Virtual Construction

The BBRI is accompanying this dynamic from the outset by setting up a Virtual Construction competence centre in Heusden-Zolder. The aim is not for BBRI to develop programs itself and to enter into competition with commercial software developers. 'We do wish to bring together all innovative applications for virtual construction and to create awareness among and inform construction professionals, including SME's.

From information management...

Integration and better (electronic) co-operation between the various construction partners is a first requirement for allowing the construction process to advance more efficiently and more productively. A large quantity of data is needed to complete a building project. It is usually distributed among different parties. However, thanks to portal sites, construction can evolve into a sector where information sharing is the norm, rather than information exchange, which is almost always the case today.

... to virtual design and construction

But virtual construction also naturally counts on the exploitation of digital techniques in various phases of the design process. Firstly, in design (virtual design) - but virtual building sites, mobile applications, simulating feasibility and checking schedules, cost calculations and budgets, stability calculations, life cycle analyses, etc. are also among the possibilities available.

Each of the construction partners can be involved in virtual construction. From the client's side or principal's side, it should be possible to obtain a 3-D proposal immediately, and even a virtual tour of the building project to gain a better idea of the ultimate result. Virtual construction will also introduce a new way of working for the architect and the design office. Today, the architect translates a spatial design into 2-D planning documents which are then handed over to the stability engineer, the client and the local authorities who have to approve the design. All of these partners try to create a 3-D conceptual picture of the 2-D blueprint again before they draw their conclusions … why not design in 3-D immediately using virtual construction?

2,3 ... to n-D

However, we do not have to stay at 3-D. The physical 3-D design can be expanded into a 4-D or even an n-D design. This would incorporate the time aspect as well as for example, acoustic characteristics, maintenance aspects, cost price data, etc. These designs possess unknown possibilities for simulation, control and performing optimisations.

It goes without saying that the combination of portal sites and virtual and flexible designs will have a significant influence on the working method adopted by the contractor, studies office, subcontractors and the authorities. The launch of a knowledge centre focusing on the application of digital techniques and virtual reality in construction is therefore more than opportune.