Photos Courtesy of Eric Reslock An OSHPD senior structural engineer demonstrates real-time virtual plan review. Photos Courtesy of Klas Berghede HerreroBOLDT conducts a coordination session. California's Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development is piloting real-time electronic plan review and submittal for two San Francisco hospital projects, which have a combined price tag of $2.7 billion and are scheduled for completion in 2018.Sutter Health, the owner, asked "us to pilot some tech they had, and it was new to us, so we jumped on it," says Eric Reslock, OSHPD's assistant director for legislative and public affairs. "The idea is to
Even as other process industries realize significant benefits when they move from primarily document-centric asset management systems to data-centric systems, the nuclear power industry has yet to make the change. At least one study suggests it is time to do so.Managing and maintaining all of the diverse pieces of information that relate to the physical configuration of a large industrial facility like a nuclear power plant is no simple task. Implementation of an advanced configuration management information system (CMIS) provides significant operational and economic benefits. An integrated CMIS encompasses data and information for all phases of the plant life cycle,
Enlarge Related Links: Collaboration Technology for Construction Sees Rapid Improvements Julian Clayton: Apps for Smaller Guys That Make a Big Difference Massive Gigaprograms Come with Layers of New Risk It wasn't that long ago when AEC firms relied on messengers and overnight delivery to exchange voluminous documents with clients and collaborators. The advent of high-bandwidth electronic data transfers and cloud storage has made the process largely a secure, point- and-click process, helping to expedite reviews and updates while saving money and more than a few trees.A number of file-sharing/storage services have emerged to serve firms of all sizes and needs.
Photo courtesy of Google Fiber Demand for gigabit internet across the U.S. and Canada is stirring up the need for thousands of construction jobs, such as this boring crew clearing a path for Google Fiber in Austin. Related Links: American-French Venture Starts Construction of First US-Brazil Undersea Cable Link Google Fiber contractors are laying thousands of miles of cable in Austin, Texas, to support the broadband company's second major gigabit build-out. Customers there will start to sign up for the ultra-fast internet service in early December. Meanwhile, AT&T is busy preparing contractors in Cupertino, Calif., for what will be the
Related Links: Collaboration Technology for Construction Sees Rapid Improvements Arid Lands Institute In drought-wracked California, efforts to conserve every bit of available water are prompting ambitious solutions. But while the state looks to major infrastructure projects to meet future demand, researchers at the Arid Lands Institute are working on a software mapping tool, Divining LA, to give urban planners, architects and engineers a better view of a region's water profile to maximize use.Combining information gleaned from digital terrain models, geotechnical data sets, multi-spectral satellite imagery and historical surveys, Divining LA may one day provide a model of a region's stormwater
Image Courtesy of UrbaWind Related Links: Energy Plus DataBase Free Envi-Met CFD Tool Acomputational-fluid-dynamics software update helps architects to avoid building designs that are too blustery for the comfort of pedestrians walking through urban areas."The main benefit of UrbaWind is the graphical display of results," says Shannon Testart, CAD technician for microclimate at Novus Environmental Inc., Ontario, Canada, who uses the software. "The graphics of wind comfort are an efficient way to display results and are easily understood by our clients."UrbaWind 2.2 by Meteodyn, Nantes, France, accounts for the angles of buildings, trees and other cityscape features to calculate pedestrian-level
Related Links: JBKnowledge 2014 Tech Survey Infographic Construction firms are squeezing out a little more cash on technology investments, but many still cling to the use of spreadsheets for project management, a new survey says.Technology consultancy JBKnowledge queried over 1,000 construction firms of all sizes about their technology investments for the 2014 survey, which it will release in full in early December. The respondents included engineers, estimators, C-level executives and project managers; 74% of all the respondents identified commercial construction as their main business, with every discipline, such as civil, federal and highway construction, also represented."We were really pleased to
Photo by Jeff Rubenstone/ENR SketchUp product manager John Bacus demonstrates the 3D tool's new features at Trimble Dimensions. Related Links: Trimble Acquires Gehry Technologies, Forms Alliance With Frank Gehry Trimble Steps Into Facilities Management With Manhattan Software Acquisition The latest version of the '3D modeling for everyone' application SketchUp was demonstrated at the Trimble Dimensions conference held in Las Vegas November 3 to 5. In addition to a few notable improvements under the hood, the latest version of the popular 3D design tool is compatible with Trimble Connect, Trimble's cloud-based platform which can share design files across a range of
Related Links: Independent Project Analysis Profile of Ed Merrow Author Ed Merrow, founder and president of Independent Project Analysis Inc., which studies complex megaproject performance, offered cautionary advice to constructors to test project fundamentals before committing to a project, as failures often are preordained by flaws in "the sequencing of information early on."MERROW"Failure almost never starts in the field," Merrow said, in a keynote presentation at a Bentley users conference in London in early November. Errors and omissions in the planning process will generate surprises in construction and lead to project-management challenges. But those problems are only compounded by earlier
Photo by Tom Sawyer for ENR Founder and CTO Keith Bentley spoke at the software company's user conference this week in London. Related Links: Long Courtship Ends as Bentley Buys Site Options Analyzer Bentley Water System Tools Gain Enhanced Access To Real-Time Data Bentley Systems has taken the wraps off a major upgrade for all of its many project lines, including a total remake of its MicroStation design platform and ProjectWise collaboration tools.The new capabilities, especially with data integration and extensibility, reach across all of its product lines but still function in a so-called hybrid environment that honors some customers'
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