INITIATIVES

The modern built environment is more integrated, more compact, and increasingly demands a high-quality build. The global AEC industry (Architectural, Engineering & Construction) has progressively evolved from in-situ construction to precast concrete and prefabricated steel assemblies. Concrete structures are now built using pre-stressed, precast beams, columns, floor slabs and wall panels, for almost 60 years now. Not only is precast elements lighter in material, it is also quicker and cheaper to erect. This is how we have been building taller and taller structures worldwide. It is but one of two key competencies (the other one being Building Information Modeling) that has made modern architecture a reality. Consider that what used to be 11” and 13.5” slab depth for a 24’ x 24’ clear-span floor slab, can now be achieved using an 8” and 8.5” floor slab, respectively. This is the technological renaissance of humankind’s oldest industry.

The Way Things are Made, is radically Changing

Space Consultants have a passion for quality-built environments. We recognize each project has a unique combination of requirements and opportunities to develop and apply new designs and innovative solutions. Experience has taught us that front-loaded design, detailing and integrated delivery is the only way to mitigate the escalating costs of construction errors. For these reasons, Space is engaged in three initiatives that it believes will be integral to ensuring a quality-built environment.

Building Information Modeling

The design and construction of a building is not a simple, linear process – but a complex collaboration of mutually dependent activities between a full spectrum of fields. The interweaving of increasingly complex architectural, structural, mechanical, and electrical systems makes it more and more difficult to efficiently construct structures. A recent Design, Fabrication and Construction paradigm that is increasing dominating project engagements across the globe is Integrated Design Control, which brings valuable context throughout the product lifecycle and ensures product quality, cost-containment, and timely delivery. What integrated Design-control means for architects, designers, and engineers is revolutionary. Using parametric modeling and finite-element analysis in CAD-CAM environments (aptly dubbed, Building Information Modeling of BIM), design engineering teams can now develop performance-defined building elements and components. By the rule of Additionality of enough structural building blocks, or what is commonly known as Objects, one can leverage the same Object Library to pull building components to create structurally sound designs with little additional effort. This, in turn, allows design specialists to focus on Product Innovation, and service delivery teams, on more rewarding business models by way of adding new activities, linking activities in novel ways and changing how each party performs an activity. The main advantage is that multiple analysis models from one database allow many different portions of the project to be analyzed simultaneously, while maintaining consistency and model integrity.

For BIM-enabled projects to be successful, how we work must evolve alongside technology. Space believes optimal collaboration relies on its ability to operate on behalf of others, adapt their value-based models (VBMs) for better interdisciplinary review, and embrace collaborative practices. Supported by BIM Project Organization Plans (bim-POP), our approach aims to define a qualitative product using cross-disciplinary VBMs

In our typical BIM workflow

The architect uses Revit Architecture to develop the concept and working design
Space Consultants uses Tekla in conjunction with SAP2000 analysis and design software
MEP engineers uses Revit MEP
The project owner uses TeklaBIMSight to communicate with the various trades
• And the contractor uses IFC-compatible construction management software

Space is currently developing capabilities for clients have maximum project control through our advanced BIM modelling capabilities. 4D computational simulation tools will enable our designers to build options and optimize the construction schedule. 5D simulation tools will allow our engineers to perform just-in-time trade coordination. Finally, 6D executive tools will allow owners to assess multiple design & construction options in virtual reality. Stay tuned for our BIM-enabled services in the future!

Precast Construction

Technologies in different sectors are getting developed all over the world day by day to make our life easier, safer, and more functional at cheaper cost. This initiative caters to the need to lead the construction technology of Bangladesh to the new era of pre-stressed concrete. It is an effort to produce pre-stressed precast hollow core slab panels, precast beams and columns, precast concrete hollow blocks, and other precast concrete building elements to help to build buildings, bridges, flyovers and other concrete or composite structures using less construction materials and construction time period while enhancing safe life span. Floors are the key element that allows more architectural freedom and design: their load bearing capacity has a direct influence on the need for partition walls and other structural elements of a building. In the industry of prestressed structures, hollow core slabs represent the most advanced product. The Hollowcore Slab is a prestressed, precast, hollow core concrete element, flat with constant slope, with minimized weight using longitudinal voids, and strengthened with stressed steel cable.

Steel frames and hollowcore slabs, together, offers the most flexibility as precast slabs and wall panels can be easily pre-cut to accommodate any geometry or pass-throughs. Girder-slab-framed floors are extremely economical and has a typical weight of about 1.5 lb per sq. ft. This permits flexibility in the project budget for some remarkable architectural expression, such as a cantilevered corner. The high structural efficiency also yield massive savings downstream such smaller footings, resulting in a 50% lighter structure. We can also add colored aggregate toppings to customize floors, walls and ceilings. With this level of client-value, developers can attain even higher retail profits alongwith the savings in construction cost per square footage. Precast structures can cater to all price points and budgets to create an affordable option for all project types. With hollowcore technology, we can produce better products, and have ready-made stock at one-fourth the cost, in case of the 150mm, or, 6-in-slab. For instance, analyzing five building profiles (see graphic below) using steel and ready-mix concrete, versus, hollowcore slab structures, reveals overall project cost and schedule savings of 20% – 30%. The most profitable slab is the 6–8in span for Residential & Commercial buildings, Schools & Shopping Malls.

The universal preference for hollowcore by owners, builders, and engineers, lies in its ease of production and construction, and its commercial versatility in all project types. Design can be standardized while production is factory controlled with customized precast molds for nearly all building elements. That’s why the prestressed, precast, hollowcore slab technology has dominated the construction market worldwide. Right now, Bangladesh imports precast concrete blocks and slabs from China, for over-head highway construction in Bangladesh. It is envisioned that as Bangaldeshi visionaries, industrialists and government bodies are scaling up their investment in infrastructure building, hollowcore construction will replace both traditional in-situ and Ready-Mix construction.

