Snapshot
Key Challenges:
Visualizing beyond 2D floor plans
Costly redesign & post-construction changes
Engagement & Collaboration
Solution Used:
Sentio VR’s interactive Design reviews using Revit
Customized user groups
Real-time design validation via collaboration
Impact:
Improved design understanding
Reduced design cost
Enhanced stakeholder confidence
About Turner & Townsend Heery
Turner & Townsend is a global services professional company, headquartered in Leeds, United Kingdom, collaborating with clients across real estate, infrastructure, and natural resources sectors, providing specialization in major programs, program management, cost and commercial management, net zero, and digital solutions offerings from inception to completion and beyond in markets worldwide.
We had a very insightful conversation with Marc Bargenda, Associate Project Management Director from Turner & Townsend, discussing the importance of accurately visualizing and validating the design concepts and spaces.
"When you look at the 2D plan, people don't have that visual understanding, Whereas if you take the VR headset, you have the ability to get a good understanding of the space."
A Diverse Group of Users
At Turner & Townsend, the VR technology was put to the test for a design review for a school project, Illahee Middle School with various user groups, each with their specific needs:
Maintenance and Operations: This group needed to understand the layout of all the back-of-the-house areas, such as mechanical and boiler rooms to plan for efficient maintenance.
Administration Staff: For the front office staff, the flow of people and the arrangement of workspaces were crucial.
Nutrition Services: In the kitchen, the placement of equipment and the workflow for meal preparation were the focus.
Challenges Visualizing beyond 2D floor plans
Turner & Townsend team and their clients needed a better way to understand and interact with design spaces. Interpreting and visualizing the spaces from 2D drawings led to a disconnect between the initial designs and their expectations.
Costly redesign & post-construction changes
Misinterpretations of the design, functionality, and spaces result in changes during the construction phase. These changes not only increase the project costs but also extend the project timelines and impact overall project efficiency.
Engagement & Collaboration
It was challenging to engage diverse user groups and gather actionable feedback. Each group had specific needs and perspectives that were difficult to capture and integrate into the final design using conventional methods.
Solution
Sentio VR’s immersive experience
Turner & Townsend turned to SENTIO VR's immersive VR technology to address these challenges. By enabling stakeholders to experience designs in an interactive virtual space, SENTIO VR provided a solution that allowed for a deeper understanding of projects.
"With the VR headset, it was really easy to say, 'Okay, these items work well, and we need to maybe take a look at them.’
Customized User group sessions
SENTIO VR facilitated tailored VR sessions for different user groups, including maintenance, administration, and nutrition services instead of a session for the whole model. These sessions were designed to gather targeted feedback and ensure that each group's needs were met in the design.
Real-time Design Validation via collaboration
The VR technology allowed for immediate validation of the design, enabling stakeholders to provide feedback on the spot. This real-time interaction significantly reduced the need for later changes.
“With the enhancement of VR, the identification and execution of concerned areas along with the architect and the project teams, is smooth and seamless. The added value that you get is significantly more engagement of the user groups, significantly better feedback to validate the space and more confidence in everybody that we don't do any significant changes later down the road.”
Impact
Improved design understanding
The use of VR technology led to a significant improvement in stakeholders' understanding of the designs. This clarity resulted in fewer requests for changes or redesigns during the construction phase.
Reduced redesign cost
By identifying and addressing potential issues early in the design process, Turner & Townsend were able to save costs of rework and avoid project delays.
"Everybody felt much more comfortable that the space layout was sufficient and we didn't have to do any major revisions there."
Enhanced Stakeholder confidence
The immersive experience provided by SENTIO VR received positive feedback from all user groups. The ability to 'walk through' the design gave more confidence to the stakeholders and enhanced their engagement with the project.
Marc noted the benefits: "The level of confidence increases dramatically by people actually providing you with comments and having the confidence to let you know that something may or may not work as designed."
Conclusion
Turner & Townsend's use of virtual reality with SENTIO VR changed the face of the construction process for them. By embracing the innovative VR technology, they not only overcame traditional challenges but also set a new standard for project visualization and stakeholder engagement. Turner & Townsend showed the power of using Virtual Reality in Building industry helps in transforming the pre-construction review process, ensuring that projects are not just completed with excellence but also aligned with stakeholders' vision.
We thank Marc for sharing such great experiences.
Are you also interested in trying VR for better design visualization, design reviews, and client presentations at your work? Try SENTIO VR for Free or get in touch with us directly.
