This week, we hear from Paul Avery, a technical specialist in emerging transportation technologies from our Transportation business in Austin, Texas. Paul shares why and how he and his team have developed a process and digital tool called AV-Readi^TM for evaluating the level of readiness for automated vehicle (AV) deployment on roadways.

The tool, which was developed in collaboration with Corby Schaub, a GIS specialist in our Data Practice Group, and Akik Patel, a transportation planner, seeks to demystify the automated vehicles technology, focusing on transit and freight applications, for infrastructure owner operators (IOOs), such as Department of Transportation, tollway authorities, and transit agencies, as well as automated vehicle industry developers and manufacturers.

Tell us more about AV-Readi and how it helps bring clarity to the automated vehicle deployment technology.

In 2018, we formed the Automated Bus Consortium (ABC) with more than a dozen founding public transit agency members. The goal was to incentivize the development of full-sized, 40-foot SAE Level 4 automated transit buses—one of the highest degrees of automation possible—and their deployment on existing bus routes.

At the time though, there was no standard process for evaluating the feasibility of deploying an AV on a roadway. This was in part because the technical capabilities of AVs exist along a broad range of maturity levels and their true capabilities are often not publicly disclosed. To successfully deploy AVs, this issue of deployment first had to be solved. AV-Readi^TM was our solution.

AV-Readi^TM is a process and set of digital tools, and is comprised of two major components, each with a similar but distinct purpose. The first component, called complexity analysis, evaluates the roadway in detail, identifying the location, as well as the type of challenges to deployment along the roadway. This data can lead to specific insights into infrastructure or technology enhancements that may improve readiness.

The secondary, optional assessment is higher level. It evaluates the roadway as a whole, identifying attributes that help or hinder deployment. These attributes, however, are not tied to a specific location. Rather, they inform the automation process itself, and help optimize vehicle behavior.

With AV-Readi, we’ve assessed almost 7,000 miles of roadway across the United States and Canada. For our transit agency and IOO clients, our analysis has enabled them to make an informed route selection for the effective deployment of a full-sized automated transit bus along existing routes. For our industry clients, it has identified routes that would minimize the impact to local communities by ensuring large freight vehicles do not transit their streets.

What was a key challenge you faced while working on this project? How did you solve it?

One of the key challenges facing the ABC is that standard processes do not yet exist for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of automated driving systems. While the ABC’s transit agencies needed to select an existing service route for AV deployment, it wasn’t clear which were the safest or most effective.

I saw an opportunity to utilize my deep industry experience in the development of automated vehicles and Corby’s expertise in GIS data processing and visualization to create a process and tool to assess and visualize the feasibility of routes. AV-Readi^TM was the result—and contains several innovations.

Our first innovation was to quantify complexity.

To capture challenges across each route, we began splitting routes into segments within a GIS environment according to vehicle behaviors, such as braking, merging, accelerating, and other actions. We then coded these segments according to the difficulty of these behaviors to create an overall complexity index to compare routes. Using this index, agencies could easily assess which routes were favorable for AV deployment.

But even as we split routes into segments, we still wanted to assess them holistically. Our solution was the secondary analysis discussed above, which I developed with Corby and Akik Patel, a transportation planner in Austin.

This analysis assesses the environmental attributes across the whole route and determines if those attributes enable or hinder deployment on that route. The process produces a separate set of index values, which can be combined with the complexity analysis to provide a more holistic assessment of the deployment readiness.

Working on AV deployment presents many opportunities to innovate, as the field is growing rapidly. While these are just two of our more recent innovations, The AV-Readi^TM tool is continuously evolving so we can offer more analysis for our clients more efficiently, and the results continue to be validated by feedback from our clients.

How has this experience shaped your approach to future work using AV-Readi?

The development of AV-Readi^TM is ongoing, and with each new project, the team is leveraging additional capabilities and incorporating new situations. As it has developed, it’s attracted international attention, and may soon be applied to projects in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The team is also focusing on preparing AV-Readi^TM as a software as a service (SaaS) model to make it more accessible across ArchTam, and developing training for our professionals so they can offer this service to their local clients.

Want to learn more about AV-Readi^TM and how it is making a positive impact for IOOs and the AV industry? Follow the links below to dive deeper.

• The Automated Bus Consortium
• Automated Bus Consortium issues RFP to acquire 70 automated buses | Intelligent Transport
• Decarbonizing Transportation – AV-Readi

The post Deep Dive with Paul Avery appeared first on Blog.

