Aconex
Case studies
- The Savoy
- £320 million Victoria Square Development
- White City Development
- Bluestone choose Aconex for NHS projects
The Savoy
Client
Founded in 1996, Chorus Group are specialists in high quality refurbishment and fitting out. They operate within the commercial offices, hotels & leisure, public sector & retail sectors, covering planning, design and construction. Chorus is part of the Byrne Group, one of the UK's fastest growing companies in the project management and construction services industry.
The Project
The Savoy, one of London's most famous five-star hotels, is undergoing a full refurbishment. Internally, its 267 guestrooms are being renovated and a 16-room Royal Suite is being added. Nineteen new lifts are being installed and its public and back-of-house areas are being refurbished. In the Thames Foyer, the hotel's afternoon tea venue, a glass roof and a specially built conservatory, rendered in silver, are being built. The River Restaurant will be reopened and a new champagne bar added. External works include a new courtyard to the entrance and external façade refurbishment incorporating new windows, cathodic protection and stonework.
The project team includes Reardon Smith Architects, Buro Happold structural engineers, Gardiner & Theobald quantity surveyors and Hurley Palmer Flatt M&E consultants.
Challenges
The Savoy refurbishment project is large, complex and being undertaken to a tight schedule, meaning efficient sharing of information is essential.
Rob Anderson, Document Control Manager at Chorus, oversees a team of document controllers across the project. His remit is to manage document control and related protocols across the Chorus Group, playing a leading role in set-up and delivery.
Anderson said, "Projects are growing in scale so we need to manage information much more efficiently. The Savoy is a £65 million ($117m) project, with a team that is dispersed across Britain and includes a consultant in the Middle East. There's a heck of a lot of information flying around - we're building at a rapid rate and require real-time sharing of information."
When looking to share documents and correspondence between team members, Chorus felt that there were limitations to using Windows-based products such as Microsoft Outlook.
"Managing information in-house has huge time and cost implications," said Anderson. "Previously, Outlook and Windows-based products were the most common ways of managing information and this meant that data was dispersed across PCs rather than being centralized.
Solution
Chorus selected to use the Aconex online information management solution to manage their documents and correspondence. Aconex is a web-based system, delivered as a service for the life of a project, that enables team members to manage their information using one central platform. The system allows internal and external participants to view, distribute and track their files electronically at any time and from any location. As with any new system or process, user adoption is the key to the success of Aconex.
"One reason Aconex was selected was because aesthetically it looks good and has a user-friendly interface. Because of this, it's easier to get people to use it, said Anderson. He added, There's a nice clear distinction between what constitutes a document and what constitutes a project mail, plus they provide good training and support."
Results
Since being implemented on the Savoy project in 2007, Aconex has been used by 270 team members from 40 organizations to manage up to 40,000 documents and project mails each month.
When documents are stored on Aconex, authorized team members, from any location, can quickly retrieve their files by searching on criteria such as keywords, document types, status, date ranges and sender and recipient details. Files can then be distributed electronically using the system.
Anderson said, "Aconex delivers an effective way of managing information - it's efficient and saves time, cost and resources. By using the system we can share information instantaneously. People can tap into their files and mails remotely from wherever they are. They can access project information on the move, at home and receive updates on their Blackberries.
"Compared to Outlook or paper-based information management, there is faster distribution of files. It cuts down on handling, postage, shipping, and so on, the whole time-consuming process. With Aconex, you just tick a box next to files you want to distribute and click 'Transmit'."
"There is certainly less money spent on couriers and postage. We estimated that we could save approximately £25,000 ($45,000) on printing and postage over the duration of the project."
Rob Anderson, Document Control Manager at Chorus Group
£320 million Victoria Square Development
The Project
Victoria Square will provide 75,000 square metres of retail and leisure opportunities, creating a new heart for Belfast city. The £320 million development is one of Europe's largest urban regeneration projects and a milestone in the revitalisation of the city centre.
Scheduled to open to the public in spring 2008, the development includes three floors of retail space, restaurants, bars, cafes and cinemas, as well as over 100 apartments and two levels of basement parking.
The Project Team
Construction of Victoria Square involves a multitude of design consultants, 70 contractors and subcontractors, and 2,000 onsite staff, with input from 50 major tenants. The project team is based across Belfast, London, Amsterdam and Gouda. The developer is Multi Development UK Ltd - one of Europe's leaders in the fields of developing, owning and operating quality shopping centres, offices and mixed-use projects.
Client Requirements
With such a large, dispersed team, being able to communicate efficiently across the project and find and retrieve information was crucial. Due to the complex flow of information and the vast volume of data being exchanged, the project required a centralised system where all team members had fast, easy access to information.
