Avanti (programme)
Encyclopedia
Construction
In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...
project
Project
A project in business and science is typically defined as a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can be further defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems that are constituted by teams...
partners
Business partner
Business partner is a term used to denote a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. This relationship may be a highly contractual, exclusive bond in which both entities commit not to ally with third parties...
to work together effectively. The project was promoted by the Department of Trade and Industry with the support of most of the largest UK firms in the construction industry. Avanti had also the participation of the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI), Loughborough University
Loughborough University
Loughborough University is a research based campus university located in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, in the East Midlands of England...
and Co-Construct, a network of five construction research and information organizations.
The Avanti programme aimed to help overcome problems caused by incomplete,
inaccurate and ambiguous information.
Background
The Tavistock InstituteTavistock Institute
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations is a British charity concerned with group behaviour and organisational behaviour. It was launched in 1946, when it separated from the Tavistock Clinic.-History of the Tavistock:...
report (1965) printed an extract from an RICS meeting of 1910 which stated "Architectural information is invariably inaccurate, ambiguous and incomplete". By the 1940s, the impact of this was valued at an additional 10% to the construction cost. By 1994 the Latham Report
Latham Report
The Latham Report, titled Constructing the Team, was an influential report written by Sir Michael Latham, published in July 1994. Latham was commissioned by the United Kingdom government and industry organisations to review procurement and contractual arrangements in the UK construction industry,...
Constructing the Team, along with the Egan Report
Egan Report
The Egan Report, titled Rethinking Construction, was an influential report on the UK construction industry produced by an industry task force chaired by Sir John Egan, published in November 1998...
s Rethinking Construction (1998) and Accelerating Change (2002), suggested waste in the industry accounted for 25-30% of project costs. This figure is supported by earlier publications from the Building Research Establishment
Building Research Establishment
The Building Research Establishment is a former UK government establishment that carries out research, consultancy and testing for the construction and built environment sectors in the United Kingdom...
(BRE) and the Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA), which led to reports in 1987 from the Coordinating Committee for Project Information that recommended a common format and disciplined approach to reduce the problem. These suggestions were proven on DTI-funded projects and case studies at Endeavour House at London Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport
-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
and the BAA Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express is an airport rail link from London Heathrow Airport to London Paddington station in London operated by the Heathrow Express Operating Authority, a wholly owned subsidiary of BAA. It was opened by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1998...
, which showed that significant savings in project cost and drawing production could be made by addressing people and process issues.
The problem
Construction projects are complex processes that involve co-ordination between many project participants both on and off site. As projects have increased in size and complexity, the number of participants involved in a single project has also increased.If these projects are to be delivered efficiently it is essential to either reduce the number of partners or improve their collaboration. To help industry get the best out of collaboration, tools that work well, appropriate processes to implement them and the right approach from the people involved are crucial.
The approach
Tackling these questions was at the heart of the action research programme which was named Avanti.Its purpose was to support live construction project teams, as they collaborate to deliver projects, by helping them apply the appropriate technologies. It worked through a team of partners representing each stage of the project process, with the objective of improving project and business performance through the use of information and communications technology to support collaborative working, by maximising the benefits of IT in construction, sharing electronic information, proving the benefits of CAD systems over merely mimicking drawings, demonstrating that simple 2-dimensional systems can be a significant leap forward if information is managed as a database
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
rather than a drawing cabinet and showing that 3-dimensional systems could be a revolutionary development, provided their potential beyond visualisation was exploited.
The project identified a need to reduce the risks involved in adoption of new methods of working, bringing together areas of current best-practice (such as CPIC
Construction Project Information Committee
' is the Construction Project Information Committee, responsible for providing best practice guidance on the content, form and preparation of construction production information, and making sure this best practice is disseminated throughout the UK construction industry.The Committee is formed from...
protocols
Methodology
Methodology is generally a guideline for solving a problem, with specificcomponents such as phases, tasks, methods, techniques and tools . It can be defined also as follows:...
) that had previously gained too little market penetration to have significant impact on the sector. The objective was to deliver improved project and business
performance through the use of ICT
Information and communication technologies
Information and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology , but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of...
to support collaborative working by getting partners to work together, providing processes to enable collaboration, and applying tools to support collaborative working.
Avanti focused on early access to all project
Project
A project in business and science is typically defined as a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can be further defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems that are constituted by teams...
information by all partners
Business partner
Business partner is a term used to denote a commercial entity with which another commercial entity has some form of alliance. This relationship may be a highly contractual, exclusive bond in which both entities commit not to ally with third parties...
, on early involvement of the supply chain
Supply chain
A supply chain is a system of organizations, people, technology, activities, information and resources involved in moving a product or service from supplier to customer. Supply chain activities transform natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product that is delivered to...
