Successful Digital Delivery at Mott MacDonald

BIM Co-Ordinator’s Summit 2022

What does good look like? Our vast experience obtained to-date has been provided by a focused team of rapidly evolving individuals and collaborating with our Project teams, Partners and Third Parties.

We constantly evaluate our position to work more intelligently, shaping future outcomes to continuously strengthen our delivery capability. The condensed summary below provides insight acquired from lessons learnt, developing/emerging applications and best practice undertaken.

One extremely valuable investment not to be overshadowed requires the upskilling of resource, in return promoting a smoother engagement from the get-go. From experience this factor has been extremely challenging as we adapt to new ways of working. One recommendation I strongly encourage is to consider a mandatory training clause into all contracts to meet this objective.

We recognise there is varied learning curves, push back and even objection to progression. We request supporting teams to submit Technology Plans for review, the detail provides a clear understanding of approach/direction prior to implementation. We mentor our Discipline Leads to produce a tailored suite of education to support our colleagues, intervention and enforcement by our dedicated Digital Consultants provide positive interventions by focusing mindsets to get the job done.

By carefully planning we become proactive in recognising and mitigating possible blockers that may come our way. Form the use of automation, bespoke analytic dashboards are provided where this performance data provides clear metrics to inform.

An additional enabler to contribute is the model-based approach, the desired outcome drives efficiency, removal of bottlenecks, improved assurance, and needless back drafting to support the right first-time approach. We harvest the rich data contained within the models instead of the common approach of annotating drawings and present this information electronically in our dashboards to provide increased usefulness.

The Component Catalogue is a Project requirement, currently industry guidelines vary from one organisation to another, therefore by set out these graphical/nongraphical elements early we can remove the What If’s to provide clear and precise guidance to the team and end users.

Structured data adds value from this standardisation, we host the native component catalogue elements within Moata Intelligent Content Portal allowing access to our bespoke Digital Component Libraries. These libraries are serviced by a wealth of parametric and static common design elements, qualifying teams to become more efficient. Measurement of re-use, BIM Benefits and Compliance are presented across a Project as indicated below in Figure 1, A Game Changer.

The models are synchronized to a unique hazard identification code inside the CDM database instead of traditional registers which can be open to errors. This approach is more in-depth, user friendly, turning numerous lines of text into visual information to allow identification to areas of high risks and or oversite for review.

Supplementary optimization is further gained by Digital Setting Out, as shown in Figure 3. This function has dramatically contributed to the reduction of waste, supporting the model based approach. The experience and knowledge gained from end usage helps with the raw data requirements and define exchange formats for setting out on site using machine control.

Improved datasets and with advancement in technology promote even further automation, this function is applied to various tasks to boast all-round performance. At Mott MacDonald we have automated the Validation process, by providing an extremely powerful DataCheck of ‘live’ elements within a model to identify compliancy. This data provides a wealth of statistics to inform Authors, Checkers and Approvers the information required to seek an early resolution. Further automation has been applied with the inclusion of CDM symbols and SHE boxes, by linking the exported data from a database to intelligently link attribution to each individual asset. These tools facilitate the placement of predefined 3D cell(s) and or boxes to apply the required output accordingly, this reduces the need to edit the data manually prior to placement as shown in Figure 2.

The final point I would like to pinnacle is Progressive Assurance, this is formed by a series of workshops held with all Project Partners to review the Asset(s) much earlier. Regular sharing of Official data prefixed with suitability codes provide the maturity of information supplied. These assurance reviews present improved engagement, awareness of developments with each submission presented. Any outstanding Items or Outstanding Actions are then clearly documented to enhance closeout providing time saving, rework and any unnecessary surprises.