Solution
Multi Development UK selected Aconex, the world's largest provider of construction collaboration technology, to manage all project documentation and correspondence.
Through using Aconex, all participants were able to manage their documents and correspondence on one online platform, allowing them to view, distribute and track their files electronically at any time and from any location.
For project team members, it soon became apparent that using Aconex was more efficient than previous systems, due to it streamlining time-consuming manual processes. From when the project started using Aconex in the demolition phase in October 2004, project participants have used the system to store, share and manage more than 175,000 documents and 435,000 pieces of correspondence, which are securely archived and can be accessed at any time.
Users can search for their data using criteria such as date ranges, sender and recipient details, document types, status and keywords. Files can then be distributed between project team members via the system. Jon Munce, Multi Development UK's Senior Project Manager, said, "Aconex has contributed substantially to the efficiency of information flow. The system makes it easy to retrieve and distribute information and locate our files, which saves time on the project."
A key feature of Aconex is its audit trail that keeps a record of document revisions and 'who did what and when' on a project. The trail provides a secure archive of every transaction since the beginning of the project including every document revision, effectively eliminating the risk of losing important data.
"The audit trail is invaluable. It reduces our risk of working from outdated drawings and reduces the potential for human error," said Munce. "We have experienced the time and cost of losing information in the past as, even when using email, important information can be deleted." He added, "Using Aconex to control our information is of enormous benefit to the project."
"Aconex has contributed substantially to the efficiency of information flow. The system makes it easy to retrieve and distribute information and locate our files, which saves time on the project."
Jon Munce, Senior Project Manager Multi Development UK
White City Development
The Project
In 2004, Multiplex Constructions commenced the design-build of London's £600 million White City development.
The scope of the project incorporates approximately 200,000 square metres of shopping centre with 4 anchor stores and 270 retail outlets, a 13,000 square metres leisure complex and parking for 4,500 cars. The development also comprises a major transport element with the linking of three London Underground stations and a 16 line underground depot.
Client Requirements
For a project of this scale, involving thousands of documents being transmitted between project participants, Multiplex identified the requirement for an effective information management solution that would centralise information for faster access and transparency and manage their data throughout the entire project life-cycle.
The Solution
Multiplex Constructions used and assessed a number of collaboration and information management systems from around the world before choosing Aconex to manage all project information and correspondence for the White City development.
The Aconex system replaces traditional, paper-based methods of document storage, and enables project participants to distribute, track, search and archive all project information online from any location, any time.
Jim McGreevy, Director of Multiplex Constructions, said: "After detailed review of the web collaboration systems available for the construction industry, Aconex was found to be easy to use and is now our preferred service provider."
The Results
As of November 2005, Aconex has managed more than 600,000 mail and document transmittals between over 1,600 users on the White City project.
Through streamlining information exchange and facilitating project collaboration, the Aconex system has increased Multiplex's control and productivity, and reduced its administrative costs and exposure to risk.
"After detailed review of the web collaboration systems available for the construction industry, Aconex was found to be easy to use and is now our preferred service provider."
Jim McGreevy, Director of Multiplex Constructions
Bluestone choose Aconex for NHS projects
Bluestone are one of Britain’s leading construction service providers to communities across the country, including the design, construction and refurbishment of hospitals, schools, and other public buildings.
With numerous design and construction projects across the UK, Bluestone requires a comprehensive information control and tracking system. Bluestone have chosen Aconex for several NHS projects.
“Online collaboration is undoubtedly the way of the future for the construction industry,” says John Howard, Bluestone’s Pre-Construction Manager. “Aconex has improved our processes, bringing them all together from disparate systems into one logical network.”
Aconex enables allows all project partners to share, mark-up, approve and archive all documentation and correspondence online through one secure login site. Plans, drawings, and 3D models are stored online and viewed on the screen rather than downloaded by each user.
“Aconex has helped us to handle a great deal of detailed information more easily,” Howard says.
“One of the great benefi ts is that every piece of information is updated to the current version, so there is no confl ict of information,” Howard says. “We’ve set up our own collaboration library of information, where we store and share information pertinent to project on a more general nature.”
For Bluestone, this feature provides considerable savings. “We don’t have to waste time and money printing, photocopying, and distributing,” Howard says. “Aconex has saved us the cost of teams of people.”
A complete, searchable documentation trail is automatically generated throughout the lifecycle of the project - from design, build and construction through to facilities management and redevelopment.
Comprehensive, searchable archives are particularly important for public and commercial buildings with regular upgrade requirements.
Bluestone has a network of 23 offices across England and Wales and is backed by parent company Morgan Sindall PLC.
"Internet collaboration is undoubtedly the way of the future for our industry. Aconex has helped us to handle a great deal of information more efficiently."
John Howard, Pre-Construction Manager Bluestone plc