Related Links: Specifications of UK's BIM Level 2 Mandate Bentley: BIM Also Means Information Mobility Contractors See Gains, Gaps With Growth of Mobility Tools Just a few years ago, "BIM" was just an acronym that meant little to most U.K. construction professionals.Now, building information modeling is the subject of increasingly crowded conferences up and down the country. What made the digital system such a hot topic is a U.K. government mandate saying that, by 2016, collaborative 3D BIM be deployed, with all project and asset information, documentation and data being electronic, on all centrally funded projects of any value.As a
Image Courtesy of Softkill Design/Sophia Tang ProtoHouse encloses the planes of walls and ceiling of a cantilevered home in a web of filaments algorithmically "grown" to carry the loads. Related Links: Advancing 3D Printing Capabilities Excite Construction Leaders Softkill Design The Softkill Algorithm Moving away from designing for 3D printing that emulates traditional uses of conventional materials, a London-based design group called Softkill Design is experimenting with structures using plant-based "bio-plastic" fibers that are laid down by a 3D printing process called laser "sintering," which fuses together particles by the pinpoint application of heat, rather than chemical bonding agents.Softkill's project
Related Links: ProtoHouse Project Follows Bone-Growth Logic to Design Structure Construction has always been a three-dimensional activity. While the representation of the intent of construction has been liberated "virtually" into 3D digital models and rotatable 3D representations, accurate physical representations of design intent have been achieved, until only recently, either through the artistry and skill of a scale model-builder or by building full-scale mock-ups of the ideas captured by the design documentation.But now 3D digital printing offers a third way to go from intent to reality. Like ink-jet printers, 3D printers deposit fine particles on a surface but then keep
Image Courtesy ICC For the first time in ICC history, anyone can submit a proposal to change the building code from anywhere with Internet access. A new web app from the International Code Council makes voting on changes to the building code available to anyone, for the first time.Since its inception, the International Code Council (ICC) held hearings twice a year where members submit, argue and finalize changes to the coming year’s building code. Only a fraction of the council’s 58,000 members are able to attend the meetings—some of which last 10 days—says Dominic Sims, CEO of ICC.“The app is
Courtesy UC3M ROBINSPECT is an automated version of TunConstruct [pictured]. The latter was a manually controlled robotic scanning method for mapping the interiors of tunnel walls. A newly funded intelligent robotic system for tunnel inspection is slated for testing on several large European jobs as early as next December—well before a working prototype is built. Funders’ confidence is based on a successful manual prototype developed by the same researchers.ROBINSPECT (Robotic System with Intelligent Vision and Control for Tunnel Structural Inspection and Evaluation), is a robot developed by a European consortium of schools, led by Madrid’s Universidad Carlos III (UC3M) and
At Facebook Inc.’s sprawling 57-acre campus in Menlo Park, Calif., construction professionals met with Silicon Valley technologists in mid-November to discover ways to improve the AEC industry, all in one weekend.
Related Links: Imagining Construction's Future: ENR's Science Fiction Collection FutureTech Event Program The theme may have been "Imagining Construction's Future" at ENR's Nov. 7 FutureTech conference in New York City, but, for many panelists and attendees, what once seemed like tomorrow's technology is used on many projects today—and driving innovation."It's a fascinating time to be in our industry," said Matt Harris, a senior vice president with Viewpoint Software. "It's astonishing how cheap and scalable things are becoming, from a cloud [computing] environment." Although it's early in the era of mobility in construction, many firms are looking at real-time sensing data
Editor's Note:Robert E. McFarlane is a principal at Shen Milsom & Wilke, an international firm that provides consulting and technology design on large and small projects, including information technology data center planning. McFarlane’s expertise is in the design of data center infrastructure. ENR approached McFarlane with a series of questions about the reports of electrical problems at the National Security Administration’s data center in Utah, seeking to better understand the kinds of issues that may be involved. Several other experts ENR approached were eager to respond as well, but prevented from doing so by non-disclosure agreements they had signed with
It is rare that tax issues generate excitement for engineering, design, and construction firms, but significant research and development-related tax benefits can be available to firms engaged in creating energy efficient buildings for the government.Three key things to consider when working to maximize your firm’s project-related tax benefits include the Research and Development tax credit, the 179D deduction, and avoiding the mistake of “self-censoring,” or assuming your firm’s activities will not qualify.The R&D tax credit is a government-endorsed incentive that many engineering, design, and construction firms—particularly small and mid-sized ones—fail to claim, either from lack of information or from self-censorship.If
Courtesy EPRI With its 110-volt vacuum engine, the crawler bot maintains enough suction to carry 40 lb up vertical structures. Courtesy EPRI The crawler bot automatically follows a preprogrammed route up and down structures but has support ropes in case it loses suction. Related Links: International Climbing Machines (Upon which the robot is based). Nuclear Energy Standards Coordination Collaborative A new concrete inspection robot successfully scaled the walls of a dam this summer, testing the dam's structural integrity.Many of the nation's 104 nuclear reactors are reaching the middle age of their design life, while, according to reports by the American
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