Singapore is considered to be one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. They are heavily dependent on rainfall due to a lack of natural water resources, while the scarcity of land limits their ability to store it in large quantities. But as climate change continues to affect the region, higher temperatures and drier weather has created even further issues for maintaining a healthy and accessible water supply.

In their continuous mission to strengthen water supply resilience, Singapore has built the world’s first large scale dual-mode desalination plant, the Keppel Marina East Desalination Plant (KMEDP). To meet the increasing needs of the region most efficiently, KMEDP has the capacity to treat both freshwater and seawater. Capable of producing up to 36 million gallons (137,000 cubic meters) of fresh drinking water a day over a period of 25 years, KMEDP is crucial to providing Singapore with a reliable and sustainable source of clean water.

ArchTam was appointed as the project engineer by Keppel Infrastructure to provide innovative solutions for overcoming the design, construction and control challenges around KMEDP. We provided process and mechanical design, testing and commissioning services, and the development of a 3D model of the proposed plant. We also created a virtual model of the KMEDP to give the client a more holistic view of the plant during construction stage and the potential for future operation and maintenance.

Located in the Marina East area of Singapore, the KMEDP is within close proximity to both the urban catchment Marina Bay reservoir and the Singapore Strait, leading to the Indian Ocean. As a world’s first, the plant is fully fitted with dual water intake, pulling water from both sources to accommodate water shortages in the area’s reservoir

Our engineering design uses a dual flow chamber link to two water source intakes. The water passes through a pre-treatment process using flocculation and dissolved air flotation, followed by ultrafiltration from a two-pass reverse osmosis system, and post-treatment using ultraviolet disinfection.

This resilient design is more energy efficient compared to a typical desalination plant since fresh water utilizes less energy than seawater during the desalination process. In addition, KMEDP also implements other features for optimized energy efficiency, such as direct coupling and permeate split.

Governed by our good design and engineering excellence, the KMEDP breaks away from conventional treatment plants. It sits against the backdrop of Singapore’s Central Business District skyline and features 215,000 square foot (20,000 square meter) of open green space on the rooftop for community recreation as well as a viewing gallery for observing the treatment process. It was also developed with environment-friendly features such as rainwater harvesting, where rainwater is collected and used to irrigate the green roof and support the facility’s water features and landscaping needs.

As climate change and other factors continue to impact conditions in communities around the world, it’s important to keep a forward-thinking approach when it comes to leveraging our resources. Innovation like KMEDP can keep the water running in areas that are heavily stricken by scarcities while providing hope that infrastructure opportunities will continue to succeed in changing the outcomes of the growing water crisis.

Photo courtesy of Keppel Corporation

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Vehicle electrification can stimulate the economy, create jobs and, by reducing carbon emissions and other pollution, address inequity, protect our environment and improve public health. Here, we examine current and future policy and funding mechanisms needed to advance this equitable, clean and economically advantageous form of transportation.

Where we are

As we write this blog, the federal government has yet to develop meaningful targeted policies, funding mechanisms or regulations to advance vehicle electrification. States and localities are pressing ahead, working independently of the federal government to develop innovative policies that will advance the transition.

Vehicle electrification is progressing. States like California and New York are taking aggressive approaches establishing initiatives with specific policies and targets tied to utility and transportation sustainability, and climate action goals. The California Air Resources Board is mandating that fleet vehicles across the state be electrified by 2040. Progress is not limited to the coasts. Some of the most aggressive policies are coming from the Midwest and Mountain states. In 2018, Colorado established a comprehensive plan to develop fast-charging corridors across the state. In Illinois, the governor has pledged that his state will be the best place in the United States to drive or manufacture an electric vehicle as part of his published plan, “Eight Principles for a Clean and Renewable Illinois Economy.” Together, those states have pledged to have 1.7 million EVs on state roads by 2030. Both are part of comprehensive approaches aimed at creating jobs, reducing pollution, tackling the climate crisis and ensuring that all communities benefit from the transition to a clean energy economy. They aren’t alone — more states and cities are expected to roll out their own policies once they determine which are successful for early adopters.

