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Skanska

PROJECT: 30 St Marry Axe, the 40-story Swiss Re Building in the heart of London's financial district.

PROBLEM: The team needed to find a better way to view the full model dynamically to coordinate complex designs and eliminate clashes.

SOLUTION: Skanska used JetStream's navigation and interference detection to plan and manage installation sequences and to identify areas of the design requiring attention.

RESULTS: Using JetStream the design team knew prefabricated modules would not interfere with the existing site structure and aligned with services already installed, first time, with the minimum of site rectification.

JetStream Used On The Swiss Re Tower

Construction is a risk business. Our success comes from minimising this risk by using our expertise and the right tools. In building services, coordination is the name of the game. It is vital that the process is trouble free, correct routes are established and that services/structure clashes are eliminated.

Mike Cross, Design Manager, Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil.

Part of Skanska Construction, Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil [SRW] is a multi-service engineering contracting company that has been providing building services to the UK construction industry for over 100 years. Employing over 900 permanent staff and operatives, the company is a consistent top five performer in its market sector. Recent high-profile UK projects include the Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich; the development of Wimbledon for the All English Tennis & Croquet Club; Portcullis House, the new Parliamentary building on Victoria Embankment; a number of Slough Estates contracts. Without doubt, one of the highest-profile examples of the company's competence can be seen in the renowned Swiss Re building, now on the way to completion at 30 St. Mary Axe in the City of London.

Leading the field

On time, under budget, no panics. That's not a challenge for us...it's our aim.

Mike Cross, Design Manager, SRW.

Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil is a leader in the use of off-site prefabrication to drive out time and cost from the process of building services design and installation. That this approach works is beyond doubt. Bedford Fabrications, the manufacturing division of Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil, reports that it took just minutes to crane its first 4.5 tonne pre-fabricated module into position at the Swiss Re construction site, whereas a traditional site installation would have taken nearly 500 man hours. It is Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil's use of JetStream and 3D CAD that has made this approach viable. In this way, the design team can be sure that the prefabricated modules will not interfere with the existing site structure and will align with services already installed, first time, with the minimum of site rectification. Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil is a part of Skanska, one of the world's leading construction-related services and project development groups.

A better way

Mike Cross's team has been using AutoCAD and BS Link for a number of years and has had to visualize and review increasingly complex work in 3D. The team needed to find a better way to view the full model dynamically so that it could more easily coordinate complex designs and eliminate clashes. That is where JetStream came in. The Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil board was impressed on seeing a current project presented using JetStream. Consequently, Mike's team of 19 was equipped with a JetStream solution comprising two Clash Detectives, two Presenters and six Roamers. According to Mike, implementation was straightforward. He records; "The team needed very little training after the demonstration and familiarisation session. The toolbars were self-evident, very similar to AutoCAD." The transition was easy. Given the tight timescales in Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil's business, once a project was under way, realistically it could not be stopped to adopt the new technology. That is why JetStream was used initially on projects with a relatively small 3D element. It was also demonstrated to the Project Directors. Once its capabilities had been recognised, some of the Directors insisted on its use on all their projects, including Slough Estates developments in Farnborough and Slough, UK. The rest, as they say, is history.

Could not have done it without...

JetStream has benefited the project immensely. Getting prefabricated piping up to 450 mm in diameter to feed through the complex steel structure in the tight confines of the basement right first time? It would have been very difficult without NavisWorks.

Ian Baker, Deputy Design Manager SRW.

The Swiss Re office tower at 30 St. Mary Axe on the City site of the former Baltic Exchange is being managed and constructed by Skanska for The Swiss Reinsurance Company. The building's glazing wraps around a diagonally braced structure rising to 180 metres above the ground. It provides approximately 42,000 square metres of accommodation over 40 floors. By rotating each successive floor, voids at the edge of each floor plate form a series of spiral atria. These take advantage of the building's aerodynamic form where large pressure differentials provide an efficient means of driving natural ventilation. Part of the Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil contract is to provide the basement plant room services in one of the most challenging of situations. Because of the complex multi-curved nature of the construction, including round section curved structural steelwork, the team first had to create a 3D model from the 2D data supplied by the architects and 3D data supplied by the structural steelwork company, Victor Buyck - Hollandia Joint Venture Ltd. Once this was created, JetStream could be used to reveal potential clashes and to illustrate how the services would be installed.

...JetStream

Which JetStream capabilities are particularly applicable to Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil?

Firstly, the team uses JetStream in the design and development process right up to review stage. The products ability to navigate through large models, interactively and in real time, means good coordination, which really does mean that when things go to site, they fit right, first time. JetStream interactive sectioning capability is used by Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil for installation planning. When combined with the ability to change colors and transparencies in real time, installation sequences can be readily determined. Useful also is the product's redline capability. On the Swiss Re project, the site engineer uses JetStream to identify and annotate areas of the design requiring attention. The products ability to use hyperlinks has already been demonstrated internally in a Facilities Management context and will be key in developing the further use of JetStream. Finally, communication of concepts, sequences and details is a large part of Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil's work and JetStream animations admirably fulfil this function. According to Mike Cross, "Some of the team use the traditional method of coordination, using their experience to visualise it mentally then check it in NavisWorks, whilst others use it to check as they go through the process. Whichever way, we are gradually coming to rely on it."

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