Technical innovation in ACE

From the outside, building a facility can look like a straightforward process: plan it, design it, build it. But the actual process is not that simple, mainly due to a highly fragmented industry. This is reflected in the number of people involved from the outset of a project to final delivery. From owner to designer, to builder and user, efficient communication and collaboration can become a challenge. Integrated companies like Omicron that provide development, design, engineering and construction services, have a good chance of overcoming this challenge, but still need to involve contractors, owners and other stakeholders. So what is the best way to go about it?

Technology is the answer. The wealth of tools available for every step of the building process makes it hard to focus on one and make it an industry standard. “The design and construction industries are resistant to change — there was very little progress in the past 30-40 years,” says Cameron Kemp, one of Omicron’s founding principals.

To research and test emerging trends and software, Kemp assembled an Omicron task force to discover what works best for our business model and create the most efficiencies. “While we are early adopters in technology, that doesn’t mean we adopt everything. We want to see significant improvements in productivity and collaboration before we decide to adopt a tool,” Kemp says. “But if you’re not using BIM (building information modelling) nowadays, you’re in trouble.”

BIM, an intelligent 3D model-based process, has proven benefits across the spectrum of building design and construction, and is used across the board at Omicron, but it’s still far from being an industry standard. The use of BIM can be traced back to the 1980s, but there are still late adopters who prefer to rely on 2D drawings.

While traditional BIM software lies at the core of designing a facility, there are other technologies that create efficiencies. These either tie into the building model or work independently to benefit the team, the project and the client.

Complementary to BIM, Omicron recently implemented Revizto, a tool that makes collaboration possible among our team of architects, engineers and builders. Using Revitzo, once a BIM model has been built, anybody can explore both the 3D space or 2D plans of the project without the knowledge of BIM authoring software.

“Putting the model into the hands of the architects and engineers allows them to catch constructability issues before they become field issues. At all stages of a project, they can help the client better understand what they have asked us to do, and how those decisions translate into a real building,” says Karina Delcourt, design manager at Omicron, who uses Revizto extensively on her projects.

Alice is another software we have pursued to achieve efficiencies in their project delivery. Alice uses artificial intelligence to streamline planning and scheduling. Alice creates multiple scheduling scenarios to ensure the most cost and time effective options. Its capabilities are unparalleled, and its power lies in its ability to analyze all possibilities in a compressed timeframe. Once a schedule is chosen, Alice automatically adjusts changes in progress, re-optimizing and mitigating delays. This saves time at every phase, from selecting the most optimized schedule for the project, to eliminating errors and mitigate delays.

There has been a lot of hype around virtual reality (VR) lately, and it is not just a trend. VR has proven to be a powerful visualization tool for designers, builders, clients and end-users. We have adopted VR into our workflow to build immersive experiences directly from BIM using Revizto.

“By utilizing VR, we have unlocked a better, more intuitive understanding of the model to lead to a better way to design, co-ordinate and deliver quality projects,” says Coby Woods, senior technologist, who leads Omicron’s VR efforts. The 3D model can reveal much more about the design intent than a 2D drawing. The site superintendent can use VR to check aspects that are not clear in the drawings. VR can even be introduced for training purposes, so the trades become familiar with the project before they set foot on site.

These are some of the many tools available to the design and construction industry. Depending on goals and resources, each company can customize its own toolkit that best fits their projects and work style. There are challenges such as the learning curve and investment in new software, but the benefits of time savings, budget reduction, productivity, rework cutback and client overall satisfaction outweigh them.

Established in 1998, Omicron is one of the largest integrated development services, design and construction firms in Western Canada, providing solutions to clients in the industrial, institutional, building renewal, commercial, retail, and residential sectors. Visit www.omicronaec.com for more information.

60 Vancouver Island Construction Association 2019