T2 Allianz Helsinki-Vantaa Airport won the Tekla BIM Awards 2021 and was also a public favourite. The jury appreciated that, in addition to the extensive use of information modelling in the project, the workflow of a large project was able to flow from one party to another in a model-based way. A particular feature of the project was the high design volume, which required careful coordination. The public justified the choice on the basis of, among other things, the beautiful and innovative architecture and the combination of materials at the heart of the international visibility.
The T2 Terminal project involved user groups at an early stage in virtual safaris using data models to test the functionality of the terminal areas. The construction took place in the middle of an existing airport, but the level of service was maintained by carefully planning the user experience of the temporary access routes. The precise scheduling of the frame structure enabled the building services to be carried out at will, and the fire modelling, for example, was considered particularly worthy of attention. The terminal was commissioned in December 2021.
Finavia requires extensive use of information model data during and after construction
- As a responsible airport operator, our task is above all to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers," says Kari Ristolainen, Head of Planning at Finavia, which commissioned the T2 project. "An airport is never finished, as needs and objectives change with the world. We can't fully predict what will happen in the future, but we try to anticipate the operational needs 20 to 30 years from now. We have been implementing our sustainable development programme for 10 years now, with the help of international actors, and part of it is a comprehensive information modelling strategy. To ensure safety and comfort, we pay attention to the smallest details.
- This project involved an exceptionally large number of stakeholders, Ristolainen continues, - and almost all modes of transport are involved, except shipping; a wide range of activities and actors, including the Regional State Administrative Agency. This is why the virtual safaris involving stakeholders were launched 8 years ago. We wanted to prevent problems before the actual project started. The safaris allowed us to communicate effectively with stakeholders on issues such as accessibility, which is one of the most important issues at the airport. It is important to prevent getting lost, tripping, slipping and other hazards through, for example, adequate and correctly targeted lighting, visibility and sufficiently wide aisles. Through computer modelling, we can simulate a safe and accessible environment and practice knowledge management.
With information modelling, we can simulate a safe and accessible environment and practice knowledge management," says Kari Ristolainen, Head of Planning at Finavia, which commissioned the T2 project.
- There is little data at the start of the project, but it will become more accurate closer to construction. Finavia's first breakthrough in information modelling was the Non-Schengen extension on the west side of the airport. It was completed in 2009 and used data transfer in IFC format. The documentation has to be accurate enough to be relied upon as a starting point for the modifications, and if something is missing, we use laser scanning to get accurate information about the structures. Now, when the T2 modifications started, we were able to use the structural model that had been perfected over time.
The pandemic benefited the project in the sense that it reduced the number of passengers. It also accelerated the use of virtual tools in the Big Room, where all solutions and decisions could be reviewed in advance, engaging a wide range of experts, service providers and contractors, both on-site and on the big screen. Decision-makers received the necessary information in a timely and illustrative format to understand what to commit to, and this created confidence in the design organisation and the construction process. There was no need to wait for decisions to be made, and they could be confident that the right decisions had been made," says Ristolainen.
- For Finavia, the biggest achievement of the nearly half a billion euro project was that the new national landmark with its architecturally impressive wooden roofs was completed ahead of schedule and within budget. The investment in planning really paid off. Raisio's carpenters supplied more than 500 roof elements, none of which had to be returned to the factory, and all the installations were completed on time - thanks to everyone," Ristolainen sums up.
For SRV, extensive information modelling is extremely important to understand the overall picture of a large project
- "Information modelling was used at all stages of the project and was used by all key parties," says Pekka Korhonen, Head of Planning at the main contractor SRV. "In a project like this, information modelling is extremely important for the main contractor to understand large and complex issues and to ensure the compatibility and feasibility of the plans. The basic use of the information model in the site office is cost and quantity surveying. In addition, the data models were used to manage schedules by creating a 4D schedule of the body delivery, and using the models to monitor the stability of the design schedules. Overall, the project was demanding because it was so large and centrally located. A special feature was the phasing of the construction. There were several changes in traffic patterns and passenger routes, and at all times it was necessary to maintain an excellent level of safety and passenger satisfaction. Under these challenging circumstances, I think we managed very well.
