A round-up of BIM and digital construction stories that you might have missed in the past seven days.
Sellafield’s second BIM cave
The project team working on the construction of the Sellafield Product and Residue Store Retreatment Plant now has a second BIM cave. Based in the team’s Warrington office, it follows the first BIM cave from Mission Room that opened on site earlier this year. Delivery director Steve Harnwell said: “Increasing our BIM capability enhances the project’s daily line of sight planning by improving the connection between our team members in Cumbria and Warrington to visualise the project plan and build sequencing.”
Alex Small promoted at Tata Steel
Alex Small has been promoted from BIM & digital platforms manager to digital platforms & innovation lead at Tata Steel UK. In the new role, he will continue his work of the past six years, developing Tata Steel’s digital platforms, including product passports with tagging and tracking and the installation of a product information management system. He told BIMplus: "I’m a strong believer that in the future we will be differentiated by how trustworthy our data is and how thorough it is." The role will also see Small roll out across the rest of Tata Steel UK’s business (including the automotive, engineering and packaging sectors) the lessons learned about modern methods of construction and design for manufacture and assembly from Tata’s role in the Seismic Construction demonstration project.
Digital’s role in Minneapolis bridge refurb
The 102-year-old Third Avenue Bridge across the Mississippi in Minneapolis is being refurbished with the support of a bridge integration modelling system used by Cowi for detailed sequencing of work, according to Global Construction Review. Cowi, the Denmark-headquartered engineering consultancy, was responsible for the staged construction analysis, design of the temporary falsework, production of the fabrication drawings for the concrete elements, geometry control for casting, and development of the 3D model used to visualise the step-by-step construction phases proposed to create the complex construction sequencing and scheduling.
NEC launches app
NEC has launched a Contracts Community app, “designed to support understanding of the NEC family suite of contracts and to connect users worldwide.” The app is free to download. NEC has also launched a monthly podcast series that will take a deep dive into how its contracts are being used around the world. The first episode focuses on HS2.
Enscape updates software
Enscape, supplier of real-time visualisation, 3D rendering and VR software, has launched its latest update, Enscape 3.4. Additions include 210 new interior assets, 52 new interior materials, and categories for the custom asset library. Enscape is also now available for Macs: directly for SketchUp 2021 and 2022.
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