, currently in for planning consent.
Envious of MCAD?
Derek again, “I’d always been slightly envious of the MCAD world and its ability to model in 3D and take off 2D drawings associatively. When I saw Revit for the first time, I was envious no more. It was what I thought a 3D architectural modeller should be: parametric, interactive and with real time updating. At the demo, the Revit guy imported one of our industrial units and modelled it up in about ten minutes. Brilliant!”
However, before investing in the software, NCA needed to be sure the technology had a future. Autodesk acquired Revit in 2002 and that gave NCA the confidence it needed. In Derek’s words, “I’d been tracking the development of Revit under Autodesk and we evaluated a trial version on a couple of small planning projects. We found that it was more user friendly and its built-in renderer was superior than ArchiCAD.” In Feb 2005, NCA bought several Revit licences, had three staff trained and started to use it in earnest. Derek again, “We phased out ArchiCAD and adopted the policy of modelling and detailing every new planning job in Revit.”
This is an internal view of a proposed refurbishment of a Ferrari showroom for the Dick Lovett Group. The model was created and rendered in Revit, with some ‘polishing off’ in Photoshop.
The benefits outweigh cost
Has Revit delivered on its promise? Derek confirms that in most cases, it has. “This has been a substantial investment for us but we think the benefits more than outweigh the cost.” Citing examples, Derek continues, “We found that we could give the client more and more project information by using Revit. We could provide detailed 3D planning drawings and we could more or less instantaneously get 3D views of anything the client wanted to look at within the site. The client could come in and see us make the changes in real time.” He adds, “It’s good for clients, as well as us because problems can be designed out at the concept or planning stages, not on site where there may be tremendous cost implications. Those that have seen Revit in action have been bowled over by it.”
Why didn’t we do this before?
What of the future? Derek is clear, “We are five-year Revit users and our aim is to move to a totally 3D environment. We knew this was achievable as soon as we started to experimentally detail in 3D using Revit. We also realised the potential to have all the information you ever need embedded in the model.” Derek offers this advice, though. “There are no half measures,” he says, “you either do this or you don’t. You have to go in with both feet. It’s a huge cultural change. It’s not lines, arcs and circles anymore. It’s walls, floors, windows, doors and more. It is heading towards the virtual building process and you must have a champion, an evangelist almost, in your organisation. The best people to evaluate these new approaches are those in architectural training. Their acceptance of new ideas and new techniques is at a peak.” He adds, “The reseller has to have the expertise, too, because you will need a lot of support from them initially. Then, when you are comfortable with the concept, you’ll think ‘why didn’t we do this before’.”
Encouraging signs
What impact has the use of Revit had? Derek is clear, “It has helped us get through this recession. Over the past few years, we have been given some very difficult planning projects and we would not have got them to the stage we have without the help of Revit and some of the associated products.” However, as Derek says, “For BIM to be really successful, the whole industry has to be convinced and committed. Most vendors target the end users but they are not the ones that make the real CAD format decisions. It is the developers’ MDs and Technical Directors that dictate how CAD will be used.
NC Architects is a small but dynamic practice of six people. From left to right, seated: Bill Pier (Architect), Robert Mills (Project Manager), Nick Woodward (Architectural Technician). Rear row, standing: Derek Marshall (CAD Manager and Director), Chris Moorem (Architect, Managing Director) Andrew Wakefield (Architect, Director).
“To get the higher-level decision makers in our client base to see what was possible, we recently held an open day and road-show to demonstrate what Revit and BIM was all about.” The signs are very encouraging and the practice now has a number of clients who are very interested in the approach. “Two house builders in particular are tremendously interested in the workflow having had sight of the BIM process,” he reports, “Once they have the right sites and right projects they want us to go from cradle to grave with the Revit BIM.”
