Product category:
Building and Site Management
News Release from: Autodesk | Subject: Architectural Desktop Software
Edited by the Buildingtalk Editorial
Team on 10 June 2003
BAA Use Autodesk For London's New
Airport Terminal
The use of Autodesk Architectural Desktop Software has improved the design efficiency on one of the largest current construction projects in the United Kingdom.
BAA standardises on Autodesk Building Design Application for the major new passenger terminal at London's Heathrow Airport Autodesk, the world's leading design software and digital content company, has announced that BAA, owner/operator of seven airports in the United Kingdom, is using Autodesk Architectural Desktop software for the design of Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5, one of the largest construction projects in the country
This article was originally published on Buildingtalk on 25 Jun 2008 at 8.00am (UK)
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BAA decided to implement Architectural Desktop for this complex project in order to enhance the speed and efficiency of the design process.
Excitech Computers Ltd., an Autodesk channel partner, worked closely with BAA to ensure effective deployment of the software, which represents the largest single-site implementation of Architectural Desktop in the United Kingdom to date.
The magnitude of the project, whose first phase alone consists of 16 large-scale interconnecting projects and 134 sub-projects, required a carefully planned strategy for how digital tools would enhance design process.
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BAA sought a solution that would facilitate 3D design visualisation while enabling multidisciplinary teams to share information concurrently.
Architectural Desktop met these requirements while also aligning with BAA's broader "Acquisition and Maintenance of Assets" strategy.
"Implementing Architectural Desktop allows us to create our own assets in the form of 3D models of the buildings and then take the underlying information behind those models and modify it over time as the project develops," said Andy Manington, BAA's Terminal 5 production support manager.
"This ability to maintain and develop electronic assets has allowed us to move seamlessly from the design to the manufacture phase of the project, without needing to recreate or duplicate information.
Sharing information in this way has enabled us to enhance the speed and efficiency of the design process and reduce errors." Architectural Desktop has also allowed BAA to migrate users gradually into an object-oriented modelling environment and carry out appropriate training as and when required - an arrangement which minimises disruption to the project.
Additionally, it has provided BAA with ease of interoperability with a broad range of other third-party software including CSC 3DPlus for structured steel work, CADS RC for reinforced concrete work and CADDuct for building systems design.
"It is also a major benefit that Autodesk design software is the most widely used in the world," continued Manington.
"As a result, even on a construction project of this scale, involving 50 to 60 specialist suppliers, you are working in an environment with which everybody is familiar and compatibility issues are rare." Excitech, Autodesk's largest construction-focused UK channel partner, has played a key role on the Terminal 5 project, analysing and mapping out the 2D and 3D design processes and helping to choose and implement the technologies that enable data to be enriched throughout the project lifecycle, ready for its downstream re-use at the end of the project for the maintenance of BAA's airport facilities.
"BAA is one of the largest and most forward-thinking facility developers in the world," said Phil Bernstein, FAIA, vice president of Autodesk's Building Solutions Division.
"Its partnership with Autodesk in implementing solutions supporting collaboration and the use of digital design data on this significant project is one of many important steps we've seen advancing the effective use of technology in the building industry overall. Request a free brochure from Autodesk ...
Visionary companies like BAA are leading the industry today.".
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