Revit makes an appearanceIn 1989, the office made an early decision toadopt Sonata for 3D design when many ofits competitors were still restricting them-selves to 2D. John Wilkinson recalls, "Wecould see the advantages of creating a 3Dmodel, taking ‘snapshots’ to produce theelevations and other views that werequired." He adds, "Sonata went on toserve us very well for many years. During allthat time we never considered going to a2D file-based system such as AutoCAD®."The system proved to be very productivebut the cost of providing the workstationpower necessary to create increasinglycomplex 3D models was becomingprohibitive. Over the same period, the price-performance ratio of PCs had improveddramatically and new generations of 3Ddesign software had emerged. John decidedto evaluate the options and a decision wasmade in favour of ArchiCAD®. Until, that is,Revit made an appearance.John realised that Revit was far faster andfar more functional than Sonata but thatthe transition would be relatively straight-forward. The Leeds office now has five seatsof Revit with a further five seats in theGateshead office.

Strategic commitmentRaytheon® Systems Limited, the UK divisionof the Raytheon Company, a large multi-national aerospace, defence and electronics

� Success Story � Mowlem plc � � �

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Mowlem plc adopts Autodesk® Revit®

company, had been selected as the primecontractor for the UK’s ASTOR (AirborneStand-off Radar) ground surveillance system.In turn, Raytheon selected Mowlem todesign and construct the ground facilitiesthat will house training, operational andnon-operational personnel and assets. Thecontract involves a total of five new andrefurbished buildings to a value of £8.5mand the construction period spans 2001 to2004. For continuity, the company neededto make a strategic commitment, so theproject was started with Revit and its usewill continue to completion.

An extra person in the officeHow has Revit worked out in practice,eighteen months into the project? Thereare five in John Wilkinson’s design team andRevit, he says, "…gave us between 20 and30 percent increase in productivity. Wecouldn’t have undertaken the amount ofwork we did, producing such high qualityoutput, without it. Revit gave us, in effect, anextra person in the office." He continues,"Revit allowed us to model the buildings,construct them in the computer and getcost certainty. The buildings we passed toour estimators were the ones that would bebuilt. However, client changes were easilyaccommodated. We didn’t have to redraftanything. Whatever we changed, the wholemodel was updated and the elevations andother views were automatically correct."

"This business is all about riskmanagement. Revit reducesour risk."

"Revit gave us, in effect, anextra person in the office."

John Wilkinson,Design Manager, Leeds office,Mowlem Building

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Mowlem plc turns to Autodesk® Revit® to drive performanceimprovementFrom Purbeck to PFIBorn in 1778 at Swanage, in Dorset, John Mowlem initially worked in the stonequarries of the Isle of Purbeck with his father and three brothers before joining theGovernment Mason's Department in London. In 1816, he was promoted to generalforeman before setting up in business as a mason near Pimlico Basin in 1822.Undoubtedly, he would be proud of the subsequent achievements of the companyhe helped to start over 180 years ago. Mowlem plc is now a leading provider ofsolutions to owners, developers and users of buildings, premises and infrastructure.The financial year 2001 closed with a turnover of £1.7 billion and an order book of£2.1 billion. Group Chief Executive John Gains is an important contributor to mediadebates on the benefits of Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) and the need to attractyoung people to the construction industry in order to answer the current skillsshortage. The company reached its position of pre-eminence in part through itscontinuous focus on performance improvement, something the Leeds office ofMowlem Building knows all about, since it has been using Revit architectural designsoftware on a number of recent projects. John Wilkinson is the Design Managerthere. He says, "We tender for work on a design and build basis. We are incompetition with other contractors, not other architects and designers. There aregreat benefits in terms of cost and timescales from having such services in-house.Thanks to Revit, we can react very quickly and we provide our clients, other unitswithin Mowlem, with a high quality product."

John adds, "In terms of productioninformation, we’re really into the fine detailnow: interiors, fitting-out and so on. Wedidn’t need to make all the decisions rightat the outset. We made them in front of theclient and got agreement in real time."

It’s all about risk managementTaking a top-level view, John Wilkinsonsays, "It is critical that the design the clienthas approved is the one that gets built. Inthe past, architects’ drawings may not havebeen as precise and detailed as contractorsneed. This is always the sticky part on anyjob. That’s where the risk is and that’s whereit can cost us money. Now, with Revit, wecan design a building very quickly, knowingit is 100% accurate. We can get approvaland still make changes if the client wants usto. We know it can be built because we cangenerate sections from anywhere withinthe model. There is nothing hidden, and thesite team can be confident we have thoughtabout everything." He adds, "This businessis all about risk management. Revit reducesour risk. It gives us more time, reducing thechances of missing something out." Thereare other benefits for the company too.According to John, "The quicker the drawingsare produced during the tender period, thebetter for everyone. We can value engineerthe project before the tender is submitted.We can get accurate information quickly toour estimators so they have more time togo out to subcontract enquiry. With Revit,we can get the best deal, the best price forthe client and make a profit on the job too."