Utilities are studying policies to expand energy generation and grid capacity as they work to meet the expected new surge of energy demand resulting from vehicle electrification. Generation increases are expected to come from renewables such as solar, so utilities are opening studies to determine how to best optimize financial and performance success when connecting clean energy sources to battery storage. Careful planning is required to develop a grid that can move energy where and when its needed. As part of this effort, governments and utilities are undertaking studies and projections of when and how people will charge to determine grid impacts and costs.

Funding requires flexibility

Even as states work on policies to accelerate electrification, funding possibilities must be expanded to ensure accelerated goals are met. We work with utilities, regional planners and fleet operators across the country developing options to prioritize investments, tapping new financing strategies and targeting incentives to accelerate electric vehicle adoption, so that e-charging infrastructure is available and affordable.

From that work, we recognize that paying for needed upgrades and charging infrastructure for fleet, transit and personal vehicles can be a major consideration. While there are a few federal grant opportunities available, there are other varied arrays of funding opportunities that can help with the costs. These include traditional incentives from utilities, as well as local and state transportation grants. And, in some instances, states and localities are developing public-private partnerships as one more strategy to innovate on the delivery side of this new infrastructure.

Partnerships: A winning proposition

States, municipalities, regional and local agencies, and utilities have a mutual interest in advancing electrification and are developing partnerships to move the process along. Partnerships provide benefits for all concerned.

Utilities benefit from new customers, a key consideration for an industry where demand has been historically flat. Municipalities and states will see new revenue sources resulting from infrastructure investments, utility taxes and use-based franchise fees. Agencies can reduce systems costs as electrification enables transit networks to run more efficiently with less required maintenance. Importantly, communities will see improved environmental and health benefits through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution tied to transportation.

So where do we go from here?

The transition to electrification would benefit from a national policy addressing climate change and clear policy targets requiring electrification, sending a strong signal to the markets to boost already significant and aggressive technology investment. Setting this aside, it falls to the state and municipal governments and utilities to prioritize carbon reduction and organize their policies and programs so that vulnerable communities are prioritized for the economic and public health benefits that transportation electrification can deliver.

Some states have established aggressive carbon targets and ask utilities to help meet these goals. This is often accomplished by incentivizing customer behaviors, providing rebates for actions such as installing energy-efficient light bulbs to conserve energy. Similar incentive programs are being rolled out for electric vehicles and charging infrastructure, and increasingly, these programs place equity at the center of program design and delivery.

From government actions to private investments and stronger partnerships, innovative solutions are being developed and tested across the country and the lessons we can learn from those innovations are clear. If we want to get the most from transportation electrification investments, our policies must encourage and require a clear connection between climate action, economic opportunity and equity. Even the most aggressive actions by state and local governments still need an active and supportive federal partner to engage the private sector if we want to ensure that we recover from our current public health and economic crisis and build a future that is healthy, sustainable and inclusive.

The post Energizing Our Future: Policy and Funding for Electric Vehicles appeared first on Blog.

Earlier this year, ArchTam created and launched an interactive web-based tool called the Virtual Consultation Room, which enables our clients around the world to engage and consult interested stakeholders from their computer or mobile device, simulating the community meeting experience in a virtual environment. In addition to providing a safer environment for participation during the coronavirus pandemic, the Virtual Consultation Room creates a more flexible and inclusive approach to community engagement. This tool allows our clients to reach a wider audience — beyond those who might be able to attend traditional in-person meetings — including those with physical limitations.

In the past six months, our Virtual Consultation Room platform was visited more than one million times. We have had the pleasure of working with top clients across the globe with an outstanding, 100 percent customer satisfaction rating, including from clients such as the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy, Public Health England, the City of San Diego, Highways England, Roche, Georgia Department of Transportation, among others.

“The Virtual Room was simple and fast to deliver. It gave us an easy-to-implement solution to meet challenging and unforeseen circumstances. Yet at the same time there was the opportunity to flex the product so it better suited our needs. A big benefit for us was that it didn’t slow down the timing of the consultation, or our overall project programme. You were able to mobilise the product quickly and efficient in delivery.” – Melissa Williams, Senior Communications Manager, Highways England

Through the new platform, clients can curate a virtual stakeholder engagement event to show consultation materials including virtual reality and sound demonstrations, videos, maps, plans and pop-up banners, just as people would experience at an in-person engagement. There is also a chat function for on-hand experts to remotely answer questions as visitors view the materials, further simulating what would happen at an in-person event. The tool allows for instant feedback, so public comments can be captured and saved for analysis, and to ensure accurate reporting.