- Information modelling was used at all stages of the project, and was used by all key parties, says Pekka Korhonen, Design Manager of the main contractor SRV
- "They transferred their production data directly into the Trimble Connect model, so we could monitor the status of precast production at the factory in real time from the cloud model: which elements were going into production, already in production, ready for delivery or already on site. The snapshot allowed us to keep to a tight frame schedule and avoid almost all intermediate storage on site when there was no space. Trimble Connect was also used by infrastructure provider Kreate Oy to view the model virtually throughout the implementation phase.
- The information model played an important role in the production of the will, especially in the design phase. In a complex project, the pace areas should be roughly equal in terms of workload. The data model was able to simulate different scenarios of the pacing zones and in this way select the optimal zones. Once the areas were locked in, it was possible to monitor workload changes within the pacing areas as the planning progressed and to anticipate resource needs," says Korhonen.
- The data model was used to examine the risk areas on the site and to check that the safety plans were adequately prepared for safety at work. The UDA attribute data defined by the users was used extensively, for example to mark contractor boundaries; this made it possible to visualise the contractors' responsibilities in different colours, which was very useful because traditionally, especially infrastructure contract boundaries are not clearly drawn on cut and fill drawings. In this case, we had a complete understanding of what was included in the contract," explains Korhonen.
- In such a project, information modelling is a necessity. We were able to tighten the original schedule by four months, which would have been impossible without the strong will and commitment of all parties involved. In recent years, there have been huge advances in information modelling, and with the acceleration and development of general knowledge and software, models are increasingly being used on sites. Nowadays, the software also works on mobile devices, which is important on the site. There is still room for improvement in machine readability and data integration. In a giant project, product data management also takes time, and I would like to see software developers come up with handy solutions for that," says Korhonen.
In such a project, information modelling is a necessity. We were able to tighten the original schedule by four months, which would have been impossible without the strong will and commitment of all parties involved.
Pekka Korhonen, Design Manager, SRV
- The project was successful in information modelling at many levels and in a comprehensive way. The coordination with the contractor of the building services for the upper floor of the terminal and the impressive lower ceiling is a good example of this, continuing with flawless production and on-time installation. It was a great display of teamwork from all of us. The project also won the Site of the Year award. The cooperation and information flow of the great alliance team was helped by the information modelling," Korhonen sums up.
Matching the structures of the impressive wooden ceiling in the entrance hall would not have been possible without computer modelling
- A practical example of the role and level of information modelling in the structural design of a project was a two-stage development to retrieve the geometry of the roof of the terminal's departure hall, says Pekka Turunen, department manager at Ramboll. "We modelled not only the steel structures, but also their suspensions and service bridges, and the building services engineer modelled his piping. Without the computer modelling, there would have been no way of reconciling them. We received a Rhinoceros model from the architect, which automatically fed the data into the calculation program, and thus the water flows and geometry were checked.
- "We designed and implemented many different buildings in a dynamic environment at the same time: the terminal, the shared parking facility on the ring line, the infrastructure areas and the entire airport environment with its temporary arrangements. The biggest single successes were the on-time delivery and the quality of the structures. The alliance allowed the designers to be more involved on site than usual, and the close collaboration on site provided important lessons and good practice for future projects. The building services models came directly to our server, which meant that we could import TATE data in real time into the structural model in Tekla Structures, enabling close coordination and real-time monitoring. The key is good engineering skills that drive innovation. We have a brave and innovative team, and when they are given freedom and authority, good things happen.
We modelled not only the steel structures, but also their suspensions and service bridges, and the building services engineer modelled his piping. Without computer modelling, there would have been no way of reconciling them.
Pekka TurunenDepartment Manager Ramboll
- We created a dedicated ecosystem for the project in Rhinoceros software," says Heikki Arvio, Department Manager at Ramboll.- The geometry received from the architects as a surface model was exported to the calculation program, where the load-bearing structures of the timber ceiling were dimensioned, which in turn were exported directly to the Tekla Structures model. Joints were also dimensioned and detailed using the same ecosystem. Whenever the architect's input data was updated, the process could be carried out very efficiently and the structures were also updated in the model. Trimble Connect was used with the product suppliers for the parking garage. The scheduling and installation sequence for the element design was implemented in Trimble Connect, allowing real-time monitoring and keeping track of what was happening on site.