, and on sharing of information
Information
Information in its most restricted technical sense is a message or collection of messages that consists of an ordered sequence of symbols, or it is the meaning that can be interpreted from such a message or collection of messages. Information can be recorded or transmitted. It can be recorded as...
, drawings and schedules, in an agreed and consistent manner. The Avanti approach was supported by handbooks, toolkits and on-site mentoring
Mentoring
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
and relied heavily on the advice and materials provided by CPIC
Construction Project Information Committee
' is the Construction Project Information Committee, responsible for providing best practice guidance on the content, form and preparation of construction production information, and making sure this best practice is disseminated throughout the UK construction industry.The Committee is formed from...
.
Avanti mobilised existing enabling technologies in order to improve business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
performance by increasing quality of information and predictability
Predictability
Predictability is the degree to which a correct prediction or forecast of a system's state can be made either qualitatively or quantitatively.-Predictability and Causality:...
of outcomes and by reducing risk
Risk
Risk is the potential that a chosen action or activity will lead to a loss . The notion implies that a choice having an influence on the outcome exists . Potential losses themselves may also be called "risks"...
and waste
Waste
Waste is unwanted or useless materials. In biology, waste is any of the many unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from living organisms, metabolic waste; such as urea, sweat or feces. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly...
. The core of the Avanti approach to a project's whole life cycle
Enterprise Life Cycle
Enterprise Life Cycle in enterprise architecture is the dynamic, iterative process of changing the enterprise over time by incorporating new business processes, new technology, and new capabilities, as well as maintenance, disposition and disposal of existing elements of the enterprise.- Overview...
was based on team working and access to a common information model
Information model
An information model in software engineering is a representation of concepts, relationships, constraints, rules, and operations to specify data semantics for a chosen domain of discourse...
. All CAD information was generated with the same origin, orientation and scale, and organised in layers that could be shared. All layers and CAD model files were named consistently within a specific Avanti convention to allow others to find the relevant CAD data.
Guidance and Phases
Taking the lessons learned on the early projects, Avanti produced practical working documentation and tested the methods on live projects. This information supplemented the CPICConstruction Project Information Committee
' is the Construction Project Information Committee, responsible for providing best practice guidance on the content, form and preparation of construction production information, and making sure this best practice is disseminated throughout the UK construction industry.The Committee is formed from...
document Code of Procedure for the Construction Industry and addressed problems of incomplete, inaccurate and ambiguous information. Avanti guidance included:
- Standard Method and Procedure - advice on classification standards, spatial and technical co-ordination, example file and directory structures, and naming conventions.
- Design Management Principles - comprising typical design management processes, information management processes, guidance on detailed task management and typical responsibilities of delivery team leaders.
The advice also covers areas such as:
- a business case on the commercial imperatives for collaborative ICT
- guidance on ensuring the software chain supports the design and supply chains
- authoring information in a common data environment and controlling the sharing of information in a multi-author environment
For most projects, using this guidance consisted of three phases:
- Phase 1: Change the poor industry practice of producing information to individual standards and throwing it ‘over the wall’ to the next person in the supply chain who then reproduces their own information. Using an agreed standard for the project, spatially co-ordinated and high-quality 2D information will then be produced for the parties involved.
- Phase 2: Implementation of those same principles to generate 3D project models to produce 2D drawings and material measurement.
- Phase 3: Full implementation of the 3D object-oriented and Building Information Models systems. Each live project captures the lessons learned and the benefits gained.
Further development
In July 2006, the Avanti DTI Project documentation and brand ownership was transferred to Constructing Excellence. Since the handoverHandover
In cellular telecommunications, the term handover or handoff refers to the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another...
, Constructing Excellence endeavoured to promote the savings demonstrated on live projects. Further work was also carried out to make Avanti part of the update of BS 1192
BS 1192
BS 1192 is the British Standard that establishes the methodology for managing the production, distribution and quality of construction information, including that generated by CAD systems, using a disciplined process for collaboration and a specified naming policy...
The BS 5555 committee coded the methods.
Results
Evaluation of the impacts of the Avanti project showed:- Early commitment offering up to 80% saving on implementation cost on medium size project.
- 50-85% saving on effort spent receiving information and formatting for reuse.
- 60-80% saving on effort spent finding information and documents.
- 75–80% saving in effort to achieve design co-ordination.
- 50% saving on time spent to assess tenders and award sub-contracts.
- 50% saving on effort in sub-contractor design approval.
The future
Constructing ExcellenceConstructing Excellence
Constructing Excellence is a UK-based construction industry membership organisation. In the UK, it is unique insofar as its member organisations are drawn from across the industry supply chain, ranging from clients, through contractors and consultants, to suppliers and manufacturers of building...
is developing a self-sustaining business to support roll out of the Avanti methodology to the UK construction industry. They will also draw on the results of other DTI-supported collaborative research such as Building Down Barriers.