“I’m delighted to announce that Roche was the first company in Ireland to use innovative virtual consultation technology to share plans for the decommissioning of its Clarecastle site with the public. The technology, developed by ArchTam , enabled us to display a series of information boards about the project in a dynamic virtual room and undertake live chats with the public.” – Gerry Cahill, Roche Managing Director/ Site Head, Ireland

Prior to the global pandemic, digital tools were already featured heavily during ArchTam’s in-person community engagement events — including 360-degree Virtual Reality (VR), visualizations, sentiment mapping, sound demonstrations and interactive apps — so the logical next step was to bring them all together into one digital platform.

The adoption of digital tools and processes has differentiated ArchTam from its peers in the sector and helped us work faster, smarter and better, and our industry is benefiting from improvements in quality, cost and schedule. As clients and communities start experiencing the benefits — in terms of savings, collaboration, efficiencies, better environmental, social and governance outcomes, and more effective operation and maintenance — we’ll continue to bring to market new digital and innovation offerings that will reshape the infrastructure industry.

“The Virtual Meeting Room developed by ArchTam to support Fort Benning’s HOMMTA public notice period provided participants with a platform that delivered the necessary materials and information to effectively conduct our virtual public meeting. This platform enabled Fort Benning to use modern digital capabilities to adapt to the COVID environment.” – U.S Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District

If we are to build a better world for generations to come, we need all members of our society to be active, vocal participants in the process. Virtual public consultation, incorporating VR, is a powerful tool in achieving societal equity and improving our built environment for our communities.

I would like to thank the people who helped bring the Virtual Consultation tool to life and make it a success. Through their hard work and innovative approach to problem solving, Andy Thomas, Xavier Xia and Jamie Lord were able to bring this offering to market quickly and ensure our clients’ work kept moving forward.

The post Achieving social equity through virtual reality appeared first on Blog.

As the coronavirus pandemic challenges our traditional concepts of space, Underground Cities is a timely invitation to look at how this largely untapped resource can open up vast amounts of space both below and above ground for people to use and enjoy in innovative ways.

The book is structured around five key themes:

• A New Frontier considers visionary blank-slate planning geared toward legacy-building and livability.
• People-Centered Spaces shares research and examples on making the Earth’s subsurface viable and appealing for human habitation.
• Moving People, Transporting Goods examines new infrastructure systems that have the potential to redefine mobility and, in turn, cities.
• New Techniques of Representation looks at the digital innovations that are expanding the boundaries of what we can successfully plan, design and deliver.
• Looking Forward provides case studies of three densely-populated cities — Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo — and explores how they are integrating the subsurface in new and unique ways.

Underground Cities features contributions from ArchTam experts on topics ranging from architecture to geotechnical engineering and social science.

• “With advances in technology and the invention of new materials and tools, what is feasible enters a new dimension. It is time to redefine the underground.” Sean Chiao, President, Asia Pacific
• “Cities are vital living organisms that need to adapt to survive. To be able to respond to today’s rapidly changing conditions, they must start putting people – and all their manifest needs – at the heart of their underground infrastructure.” Will Symons, Asia Pacific Resilience and Sustainability Practice Leader
• “The vitality of natural light can now be captured, in part at least, by artificial lighting systems that change color to replicate the visible cycles and qualities found in the natural environment.” Lee Barker-Field, Director, Specialist Lighting, Europe, Middle East & Africa
• “ArchTam, in collaboration with the Civil Engineering and Development Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has explored ways of integrating the latest Virtual Reality and photogrammetry technologies with more widely used techniques such as Building Information Modeling and 3D spatial data.” Thomson Lai, Greater China Digital Transformation & Innovation Team Leader
• “Far from being in the realm of science fiction, these ideas are based on the sensible science of civil engineering. We have barely scratched the surface (so to speak) of the world beneath our feet.” John Endicott, Asia Pacific Geotechnical, ArchTam Fellow

Learn more about Underground Cities here.

The book is now available for purchase on the Lund Humphries U.K. site and for pre-order on their U.S. site.

The post Exploring the potential for human civilizations underground appeared first on Blog.

Developing these solutions requires innovation and fundamental change — from the way we commute to the movement of goods to the establishment of our communities. It also requires new partnerships between states, municipalities, transit agencies and utilities. Implementing these changes can make our transportation systems greener, more sustainable and more equitable. There are three key goals to achieve for advancing this vital transition.

