The 3D to nD modelling project aims to enable and equip the design and construction industry with a tool that allows users to create, share, contemplate and apply knowledge from multiple perspectives of user requirements. This research differs from other 4D modelling tools as its objective is to develop infrastructure, methodologies and technologies that will facilitate the integration of time, cost, buildability, accessibility, sustainability, maintainability, acoustics, lighting and thermal requirements. The tool will allow construction professionals to perform true what-if analysis at a very early stage of a project, based on the manipulation and impact of changes to the aforementioned parameters, so that informed decisions can be made.

DIVERCITY is a 30-month project partly funded by the European Union Information Society Technologies Programme, which started in early 2000. The goal of DIVERCITY is to develop a virtual workspace that aims to improve the process in three building construction phases:

Client Briefing: with detailed interaction between the client and the architect;

Design Review: which requires detailed input from multidisciplinary teams, architects, engineers, facility managers, etc

Construction: aiming to show how to layout the site and construct the building on that site.

Using a distributed architecture, the DIVERCITY system aims to support and enhance concurrent engineering practices for these three phases therefore allowing teams based in different geographic locations to collaboratively design, test and validate shared virtual projects.

Potential users of the workspace have the ability to produce designs that can be quickly viewed within the 3D environment. DIVERCITY offers users the ability to work with the INDUSTRY FOUNDATION CLASSES to produce designs that can be viewed by any stakeholder within the project team.

Exchanging design information is no longer difficult using the DIVERCITY system.

Users can visualise the most appropriate position of spaces in a building or on a site in a 3D environment to make time and cost savings when the project reaches the 'real' site.

Users are particularly interested in the best place for positioning tower cranes on the site. Do you need one or two? Can I build quicker and more cost effectively with three rather than two? DIVERCITY can tell you.

Gallicon is a research project funded by the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) of the UK under the Information Technology Construction Best Practice Programme. It has been undertaken by the University of Salford during the period of March 1999 to October 2000 in collaboration with Galliford, Welsh Waters, EC Harris and Stamford Homes.

The aim of Gallicon was to demonstrate the benefits of applying integration technologies to the water and housing sectors of the construction industry. Two integrated systems have been developed by using the OSCON (Open Systems for Construction) integration technology:

• the first system is a distributed environment that improves considerably the conceptual design of wastewater treatment plants and minimises development costs by integrating the process of design, cost estimation and project planning;

• the second system is a back office application that creates a web site for customer relationship management in housing projects by integrating the process of design, cost estimation and project planning.
  Both systems have been tested in collaboration with the aforementioned companies and received very positive response.

For more information about Gallicon, including a video clip, ScreenCam™ demonstrations of the two prototypes and documentation, click on the link above.

The basis of the SPICE FM project was to address the challenge that around 90% of organisations that develop a strategy fail to implement it effectively. For most organisations, translating strategic directions into on-the-ground operational terms and communicating them to employees has proved exceedingly challenging. Creating an on-going strategic focus is a continuous process that requires appropriate tools and techniques.

The project resulted in the development of a step-by-step organisational improvement framework for Facilities Management (FM) providers, including in-house departments and external contractors. The framework has two core components that can be used individually or together, allowing FM organisations to continuously review and improve their business performance:

• The Balanced Scorecard Strategic Management Tool can help FM providers understand their role in meeting the needs of the core business. The Scorecard combines financial measures with operational issues and customer and staff issues. All of these are vital to growth and long-term competitiveness.
• The SPICE FM step-by-step process evaluation tool helps FM providers evaluate and continuously improve their service delivery at an operational level.
  

The components can be used together so that improving service delivery is aligned with the strategic objectives of the core business, thereby enabling the FM provider to develop its capabilities while assisting the core business to implement its vision. The SPICE FM framework has been used by several hospitals and a large retail chain.

In meeting the challenges of the Latham and Egan reports, the SPICE project aimed to address the issues that:

• The construction industry does not have a recognised methodology/framework on which to base a process improvement initiative.
• The absence of guidelines has meant that any improvements are isolated and benefits cannot be co-ordinated or repeated.
• The industry is unable to systematically assess construction process, prioritise process improvements, and direct resources appropriately.
• It is not possible for companies to benchmark and measure their performance relative to other organisations.
  

SPICE (Structured Process Improvement for Construction Enterprises) has developed an evolutionary step-wise process improvement framework. The framework was developed utilising experience from the IT sector, which has adopted a similar approach. The research drew specifically on the use of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). The model is based on the maturity of an organisation's processes. Each level comprises a set of key processes that, when satisfied, stabilise an important part of the construction process and lays successive foundations for the next level. The model enables effective and continuous improvement to be achieved based on evolutionary steps. The project concentrated on the lower levels of the model and tested this aspect of the framework in a series of cased studies on live construction projects.