Improved quality control at the construction site

The essence

Hooyberghs is a construction company with over 70 simultaneous sites across Belgium. We built a Digital Twin solution that enables BIM models to be visualized at real scale on top of and perfectly aligned with the construction site. This results in better visualization of BIM models, improved quality control and creates a much more efficient BIM workflow.

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The challenge

Visualize BIM models at the construction site

Hooyberghs was exploring opportunities to visualize interactive BIM models on the construction site using augmented reality. They contacted us to guide them through their journey and to define the possibilities. After an intake workshop, we identified the following opportunities:

Combine the 3D BIM model with Augmented Reality technology to create an interactive Digital Twin that can be used directly on the construction site.
Work towards a more efficient BIM workflow on location (e.g. walk around handsfree)
Visualize BIM models at the construction site much better, more detailed (e.g. no longer looking at a phone or tablet screen)
Support more efficient quality control with faster detection of anomalies

The Solution

As it’s important to have your hands free, and to see both the real-life environment as well as holographic information augmented to it, we decided to visualize the Digital Twin (BIM model) on the Microsoft HoloLens 2. The result is an all-in-one toolkit for construction site managers. Using this application, site supervisors can now visualize a Digital Twin of their building at full scale and perfectly aligned to the real construction site.

On top of that, we created an integration with the Autodesk Construction Cloud (BIM Workflow system). This allows BIM managers to summon information such as error indications linked to a specific building or construction site. They can also add new problem reports, which are immediately saved into the BIM platform; notifying the required stakeholders in turn automatically.

With their hands free, and the possibility to align the Digital Twin (BIM models) to their actual construction, quality control never became easier,more efficient and fun(!) for site supervisors. They can literally see whether all walls, openings, stairs, … are built according to the specifications. And it will become even better…

In the future we plan to extend the Digital Twin with AI algorithms so that anomalies can be detected and logged automatically.

Our approach

A 'pluggable' system

As part of our ‘THINK’ phase, we performed an extended functional and technical analysis to get a good understanding of the different planning and quality control processes. We interviewed construction site managers and learned which features are important to add, considering usability and user friendliness. Next, we evaluated software solutions that are currently available on the market and learned quickly that none of those met our requirements. That's when we decided to build a tailor-made Digital Twin solution.

As we were building the solution, many in the field tests were conducted. We were even assigned our very own little office on the construction site, which our developers used regularly to develop and test at the same time.

At a construction site, there’s typically WiFi available yet. However, a strong and steady internet connection is needed to make the application work. After all, our solution design required the visualization of the Digital Twin to be rendered in the cloud (to preserve every detail), and streamed in real-time to the Microsoft HoloLens. Therefore, we collaborated with Proximus and became the first partner of their 5G innovation platform. Thanks to 5G technology, we are now able to visualize the Digital Twin in high fidelity, real-time, without any glitch or delay whatsoever.

Important to note is that we built the application BCF compliant (Building Collaboration Format). That means we can easily integrate the application with multiple BIM platforms. It basically works as an extension on any BIM platform.

Needless to say, collaborating with not only Hooyberghs, but also with Proximus, Autodesk and Dalux required some serious project management from our side. Luckily, we have years of experience managing projects like this.