Mott MacDonald, Costain and US contractor DPR Construction were among the award winners at this year’s FIATECH convention in Boca Raton, Florida.
FIATECH, which stands for Fully Integrated and Automated Technology and focuses on infrastructure and construction projects, has previously honoured the UK government’s BIM initiative.
Its Celebration of Technology and Innovation Awards (CETI) promote and showcase significant achievements by both organisations and individuals.
This year, winners included Mott MacDonald for the Bergen Light Rail Stage 3 project in Norway, where a new light rail system exploited the BIM model and a “desk to digger approach”.
Surfaces contained within the models were loaded directly to the construction plant, used for major build work from blasting tunnels, rock, and earthmoving to laying the finished pavement surfaces.
All trenches, utilities, and pipelines were also set out and laid directly from the models. The approach is seen to be setting a new standard in how infrastructure projects are delivered in Norway.
Mott MacDonald’s design team comprised key members who had successfully delivered projects using BIM, such as Crossrail in London, UK. A BIM execution plan was prepared at the start of the project which defined the project standard CAD and design processes.
Costain was honoured for its work on with MobiBiz on the Enable My Team project to help automate supply chain and procurement transactions, and ensure that innovative ideas are tracked and implemented.
The MobiBiz development team with Costain established a pilot project to understand the business value and benefits of mapping their entire supply chain and to test different criteria for risk assessment.
Within the past seven months the platform has established a network of over 120 different partners for Costain, with more than 100 innovations submitted, and more than five already converted to best practice and actively tried on live projects.
In the US, DPR Construction won an award for its work on a medical centre for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, which used BIM and an Integrated Project Delivery model to save costs and shrink the programme.
A QR code delivery tracker system helped the team adhere to just-in-time methods, guaranteeing drivers that that proper unloading equipment and personnel would be available on site for their deliveries.
The scheduling component of the app helped reduce the number of concurrent deliveries, and more efficient time-slot allocation, which resulted in less idle time for the drivers and more effective use of unloading equipment.
