Optus Stadium, located in Perth, Australia, is one of Western Australia's largest and most eagerly awaited projects. The project team completed the stadium three weeks ahead of schedule. The project is the winner of the "Sports and Leisure" category of the 2018 Tekla Global BIM Awards. Optus Stadium was inaugurated in January 2018. The five-storey facility, Australia's third-largest venue, hosts major AFL (Australian Football League), cricket, rugby, soccer and entertainment events. It complements the Sports Park with children's play areas, communal areas, restaurants, bars and cafés open all year round. Arup and PDC were involved from design to completion as part of the Multiplex-led Westadium consortium of architects and consultants under the DBFM (Design Build Finance and Maintain) project agreement.
BIM optimizes engineering for greater speed and precision
The engineering of this complex project involved a number of stakeholders and generated a number of requirements. The engineering team worked with the builder in the pre-project phase to develop the work processes and overall BIM documentation. Multiplex and PDC then joined in and implemented the BIM strategy throughout the construction and operational phases of the project.
The Tekla model of the stadium was divided into eight quadrants: four grandstand quadrants (north, south, east and west) and four roof structure quadrants. These quadrants enabled the design and execution teams to achieve greater flexibility while keeping to schedule.
The engineering team implemented a process that enabled them to benefit fully from the use of the model through the performance of collaboration and coordination in the design phase, while facilitating the management of the many delivery-related requests, such as COBie. This gave the builder a clear direction, and enabled him to verify project compliance and ensure project delivery to meet the customer's needs while developing his knowledge of BIM. This meant that architectural and structural improvements could be made in parallel without losing connectivity between the various elements or corrupting the modeling, thus avoiding rework at each design update.
Thanks to the digital workflow, the architects and engineers were able to maintain complete design coordination and alignment throughout the project. For speed of construction (the client gave tight deadlines), the structure consists of reinforced concrete lateral stability cores, with a composite steel and concrete frame. This enabled the steel structure to be erected quickly, with the slabs cast on a permanent metal formwork without backflow.
The stadium's bowl structure was designed using precast concrete panels, enabling over 3,250 elements to be built, stored off-site and delivered on time. The geometry of the bowl was streamlined to avoid altering the height of each panel, while ensuring that the view of spectators was respected. The panels were designed to limit the use of molds, a highly efficient and cost-effective solution.
Model-based manufacturing control: Arup +PDC cooperation = 50% time savings
Arup was engaged to provide a BIM strategy for the project at the tender stage. The basis of the service was to provide a comprehensive BIM strategy that would enable Multiplex to benefit from the implementation of BIM on the project. As this national project had to meet an LOD level of 500, one of the first in Australia, Arup continued to develop a streamlined delivery process.
PDC Group was contracted to implement two critical aspects of the project.
bIM management for Multiplex stadium, including training and knowledge transfer to their project team
3D modeling and steel execution in close collaboration with engineers, architectural and manufacturing teams.
To streamline the structural steelwork checking process, Arup developed a workshop model validation process with Multiplex and its subcontractors. This has saved an average of 50% in design, verification and rework time.
To streamline the structural steelwork checking process, Arup developed a workshop model validation process with Multiplex and its subcontractors. This saved an average of 50% in design, verification and rework time. To streamline communication between Tekla model designers and approvers, all steel design work was carried out within the integrated team. The team worked closely with everyone involved to develop a workflow, dividing the various structural engineering elements into separate packages by floor and quadrant. Tekla structural steel models were reviewed in 3D. Everyone's comments and modifications were then sent back to the steel fabricator to provide clear and concise feedback.
The building information modeling was much appreciated by the project's government team, who said, "The time spent on developing the virtual stadium solved the issue of coordination between all sub-consultants and sub-contractors during the construction phase."
Tekla for Optus Stadium
Due to the large amount of information received from various consultants and subcontractors, the implementation of model validation was essential to the successful delivery of Optus Stadium. Tekla and other tools were used to :
Validation of the stadium model to check that the models have been built correctly and to the full BIM standard, in line with the customer's EIR (Employer Information Requirements).
Weekly progress checks to monitor conflicts and understand whether the latest developments were part of the design or implementation process. The application and approach enabled the customer to visualize and participate in the design process.
Cloud-based Model Sharing leverages global resources, improving time and cost efficiency by enabling multiple offices to work simultaneously.
Model comparison and collaboration Tekla modeling enabled all design consultants on the project to understand model changes in a timely manner, and to flag up questions and/or concerns. The stadium's experience and the way we deployed the tool, then disseminated the capability among the teams, are proof of our efficiency that is easily applicable to other projects, whatever their size.
Tekla BIMsight was used as a coordination tool to collect feedback from engineers and link it to the Tekla model.
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