Accelerate adoption of greener vehicles and cleaner fuel
Electric vehicles have already started making an impact on our transportation system. By 2030, electric cars will make up about 28 percent of new car sales, a significant increase compared to the expected 2.7 percent sales increase for 2020. And even now, according to Electric Vehicles Outlook, this small increase is displacing 1 million barrels of daily oil demand.

After recognizing the impact of GHG emissions, states, cities’ utilities and transit agencies are converting conventional public vehicle fleets to electrified vehicles — a move that accelerates electrified vehicle adoption and advances state and local economies as well as social equity goals.

Implementing infrastructure that supports these vehicles creates jobs. A study conducted by the Political Economy Research Institute estimates that school and transit bus fleet electrification could create 280,000 jobs over the next five years. Reducing GHG emissions would improve cities’ air quality, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, which are often home to fleet vehicle terminals. A recent Ontario Public Health Association study showed that electrifying fleets has a social benefit of US$1.1 billion annually and can save up to 143 lives per year.

Policy changes also advance electric vehicle adoption. For example, in June, the California Air Resources Board mandated that all buses purchased in the state after 2030 should be electric and beginning in 2024, trucks must be zero emission. The Board has a goal to have all trucks zero be emission by 2045. All municipal buses in the state are expected to be electric by 2040 with more policy changes to follow that encourage the adoption of clean vehicles across the state. These mandates are being provided economic support. Congress’ proposed INVEST bill significantly increases grants to transit agencies that move to low or no emissions vehicles and provides billions to support transportation agencies aiming to reduce their carbon emissions.

Develop partnerships for electrification
Decarbonization requires strategies such as electrification and connecting mobility options. Oftentimes, success hinges on partnerships between groups that have not traditionally worked together and incentivizing shared risks and rewards that drive innovation. Collaborations between utilities, cities, public and private fleet owners, and landowners ensure we incorporate key issues like public health, access to mobility services, jobs and equity in infrastructure decisions.

Strategize and plan for the future of clean energy infrastructure
A cohesive, infrastructure development strategy is essential to enable clean energy use in our transportation networks. These strategies must extend beyond borders and include utilities that provide the energy for vehicles, making electric vehicles more attainable and cost effective. The objective is to put infrastructure in place that supports a range of clean energy solutions including microgrids, vehicle to grid, renewable power generation as well as charging facilities and smart infrastructure for electric vehicles.

A more resilient, sustainable transportation network requires a multi-level approach. With a robust ecosystem of clean energy solutions, partners including public transportation and transit agencies, utilities and private investors will be able to capitalize on a technology that promises improved efficiency and operations. By establishing a multi-faceted network, communities will benefit for years to come.

The post Imagining sustainable transportation: How new technologies and cleaner fuels can transform our transportation network appeared first on Blog.

Briefly tell us about yourself and your role at ArchTam

I’m a senior BIM manager responsible for setting BIM strategy for projects. Part of that includes introducing new workflows, selecting software technology stacks and introducing change management.

My work involves pushing digital methodologies that optimize BIM processes. On our latest project, Oriel Eye Hospital, we are using next-generation BIM software and process to bring virtual reality to stakeholders to better inform design decisions. Our design team meetings now take place in virtual reality with teams across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Leveraging Autodesk’s Construction Cloud platform, we have added value and innovation, reducing the need for 2D drawings.

Some fun facts about me are that I’m currently writing a digital catalogue on Venetian well heads and I have a YouTube channel, BIM Coffee.

What is your legacy? How do you make an impact?

At ArchTam, we have the potential like no other company to innovate and use digital tools, due to our variety of expertise and disciplines. We’re in a position to change the industry and improve how the industry works.

My proudest moments at work are when I get to demonstrate how the latest digital strategy can improve the design team’s working day. I enjoy seeing the sparkle in someone’s eyes when they realize the benefits and the improved communication. It’s rewarding to support and help improve the design process for project teams.

What’s next in infrastructure for you? How do you see that trend shaping the work you do today?

I believe technology will build a better world. Digital tools and BIM are a part of this, and help with reducing waste, having a more accurate product and allowing the built environment to benefit from digital transformation. It’s an astonishing time to be in AEC amidst Industry 4.0, also known as the fourth industrial revolution, and ArchTam is at the forefront of it.

