Digital innovation
VolkerFitzpatrick is focused on being a sustainable high value construction company enabled by modern technology and data driven decision making. Tomorrow Now is our way of working to achieve this by understanding the challenges we have and improvements we need and then looking to future and innovative technologies. We then pilot these to prove benefits and scale suitable ones across the business – Bringing the Tomorrow into the Now. Through focusing on processes, tool and people we achieve lasting continuous improvements by creating new applications, embedding technological change across our business and seeing and measuring real operational benefits. We are fulfilling our aspiration to be ‘powered by data, driven by people’, which means using digital tools to shape mindsets as well as techniques.
Harnessing digital construction and innovation
VolkerFitzpatrick has found that our digital construction programme focuses minds and is driving benefits through the production of digital plans for every project and the deployment of the Digital Toolbox. Our Digital Toolbox brings key solutions with known benefits together in one place, enabling innovations to be shared across all group businesses. It is used alongside our digital challenge process where we review project and team need’s and then define which technology should be provided for which project.
VolkerVisuals
We have created VolkerVisuals, a network of specialists dedicated to supporting projects to better visualise and interact with construction delivery and logistical issues. It has supported over 100 tenders and projects to date improving the understanding of project delivery across all engagement levels. On top of this, our bespoke interactive game, VolkerWorld, lets users play the role of a site management team facing a range of challenging situations.
Project Case Study
On our University Station Birmingham project, the team is using Asite cloud collaboration for design and document management. Building Information Management enabling platforms are being used to develop the design in a fully federated 3D model and to carry out project planning using a 4D platform. All of this is enabling the project to carry out digital rehearsals for the erection of the concrete frame of the new building in planned in weekend and night closures of the railway. As well as being utilised for clash detection, the federated model is enabling collaboration across the team, both in terms of progressive assurance and coordination between the works packages.