2024 Issues |
November-December - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: It's always a manic couple of months leading up to our annual Construction Computing Awards - and this one, the 18th, has proved to be no exception. |
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Digitising the building site
UK housebuilders are embracing data quality management processes like never before, according to new resarch from Zutec
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September-October - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: You know the rest of the quote - from 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.You could probably apply it to the majority of the water courses in the United Kingdom, beset, as they are, by water companies emptying sewage into them and the run-off from farmers applying fertiliser to their fields... |
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Is Legacy ERP Holding Construction Companies Back?
Why legacy ERP systems may be holding your construction company back on growth and efficiency
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July-August - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: Waking up to a not entirely unexpected announcement of a Labour Victory in the General Election gives me the opportunity to look positively ahead for the rest of the year |
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Frog Systems builds bespoke wellbeing streaming service for GRAHAM
National construction and civil engineering company GRAHAM has launched a new wellbeing streaming service to support its employees and suppliers using technology from Frog Systems
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May-June - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: Skill shortages affect both ends of the construction industry. They apply to young people just entering the profession and 'experienced' managers who have spent most of their lives working in an industry... |
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Glasblokkene Trinn 2
Using digital twins with dRofus planning and data management tool for complete lifecycle management
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: You may have missed the report that 350,000 (sic) houses have been canned in the State of Voctoria, Australia, because of the discovery of several 'earless dragons' - previously thought to be extinct |
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Twinview
David Chadwick discusses the rationale behind the launch of Twinview with Rob Charlton, the CEO of Space Group
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January-February - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: I can remember working for a Japanese printer manufacturer who wanted to expand into the small 'floppy' disk market - when 3 inch disks were viewing with 3.5 inch disks for supremacy |
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Data visualisation tool collaboration
Anew data visualisation tool designed to support civil infrastructure teams expediate access to data during the planning phase - enabling more informed decision making...
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2023 Issues |
November-December - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: A great occasion to meet up with old friends, make new contacts and, of course, be in with a chance to win one of the Construction Computing awards. Entertainment was provided by a baffling close-range magician, Nick Eindhoven. |
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Are we getting ahead in the cloud?
We appear to be driving headlong into cloud-based ERP solutions - but do they deliver what they promise, or can we still run construction on-premise?
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September-October - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: China is teaching its children about the pitfalls of democracy and its role in scuppering the development of large infrastructure projects, and it is using HS2 as a prime example. An easy target perhaps, but there are others. |
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Delivering power in style
The Hydro Ness, an architecturally striking hydroelectric generation project, has been delivered using constructible BIM software from Tekla
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July-August - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: With Bentley's Industrial Metaverse in the last newsletter, and Vectorworks' Life, the Omniverse and Everything in this one, the construction industry appears to be finally shaking off its image as a 'slow adopter of technology' |
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A Mission-Critical vision
MiCiM Ltd reduces project planning and reporting time by 20% using Asta solutions
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May-June - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: I'm amazed, whenever I travel on the tube in London, to see so many adults engaged in mobile games. As someone whose only flirtation with computer games was Space Invaders on an Apple II... |
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The industrial metaverse
Bentley's Innovation Lab (iLab) takes digital twins into the metaverse using 3D and 4D immersive technology developed for the gaming industry
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The ultra low emission zone (ULEZ) is a disruptive process that is changing people's lives - hence the opposition throughout Europe... |
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Software interoperability
Marcus Mitchell, Customer Success Manager - Structures Division at Trimble, explores the need...
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January-February - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: This issue has more than the typical number of case studies - not all of them UK based, but all of them relevant and interesting. January is a quiet month... |
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Back to the future
Sustainability and digital transformation will be key focuses in 2023, according to Håvard Haukeland
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2022 Issues |
November-December - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: There is a vicious vortex of wind that swirls around the area between the two Hammersmith stations in London. The day can seem quite pleasant until you... |
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Fusion powered collaboration
Fusion and Esri's ArcGIS connect people and processes on the multidisciplinary HS2 project
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September-October - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: But not where you want it! It has been a year of extremes, not all which can be attributed to the current in Ukraine, but certainly exacerbating the fallout from the region... |
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Net zero targets - have we been sidetracked?
