Arcadis, a leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm, said it took only 18 months to implement a connected data environment (CDE) in support of its 100 per cent building, information, modeling (BIM) strategy.

Infrastructure organizations are embracing going digital strategies, but slowly changing decades of established working practices is not easy. The path to success can seem difficult and the timeline to achieve benefits uncertain, said the statement from Arcadis.

However, with a focused strategy and well-managed execution, substantial digital advancements can be achieved in a short timeframe, it added.

Following large-scale acquisitions and mergers in 2016, Arcadis created a strategic, global digital plan to better connect its worldwide network of offices and transform Arcadis into a knowledge-based business.

It formed a digital team and gave it the charter to change the organization across its offices around the globe by implementing a CDE to streamline their BIM processes and gain a competitive advantage, said the statement.

Arcadis reviewed several software offerings before choosing Bentley, deciding to implement their CDE using on ProjectWise.

ProjectWise was selected because of its capacity to manage the large amount of data the implementation required, and its ability to integrate with Bentley and other design applications deployed across Arcadis’ infrastructure business line, it added.

Arcadis CEO Europe/UK/ME Alan Brookes, implementing a 100% BIM methodology, allows the company to collect the knowledge it has in its business in a properly ordered manner.

The CDE has enabled Arcadis to achieve many of the key performance indicators established for its BIM initiative, including:
•Increasing efficiency due to open-information exchange with clients and stakeholders
•Improving design quality and effectively using analysis software
•Reducing risk of inaccuracies on the project through improved coordination
•Reducing costs through a more accurate design
•Reducing production time with dynamic updates, based on relationships and constraints and reflected throughout their BIM processes

Additional benefits include the acceleration of project starts and greater connectivity of distributed teams, said the statement from Arcadis.

For example, when Arcadis used ProjectWise on the I-595/I-95 highway design-build project for the Florida Department of Transportation, the workflow was fully functional in less than two weeks, it stated.

The project team comprised users from multiple Arcadis offices, sub-consultants, and global excellence center staff working together through a CDE. Using previous methods, a project of this kind would have taken months to implement.

The success of Arcadis’ going digital strategy is demonstrated by the amount of projects it has added to the organization’s CDE, which in the US alone has grown from eight new projects to 38 during the 18 months since the initiative began, it added.

“Using ProjectWise to store, maintain, control, and share the developing models enabled all design elements to have direct access to the data without the need to search multiple systems or share information by other means,” said Mark Lawton-Taylor, Arcadis’ UK BIM manager.

“ProjectWise also ensured that all the deliverables were created and developed in a consistent manner, decreasing the need for rework or file alignment because of the use of uncontrolled templates. The challenge with using multiple suppliers, both externally and internally, to produce a deliverable is always going to be the consistency of those deliverables. ProjectWise has guaranteed that all deliverables meet a uniform presentation increasing our quality of product and reducing our risks,” he added.

Bentley Systems is the leading global provider of software solutions to engineers, architects, geospatial professionals, constructors, and owner-operators for the design, construction, and operations of infrastructure.

Bentley’s MicroStation-based engineering and BIM applications, and its digital twin cloud services, advance the project delivery (ProjectWise) and the asset performance (AssetWise) of transportation and other public works, utilities, industrial and resources plants, and commercial and institutional facilities.-TradeArabia News Service