Laser scan survey at Genius Childcare
I was asked by Wayne Cadwallader at SSS Manufacturing in Yatala to provide him with a scan survey for use in Tekla Structures of the roof of a new tenancy at Westfield Chermside.. Workshop drawings were required for some new Sunshade steelwork and these would be provided by a 3rd party draftsman who would be using our laser scan data.
This was to be a bit of an experiment as SSS Manufacturing and Mulherin Rigging wanted to test BIMTeks workflow to see if it what we offer actually works.
What does BIMTek offer to construction clients?
"An end to end service starting with a scan survey to establish the as built conditions before the design or workshop drawing phase. We then overlay proposed design on our accurate survey to spot any obvious problems. The design or workshop drawings are then produced either by BIMTek or your own drafting team. Then after clash checking your proposed structure within the laser scan environment we revisit site and layout every hole you have to drill and every weld on bracket you have to install, all new penetrations and any other general setting out that is required. Using this system problems can be spotted before you start drawings, fabricate and later, before your install team gets to site. This saves you money."
The site situation was going to be very fast moving and sure enough after the initial laser scan a redesign was decided upon by the client to suit some further requirements that had come up.
Initial site scan.
The design changes took a couple of months so we had to return to site to re-survey as new walls were built and play areas were starting to be installed. This proved to be a very good move as the new structures that had been installed had an impact on the steelwork which required some quite major changes to the steel model. The new scan was turned into a Tekla friendly format and delivered to the draftys. The revised steel model was then merged with the second scan for a clash check.
Second visit scan
Second visit scan with model
Second visit scan with model
Second visit scan with model
Further alterations had to be made as we had columns clashing with a couple of the dwarf walls. All of this was done prior to fabrication.
Then BIMTek returned to site to lay out all of the Chemical anchor bolts for the columns and 2 penetrations in the wall. This was to prove challenging as the build had carried on regardless. We now had sand pits and mulch areas where there were none before and of course most of our columns were in these areas so I had to get a shovel and start digging holes whilst Paul started laying out the column drillings.
The layout was not without its challenges. Whilst we were marking out the landscape guys were moving big bags of sand. Whilst our backs were turned the total station was either knocked or had moved due to the weight of sand being dumped close by. This caused a rotational error in our layout. Luckily, due to the frequent checks we do, Paul spotted the problem and we corrected the error and carried on. The Total station is very sensitive and a knock is enough to cause you a headache if you are not careful.
Below are some pictures of the installed structure.
Now that the installation is complete I took the opportunity to chat to Wayne Cadwallader of SSS Manufacturing. I asked him for his thoughts on the BIMTek process and he states that
"Using Laser scan data from site to communicate with 3rd party draftsmen is invaluable. The scan communicates complex site details visually and makes it easy for the draftsman, no matter where they are located, to understand the design problems and requirements and react to them rather than write lots of RFI's."
I also got to ask Terry Nolan of Mulherin Rigging his opinion on the layout that we did and he said.
"Using your layout services on difficult cluttered areas makes life very easy for us"
So all in all this was a very successful project. Using BIMTek for the survey, analysis of documentation and layout of a project will save you time and money, reduce errors to virtually zero and give you the additional time on a project to perform other important tasks.