What advice would you give to someone pursing a STEM education or a career in the AEC sector?

My advice would be to take online courses to stay up to date with the latest progressions made in cloud computing. Read the industry standards and attend as many industry events as you can, which are virtual during this time.

The post Building Legacies with Mark Clarkson appeared first on Blog.

Briefly tell us about yourself and your role at ArchTam.

I have been with ArchTam for six years as a virtual design construction engineer or Building Information Modeling (BIM) engineer.

I support projects in Dallas, Texas, over the entire construction process, from pursuit to construction to the project close-out phase. In my work, I manage and create digital representations of the physical characteristics of buildings. We build in 3D first and then we optimize the build, which means we get to know all the issues before we go to ground.

Essentially, we test new ways of building. This allows us to be a step ahead when we get to the site. Using virtual design helps flag areas that need to be addressed in advance or where we’ll have potential issues that waste time and resources.

By modeling the level of detail from design and fabrication to installation, we can create an accurate and data rich as-built model. We rely on the model and start building with certainty knowing the design has been tested. We basically build a project twice ― once in a virtual world and once on-site ― resulting in time and cost savings.

What is your legacy? How do you make an impact?

I hope to leave a legacy of “never stop learning.” This is what keeps me going, keeps my zest and zeal up and always motivates me to learn and adopt new tools and technologies.

The BIM industry is evolving every day with new trends emerging every moment. I feel proud when my work positively alters a project’s outcome and we deliver a lean project to the owner and the community. With the use of technology, sometimes the cost savings are huge and it is satisfying knowing I helped to do that.

What’s next in infrastructure for you? How do you see that trend shaping the work you do today?

There are a lot of new trends that are helping us with what we do every day when it comes to coordination through BIM technologies. To name a few, I seek to learn and grow more by using:

• 3D Printing: This helps us understand the dynamics, functioning and efficiency by analyzing a structure through its look and feel, which is not possible in 3D models.
• Prefabrication: This is something I see picking up speed in the near future where modular and prefabricated construction can reduce the time of the coordination project and increase its efficiency.
• Internet of Things (IoT): IoT has the potential to transform the entire BIM modeling and project installation process. IoT can simplify the process of data release to pre-fabrication workshops, general contractors and modelers. It can also help us a great deal in capturing real-time data that can be used to augment the design on the construction sites.

What advice would you give to someone pursing a STEM education or a career in the AEC sector?

Enhance your skill set: The AEC sector is dependent on specific technology tools. These tools are continuously being upgraded and new tools are being introduced into the market. My advice to the people wanting to build a career in this sector would be to keep up with the newest advancements and learn new tools and see how effectively these tools can be used on the projects they are going to work on.

Learn and apply: Applying lessons learned is another great advice which should be practiced as you are gaining experience from project to project. It would greatly affect the progression and completion of the project on-time and with good quality.

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The coronavirus crisis has shown just how essential innovation is. In response to the pandemic, we moved the majority of our 14,000 staff across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) to remote working — in some cases practically overnight. That was possible because we’d already invested in the technology and infrastructure to allow our teams to work remotely and with agility. However, we never anticipated working from home at this scale. When the pandemic first began, several of our leaders had reservations as to how this would work for a prolonged period of time for so many people. We’ve been able to not only sustain in this new working arrangement for more than three months, but also to thrive.

The coronavirus has forced the pace of change — and we need to keep that up. The lockdowns have prompted us to migrate more projects to secure cloud-based platforms and massively accelerate our BIM360 virtual training program to reach more than 400 people in each session. In doing so, we’ve been able to complete six months of in-person training in just a few weeks!

We’ve also seen how digital tools have enabled the super-rapid completion of projects during this crisis. We delivered the NHS Louisa Jordan coronavirus field hospital in Glasgow, Scotland, with zero defects in just three weeks, thanks to embedding dynamic digital tools to record and monitor defects in real time.

Overall outcomes of ArchTam’s digital transformation

The adoption of digital tools and processes has helped us work faster, smarter and better, and our clients are benefiting from improvements in quality, cost and schedule. We’re continually innovating and developing our own tools and processes such as the Reality Capture tool which visually captures on-site construction progress in minutes, and provides open access to all stakeholders to share information easily and efficiently.

