Hinkley Point C is the first nuclear power station to be built in the UK for over 20 years. It is a pioneering construction and engineering project. With digitization at the heart of the project's construction work, BYLOR has deployed Trimble solutions to digitize traditional document-based processes.
Hinkley Point C in Somerset, worth over £20 billion and estimated to take 10 years to build, is the first of a new generation of nuclear power stations that will provide carbon-free electricity to around six million homes. The main construction work is currently being carried out by BYLOR, a joint venture between Bouygues Travaux Publics (TP) and Laing O'Rourke, using a range of Trimble products and technologies.
Alina Turda, Quality Systems Engineer at BYLOR, says of the project: "Hinkley Point C is one of the largest and most complex projects currently under construction in Europe, as we are building two identical nuclear reactors at the same time. To give you an idea of the scale: We have around 5,000 employees and 50 cranes working on the site at the same time every day; and we have the largest land crane in the world. In a project of this magnitude, nothing can be done on the basis of paper-based plans alone."
In addition to Trimble's ready-to-run modeling software (Tekla), BYLOR also used Trimble Viewpoint Field View for the project - a cloud-based mobile solution designed to replace pen and paper in the field for forms, defect management, project management and handover processes.
Greg Bond, Business Intelligence Manager at BYLOR, says: "Right from the start of the project, we knew we would need a digital system for all our records. Initially, the focus was on how we could capture and manage these records in a digital format so that they were really easy to access, easy to review and easy for staff to take with them when out in the field - that's why we chose Viewpoint Field View. We wanted to enable our engineers to get out on site rather than sitting at a desk in the office.
"We don't just focus on providing documentation, we also need to keep our customers constantly informed of progress and communicate to our teams in the field what tasks need to be completed. Field View allows us to easily capture and process this information on site. Given the size of the project, not everyone can be on site and see what is actually happening. So the ability to transfer that information to a digital dashboard - much faster than if a person could run to the office, boardroom or client - is really useful."
BYLOR first introduced Viewpoint Field View at Hinkley Point C in 2017 and is using the cloud-based solution to digitize its biggest challenge yet: the inspection and testing plan for reinforced concrete.
Alina explains: "The digitization consisted of breaking down the execution controls into a series of consecutive steps, each represented by a process in Field View. Behind each of these process steps are the associated form templates that reflect the requirements of the inspection and test plans. Having developed the forms to guide the engineers through the process, one of the great advantages of Field View is that we can also customize the forms to meet specific requirements. So if we have learned something on site, we can implement it in Field View.
Field View has helped us to develop and maintain a quality and recording system that is suitable for our purposes. The records created provide consistency, transparency and full visibility, both for us and our customer.
- Alina Turda, Quality Systems Engineer, BYLOR
A project as large and complex as Hinkley Point C, which involves pouring over 220,000 tons of reinforcement and around 1.3 million cubic meters of concrete, generates huge amounts of data. It is vital that this data is organized clearly and concisely so that it is easily accessible.
Alina continues: "Field View was key to effectively managing the flow of data from all areas of the site. For example, using the 3D model, we were able to import the individual concrete pours into Field View, giving each pour a unique ID and hierarchy according to the client's coding system. We then assigned a process to each individual pour ID and allowed the technicians to use it on site. Once the records are completed, the individual casting ID is visible in the Field View output and we can immediately see the associated records for that particular casting."
The use of BYLOR's Field View on Hinkley Point C has also proven valuable to Trimble's internal software development process, as feedback from the jobsite is incorporated directly into software updates, including the overnight sync feature in Field View.
Viewpoint Field View is just one of the products from the Trimble portfolio that BYLOR has used and continues to use in the construction of Hinkley Point C. Tekla's execution-ready modeling software is used to detail the concrete, reinforcing steel and cast-in-place concrete.