The spirit of the project team was one of experimenting with new ways of doing things and being brave enough to put them into practice.
Heikki ArvioDepartment Manager Ramboll
- All in all, there were more than 400 models in the project, which is a huge number," Arvio continues. "The most important thing is to design a common set of rules and get the team to follow them, and to monitor and develop the process during the project as you gain experience of how things work. In order to achieve the building services engineering will, the collaboration between the design team and the site had to be taken to an unprecedented level of detail so that everyone knew what was happening on site and at what stage each status was at. At the most active stage, we had around 150 designers, and in total, hundreds of designers at different stages. Traditionally, information was transferred via the project bank and by continuously sharing IFC templates. Trimble Connect and Tekla Structures native models were also used extensively, as well as other cloud-based solutions for faster, up-to-date data transfer between project partners. In addition to drawings and models from different design disciplines, the source data included exceptionally large point clouds and the models generated from them, as well as data from previous project phases. At least more than 30 different software packages were used. Tekla Model Sharing was used, and Ramboll's model had a total of more than 100 users from about 8 different organisations. The structural model could be shared very widely with different groups, and the product suppliers had their own Tekla Structures models that we could use. The alliance model gave us the opportunity and also the obligation to experiment with new solutions. There was a spirit in the project team to try new ways and to be bold in putting them into practice.
The data model coordinator acts as an impartial party, freeing the designers for design work
Finavia's long-term partner Gravicon acted as the project's data model coordinator and general expert in data modelling.
- "We were already involved in 2014 in the development of Finavia's information modelling strategy and specifications for the development programme, and we know how Finavia wants to implement the project," says information modelling expert and team leader Sami Mikonheimo. "In this project, we defined in the early stages how laser scanning data should be created and utilised in planning. The project used data models to create the entire repertoire of what can be done with them today. The main advantage of a data model consultant for a project is to act as an impartial party in support of both the client and the designers. We make sure that the design material produced fits together as well as possible, warn if the whole is in danger of going wrong, and report on the progress of the design. We also provide guidance, for example, on how to wedge sections to be dismantled and how to wedge the data to match the future design data, and make file changes.
- From a coordination point of view, the challenge was the large construction volume of the project, divided into several areas that were built in parallel, says Mikonheimo. "The interface alignment brought by the phasing was very challenging, but on the other hand, it was carried out by a good team of professionals. Everyone understood the importance of having a dialogue both verbally and by combining data models. The airport as an environment posed its own challenges because of the many different technologies. In terms of computer modelling, an airport is almost as complex an environment as a hospital. It took a lot of work to coordinate all the different technologies within a tight schedule. Airport technology has its own product component modelling, and in this case the impressive architecture of the lower ceiling also posed a challenge. The airport also has strict specifications on how the construction is to be carried out, and this has some impact on the work of the data model coordinator. For example, there are classified areas where details must not appear in the public model.
- The number of composite models was influenced by the fact that the project was divided into five different sub-areas, each with at least one composite model plus a general survey model of the whole airport area. On a case-by-case basis, separate composite models were created along the way to limit file sizes and keep the models usable. There were 3-4 different viewers and a dozen other software packages in active use. All information went through the project bank and also through Trimble Connect. Thanks to the vigilant client, it was assumed that all design data would be visible through the data models in the meetings. For site use, the combination models were made on the Trimble Connect platform at the request of the site organisation and updated weekly, as were the Solibri models for the designers.
- In this project, the data model coordinator did not have to worry too much about the content of the models, because Finavia and SRV also require modelling from product designers, Mikonheimo says happily. "In that sense, this was an easy coordination task compared to some more traditional construction projects. The design team provided excellent input from the very beginning of the project. The information model was used at all stages, and there were many ways of using it. The design of the phasing was very challenging and was the only task where modelling was not used to a greater extent. There is always room for improvement in information modelling processes, but this project was on the right track from the start: modelling was started early and the dialogue between the designers was conducted through the model. If more diverse uses can be found for the data already produced, there is room for improvement.
There is always room for improvement in information modelling processes, but this project was on the right track from the start: modelling started early and the dialogue between designers was done through the model.
_Sami Mikonheimo,__Data Model Expert and Team Leader,_Gravicon
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