This local development is a relocation project which will specialise in special education needs for school pupils from various age groups. The project was part of a scheme to rebuild or refurbish school buildings that were classed as being in a bad state across the country. Intelligent Steel was contracted by Interserve Construction to design, manufacture and install this particular scheme.
On plan this 2826m², single storey building was Load bearing panelised construction with Hotroll combined alongside a cantilevered roof. Mo Mowlam officially opened its doors to pupils March this year.
What were the challenges during this project?
Due to this project specialising in special needs education, it was paramount the structure was able to cater for all needs required, a lot of coordination was had between the contractor, architects and ourselves.
One of the main challenges on this project was when it came to the roof, this was a detail which we hadn’t implemented before, however, Tekla gave us the tools needed to model in different scenarios and give us a 3d view to see which would work best when it came to the ‘real life’ installation.
As the project was done in stages, the phasing tool within Tekla was used to its full potential, it allowed us to separate the building and issue what was required and when, this also contributed to helping reduce deliveries. This ensured efficient batching of deliveries in coordination with site access and construction sequence, allowing for quick, efficient and flexible installation
Also, by phasing elements it allowed us to issue material into manufacture to co-ordinate with deliveries which ensured all material was ‘racked and stacked ready to be issued to site.
Being able to utilise more resource within the same model through the implementation of model share was also a beneficial factor for this project as we were able to add more resource to process through to the factory quicker.
From the initial design inception, the client was given access to the Tekla model, which was used for the coordination of interfaces between the light gauge steel and other construction contractors such as M&E. The user friendly software, compatibility and various visualisation techniques allowed practical integration of other services as a timely cost-effective process. This also allowed the client and other disciplines to review and check the steel frame model against their models to ensure no clashes occurred. All parties found this way of working to be beneficial and help progress the design quicker than usual in certain aspects.
From having the support of a highly engineered product it allowed us as a company to show the steel industry we are a serious competitor by delivering and successfully completing a design which will impact the lives of children moving forward. 3D modelling and BIM was used to ensure quality transpired through each stage of the project, from initial design through to efficient, right-first-time installation.
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What benefits did utilizing BIM and Tekla software bring to the project?
Using Tekla from project inception to create the structure was highly beneficial when it came to delivering accurate models and meeting the client’s brief:
- By importing reference models, the margin for error was reduced. This allowed the design process to flow more easily and ensure the client’s expectations were met with fewer revisions to the design.
- Having the ability to create IFC models enabled quick and easy sharing with the necessary people. This was beneficial as it kept all parties up to date with the current model, enabling effective clash detection and collaboration on any queries or design developments.
- Due to the size of this project, it was important to have confidence that the tools used could cope and manage with the large volume of data – the use of Tekla was key to gaining this confidence. Furthermore, having an element of repetition between floor levels, Tekla enabled us to store and re-use commonly used components saving time throughout the design process.
The use of Tekla as bespoke 3D modelling software and BIM, married with the use of a bespoke CAD/CAM interface to our roll forming machines, allowed the fully detailed design to be exported straight from design to manufacture. The pre-engineered solution was designed, manufactured and assembled on-site with confidence, creating a highly impressive building that exceeded the project expectations of both the client and main contractor.
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The project in numbers
- 59 Tonne of SFS
- 16.15 Tonne of hot rolled