I should also highlight a couple of other brilliant solutions such as the Playbook information management platform we’ve developed for LinkedIn and others, and the virtual public consultation tool developed by VR Lead Andy Thomas that is now being used by a number of councils in the UK, Public Health England and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. We have talented, insightful people who are bringing digital and innovation to the forefront of how we deliver spot-on solutions for our clients’ challenges.

Next steps

A full transition to making digital “business as usual” is the next step, and to do this we need to focus on skills. We want everyone at ArchTam to be able to design for and in the future. The 2D to 3D upskilling program we’re launching this year for more than1,000 people across EMEA is ambitious, but essential, and I’m excited to see where it will take us.

Upskilling more of our people is key to our success and we are embedding a strong digital and innovation culture through internal competitions such as our Mindblazer and Global Challenge programs. Ian Small, our EMEA Innovation Champion, has been sourcing fantastic solutions through these programs, which encourage innovation and ideas from any employee in any part of the company. Our EMEA Digital Project Delivery team has then been driving this innovation into projects, in partnership with our teams and clients. We’re seeing great outcomes as a result, such as the UK’s first Digital ES for the A303 project for Highways England.

The post-coronavirus recovery

Digital adoption is really a means to transforming outcomes for communities, and our off-site volumetric solution, INNO, that has been developed with Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, is helping to accelerate the delivery of much needed homes. Working virtually in BIM360, producing Design for Manufacture and Assemblydetailing, we’re able to deliver higher quality, low-carbon homes, in half the time. I’m hoping that success will breed further success and increase digital adoption in our industry.

Once clients start experiencing the benefits — the savings, collaboration, efficiencies, better environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes, and more effective operation and maintenance — we’ll start to tip the scales toward digital and innovation as commonplace in the construction industry.

We’re also supporting our clients in their digital transformation journeys as well as our own — delivering a more resilient way of working in the post-coronavirus recovery. The recent crisis has accelerated the transition and we need to build on that momentum. We are proud of the market-leading work we are delivering with the development and use of digital libraries and common data environments, both of which were invaluable to keep design and collaboration going in a virtual environment. As we come out of this crisis we can’t go back to business as usual — we want to accelerate the industry’s digital transformation and support communities in their recovery.

The post Digital transformation isn’t just ‘nice to have’ – it’s critical appeared first on Blog.

How is ArchTam weathering the coronavirus pandemic?

Steve: It hasn’t been without challenges, but I’m proud of how we’ve come together to support our people, our clients and our communities. The need to collaborate across the globe fueled our digital transformation several years ago, allowing us to quickly pivot to remote working as the pandemic spread, with up to 90 percent of our workforce becoming virtual. The feedback from our clients has been exceptional. We also have an amazing team of disaster response specialists in the U.S. who were able to rapidly mobilize in support of the pandemic response, helping our clients expand hospital capacity by thousands of beds in alternate medical care facilities. We also have a strong digital and innovation team that is helping our clients engage with the public virtually during this time. Like everyone, we still don’t know how the long-term economic impacts will play out, but we’ve kept a great team together, built a strong foundation and are actively engaged in helping companies and states plan a safe return-to-service and a better normal.

What role has innovation played in your pandemic response?

Steve: It’s been critical. From the earliest days of the pandemic, I’ve been receiving messages saying, “what if we do this?”; “have we considered this approach?” and so on. I’ve always known we have some of the brightest minds in the industry, but to see what’s possible when we are all united by a common purpose — in this case, a crisis — has been incredible.

Orla: Yes, exactly. And it’s not just new ideas either. We’ve invented brand-new apps and service offerings, of course, but we’ve also repurposed existing digital solutions in new and exciting ways that we didn’t anticipate prior to this crisis. The urgency of the pandemic helped expedite early-stage innovations like our virtual consultation tool and it unlocked the potential of earlier innovations to new use cases like our Mobilitics^TM scenario planning platform. Witnessing a company as large as ArchTam innovate at the speed of a startup has been an incredible experience.

Can you give an example of an ArchTam innovation driven by the pandemic?

Orla: I come from a transportation background so I may be biased, but one of my favorites is the reimagining of our Mobilitics^TM platform. A few years ago, a team of traffic planners and engineers won ArchTam’s Global Challenge innovation contest with an idea to use census data to model travel demand scenarios and inform the decision-making process of transportation agencies around questions such as:

• How will electric vehicles change traffic patterns?
• Will autonomous vehicles change our needs for parking space?

