Strong 'Year in Infrastructure' for BIM, China

'L' for LONDON: Greg Bentley delivered the keynote earlier this month in London, prior to the U.S. elections. — **'L' for LONDON:** Greg Bentley delivered the keynote earlier this month in London, prior to the U.S. elections.

by JOHN GREGERSON | November 14, 2016

Global software provider Bentley Systems may call Pennsylvania home, but the firm no doubt was thrilled this month to escape the swing-state U.S. election madness to host its annual Year in Infrastructure Conference in London. Indeed, distraction sometimes can aid disruption.

This year, much of Bentley's focus was on China, where a raft of technology-aided projects dominated the global gathering's black-tie Be Inspired Awards. Of course, those prizes are bestowed only to Bentley users, but chosen by independent juries on the basis of advancing “uniquely innovative and visionary achievements” worldwide. Of 54 project finalists culled from 300 submissions and 80 countries, nine derived from China, an unprecedented feat for the nation, according to Bentley.

“There’s something going on in China that’s different,” said Bentley Systems CEO Greg Bentley, speaking before several hundred conference attendees. In particular, China's construction industry is rapidly pairing BIM advancements and prefabrication to reap the benefits of “industrialized” processes, attendees agreed.

In 2015, China's Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development developed “guidance for adopting BIM.” Among other provisions, the initiative is targeting 90 percent BIM usage for medium to large projects financed by China. In the meantime, a 2016 initiative calls for the incorporation of prefabrication in 90 percent of buildings constructed over the next decade.

China also has undertaken “BIM-based Application for Prefabricated Buildings,” with Xu Jiefeng, vice-president of the China Academy of Building Research, overseeing the project. XU told conference attendees he anticipates the program ultimately will yield a 20 percent increase in the efficiency of prefabricated projects. (See below for a complete list.)

WHEELING AND DEALING

Bentley also made news of its own at the conference, previewing its OpenRoads Designer CONNECT Edition, a comprehensive, multidiscipline 3-D modeling application to advance the delivery of roadway projects from conceptual design through construction. It will be available Dec. 1. The successor of Bentley's InRoads, GEOPAK, MX and PowerCivil, CONNECT blends traditional engineering workflows with 3-D parametric modeling to allow creation of all deliverables, including survey, geotechnical, drainage, subsurface utilities, road, roadway furniture and more, according to Bentley. Reality meshes, imagery, point cloud and other geo-coordinated data sources can provide a continuous context of real-world conditions throughout design and construction, Bentley added.

During the conference, Bentley and Topcon Positioning Group, which provides technology systems for surveying, also announced plans to connect their cloud services for “constructioneering.” As planned, cloud services will bring construction site conditions to engineers to provide an accurate model of the current 3-D context — as captured by TopCon UAS photogrammetry and laser scanners — that is processed into engineering-ready 3-D reality meshes by Bentley's Context Capture software. Cloud services then convey engineering work directly to construction processes in the field.

“Topcon and Bentley share a vision about the advancements we can achieve through what I call the continuous representation of reality,” Topcon president and CEO Ray O'Connor told attendees. “We also share a commitment to rolling up our sleeves and working together to make possible tangible results and real benefits to our customers as we advance constructioneering.”

2016 'Be Inspired' Award winners

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ADVANCING ASSET PERFORMANCE MODELING

Maryland State Highway Administration – Motor Carrier Division – Multi-jurisdiction

Oversize/Overweight Permitting and Routing Implementation – (Baltimore, MD, USA)

ADVANCEMENT IN 'CONCEPTIONEERING'

HNTB Corp. – Connecticut Mix Master - I84 and SR8 Interchange – (Waterbury, CT, USA)

ADVANCING CONSTRUCTION COLLABORATION

CITIC Heye Investment Co., Ltd. – CITIC Tower (China Zun) – (Beijing, China)

ADVANCING COMPREHENSIVE BIM PLAYBOOKS

Guangzhou Metro Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd. – ChishaJiao Station and Shiliugang - ChishaJiao Section of Guangzhou Metro Line 11 – (Guangzhou, Guangdong, China)

ADVANCING CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

GHD Inc. – Ordot Dump Closure – (Ordot, Guam, USA)

COMPREHENSIVE SUCCESS PLAN

Black & Veatch – Business Transformation – (Overland Park, KS, USA)

INFRASTRUCTURE HERO AWARD

Aerometrex Pty., Ltd. – Reality Modeling for the Papal Visit to Philadelphia – (PA, USA)

INNOVATION IN ASSET PERFORMANCE

Danfoss – Facility Optimization and Energy Management – (Nordborg, Denmark)

If completed, the Chacao Channel bridge connecting the island of Chiloe and mainland Chile will be the longest suspension bridge — 2,750 meters —  in South America. (Courtesy of Arup) — *If completed, the Chacao Channel bridge connecting the island of Chiloe and mainland Chile will be the longest suspension bridge — 2,750 meters — in South America. (Courtesy of Arup)*

INNOVATION IN BRIDGES

Ministerio Obras Públicas de Chile – Chacao Channel Bridge – (Island of Chiloe, Llanquihue, Chile)

INNOVATION IN BUILDING

Morphosis – Hanking Center Tower – (Shenzhen, Guangdong, China)

INNOVATION IN CONSTRUCTION

Insight-WFP – Houston Refinery – (Houston, Texas, United States)

INNOVATION IN GOVERNMENT

Los Angeles Community College District – BuildLACCD – (Los Angeles, California, USA)

INNOVATION IN LAND DEVELOPMENT

Beijing Shougang International Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. – Xishi Winter Olympics Square Project of Shougang Industrial Area Transformation – (Shijingshan, Beijing, China)

INNOVATION IN MANUFACTURING

Unipar Carbocloro – Polishing System for Mercury Abatement Tower – (Cubatão, São Paulo, Brazil)

INNOVATION IN MINING

Tetra Tech Proteus – Tanami Expansion Project – (Tanami Desert, Northern Territory, Australia)

INNOVATION IN OFFSHORE

Oil & Natural Gas Corporation, Ltd. – Re-qualification/Life Extension Study of Fixed Offshore Platform Structures – (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India)

INNOVATION IN POWER GENERATION

PowerChina Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited – Jinsha River Longkaikou Hydropower Station Project – (Dali Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China)

INNOVATION IN PROJECT DELIVERY

Mott MacDonald Bentley – Mott MacDonald Bentley Project – (United Kingdom)

INNOVATION IN RAIL AND TRANSIT

Banedanmark – The New Line, Copenhagen-Ringsted – (Copenhagen, Capital Region, Denmark)