Engineering company Royal Haskoning- DHV is the first South African firm to introduce the Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) methodology supported by Integration-room (I-room) technology in Africa. The VDC methodology provides time, design and construction cost savings for engineering clients, states Royal HaskoningDHV service line leader of architecture Danie Markgraaff.

The VDC methodology and the I-room solu- tion, launched in November 2012, have attracted great interest from various entities, such as the University of South Africa and the University of Pretoria.

“The main advantages of the VDC are that complex aspects of construction are virtually simulated in the design room and not on site. This allows more involvement from clients, the design duration time is reduced by up to 20%, services are better integrated, construct-ability is improved and the construction period is reduced,” Markgraaff highlights.

The I-room has about twenty-five seats with three large smart board screens to integrate the VDC process for all project stakeholders present in the room. The solution has been advocated and internationally proven by companies in Europe as well as Stanford University and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in the US,” says Royal HaskoningDHV Building business unit director SF Van der Linde.

Placing all project stakeholders in one room encourages them to give their immediate attention to a project, answer questions and resolve issues, thereby decreasing the latency and vari- ability in buffers – such as labour, resources and time – between the various design activities and disciplines, Markgraaff states. Hence, latency can be reduced to minutes as opposed to weeks and even months.

“With modern technology, people prefer emails to direct communication. In the I-room, however, people are in a face-to-face environment. It results in immediate decision-making and stimulates innovative solutions to design problems.

In the engineering industry, a great deal of money is lost when construction designs need reworking owing to inadequate communication between project stakeholders, such as clients, architects and the engineering team,” Markgraaff notes.

The VDC methodology models both the design and construction elements of a project on computers, allowing engineers to calculate all the variables of a project by creating three- dimensional (3D) building information models (BIMs) of buildings and alterations. It also provides temporary design and construction aspects related to the construction site, such as traffic flow, building materials laydown and areas – all of which need to be coordinated into a project.

“This results in significant time and cost savings,” says Royal HaskoningDHV architect and principal associate of buildings Mauritz Kruger. Problem areas and hot spots in the construction design can be virtually identified long before project implementation and every- one can work together to find a satisfactory solution, he adds.

The VDC process comprises interactive smart boards integrated with powerful computers and software for the design, drawing and modelling of buildings, building elements and building services.

The VDC process is led in the I-room by a trained VDC facilitator, who is responsible for planning each integrated and concurrent engineering (ICE) session. A comprehensive briefing is facilitated prior to the ICE session to ensure all project stakeholders have common goals. During the ICE session, the deliver- ables are summarised, defined and updated to improve team efficiency in decision-making and design solutions, and the next ICE session is scheduled through proper process planning.

VDC uses the latest available computer technology and changes the sequentially arranged design process into integrated and parallel design sessions with well-defined milestones.

VDC is based on BIMs providing 3D visualisation, 4D (program integration with the 3D model), 5D (bills of quantities extracted from the 3D model) and 6D (facilities management information extracted from the same 3D model). The various dimensions integrate time (project management), cost management and facility management in a single data entry approach.

In essence, once the 3D BIM is used as an intelligent, integrated database it can be virtu- ally linked to a construction programme for monitoring and controlling purposes. A bill of quantities can also be extracted from the 3D BIM for tender and construction purposes.