Everything is adaptableRevit users create building models usingparametric building components or‘objects’ such as walls, windows, columns,stairs, roofs, and doors. Objects understandtheir properties and relationships with theirsurroundings and can be defined usingimplicit parameters, explicit dimensionsbeing defined later, only when they need tobe. Door types can carry information aboutsize, thickness, fire rating and otherproperties and can be linked tospecifications held on manufacturers’ websites. Specific door instances could containadditional information such as finish andcolour. There is a range of pre-definedobjects that can be used or modified bychanging their parameters. It is also possibleto define objects to specific companystandards. It is this object based andparametric nature that enables the team atMowlem to create intelligent buildingmodels. According to John Wilkinson, "Thismeans that we can generate accurateinformation, quickly and consistently. If wechange a door type for instance, the changeis reflected across the model more or lessinstantly. You can see the immediate benefitin terms of time saved and errorseliminated." He continues, "When we are

creating the model using this intelligence,Revit is creating the schedules. When wehave to make changes by adding or deletingwalls, doors etc, Revit automatically updatesthe schedules for us. This saves us a lot oftime and heartache." He adds, "Everythingis adaptable, nothing is fixed until it needsto be. There is no trimming and extendingrequired. It is fully parametric."

Revise everything from just one actionHaydn Scarborough, Architect in the team,uses Revit on a daily basis. For him, theappeal of Revit lies in its flexibility. Hecomments, "Revit is outstanding in its abilityto revise everything from just one action.You can place doors and windows intowalls and they are immediately visible in allthe other views. When you move something,you can see the effect immediately and youcan have any number of views on thescreen at any one time. You can strike asection through anywhere, at any time."Revit makes clash detection easy, too.Haydn continues, "Whilst you are working in3D, you can quite clearly see where theclashes are." Revit easily handles Mowlem’slegacy data. He adds, "We have literallyhundreds of archived projects in Sonataand if the clients ever want an extension orrefurbishment, it is really simple for us tomove the data across and build up a Revitmodel, using a Sonata template. It’s a breathof fresh air to be able to get designs in andout so easily." As far as documentation isconcerned, Haydn notes, "The drawings areof excellent quality, better in my opinionthan from AutoCAD and MicroStation®. Forexample, annotation text size is independentof drawing scales so that 2 mm text alwaysprints at 2 mm regardless of drawing scale."He continues, "Revit also has excellentrendering facilities: sun direction, shadowsetting, reflections, materials and mannequinsamongst other things. There are otherpackages than can produce better photore-alistic images but they cost extra and thereis a degree of remodelling involved."

Autodesk, AutoCAD and Revit are registered trademarks ofAutodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries.© Copyright 2002 by Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

A big selling pointRevit is having an impact throughout thebusiness. John Wilkinson says, "Once ourcolleagues saw what Haydn was doing, theywanted a slice of the action and now, mostof our tenders are done using Revit."According to John, "The 3D visualisationshave really helped because many clients arenot experts in reading 2D drawings. Theyreally appreciate seeing what their buildingis going to look like in 3D; it’s a model ofwhat actually gets built." For most projects,the results of topographic surveys are usedas backdrops to the Revit model, furtherenhancing the value of Revit models. HaydnScarborough says, "Our internal clients findthat Revit renderings are a big selling pointfor their clients. We have had an excellentresponse to the quality of our presentationsfrom the end users, too. Revit has helpedour clients sell projects to their clients."

110% satisfiedJohn Wilkinson sums it up by saying, "Weare 110% satisfied with Revit. Yes, it takes alittle time to get used to it, and learn theway you should set things up. We did allthis from the initial training, our ownresources and Revit support. Revit is cuttingedge technology in comparison with otherCAD packages and we can see our businessbeing more and more driven by 3D." Hecontinues, "In this business, if someone isunhappy, they will tell you by taking awayfuture repeat work. This does not happen. Infact, our MD is now widely promoting ourservices. He has the confidence to go to theother Mowlem business units and bid fordesign work on our behalf, and it is working.We are victims of our own success and arenow planning for growth, maybe addingtwo more seats." He adds, "We are delightedthat Autodesk has acquired Revit and iscontinuing to invest in its development."

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