Construction Implementation with ITC Group

ITC Group, one of the largest Indian corporate groups, recently came up with the idea of establishing a mixed-use project with IT and corporate offices, hotel, convention center, as well as residential towers in Rajarhat, an upcoming suburb of Kolkata. This upcoming ITC Campus was envisioned as a physical manifestation of the city’s rich artisanal culture and ethos.

Due to the reliance on 2D design and pre-construction drawings on Autodesk AutoCAD alone, the ITC Group was facing myriad challenges in realizing the project. 

One, it was taking too long to design on 2D, especially when it came to incorporating changes at various stages resulting in almost completely reinventing the design wheel. Two, there was evident lack of visualization of the final design output as it would stand after construction. Three, several details were being missed out in pre-construction drawings that needed to be taken care of during the construction phase, leading to incredible loss in time, costs, and productivity, multiple complications, and miscommunications between consultants. 

To solve these challenges, 5D VDC Services LLP used BIM tools enabled by the Autodesk Architecture, Engineering & Construction collection of Autodesk to facilitate project delivery for the ITC Group right from early-stage design through to construction implementation. Initially, 5D VDC was appointed specifically for landscape development modeling for the project. Soon after, the immense potential of their advanced modeling services using BIM was realized, and they were roped in for handling pre-construction design and planning of the entire project.

With more than three decades of experience, the digital-first construction consultancy aims at delivering the promise of Virtual Design and Construction across all stages of construction life cycle. The 5D VDC Services LLP team has emerged as industry disruptors, innovators, thought leaders, and technology evangelists, harnessing the full potential of BIM across the construction spectrum.

The priority business outcomes and business improvement desired by the client were integrated with 5D VDC’s objectives and SMART project management principles to establish the following goals and one of it is completing project within stipulated time. Next would be completing project within stipulated budget and having effective visualization of project outputs from initial stages for streamlining efforts. In addition to that, having optimal utilization of resources throughout construction lifecycle. Next would be maintaining and controlling quality of project.  Avoiding, detecting, and resolving risks throughout construction lifecycle and finally ensuring sustainable construction development. 

To achieve the above goals, the following time-bound, measurable objectives were outlined in tandem with inputs from various stakeholders: 

• Eliminating guesswork and incompetence in planning scope to arrive at a reasonable time schedule.

• Shifting entire pre-construction process from 2D Autodesk AutoCAD to advanced 3D modeling and BIM within months for faster, more accurate drawings and easier change incorporation. 

• Leveraging expert consultant inputs for arriving at architectural, structural, MEPF, etc. details beforehand, and consolidating on a single platform using BIM

• Putting clash detection and clash avoidance measures in place to prevent conflicts that might lead to additional time & cost consumption 

• Detailed visualization of expected project outcomes, aligned with integrated analysis and near real-time simulation.

• Empowering design workflow management and decision-making processes

• Using effective project management tools to track changes, updates, and implementation of expenditures in real-time, along with key performance indicators like: 

• Percentage of project tasks completed on time 

• Percentage of project tasks and/or crossed deadlines

• Planned value and actual cost

• Return on Investment (ROI), and so on. 

Autodesk Architecture Engineering & Construction (AEC) Collection was deployed by 5D VDC for implementing BIM solutions to deliver and accomplish the stated goals, along with Autodesk’s BIM360 Docs for a centralized reservoir of construction data.  

The Autodesk Architecture Engineering & Construction Collection by Autodesk offers a comprehensive set of BIM and CAD tools supported by the cloud-based common data environment Autodesk BIM360 Docs for designers, engineers, and contractors, facilitating project delivery from early-stage design through to construction. 

The key service benefits of these Autodesk products and solutions that were favorably leveraged for the stated project goals include:

• Creating high-performing building and infrastructure designs with conceptual and detailed design tools.

• Optimizing projects with integrated analysis, generative design and visualization and simulation tools

• Improving predictability in the field using tools for maximum constructability and project coordination. 

• Quality improvement with integrated workflows for document management, conceptual design, modeling, coordination and documentation

• Automating tasks to reduce design time and improve handoff with streamlined data exchange 

• Centralization of all project information for easy, quick yet controlled transfer of information for reducing rework and errors. 

Considering the ITC Group’s priority business requirements and critical workflow improvements desired, 5D VDC’s deployment of the Autodesk Architecture Engineering & Construction Collection led to the following tangible outcomes: 

• Generative design, visualization and simulation tools were used to develop an accurate view of the actual design as it would look post-construction, resulting in:

  • Detailed view of all design, structure, and MEPF elements for clash detection

  • Improved coordination and understanding of inputs from various consultants by visualizing them on the same output 3D model

  • Reduction in number of drawings to be referred to by around 1/4th of what was earlier required. 

  • Identifying errors in design and drawing, e.g., in one instance where ceiling design was rectified to place AC ducts and lighting correctly

  • Considerable saving of costs and time

• Improved project coordination and better design workflow management using BIM, resulting in:

  • Effective communication across teams, who could easily align towards a common goal with a more targeted approach 

  • Capturing details and mistakes that were earlier going amiss, otherwise identified/corrected/changed in construction stages alone

  • Weekly project progress reports for greater accountability of resources and people, instead of holding multiple meetings to figure the same

  • Improved decision-making processes with richer information at hand

• Centralized digital pool of data and information, resulting in:

  • Single-point source of information on all design processes on the cloud, allowing for safe, secure, and transparent construction management

  • Faster, easier, yet controlled transfer and visualization of data 

  • Reduction in rework and errors

  • Substantial increase in organization of data and visibility of every part of the process compared to earlier scenarios, where different teams were assigned and restricted to different project stages, handling data in physical format

Leveraging the numerous advantages of advanced 3D modeling and end-to-end BIM services, 5D VDC was able to solve the inherent challenges faced by the ITC Group repeatedly in their construction projects and deliver a much-improved design workflow management framework at lesser time and costs. 

A transparent process of clearly outlined project goals and standards, an experienced and tech-savvy 5D VDC team, and the use of cutting-edge tech solutions like Autodesk Architecture Engineering & Construction Collection and Autodesk BIM360 Docs made the engagement unique and impactful for the client.

“It looked extremely complicated and overwhelming to begin with,” notes Raghu H Annaiah, Senior Design Manager (Structures), ITC Central Projects Organization, about the haphazard and complicated construction management scenario earlier. “With 5D VDC’s expertise on the training and use of 3D modeling via BIM, our learning curve has been steep, and we are hopeful that this will result in clash-free models without the need for multiple reiterations across different consultants. This project has been like a proof of concept for other ITC projects and tracking of certain goals from this project will set the benchmarks for others,” he added.  

Krishnan Saharan, Senior Project Manager at ITC Central Projects Organization also shared his experience and learnings from this engagement with 5D VDC, “We could track exactly what was stuck where and resolve issues with the person concerned instead of holding multiple meetings to figure the same. The centralized system also helped track and quantify even minor errors in drawings when they moved from one workflow to the other, and thus helped determine the quality of deliverables from engineering consultants.”