WET News

MARCH 2016 WET NEWS 13 NEED TO KNOW 1 Welsh Water has invested £9M in innovation projects over the past 12 months 2 The company is able to create street scenes to visualise any impact its work may have on customers 3 A challenge for the capital delivery team is to achieve 20% e- ciency savings THE VERDICT "The Pod360 has enabled Welsh Water to engage with its supply chain early. It promotes greater transparency and collaboration between suppliers, thereby reducing waste through all levels of the supply chain" Neil Parkin, Welsh Water time we need to make any modi cations or any upgrades, then rather than looking for drawings that information is all there electronically, so it's easily accessible." Being able to walk around the concept design that you see on the drawing and see what it is supposed to look like helps with the construction of it. Another advantage of using the Pod360 is that it has enabled Welsh Water to engage with its supply chain earlier. It promotes greater transparency and collaboration between suppliers, thereby reducing waste through all levels of the supply chain. Amazed As well as helping with concept design, the Igloo can help minimise the impact of projects on Welsh Water's customers. By using Google's Street View, the company has been able to create street scenes to visualise any impact its work may have and to anticipate any problems before they occur. Parkin explains: "If we have large items of plant being delivered to one of our assets, and some of our assets are quite rural, we can actually plan out the route. We can see the best route to take avoiding low bridges, for instance, which reduces the impact on our customers and other people living in the area." Parkin has not used the Igloo himself but he is amazed at how quickly those that do can build up models. "We have one particular project, a refurbishment, and they were able to build up the model for us to see in the Igloo in less than a day. "It's the speed at which they can bring things to life. You can imagine doing that by traditional methods – everybody going to site, all that travelling, and the meetings about it. I was amazed at the speed." Another advantage of using the Igloo is that Welsh Water has been able to engage with its supply chain early. "A lot of the supply chain may not have BIM but they certainly have CAD so they can look at it and understand our requirements," Parkin explains. "They understand the challenges we face and our requirements. Access to this technology means we can engage with the supply chain early and they get a consistent and accurate understanding of our requirements. You're comparing apples and apples." Positive Welsh Water's capital delivery partners bought into the concept of Igloo very quickly, surprisingly so, says Parkin. "We carried out training and got them involved. They have really bought into it very quickly. There can be some reluctance to embrace technology, but that's certainly not the case. The feedback has all been very positive, and everybody's keen to use it." There were a number of training courses set up for staŽ to learn all the basic functions and uses of the Igloo. There was also 'super user' training for those identi ed as key individuals that could provide any troubleshooting if anyone had issues using it. "We've also set up a steering group to ensure that all the good ideas and opportunities for future use can be captured. It's going very well, there's been no resistance at all to using it," says Parkin. As far as Parkin is concerned BIM is the future of construction projects. "It's like any new technology, if you don't utilise it then you end up falling behind with your construction techniques and e' ciency challenges that we have to meet. This is a far better way of designing a project, but it also allows us to have all that data electronically as we go through the project." ONSITE DIGITAL ENGINEERING " From page 10 The Pod360 is an immersive visualisation centre comprising a 2.55m high, 6m diameter projection cylinder The Igloo Pod360 provided a di' erent way in which Welsh Water looked at designing and delivering its capital delivery programme The technology has enabled Welsh Water to anticipate any impact its activities will have on customers BIM and 3D CAD models can be built up and imported into the Pod360 THE CONCEPT " Pod360 is a 2.55m high, 6m diameter projection cylinder " 3D modelling is projected in a 360° immersed environment " Features include a Surround Sound system; fully immersive 360° projection screen; and aluminium truss frame; media server and Wi-Fi router; and a curved, lockable door

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