Digital Software Shift Sees Design Firm Streamline Project Delivery

Design firm Arup works with some of the best teams globally on ambitious, transformational developments such as the Metro projects in Sydney and Brisbane.

In an effort to ensure quality deliverables to their clients, and reviewing the quality and accuracy of as-built drawings and manual document markups for design review, Arup decided it could do better.

A lack of standard markups within manual review processes was keeping stakeholders occupied with document management as opposed to focusing on design and execution.

Review timeframes were becoming bloated due to an over-reliance on email and postal services for heavy project collaboration.

To address these issues, the firm implemented Bluebeam Revu, the project efficiency and collaboration solution trusted by more than 1.9 million architecture, engineering and construction professionals worldwide to improve project communication and streamline processes.

Going from manual to digital

Given Arup’s commitment to leveraging technology for project delivery, the firm began to explore ways in which manual processes could be digitised for efficiency, quality, risk mitigation and standardisation across multiple offices and projects.

One key pain point Revu addressed was an issue with older or low-quality as-built drawings and scans.

Arup senior technician Ben Taylor said Revu software helped overcome major difficulties in submitting deliverables to the client, due to native resolution and outputs being limited by traditional PDF products.

“Revu helped solve these issues by actually giving us the inter-operability and the functions we needed to be able to edit them on the fly and modify them to actually suit the client requirement,” Taylor said.

This new approach has helped Arup focus on activity-based working, meaning project partners are spending less time deciphering as-built drawings and scans and more time focusing on their respective aspects of project delivery.

Collaborating in real time and mitigating risk

Another Arup innovation came in the form of Bluebeam Studio Sessions, which offered the firm a way to create simultaneous, real-time collaboration, across separate locations.

“We didn’t have an effective method of being able to communicate in real time and submit markups, it was just email trails,” Taylor said.

“[Bluebeam] Studio solves all those issues. Someone’s marking up drawings in London and they come through live in the Sydney office as we’re doing work and while people are talking on the phone, and it eliminates confusion or errors in communication via email.”

Live comments also create a single source of truth, allowing project partners to quickly assess review progress, and to ensure the partners are working on only the most current documents.

Standardising deliverables

The benefits of digitising the processes within Arup’s standards and manuals have become apparent not only in project delivery, but also in paper savings and employee engagement.

Arup’s culture of innovation fosters an organic approach to technology, keeping the company ahead of the curve in both project opportunities and employee procurement.

With a paperless future ahead and better collaboration taking place, Arup continues to build upon the firm’s legacy as an industry leader.

“Going digital is so important for Arup because it’s the future,” Taylor said.

Taylor said the industry-specific tools in Bluebeam Revu allowed Arup to cut design review times by as much as 60 per cent.

“Revu has allowed Arup to minimise risk by using previously unusable as-built drawings and converting them into scalable, accurate and efficiently marked-up digital PDFs suitable for client deliverables ,” Taylor said.

Revu's digital PDFs have allowed Arup Australia to move towards being a paperless office, showing a significant savings in paper-based costs and tools.

“Bluebeam Studio has allowed the globally-connected firm to involve technical experts from offices around the world to collaborate on projects, providing value to clients.”

Learn more at bluebeam.com.au.

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