With seed money from the challenge, Mobilitics^TM was born. When the coronavirus crisis began, the team quickly realized the potential of combining the tool with big data to help address issues such as which people can come back to work and from what neighborhoods, and which areas will have the most traffic given stages of reopening. We partnered with big data providers to introduce geospatial dimensions to the data set and rewrote the algorithms. The result is a platform that can help transit agencies determine which trains or buses to put into service, at what capacity, frequency and timetable based on parameters shaped by the coronavirus pandemic. It takes the trial-and-error out of a return to service.

Steve: There are so many examples, but one of my favorites that I’m following closely is the ability to detect coronavirus in wastewater. Our water specialists are involved in wastewater testing and plant design for almost all of the major treatment plants in the United States. Through a combination of client relationships, deep experience in the science of wastewater and global studies that have proven the ability to detect the virus in wastewater, our team has developed a strategy to implement nationwide COVID-19 wastewater sampling, testing and analysis. The implications for this innovation are tremendous as states begin to test reopening of businesses. The more data available about this virus that we can get into the hands of scientists and public health officials — the better their ability to make decisions.

Much has been written about the difficulty of harnessing innovation. How did you do it?

Steve: We hired Orla. Well, only partially kidding. We’ve recognized for some time now that the keys to competitiveness are collaboration and innovation. It’s what our clients want and should expect from us. As important, innovation is also the key to retaining great people. No one wants to work in a design factory. The best and brightest want to work for a company that challenges them and rewards out-of-the-box thinking. It is no coincidence for me, that the more we focus on innovation and technical excellence, the more our team members want to stay at ArchTam.

Orla: It takes a holistic approach and support from leadership — and we have that in Steve and all of our senior leaders. It’s also critical that innovation not be relegated to a one-off initiative; it must become part of the fabric of employee experience, which is why the first pillar of innovation we deployed was around people. We’ve tried to do that in a number of ways. The Global Challenge I mentioned earlier is an innovation competition, looking for the next big idea. Each year, winners receive a share of a $1 million prize to further develop their idea. The consistency of this challenge and the “no-kidding-this-has-gone-to-market” part about it has made it incredibly powerful. We also realize that sometimes, an innovation might not be the next big global idea, but it can still have major impact on a local level. To harvest and reward these smaller ideas with a big impact, we’ve launched Mindblazer innovation challenges, which are quicker challenges that reward winners with time to move their ideas forward.

In addition, we’ve set up a group of nearly 200 early career “Innovation Agents” to help drive the culture throughout the organization and an Innovation Council to help steer what can be a big ship with the soul of a speedboat. Telling the story of innovation is also critical. Every year, we celebrate our top 10 innovative projects. We produce Innominutes — 60-second videos about recent innovations — and Innovation Showcases, which are deeper dives with Q&A. Keeping it all together is strong leadership commitment. I believe this foundation has been a critical component to our coronavirus response.

That’s a lot. What’s next?

Steve: I know I don’t just speak for myself when I say we are hoping for a quick end to the pandemic. Realistically though, we know there is a long way to go — in helping clients safely return to operations and developing a measured, phased return to service. We also know that what we are returning to will be different than what we left. But some things will remain the same. I have been particularly impressed with how our clients have continued to focus on key issues like sustainability and social equity throughout the pandemic. How do we take the best of what we’ve seen, engineer resilient solutions to the vulnerabilities that have been exposed and design, build, engineer and plan for a better normal? How do we ensure that we get the best possible returns on much-needed stimulus funding? Those are the questions we are helping clients with today.

Orla: The path ahead isn’t easy, but I’m energized by the promise of a better normal. The coronavirus has forced the world’s biggest pilot of digital work/life. It has created the greatest experiment in CO₂ reduction the world has ever seen, and it has forced widespread behavior changes in record time. The question I’m asking is, how can we design infrastructure that continues these positive gains so that we aren’t just creating a new normal but a better normal?  A better normal must also be a resilient one; our industry has so much to offer in designing systems and structures that can withstand the shocks and stressors of pandemics, weather events and all types of future uncertainties.

We’re crowdsourcing ideas on a better normal from our employees and are convening clients, policy makers and thought leaders in a virtual hackathon to “hack a better normal” with multiple perspectives and creative problem solving. Solving problems is our profession and our passion, and this crisis will undoubtedly be the mother of many more innovations to come.

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