BLACK & VEATCH
Modelling catches issues long before they become problems Black & Veatch goes further than this and ensures clients can assess the smallest details , which can then attract interest from other departments such as marketing and brand management . “ Clients can discover how the finishes we ' ve chosen interact with their brand ,” says Nygren . “ How is the flow of the space from break rooms to offices ? Increased client interaction means they ’ re looking for that 3D fly-through .”
This approach to construction means even the smallest efficiencies can be identified or discovered in the digital twin environment . “ We model everything ,” says Nygren , “ so that we know if there ' s a picture that ' s going to clash with a duct from our model long before this is an issue in the field .”
Beyond the third dimension , Black & Veatch is also seeing trends extend into the fourth and fifth dimensions of those digital twin models . These take into account not only what the project or product will look like , but also how it looks over time as well as the costs involved in its operations and maintenance .
“ While you ' re evaluating a project , you can look to custom construction sequencing to see how this project is going to be built , and you can look for
opportunities there to either accelerate or – if you ' re considering phasing – how you would implement that throughout the project by using that 4D aspect ,” says Greg Zalewski , Preconstruction Manager at Black & Veatch
“ On top of that , we ' re starting to see a lot more focus on the fifth dimension , which is adding cost to that ,” he says . “ While the fourth dimension takes the model through time , the fifth dimension adds cost to that time factor . From an owner ' s perspective , you can actually get a very reliable picture of what your capital expenses are going to be throughout the course of that project and how you need to finance and fund it .”
50 February 2023