How can building companies support net zero targets? Dan Allison, divisional director, Net Zero Buildings says that it time to act, and explains why...
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July-August - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: If you think our recent weather was hot then consider the ITER project that has been running in France for the... |
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PIM to AIM
David Chadwick recently discussed the evolution of management needs - from the design and construction of a building to its occupation and...
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May-June - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: We attach the term AI to just about everything that involves a bit of high-powered computing these days, which... |
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A healthy approach to BIM
3D Repo models can now be used to furnish all of the non-CAD trained specialists on a project with federated data relating to their specific needs
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: In a few short weeks the whole world has been tipped on its axis. Forget COVID and the environmental summit in Glasgow... |
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A digital imperative
Energy price hikes, material shortages and the need for alternative fuel sources are just some of the challenges facing the construction industry in the wake of the pandemic. |
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January-February - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: I 'm afraid I have to apologise for pandering to stereotypes by giving a friend a birthday card recently which featured a Private Eye cartoon... |
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Adapt or fail
As Eque2's construction specific applications move to the cloud, its CEO, Justin Moule, provides a stark warning for companies that don't adapt to the need for tighter control over their operations |
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2021 Issues |
November-Dember - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The UK Government's decision to cancel half of HS2 North of Birmingham has underscored the theme of two articles in this issue which deal with the importance of spending a bit of time negotiating contracts.... |
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British Antarctic survey selects new CDE
British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has selected gliderbim® as its new Common Data Environment (CDE) to support the delivery of phase 2 of the Antarctic Infrastructure Modernisation Programme (AIMP). |
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September-October- Featuring |
Editor's Comment: What an absolute Pleasure it has been to write up the Graphisoft case study on the duke ellington school of the Arts Project in Washington DC... |
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The Hammers 2021 - The finalists
Here's your chance to vote for the solutions and companies that you feel have made the most significant contribution to the industry during a particularly challenging twelve months. |
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July-August- Featuring |
Editor's Comment: I went on a mini-cruise a couple of weeks ago, taking in a steam train trip from Paignton to Kingswear on the River Dart and then a jaunt on a 100 year-old steam driven paddle boat. ... |
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Challenges for Construction
Should current global crises be considered as challenges or opportunities? Are construction companies merely holding their heads above water, or should they be seeking to regain control? |
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May-June- Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The Bentley TwinTalks article in this issue highlights an interesting situation. It stresses that part of the Northern Powerhouse strategy, in line with the aims of the rest of the UK Government's Rail Infrastructure plan... |
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CFD for urban design
Naghman Khan PhD, Product Marketing Engineer at SimScale GmbH explains how CFD is used to simulate the effects of volatile wind conditions in the proliferating canyons of urban cities |
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: Here in the UK we are slowly emerging from the ravages of a global pandemic which has dramatically altered the way we live and work... |
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Entering the metaverse
David Chadwick talks to 3D Repo's CEO Dr Jozef Dobos about the company's recent MegaGrant award from Epic Games |
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January-February - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The Ultimate aim of many software develoments over the last decade or so has been to shave off a couple of percentage points from the bottom line. |
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Gliding over all
How Glider has cultivated success through an innovative culture |
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2020 Issues |
November-December- Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The Ultimate aim of many software develoments over the last decade or so has been to shave off a couple of percentage points from the bottom line. |
 PDF Version |
Digitally Twinned design
Graphisoft's Archicad enabled brp architects to create a virtual building to refine their forward-thinking design for a contemporary home in the middle of Market Harborough |
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September-October - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: It looks like relaxing the social distancing rules in the UK is having the outcome we all feared. |
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Getting more from geotechnical data
OpenGround Cloud is a new cloud service that enables geotechnical professionals to access reliable geotechnical data for better engineering decision... |
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July-August - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: When your computer system is all clagged up with registry errors, cached searches, uncleared temporary files, deleted data, bad disk sectors, improperly cleared viruses or malware... |
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Building Together
Graphisoft's online user conference, Building Together, delivered a powerful package of software upgrades... |
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May-June - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: When your computer system is all clagged up with registry errors, cached searches, uncleared temporary files, deleted data, bad disk sectors, improperly cleared viruses or malware... |
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Parc Life
John Sisk & Sons deploys Site Progress Mobile to deliver woodland cabins for Center Parcs... |
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: February saw the wettest month on record - much of it, it seems, dumped on the hills feeding into the River Severn, with the consequent floods drowning communities along its length... |
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Quiet, please!