This initiative is calling for investing in two complementary workshop factories: a steel fabrication plant, and a precast, hollowcore plant. That is, an investment in off-site manufacturing capability, using BIM to speed up and coordinate aspects of design, production and delivery. This tri-fecta will unlock new architectural capabilities and control build quality for project owners. And for the business itself, it will be benefited from lateral operations throughout the year.

Fabricator Partnership Network

Design is a continuous process; and progress in development has to be preceded, accompanied by, and followed by progress in our fabrication capabilities. Use of structural steel today is rapidly growing in large and complex projects where functional accuracy and automated prefabrication of structural members are crucial in achieving the desired forms. The steel production industry is thus recognized as a major contributor to economic growth. It is expected that the “factory of the future” will be digitally driven, machine based, and seamlessly connected from the ordering process. More steel will be fabricated in a factory environment rather than on site.
Developments in modular housing and building provide an indication of this future scenario. To fully realize the benefits of extending construction capabilities (and ROI), a restructured integrated team will be required to pursue new forms of procurement using ‘plug and play’ modular working methods that go hand-in-hand with performance-specified targets. It will require new skills developed through the integration of competency, knowledge, and theory based learning to support innate capacities for ingenuity and initiative that underpin innovation, and which is a characteristic of engineering based professions.
Economic complexity, however, is making it increasingly difficult for any Small and Medium Metalworking Enterprises (SMME) to cope with the fluctuating costs of raw materials, exhaustive compliance requirements, and unpredictable logistical barriers. Understanding and interpreting these key export issues requires a level of expertise and organizational muscle that our metalworking specialists in Bangladesh simply don’t have. Fabricating to the Buyer’s original CAD-models has three deeply-integrated issues :

Technical Sophistication

Buyer design-specs are typically prepared for on-shore production capabilities. Because of the overarching technological advancement embedded in all aspects of steel fabrication – in the new tools and equipment used for cutting, shaping, molding and joining (both welding and riveting), and in the machines used for assembly – the high levels of accuracy and precision required for cutting, shaping, molding and joining can only realistically be achieved by machinery that has embedded ICT design and control systems. It is therefore, unlikely that less-automated CNC-machines will be able to match the tight tolerances in the prescribed design features

Project Management perspective

With the realization of the BIM came a host of both easy-to-develop and freely available Structural Diagnostic tools that is used today to address Constructability issues such as on-site Clash Identification before the concept even left the drawing board. This was only possible because of GUI-based parametric modeling and powerful CAD systems. Now in the Steel Fabrication arena, the same design-control mechanisms can be used to simplify the technical sophistication which in turn will improve project execution.

Natural Recourse action

Without proper understanding of the Buyer’s requests, SMMEs might preemptively accept jobs that may be beyond their expertise. This realization usually surfaces all too late in the production process, when remedies are cost-intensive. In light of misinterpreted design information or technical intimacy with the Buyer’s Part model, local SMMEs might attempt to transfer the risks onto other stakeholders; or worse, may even lose the Buyer for ever. While this is only a single dissatisfied Buyer in an expanding export market, its important to understand that for the Buyer and his industrial community, this is a Failure to deliver on Export quality products. In an increasingly Globalizing economy, this represents a national failure on adequately developing our Metalworking sector.There is a strong need to move the steel fabrication practice from an industrial age to one that is based on the application and use of information and knowledge.

the nature of construction procurement frequently restricts collaboration between client and supply chain, particularly at an early enough stage to fully explore options for innovation
companies are not confident that innovation will be commercially rewarding, with particular concerns about levels of demand for innovative products and services
companies that do want to innovate find that the necessary finance is too expensive and/or difficult to access, that the approach to risk and insurance of works deters innovation and that some of the Government support available to the industry is not sufficiently visible
there is a failure to capture learning from successful innovations and take this forward to future projects
collaboration between industry, academia and research organizations is patchy, which limits effective knowledge transfer

A new industry focus and strategy is necessary to firmly tap into the global construction market. We have to recognize this as a leapfrogging opportunity not only to design and build modern structures nationally, but also incubate a world-class workforce for our own viability. To capitalize on future opportunities we must therefore aim to scale-up domestic capabilities. Whilst the need for greater infrastructure investment is clear, equally important is the need to:
- Restructuring contracts to maximize tax benefits
- Holistically managing cross-cutting Design-Build opportunities
- Supporting both Partners and Clients with a long-term sustainability perspective
Space envisions a pioneering role in sustainable engineering design, competitive whole life costs, and continuous workforce development, in pursuit of building an integrated supply chain with a close focus on the end product. Success in these priority areas are strongly correlated to collaboration in a trusting inter-disciplinary environment. To deliver these strategic priorities, fundamental changes are required in the way our construction industry operates today. Business focus needs to shift towards value-addition, backed by shared commitments. That’s why Space wants to build on complementarity with our partners in the following Framework for developing Practice Development Priorities to transform the industry:

Bangladesh is a sub-contracting hub of engineering works of multinational companies. We have a lot of micro and small players engaged in this ‘junkyard-type of operations’ and we have to help them step up. The slow economic growth of the country can be attributed of our failure to build a strong industrial base. We must strengthen its metals and engineering industry to better serve the needs of the local and foreign industries, particularly of the European markets, to industrialize and modernize. Ambitious exporters have a strong potential to excel not only through accepting sub-contracting jobs from other companies but to become a major manufacturer of finished products. This initiative aims to establish linkage with local suppliers and create business opportunities and eventually develop their capabilities to provide the needs of the Bangladesh Construction industry.

Initiatives