Noise pollution is second only to air pollution as a threat to public health according to the World Health Organisation. Quiet Mark has set up the Acoustics Academy to help us understand why... |
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January-February - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: It's a relief that we don't have to (t)witter on about Brexit anymore... |
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Distilling the essence of design
Thomas Mahon of Bimorph Digital Engineering explains the use of GenerativeComponents to calculate the mathematics behind The Macallan Distillery's... |
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2019 Issues |
November-December - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: What's the key ingredient in making a smart city? Getting the public involved in the process, of course... |
 PDF Version |
What makes a city smart?
Bentley Systems introduces OpenCities Planner to promote the development of Smart Cities... |
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September-October - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: Having recently completed my bit of judging for the Vectorworks Student Design competition, which showcases the architectural talents of young people studying to become fully qualified architects... |
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Gateway to knowledge
The gateway to the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield was designed to foster academic excellence. HLM Architects' stunning design sets it on the right footing... |
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July-August - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: Designing buildings or running projects can be a bit of an insular activity when your entire focus is on the job in hand... |
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An open goal
Very short deadlines for the design and erection of a football stadium in Brazil were met by an ARCHICAD user, Nordern Architecture... |
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May-June - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The correlation of concepts in IT is a fascinating subject in its own right, and the very latest, exemplified by the two key players in the industry... |
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From 2D to BIM
A new 'Build to Rent' development at Pontoon Dock on the DLR provides a perfect illustration of the way processes are involved in a typical BIM... |
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: It wasn't so long ago that the construction industry was being portrayed as being some way behind the times when it came to using technology... |
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AI in Infrastructure
Artificial Intelligence, integrated with Bentley's Reality Modelling, is set to revolutionise the solving of design and process issues within the infrastructure industry... |
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Jan-Feb - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: With all of the excitement about Brexit and whether we will be in, or out, or doomed if we end up with a 'No Deal' ... |
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Go with the Re-flow
Form filling can be second nature when it becomes part of a successfully completed task, as Re-flow users have discovered in the field... |
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2018 Issues |
November-December - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: I have always been fascinated by the semantics of change, a striking example of which has been our pre-occupation with BIM over the last dozen years... |
 PDF Version |
Allplan Engineering 2019
The latest version of Allplan for architects and engineers provides improved working processes for all sectors of the engineering design community... |
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July-August - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: I Think it would be interesting to condust a study to find out why men of the cloth seem to have such a fascination with trains - From the Rev Wilbert awdry... |
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Chalkstring
An in-house tool that satisfies the needs of all subcontractors for keeping costs under control... |
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May-June - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: With so much to write about concerning the management of information within the construction industry, it was somewhat disconcerting... |
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Multiplex appeal
IFS Applications has transformed Multiplex's international operations into a true Global business, integrating its management solutions... |
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: With so much to write about concerning the management of information within the construction industry, it was somewhat disconcerting... |
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What's the Diff?
3D Repo is helping to transform the way we handle information with its web based, real-time change detection solution, 3D Diff... |
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Jan-Feb - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: There will hardly be a company in the construction industry left untouched by the demise of Carillion... |
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Allplan Bimplus
ALLPLAN's data focused BIM collaboration tool, Allplan Bimplus is the key to successful project delivery, writes David Chadwick... |
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2017 Issues |
Nov-Dec - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The last decade in the construction industry has been dominated by BIM. Halfway through its implementation and careering towards the milestones... |
 PDF Version |
Every BIM is awesome!
Bond Bryan Architects, early adopters of the principles of BIM and its application through their use of Graphisoft's ARCHICAD... |
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Sept-Oct - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: Hurricane Irma devastated whole countries in the Caribbean before finally expending its force on Florida |
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Building confidence in cybersecurity
Steve Cooper at Aconex outlines the case for greater awareness of cybersecurity in construction |
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July-August - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The CAD User seminar on COBie, held in May at the London Transport Museum in association with Vectorworks, has certainly given us plenty of food for thought... |
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Building up to The Hammers XII
Nominations have now opened to determine the finalists of this year's Construction Computing Awards, 'The Hammers' XII... |
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May-June- Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The CAD User seminar on COBie, held in May at the London Transport Museum in association with Vectorworks, has certainly given us plenty of food... |
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Shaping the future
Instead of leveraging the tools of the past, information modelling should be planning for the future and taking advantage of the latest trends in 3D... |
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: Whilst we continue to question the role that COBie will play in the construction industry as our lives continue to be dominated by an intensive... |
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Visualising the future
3D Repo bring their cloud expertise to a UK government-funded smart infrastructure project |
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Jan-Feb - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: As fascinating as it may seem to have the Americans complaining about the Russians interfering in the US presidential elections, it is all symptomatic... |
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COBie on trial
Are we delivering the right sort of COBie for the users of the data - the client? |
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2016 Issues |
Nov-Dec- Featuring |
Editor's Comment: Virtual Reality features in several articles this issue, reflecting the maturing of the industry... |
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Innovating in the Cloud
Bentley Systems and Topcon join forces to advance cloud services for 'constructioneering'... |
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Sept-Oct - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: Pandering to my basic 'nerdy' instincts, I couldn't resist including a case study in this issue on Bentley's AssetWise maintenance prioritisation... |
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Opting into Building Ops
With Building Ops, Autodesk leverages the widespread use of smartphones to provide a total facilities maintenance management experience for owners... |
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July-August - Featuring |
Editor's Comment:he uncertainty over Brexit is
already having predictable effects.
The sharp fall in the value of
Sterling increases the cost of imported... |
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Raising a Smile
The Smile Respite & Care Centre presented some uniquely rewarding challenges for Brymor Construction |
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May-June - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: I was going to do something entirely predictable and boring for this month's Comment, as it will be landing on your doorsteps right upon the BIM deadline... |
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A signal improvement
Hatch Mott MacDonald enhances collaboration and reduces risk during rail signal design using Bentley Promis.e 3D modelling capabilities... |
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: I was going to do something entirely predictable and boring for this month's Comment, as it will be landing on your doorsteps right upon the BIM deadline... |
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Bringing BIM to life with IFC
Sanjeev Shah, CEO at GroupBC, looks at alternative delivery solutions for BIM - advocating the benefits of full IFC delivery against the limitations of COBie... |
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Jan-Feb - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: There is an emphasis in this issue on improving project efficiency, which is covered in a number of different ways across several articles - two... |
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Essentially Affordable Living
CONJECT’s information management package, conjectPC, proves a 'game changer' for Essential Living, a supplier of affordable property rentals in London and the South East... |
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2015 Issues |
Nov-Dec- Featuring |
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The BIM factor
BIM was used extensively during the design of the new Waste Water Treatment Plant in Liverpool by Galliford Try Costain and Atkins... |
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Sept-Oct - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The utilisation of BIM grows apace - By David Chadwick, Editor, CAD User... |
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Danish Beacon
AG5 uses AECOsim Building Designer for comprehensive Building Information Modeling, resulting in optimised workflows and higher productivity... |
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July-August - Featuring |
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ArtSystems tie up deal with the world leader in desktop 3D printing
Nottingham-based ArtSystems have been appointed as the UK and Ireland distributor for MakerBot, the global leader in desktop 3D printing... |
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May-June - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: 3D modelling tools have reached such a high degree of sophistication that any conceivable structure can be created, rendered and located... |
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A Vectorworks Goody Bag!
All the best parties end with a goody bag, and the Vectorworks Design Summit was no different, sending attendees home with a packet of good things... |
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March-April - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: The most significant figure in this issue is the difference between the cost of designing and building something, and the cost of running it... |
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Daylighting
Altuity Solutions releases its new cloud-based SUE product AltoSUE, which provides lifecycle location information for underground assets... |
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Jan-Feb - Featuring |
Editor's Comment: If you are a frequent traveller on the Underground and have to go through Bond Street you will have noted that the station is currently closed... |
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The benefits of building twice
For a project as complex as HS2, with its political, environmental and public issues being of paramount importance... |
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